Me too Mr.Bits. Me too.
I still see the end result being the same w/ Mom & fam turning out to be aligned with (not necessarily 'allies' but aligned with) Luffy.
None of that has changed in my mind and I still see plenty of crumbs leading in that direction.
However, unless Oda is setting us up for a WHOPPER of a fake-out ending, this arc is wrapping up. And while that's not beyond Oda, I don't think he'll do it here simply because he's already done that once this arc with a rampaging Mom.
Party:
Oda seems to be committing to the death of Pedro.
I know….I know.....
At this current time there's equal evidence in my mind for why he can be alive and why he can be dead.
But even that 50/50 is saying a LOT for someone like me who refuses to believe that Oda can kill anyone unless the story demands it.
If Pedro is dead, there cannot be a party.
We know that Pound is alive and that DEMANDS a reunion of his family which is a happy ending and requires a party.
So one outcome demands a party and one outcome outright refutes the existence of one due to a policy of Oda's.
The only way to satisfy both (if Pedro is dead, which he darn well might be) is if there are two arcs with which to deal with this.
Now, what I have in mind for Elbaf doesn't necessarily invite a party, in fact quite the opposite, but at the very least it would be a reunion and resolution (unless Oda is saving that until the VERY end) Not to mention what I have in mind for Elbaf could very well INTERRUPT said party.
This arc seems to be heading towards a full-on escape and with the first potential modern-day character death in quite some time, that doesn't bode well for a celebration and Big Mom's story arc demands a celebration when she's freed from Streusen.
Reverie:
We've seen Oda's predictions from last summer as to when he thought Wano would start and 1.5~2 years is a LONG TIME for focusing on a Revierie WITHOUT LUFFY. Oda used to secret Luffy away for weeks on end but I don't think he can do it for that long. That is to say, Oda's refusal to drift from Luffy's story in the past decade or so suggests that if Reverie is long-term then Luffy will be there and the best way for him to get there is with Germa. We also know that Judge (for all his shortcomings) does have something of a story to his motivations which don't demand and explanation, but certainly suggest we have much to find out about him. I'm NOT suggesting a full-on reunion with all transgressions being forgiven between Judge and Sanji. I am suggesting that they might come to understanding each other, especially after Sanji shows up his father by taking out BM with food.
We know that Oda's predictions are usually off, but at the time he says them, he probably genuinely believes that he can accomplish the task. He simply finds out more about his story as he explores it. That is to say, while the Wedding went relatively quickly and smoothly, he thought everything following it would go quickly but turned out FAR more complex than he envisioned. So his initial suggestion from JF last year that he could complete WCI & Revierie in one year, while impossible, suggests that neither of them were ever planned to be SO LARGE as arcs. If WCI were to fake-out an ending at this point and try to resolve everything with Mom's family, not to mention Katakuri x Luffy, this arc would be M-A-S-S-I-V-E and I don't think Oda ever had that intention, nor does he want it to be.
So if we're getting Reverie (which his summer comment suggests) and if Luffy is going to Reverie (which the summer comment and other threads suggest) and Oda's original intention for WCI wasn't for it to be SO LARGE then it seems to make sense that Oda will revisit this story later.
Which, to me, is mind-boggling and adds at least another 6 month-1 year of the overall story because of the emotional crescendo Oda must build up again. We can have Mom sending her family out after the SHs, but the themes we're dealing with here and her relation to the giants is a BIG DEAL that carries a lot of emotion. To reintroduce that to a later arc without feeling cheap will take some seriously intricate weaving on his part. I don't doubt that he can do it, but I just think that it will take time.
The Kiss:
This is a GREAT way to help bring back that emotional crescendo he'll desperately need. Did they kiss? If they did what does that mean/signify? Does it establish a marriage? If Sanji was able to kiss her like a d@mn human, does that mean we can finally see a glimpse of him acting like a semi-respectable man in front of a lady when it counts? It would be interesting if the story revisited this idea later including what it means for Sanji as part of the crew.
If BM and the SH's do end up aligned. And if Sanji and his family can come to an understanding would it be so terrible if Sanji and Pudding actually tied the knot post-series?
This is a great weapon that Oda can wield later on if he needs to.
Or he could answer it before 900 ^o^ My point is, this is something that he can easily bring back later which would have a heavy impact if things move to Elbaf. Especially if it's Pudding that was originally promised to Loki.
Chekov's Chef:
Streusen is key. Don't throw away that line Bege brought up about Streusen 'probably being a tough opponent were he to fight'. When Streusen is defeated, and if we find that Pudding has manipulated Mom, that will lift some very very heavy chains from her.
We know that the cake will knock Mom out.
If she's knocked out, she's not going to be around for some time.
The Strawhats, as of right now, are trying to ESCAPE WITH THEIR LIVES. They don't have time to stick around and wait for Mom to regain consciousness while they explain to BMP "Oh we totally didn't poison her, it's ok, she's just knocked out by the awesome power of our chef."
She will be knocked out b/c that is integral to Sanji's victory over his father.
With the BMP already doubting the cake (seeing as it's literally in the hands of her would-be assassins) the setup is perfect for the SHs to GET OUTTA DODGE when she's fed.
This doesn't bode well for hanging around and wasting time with Streusen (unless Sanji has a battle with him, leaves him defeated and this paves the way for the chains on BM to be weakened when they meet again). The point is, Streusen's abilities were mentioned, he was intentionally removed from the story, and our knowledge of his control of Mom along with Bege's line makes him Chekov's Chef. There must be a reckoning with him and with everyone trying to escape, Mom being KO'd and Oda seemingly wrapping shop with the arc…again...I don't think we'll get the kind of resolution that demands here and now unless, like I said above, Sanji finishes him off on the way out which I'm not sure I like very much unless it means a cleaner and more succinct story later on.
There're some more things I'd like to add regarding how Katakuri and Luffy have also established this but there's a bit of that in my column releasing (hopefully) tomorrow so I'll wait until that's out.