@Rubber:
Do you HONESTLY believe that buggy could trick luffy? Luffy doesn't trust buggy, he just uses him.
I simply offered an alternative. I read the post suggesting that it might not be an invite (was that Brennen and Urouge? Forget…) Then I tried to put myself in the WG's shoes, based on the information we as readers have about what they know, and make a suggestion that was different from an invite to be a Shichibukai. (And to be clear--of course he wouldn't succeed--if it did follow this line instead of a shichi invite, then the purpose would be two fold--to keep him near Luffy in the story, and to be a comedic foil. He would fail, but something would happen that would make him still look good for some reason.)
Personally? I think it was an invite, because it follows the comedic line that Oda has had running for Buggy since ID, and his squeak through by a hair with nothing but dumb luck making him look like something he's not has potential to be a funny running gag into the next half of the Manga. It just seems very Oda to me. But none of us really know, and it's fun to speculate, and there are other possibilites out there, so I thought I'd throw it out there. It's called discussing the chapter--which is what this thread is for, right? 
@Chikmagnet7:
I am almost entirely sure that the masses were referring to Buggy interrupting something major going on in the war. When Whitebeard was shown to have betrayed his comrades, the camera went back on to show Buggy. The crowd's reaction had nothing to do with how impressed with him they were or how powerful they thought he was and everything to do with the fact that they simply didn't want to see him because he was distracting them from crucial points of the battle.
Yes I agree with this. And to further discuss the idea of Buggy getting an invite to be a Shichi–The WG made it very clear they thought they'd underestimated Buggy when they called the navy ship the ID prisoners were on. I realize that Buggy wasn't great during the war, but he was there, always someplace crutial at just the right (wrong?) moment, he survived, and he "saved" Luffy and Jimbei, then went off with Shanks. I don't see how he could look all that bad to them as a potential candidate.
@Technique:
I wonder what happened in that time.
As do we all. That is basically what this entire thread is about, really. Cannot wait to find out, though. 