That’s why Wano Arc is going to be Marineford 2.0 ⋆ Anime & Manga

Wano arc is one of the most anticipated arcs in the series.

Hype for this arc began way back in Thriller Bark when Ryuuma introduced himself as one of the Samurai of Wano, and it seems that Oda drew a story set in Wano even before One Piece officially started (The story is titled Monsters, and stars none other than Ryuuma when he was alive). There is even a couple of quotes which make it seem like we should be more hyped than we already are for Wano.

The first quote belongs to Oda in the latest Jump Fiesta; Oda said:
“One Piece will finally enter Wano next year…I’ll introduce one of the legends lurking in the One Piece universe… The greatest enemy ever will hinder their way. Perhaps it will be something related to Whitebeard… can you believe Marineford will look cute compared to that?”

The second quote is from the latest chapter of the manga; Garp said:
“This situation (Kaido and Big Mom meeting and possibly allying again) will turn into something far bigger than anything we can imagine.”

I think that these two quotes make it very clear that things will escalate much more quickly than we’re anticipating, so I decided to make this thread to explore the possibilities around the corner. Let’s attempt to work out the participants in this coming war starting with the most obvious:

1-The Strawhat Pirates. They are the protagonists of the story and will of course be attempting to overthrow Kaido from his Yonko seat, with help from many allies, such as:
The Heart Pirates
The Mink Tribe
A good portion of the Samurai and Ninja of Wano
The remnants of The Whitebeard Pirates
The Straw Hat Grand Fleet

2-The Beast Pirates. Being the current holders of the territory, and primary antagonists, I can only imagine that the action will revolve around them as much as it would the protagonists. Their allies include, but are not limited to:
The On Air Pirates
X-Drake’s crew
Shogun of Wano followed by the rest of the Samurai and Ninja

3-The Big Mom Pirates. Big Mom is holding a massive grudge against Luffy, partly thanks to “Big News” Morgans, and partly because Luffy pissed her off on the den den mushi twice, took Fishman Island for himself, beat up her strongest crewmates, ruined her tea party, broke the picture of Mother Caramel, and copied her poneglyph… uh… Now that I summarized everything he did, I kinda feel dumb for not predicting that she’ll chase him… but no matter, Big Mom has a massive bone to pick with Luffy, and ancient history with Kaido and Garp which will be explored.

4-The Sun Pirates. Now that Big Mom is showing up again where Luffy is, there is absolutely no way the fate of Jinbe and his former crew won’t be explored in Wano.

5-The Kid Pirates. Having their captain, and possibly more crew members, captured by Kaido, they are already involved. I expect them to join Luffy’s alliance at least temporarily.

6-The Hawkins Pirates. It’s unclear what happened to Basil Hawkins after he met Kaido, but whether he was beat up or he joined him, there is a very good chance he’ll be in that battle field fighting for one of the two sides.

7-The Marines. Kizaru was fired up to go right away, so I’m assuming that he will go. What I’m wondering about is how much reinforcements he’ll bring. I’m guessing a lot, given that the first reason brought up for not going was the strength of the Samurai. Akainu is probably going to egg Fujitora to persue Luffy and Law like he promised. Garp seems to be in the center of the Luffy/Kaido/Big Mom plot, so he’ll likely show up as well. Still, you can’t really say Kizaru and Supernovas without saying Pacifista and Sentomarou right? This is as good a time as any to meet Vegapunk as well, and get a look at the Newest Pacifista Models. This is all way too similar to Sabaody Arc already. I mean, even Saint Charloss is trying to get himself a Mermaid again 😉

8-Speaking of Mermaids though, we’ve already established that Luffy, the pirate currently protecting Fishman Island, Big Mom, the pirate formerly protecting fishman island, Jinbe, the other pirate who’s always dedicated himself to protecting Fishman Island, Kaido, the only pirate outside this circle to potentially know about Shirahoshi being Poseidon (through X-Drake and Caribou), and the Marines who are surrounding Shirahoshi right now, are all going to be in Wano. I think it only follows naturally that The Mermaid Princess and The Sea Kings show up there as well. Sai and Leo are already in Reverie, so they’ll likely be the ones to escort Shirahoshi to the StrawHats for protection once shit hits the fan in Reverie. I think that Shirahoshi being exposed as Poseidon may very well be the catalyst for Akainu changing his mind and sending a massive portion of the marines strength out there.

9-CP0. If there is an Ancient Weapon on the loose, I think it is completely safe to assume CP0 will be coordinating closely with the marines.

10-The Shichibukai. One really can’t expect the marines to move without appealing to the Shichibukai as well, especially since Fujitora seems determined to bring down their system. A good old fashioned comparisson will be made between the two systems, but it’s not like the world government can really afford to let them go right this moment, with all that’s going on. They might as well use them for this fight before pulling the plug. Of course, each Shichibukai will have their own agenda going in there. Boa Hancock for instance will likely be there for Luffy.Edward Weevil will find it very convenient that both Luffy and the Whitebeard Pirates are in the same island. I’m really not sure whether it’s the right time for Mihawk to meet Zoro again, but a country-load of epic strong Samurai will probably warrant his attention anyway. Buggy may want to scold Luffy for taking his 4 giants and making him lose so much money, or something else, all that’s important when it comes to Buggy is that the meme lives on 🙂