Hi guys! Nice to meet you all!! This is actually my first post, but I've been lurking for a while (and yes, I read the entire thread).
A lot of people brought up the fact that the people of Dressrosa seem to genuinely appreciate Doflamingo, and I think this is a major factor in the direction of this arc.
To talk about the direction of this arc and Doflamingo's role, first we should consider the larger theme of One Piece - clearly, it's not about conventional 'good' vs. 'bad', which is made very clear from the get-go because the main characters are stealing, law-breaking, and sometimes violent PIRATES. One Piece also doesn't deal with conventional morals such as 'killing is bad', '7 sins are bad', 'being selfish is bad', 'world peace', etc…
Instead, we have seen consistently that the "bad guys" are those who lie with manipulative intentions and those who oppress others/ inhibit freedom. I.e. Arlong - oppressed the people, inhibited Nami's freedom; Wapol - oppressed the people of Drum; Crocodile - lied, oppressed the Alabastans, restricted freedom of access to rain; Enel - oppressive rule, lied; CP9-the system they stood for, the WG justice system, was highly oppressive: it covered up the Ohara system, prevention of freedom of access to ancient language, took Robin against her will; Moria - restricted freedom of those trapped on thriller bark, plans for dominance/tyranny in the world; World Government - covered up void century, hunts down those who seek freedom (pirates and revolutionaries), spawns corruption, Tenryuubito (oppression of other social classes). Almost all of the major antagonists are portrayed in a much more sympathetic light once they stop lieing and oppressing.
This has also differentiated between which characters ultimately ended up as the antagonistic forces of the arc and which characters had little skirmishes with the strawhats but ultimately ended up allying with them. For example, the Franky Brothers, Brownbeard, diving crew on Jaya, the Shandians, Boa Hancock, Flying Fishman Riders (okay, they were joke characters, but still...), etc... all did not lie with malicious intents and all did not oppress any others; they all did not end up as major antagonists.
This brings me to my point. We have not actually seen Doflamingo do anything particularly oppressive or stand for anything particularly oppressive. The Slave auctions are a thing of the past, the kidnapped/drugged kids were more of Ceasar's doing (correct me if I'm wrong), and there is nothing particularly wrong with weapons dealing or selling smilies, especially seeing how his weapons are helping rebels. Instead, Doflamingo is widely respected by his crew and subjects. Right now, Doflamingo does not really fit into the previous trends. It is not enough that we, the readers, see Doflamingo as sinister and dangerous.To be a real antagonist, Doflamingo will have to either lie to the weak, or he will in some way oppress people/ restrict them from achieving their dreams. In conclusion...
- There is something very sinister about Dressrosa
- Doflamingo is planning some kind of world-takeover scheme
- Doflamingo is not the real enemy (hard to believe, I know, because he has been hyped up for so long. He could, however, still get the obligatory punch in the face, the factory would get destroyed, and his business would fall apart, but maybe he wouldn't be the big baddie of the arc on the same level as Crocodile and Enel. Dare I say, they would ally together against Kaidou? This last part is a wild shot in the dark, don't take it seriously)