Sanji is the one waiting for them in the harbor.

Brook has a connection with either the underworld or he's seeing history repeat itself to hint he knows what's up.

We will see Lola again for sure.

I'm still wondering if Buggy is now a Shichibukai….

This series could use some Hirohiko Araki logic

Im all for Jinbei as a Strawhat member

hes a swan zoan user. been confirmed somewhere

@brennen.exe:

Fufufufufu~~ Well, you see, it's simple! No, well, really, it's just what I thought of back when the war was announced, and I still see nothing to the contrary, so I have stuck with it. Of course, I could be wrong, but… Whatever, Zephos seemed to have a lot of trouble understanding it, for some reason, so I will try to make it easier to follow. Hopefully it isn't too TL;DR. If it is though, well, that's a shame…

[hide]First, I think I should establish what we know about Blackbeard: he wants to be the Pirate King, he has a plan for how he will attain that title, he is willing to wait long periods of time to attain something, and that he firmly believes in fate. It is easy to conclude that, while seemingly simple minded at times, he is a planner, but is willing to change plans on a dime or adjust plans accordingly because of "fate". That is to say, he might have some huge plan for accomplishing a goal, but should an opportunity come up or should something crazy happen that gets in the way of his plan he can adapt or let it go because fate willed it. We've seen examples of this with his acquiring the Yami Yami Fruit, Luffy escaping him at Jaya, Luffy showing back up when they were near a sea train, Ace showing up at Banaro Island, Blackbeard commenting that Lafitte will find them wherever they go, and Shiryuu saving them in Impel Down. Other potential examples would be Crocodile losing his position, and Ace specifically being his ticket into the Warlords. <– I will explain those later. So, to my little theory...

Overly Simplified Version: Blackbeard wanted to be the Pirate King, so he began building a crew and establishing power. One thing that stands in Blackbeard's way, and everyone's way, is Whitebeard and the Marines. So, Crocodile gets defeated. Fate. Fate allowed Blackbeard an opportunity to join the Warlords and ally himself with Whitebeard's biggest and primary enemy, the Marines. Blackbeard, knowing how much the Marines would want to take Whitebeard (and any pirate) down, decides to join up with them so he can somehow instigate or allow a war to take place between Whitebeard and the Marines. The great thing here is that he can still build his crew, establish power, and otherwise pursue any other plan he might have had while still being a Warlord. Much like Dofla, Hancock, Moria, etc. [[I]Note: I think the Marines would take any bait offered to them on this front, seeing as how they really want to take Whitebeard down and more than likely want to establish more power throughout the world]. So he begins to search for someone with a large bounty so that he can curry favor with the Marines. Luffy comes and goes. He continues searching for someone, and Ace shows up to do business. FATE! Fate brings Ace to Blackbeard, killing two birds with one stone by allowing him to join up with the Marines (Warlord title) at the same time as instigating a war with Whitebeard. [[I]Now, here is where I have discussed with Urouge that it might be possible Impel Down was another (fated) goal of Blackbeards, or it might just be an added bonus to the current state of affairs. Either way, this is another argument entirely]. He then bones out when the war starts, allowing them to basically take each other out, and more than likely will show up when both are at a much weaker state so that he can perform some finishing blows.

Now, a few things I think are worth noting. One, Blackbeard should know, having been a crew member of the Whitebeard Pirates, that challenging Whitebeard means going up against dozens of allied crews, the sixteen Whitebeard divisions, their commanders, and finally Whitebeard himself. No easy money, so unless he builds an armada like an Emperor himself, the Marines are one of the primary options he would have had available. Now, he might have had other (more laborious) plans prior to that, but this would surely be one of his "fate" scenarios, should I be right. Two, Impel Down doesn't allow pirates in (even Warlords), is arguably just as easy to reach with an eternal pose as it is by stealing a Marine ship and then using the Tarai Current, and would have been a near impossible task to accomplish had the place not already been in chaos and had the Marines not already been distracted. Therefore, I don't really think Impel Down was his only (read: main) goal for the title. Given that, he could be there for insurance by releasing prisoners and destroying a stronghold of the Marines, he could be there to recruit, he could be there for some secret they hold, or he could be there for some other reason we still do not know. Either way, we know he encouraged Luffy to create more chaos for him on his way up, and we know he didn't bother making any moves on Impel Down until there were riots going on and the Marines were starting their plans against Whitebeard. Three, Blackbeard said himself that he had a plan for dethroning Whitebeard and becoming the Pirate King, and then said in Impel Down that he had a show that would shock the whole world, which I want to believe are one and the same. Or at least coincide with each other. Four, I am not saying that he will definitely not want to keep his title, just that I see no reason for him to keep it, and at this point I see no reason for the Marines to keep him on board. Basically, I think his main goal for the title was to use the Marines to take down Whitebeard, and having fulfilled that goal, he can move on to bigger and better things (aka: Pirate King). Five, ummm, I walked away from my chair too much, and I forget…...

Anyway, I am sure people will argue with me on a good portion of this, so I should probably have made it much shorter, to avoid confusingly long discussion, but too bad, so sad.[/hide]

im gonna have to agree with this theory. people underrate blackbeard so much simply because he puts on an act. BB really did plan out this Marines vs WB war so both won't be in his way later on. im guessin BB went to impel down to make everyone in level 6 and 5 part of his crew. this might be a stretch but the only person that might be aware is Dragon simply because he has been trying to take down the WG for a long time. anyone ever wondered why he didnt become pirate king? probably to stop anyone from becoming one in the first place

Only way to get to raftel is probly to turn the ship upside down around sunrise

@MarshalD.Teach:

im just wandering where did all does devil fruit come from?

From a devil fruit tree, duuuuh
wonder when oda will show it…

oh gawd, so the new age begins regardless…
don flamingo might be the big bad in this one

I'm getting a lot of "epic" vibes from the thought of a future timeskip XD