Well, Buster Call has arrived, and as such many possibilities arise. I was among the ones who expected the Strawhats to escape, not destroy, the Buster Call. I had my reasons for that (mainly because I was expecting the Vice Admirals to be known characters like Garp, Tsuru, John Giant, Comil and did not want to see them being dispatched without them receiving a bigger cameo and some on-screen display so we could empathize with them), but right now I've jumped to the side of those who expect the Strawhats to defeat the Buster Call.
I was thinking how this Buster Call have a lot of potential from a Storyteller point of view, and as such there's a lot of possibilities. For instance:
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Remember that Luffy's powerup was first unveiled, without explanation, in his fight against Blueno? I have a feeling that Zoro's and Sanji's powerups will also be explained (and further developed) in their fights against the Vice Admirals.
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We have left: Lucci, Spandam (who is not yet defeated) and five Vice-Admirals. Spandam we know has not yet shown what his sword can do.
I have that feeling that Spandam will be Robin's fight (Robin is weak against something as big as an elephant. Plus, the elephant is made of metal, being a sword, can use cutting attacks that could harm Robin's arms, and has no human body). Either, that, or Franky will fight Spandam and the Elephant (again, the Elephant is made of metal, just like Franky, and has a lot of power).
Also, we have five VA's left. Zoro, Sanji, Sogeking, Franky/Robin, and Nami may fight them. It would be pretty cool to have further insight into Nami's new abilities (and a more action-oriented fight for her as well), plus see some explanations and further development into Asura and Demon Leg powers. Plus, Sogeking still needs his shining moment, since he does not still consider himself part of the crew.
Of course, maybe Nami will be too busy manning the escape ship while the others open the way, so she may not gain a new fight. I would like to see her in a more serious fight, however.
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Well, since these VA's are just a bunch of unknown characters, we won't really miss them or say that they should receive more attention. We can expect the following battles to be straight out fights without a lot of time spent on conversation.
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Of course, there's the downside of such a battle to occur. If that's the case, what will Luffy do? I don't think Lucci will take more 15 chapters to go down while the others fight. And I think Luffy may be completely wasted by his gear moves once he finishes off Lucci. I doubt Oda will leave the main character in the background for so long, so maybe Luffy will rise to fight someone. Maybe Aokiji? (I personally doubt it, but it is a possibility that Aokiji is going to see the results of the Buster Call "he" called forth). It would be cool seeing Aokiji defeated by the end of this arc, but I also think that he may be reserved to be the main antagonist further down the road, near the end. Then again, near the end of the series we may have bigger antagonists, like Sengoku and Whitebeard.
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What about Chopper? When he first became a monster, I was expecting to see it happening again a few arcs ahead, when the SH's would really face the Buster Call, and then Chopper would go aboard one of the marine warships and transform, causing mayhem on the ships. RIght now he seems to be the only one who is totally out of battle.
Your thoughts?