Everyone is asking "What happened to Brook?" I have a thought, what if Brook is tracking the REAL Gekko Moria, and manages to hold him until Luffy reaches him?
I was thinking more along the lines of him getting salt big enough/ a possible source of a fire to kill of odz. Since the SH's can't really kill ods unless its with salt/burning they are really just making him angry. I think brook knows how to stop him.
As for Kuma and the so called band wagon, its clear to see why he's so popular. So far most of the Shichibuka are crazy power hungry fools (moria, crocodile,flamingo, and maybe now black beard) its a nice change of pace to see a calm Shichibuka, maybe even likable in some aspects last seen a hell of a long time ago with Hawk Eye's.
In stories now a days you find these groups of villians and all they serve to do is have a Tournament one tougher then the other fight with one evil doer to the next without having the actual tournament. But when you have a group like this and some think outside the box, people are bound to pay more attention.