@BattleFranky69:
Huh? I know Kaido controls multiple islands just like Big Mom so is it necessary that wherever these guys are to be actual Wano? If they get there and there's no island hopping quest to take down Kaido after earning it by completing whatever build-up objectives they run into on the way, that'll be horribly anticlimactic. Also I thought it was X Drake working for Kaido, not Scratchmen Apoo. Drake being a Zoan DF user kind of makes it fit with the SMILE thing Kaido was going for. Or, when Kaido was staring those three down, did Apoo subsequently bow and agree to serve and Kidd wasn't willing to play ball?
It's what Oda seems to be building up to with all the big talk about Kaido teaming up with the Shogun, Kaido killing Oden, and Kaido wanting information about Raftel while the Road Poneglyph and Kozuki Clan are located in Wano Country.
Oda loves his big war arcs nowadays. We had a couple with Marineford and Dressrosa. Simply replace the Grand Fleet with the Minks, Supernovas, Moria, and the Whitebeard Remnants with greater focus on the samurai and less focus on Law and the Riku Family. Such a battle is huge, but not every one of these characters is getting in-depth fights or plot roles. I doubt Moria will be more than support, for example. I can't see any of the Whitebeard Pirates getting individual fights since they're already pros that we won't get any suspense, they'll only team up with the Straw Hats at most.
Apoo talks to Kaido on a Den Den Mushi, even referring to him with an honorific. Kid is seen in a prison cell. Killer and Hawkins are unaccounted for thus far.
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We can probably assume that Kid was too stubborn to submit while Apoo did so. Apoo always had a slight cowardly side to him, like attacking kizaru from a distance before trying to run away, or running away from the boars on the sky walking island.
It makes more sense to me that Wano be a stepping-stone to whatever happens to be Kaido's stronghold and that all the relevant parties interested in his downfall gradually converge upon him at the climax, not right away like we see here. Even in the Big Mom arc, we're not staying on a single island in her turf and this isn't even an arc designed to be her ultimate defeat. How insulting to Kaido if everything ended so quickly, which would be the case if it was all laid out in front of the Straw Hats like is being suggested.
Big Mom's arc has Whole Cake Island and the several minor food-based islands. Kaido's arc will likely have four season-based islands, not counting a potential fifth mini island where his lair is. That sounds like a fair balance of territory focus for the both of them. And while this arc isn't designed to be Big Mom's ultimate defeat, I'm willing to bet my house that it's the only arc we're getting where she is the main antagonist. There's nothing left to make a future encounter with her for keeps suspenseful, we know everything about them bar Lola's marriage. And with Luffy's forces being so huge, wouldn't it make sense for them to split up across four different islands in the same territory?
You'd think he'd have been captured or finished off by the Marines once the dust settled. But yeah, Oda's not fond of death so only Ace and WB should be regarded as confirmed dead after that battle. I wonder what he's using as a prosthetic leg, or if he's hobbling around on crutches? And while Big Mom may not have personally removed Kidd's arm, it seems like either he blames them or they've claimed responsibility for it (I don't remember which, but either way, it's their handiwork) so even if Kidd finds Luffy to be distasteful, he might agree to work with him knowing he made Big Mom pay.
I don't remember Kid ever talking about Big Mom. The only people who have brought up Kid's interactions with Big Mom's crew are Big Mom's crewmates themselves. The only Yonko he ever talked about was Shanks before Kaido dropped out of the sky. And revealing that Kid's arm was lost to an antagonist Luffy already dealt with feels lackluster for Oda to reveal, at least to me.
just don't regard the idea of rolling out the red carpet to the Straw Hats and having it lead straight to Kaido without incident to be good storytelling. If he's there waiting for them it negates the idea of the journey, the beginning is the same as the end. How can the (presumably) strongest Yonkou not deserve something at least half as extensive as the Baroque Works saga? I know it's suggested that Wano is potentially a chain of islands but then it's not Wano, they'll each have their own names like Dressrosa and whatever that little island across the bridge where the Tontatta came from is called.
But Punk Hazard, Dressrosa, and Zou have already been building up to Kaido. He's always been the biggest threat in the background. Luffy and Law promised to take down Kaido at Punk Hazard. Wano Country is only fulfilling that promise. Doflamingo took up a lot of focus, sure, but even he was only the middle man in Kaido's whole scheme. The World's Strongest Creature is the real big cheese the entire New World thus far has been centric around. Even Big Mom's arc, in the same way Drum loosely connected to Alabasta. And Oda said that he is considering drawing naval battles for Wano Country, so there is the possible "incident" you're clamoring for before they hit the mainland.
Oda's starting to make a habit of splitting up the crew so it just doesn't seem like he's going to cram all of these third parties together so soon. If there is to be a big climax, it makes more sense to bring them in a few at a time to become the small army that topples Kaido. Throwing them all together at once makes it seem like there's not going to be a Round 1, Round 2, Round 3 kind of thing that we usually see with major enemies like Crocodile, Enel and CP9 (though some only get to Round 2 before being beaten).
Oda split up the crew to most likely give focus to other recurring New World characters without island casts becoming too crowded. As well as to switch up the usual Straw Hat interactions from getting too stale.
But all of these third parties were brought in a few at a time. Moria had Thriller Bark. The Whitebeard Remnants had Marineford and we might get a mini-arc between Whole Cake and Wano Country if Oda's editor is right about Wano Country starting in one-two years. The samurai were recurring characters we bonded with over several arcs like Vivi. The Minks had Zou. Law (and also Drake in his flashback) had Dressrosa. The only completely new characters in Wano Country will be any samurai characters we haven't met and Kaido's crewmates (and we already know about Jack, Sheepshead, and Ginrummy). Although you could technically count the Supernovas too since we barely know them well, but I doubt any of them are going to have their backstories explored in-depth with full flashbacks besides maybe Kid. Bege's background was only talked about by Jimbei after all.
Doflamingo had a few rounds with Luffy and Law during Dressrosa despite all of the hectic fighting going on. Luffy also got interrupted by Bellamy. Wano Country having more people in the conflict doesn't mean Luffy can't have a couple or more rounds with Kaido. The likelihood of Wano Country being made up of four islands actually supports this likelihood. Imagine if Luffy loses to Kaido on the first or second island explored and then gets a rematch on the third or fourth island. Not unlike Luffy losing to Crocodile in Rain Dinners and Alubarna before finally winning in the tomb, but on the geographically grander scale of complementary islands akin to how Punk Hazard was divided into two halves plus Caesar's factory, or Totland's multiple locations.
