@BernieCrane:

how do you reckon this? Sugar's fruit is supposed to make everyone forget the missing people ever existed. We even got a hint of it when the marines were reading the names of the colosseum participants and they couldn't recognize some names.

Well it makes you forget who is missing, but I wanted to say that he knows that SOMEONE is missing. But I remember when Fujitora told one of his subordinates to find out how many people lived in dressrosa? Seemed random to me at first, but I think a list of all inhabitants of dressrosa would only make sense if fujitora has a clue that people are disappearing.

They're more trouble than they're worth. Doflamingo is actively undermining the world government through his underground operations, Mihawk doesn't give two shits about anything. Law used it to get on Punk Hazard and blackmailed one of the others to defect from the system, essentially poking holes in that very system. Hancock hates everyone and won't hesitate to attack indiscriminately when they request anything of her. Buggy is probably off somewhere hunting for treasure with Alvida. The only straightforward useful guy they have is Kuma and they made a shit ton of clones of him. It's not like anything is stopping the marines now but removing the system would change nothing for them. The disadvantages fall towards the few shichibukai who actually need the position for safe havens (this mainly applies to Hancock and Buggy). The Marines don't lose an ounce of strength on their side, and with the conscription, any possibility of them facing a severe shortage of fighting force while dealing with the Yonko or the Revolutionaries is probably negated. Also none of these fuckers would help the Marines anyway.

They dont loose strenght, but they gain enemies: The schichibukai and the pirates that would have been defeated by the schichibukai. I mean Marineford didnt make the marines stronger… They lost garp, sengoku and aokiji. I sometimes wonder why the new admirals havent been at the war or if they have been but we dont know. However destroying the schichibukai system seems like a overconfident move, considering there are guys like blackbeard, shanks and dragon out there. And while you are right that noone of them was a particular big advantage for the marines, having to face them in the grand line seems like an additional task they would have to manage.
If the marines want to risk the stability of the world and take down one of the three big powers, why not start with the yonkos (of course they cant just destroy all the yonkos but slowly trying to stop them since like a better idea than attacking pirates that arent a danger for the marines anymore).

You guys are forgetting that Issho already knows that people are missing. One of the first thing he has done on dressrosa is to let one of his subordinates make a list with all the people who live here. I think Oda was foreshadowing that he knows about the missing people. And while his dream to abandone the schishibukai system is now revealed, I think this chapter made very clear that he is in fact in line with akainu when it comes to "justice".

Am I the only one who thinks it would be retarted for the marines to remove the schichibukai system?
The Marines already have the four yonkos and the revolutionaries against them. From a logical point of view it would make more sense to defeat this two groups first (or at least try to) instead of making new enemies by destroying the schichibukai system. I also thought that whitebeard´s death created a "new pirate age" and that a lot of new pirate crews set sail after marineford, so it is definately not like the marines dont need the schichibukai anymore.
Maybe Fujitora has personal reason for hating the schichibukai.

@Zyzzz:

Not enough people seem to bring up Violet's reaction to Luffy's gomu gomu power. Thoughts?

Zyzz, pls go.

As far as I remember Oda originally planned OP to take 5 years till the end. If the 60%-thing is something stated by Oda we can be sure that what we have now will be actually less than 60% in the end. Oda always plans to make the stories short and compact, but when he gets into detail he will write more and more ;)

@Dohs:

haha good idea. Lets kill robin, wait for her fruit and then find it and feed Zoro with it!
He,d be like "I used to be a swordsman but i took robins df to the throat"

If Zoro had Robins Devilfruit he could use an pretty much unlimited number of swords… that would be totally awesome :O

@Marcoman:

Yeah that's what I'm wondering. The cells is what I'd like confirmed. Although I wonder if she goes to sleep does she take what is supposed to be her current form? Because if toys come back to humans at night (explains night rule) she may also resume her actual age form if that makes sense. Probably unlikely but something to think about.

hasnt the night rule been explained with the fact that the toys have to work at night?

@RobbyBevard:

The way the AUTHOR works, in terms of theme, style, and story points, is in fact, very important when trying to make any guess about the future of the series.

Plot twists and the introduction of new characters you can't predict anything on.

