This chapter made the Rebecca chapter from a few weeks ago truly 100% pointless as I'd been saying all along. Oda manufactured the issue of them not being able to live together in the public eye from literally out of no where and then drove the final stake through it this week when he revealed the 'the citizens knew all along!'. All of this stalling just to depart at 800 and have a 100 chapter arc.
Seems more like he did it to talk up the citizens hating pirates, and what they were really doing.
Were you not reading previous chapter discussions? Oda had so many people fooled about their true intentions.That and Luffy was fooled just the same.