Is there an easy way to manage those quotes? It's so annoying… I'm going to divide your post into points and then adress them without quotes.
@King:
1. Well, where else would she be defeated?
Never mind the fact that she has some dangerous intel, which means she has to be taken out quickly. The Straw Hats can't just mess things up and wait for her to retaliate by attacking their birthplaces.
No, it wouldn't, as you can have the minks be an intermediate threat with Jack being the final one.
This happens all the time. Remember Chinjao last arc? Or Wiper and Nola? Or the Galley-La?
2. In fact, the moon thing would be great to weaken the minks even more by making them fight the Straw Hats, making them more vulnerable to an eventual attack.
3. Sanji himself has only been featured in two chapters this year, but he is still a central figure in the plot because of several things being revealed about him. The Year of Sanji does not have to be about showing Sanji doing stuff.
4. I also remember him saying that he wanted to showcase Kaidou earlier, stating that a big player would finally make an appearance in 2013. Kaidou first showed up last year.
5. Jack being hyped since Punk Hazard doesn't mean much about panel time. Vergo had a bunch of hype as well, being one of Doula's top subordinates, and then was taken down quickly at Punk Hazard.
6. Wait, you mean Luffy defeating a calamity would dehype them?
Luffy, the main character who is going to tackle Emperors very soon? The 500 Million man whose bounty is very close to his brother's, who was an Emperor Commander himself?
7. I've already pointed a bunch of reasons why there's a need for it, in terms of plot.
1. Certainly not in the next arc. I think you heavily underestimate just how importnat yonko are. They are not just the next villian of the day to be soloed by Luffy. We're going into marinefrod v2 terriotory here, with high probability of Big Mom vs Kaido taking place down the line. But hey, that's not the matter of the discussion, so I'll just leave it at that.
2. Could be, but doesn't have to. Oda can make everything work with just the moon, making Jack's comback unnecessary.
3. Well that's what I said… He doesn't need to do anything, but the plot has to be connected to him somehow. Dealing with Jack and Minks as of this point has basically nothing to do with him anymore, so we need to deal with that fast if we want the plot to go back to Sanji this year. And that's what basically what will happen if want to take oda's comment seriously.
4. He meant Sabo.
5. Jack has more hype than Vergo ever had. Early name drop that happens only to characters of higher importance, crazy bounty, underlings, crazy strenght. He's an arc's main villian material, while Vergo wasn't, and someone like that needs time, and time is something we don't have as I've stated before, because this is the year of Sanji, not year of Jack and Minks.
6. Yes. If Luffy beats him now, it will mean that he can beat the other two, so if he ever faces them, there will be little tension. What's more, defeating s top underling of Kaido means that he can defeat a top underling of BM, and that will lessen the tension of the upcoming tea party. Makes no sense to put Luffy's powerlevel above everyone in the yonko crew except the yonko himself. We're bascially just now entered the yonko territory; it's just too early. Wano arc should be a perfect time for that, and after that we can have the war with Kaido.
7. And I've pointed that it can be done without Jack. The potential threat and conflict are already there, the kings can reconcile for any reason, and all that the minks need to do in order to be safe is to deal with Raizo one way or another. Once they know where Raizo is, they should be safe.
@Galaxy:
1. The tea party will likely lead to a gigantic conflict with Big Mom. This conflict would result in her downfall, yes. Whether that be because of a war being broken out between Kaido and herself, or some other factor.
2. The Minks are currently injured, and are not going to be involved in a long, ongoing fight against the Straw Hats. It's merely a plot point that will allow the Beast Pirates to return at the worst possible moment.
The full moon thing can still come into play during this initial conflict. Or even when the Beast Pirates arrive, since it's currently morning on the island.
3. And on the subject of Wapol, he had nothing near the level of hype that Jack has. He was portrayed as a complete joke the moment he was introduced.
4. That's like saying that the initial officer agents of Baroque Works being treated like small fries made Crocodile and his entire organization look bad. Or that Satori's early defeat meant that the rest of priests and Enel were a joke. Or that Blueno's easy defeat meant CP9 was a joke, and ruined their hype.
It's likely to be a hard battle either way though. If Luffy wins after a long, hard battle, it won't ruin the hype. This is not a case of one-shot dehype.
1. Yes, the conflict will result in her downfall, but that conflict will not start and end within one arc. If anyone is defeated in that arc, it's the Vinsmokes. BM? Hell no, she's carrying over her fat ass into the next arc or two or even tree depending on how long Oda makes them.
2. We don't know what full moon does. It can recover all their injuries for all we know. As I've said, this moon plotpoint makes the opportunity to take care of everything that you think Jack is needed for, and I believe this is the reason why it's there. We'll see.
3. I know Wapol had much less hype, and that is why him and Jack having idenctical amount of panel time would be stupid IMO. And Jack doesn't seem to be the Mr 3 kind of guy that can return later in the story after his defeat.
4. Except the BW officers they met were of lower ranking, aside from Mr 3. But Mr.3 was never portrayed as Crocodile's top man, while Jack clearly is, even more so since there doesn't seem to be a ranking of calamities. You can just feel from his portreyal just how big of a deal he is.
Anyway this is getting too long, so I'll stop here. To sum up: I don't believe Jack is needed for all the things you think he's needed on Zou, since we have the full moon plot point that, If Oda only wants to, take care of all that, and I don't believe Jack's going to be defeated now based on his portreyal and potential dehype of a yonko crew that at this point in the story is supposed to be out of reach for SH's as they are now (that's why we have alliances, armies and plans put in motion, so they can stand a chance)