But how he handles characters and the overall narrative (foreshadowing, progression of story, death, dreams, etc) those are constants that are a part of his style for 16 years and 71 volumes now, and those aren't going to suddenly change without a VERY strong story related reason that makes a major impact.

Ace's death affected Luffy and made him train to be stronger.
Whitebeard's death redefined the era, shaking the entire new world, allowing Blackbeard to take power, and changing who was in charge of the marines.
Monet's death…? goes unremarked on by anyone, including Ceaser and Doflamingo, while she continues to be shown and brought up in flashbackbacks to remind us she exists?

She's exactly as dead as Igaram and Pell were... long enough to effect the current emotional situation, but fine and dandy at the end of the arc.

While it seems true that oda let everyone survive "heaven", i actually see a difference in his still since marineford, when it comes to killing people.

If she is exactly as dead as Igaram and Pell, then she wont have a major fight in this arc (which is actually what I argued against in the first place). I would be ok, if she and vergo appeared at the end of the arc or in a cover story or something like that. Her appaering in this arc, maybe even fighting again against the strawhats would just be lame. I mean we have so many characters (doflas crew, the revolutionaries, big mom, laws crew, many fighters from the colloseum) who hadnt a real fight in this arc, that i just hope she is dead and doesnt appaer again.

Still I think she is dead. I just dont see why Oda put so much emphasis of her relationship with dofla BEFORE her "death", he could have done that easily with flashbacks in dressrosa if she just appears somewhere in this arc, but then nobody would have realized that she a loyal member of dofla when she actually died (assumed it was her death).

@Somethings47:

If Whitebeard did with his tremors.

How did Doflamingo?

my guess was that he prevented that his body freezed with CoA, so there was basically just a "layer of ice" around him, which he was then able to destroy with brute strenght.

@Torao:

what about the flashback when they moved in 10 years ago?
wasnt that around the same time sabo must've still been a little beansprout?

oooh… yeah you are right... I mean it is still possible that sabo defeated the real gladius a few years ago and took his place, but i guess this is highly unlikely.
Damn Oda, always destroying my nice theories and predictions ;(

@choperman:

I meant point out the flaws in your logic if I was going to yell at someone though I'd probs just post in all caps and exclamation points

or just leave this

well… the video was pretty awesome.
but i dont see too much flaws since we havent seen gladius too often by now.
The points that are speaking for my claim:
1. Gladius covered his face (burn marks in sabos face)
2. Body seemed to function with mechanical help (maybe also because of his injuries of that day)
3. Revolutionaries seem to have experience with undercover missions (kuma)
4. It seemed like Sabo knew exactly where he was going in the colloseum, so he might have been around there before.
5. The revolutionaries also seemed like they knew exactly what was going on in dressrosa.

But after all, its actually more of a feeling. I just would like to see some infiltration in the underworld done by the revolutionaries, because i think it would be cool.

@choperman:

you deserved to be yelled at for this…. but I'm to busy deciding if I should keep procrastinating on writing my 8 page paper to do it

either way your opinion means absolutely nothing now

hahaha… come on your paper can wait. I would srsly love to see how you are going to yell at me over an anonymous internet forum.

@wolfwood:

There's plenty of non-haki users left. Two thirds of his organization seem to consist of people who don't use haki.

But his fighting team really should have it. It's pretty much their job to have those kinds of skills.

Especially since they've managed to keep their success rate in the tournament to a 100%

Well the opponents are definately not always as strong as they are now. I cant imagine that there has ever been an equally awesome price in the tournament as the mera mera.

But if I look at the graph of the last chapter I doubt your statement that there are enough non-haki enemies left if the whole battle-brigade knows haki.

In the Special-Ops brigade we have beside bufallo and baby-5, who are lame opponents only gladius. In trebols army we only have sugar and jora as fighters. And while jora has been one hitted by brook, we dont know if sugar is a strong opponent. So it comes down to gladius + sugar, and maybe the fighters who have already been defeated. You see, my main reason to argue like this, is that i dont think we will see a haki vs. non-haki fight.

Also i somehow suspect gladius to be sabo (i know, i know). But we havent seen anything of gladius, and sabo just appearing out of nowwhere also seems strange.