User blog comment:Yountoryuu/Don't read if not seen chapter 579!/@comment-67.235.38.236-20100325052342

"What the fuck is crocodile doing in a time like this? WASTING TIME BATTLING SOME CRAPPY LOW MARINES LOL?" Well no, he was dueling the strongest swordsman in the ENTIRE WORLD, Mihawk, and also the man with the highest bounty yet seen, Donflamingo. This seems like it would tie up his options a bit.

In the previous chapter, when Crocodile saved Luffy and Jimbei, it seemed to me like Crocodile was rushed. He jumped into the fight, distracted Akainu, sent Luffy, Akainu, and Jimbei flying in different directions with his sandstorm, and then left. Perhaps he was still fighting Doflamingo? That would explain why he was covered in blood, more so than before. And what about Mihawk? He was fighting him too... Crocodile seems to be in every fight...

Kaidou... I'm betting Shanks traded something to him in exchange for staying out of the fight. Unless... unless he is going to appear at Marineford too? Maybe Shanks just delayed him. Man, that would be AWESOME. Two Yonkou, Blackbeard, the admirals, the Shichibukai... It'd be a free-for-all. I doubt that this will happen though. Too chaotic. The exchange seems more likely.

I don't think any more major characters are going to die; it would lessen the effect of Ace's and Whitebeard's deaths.

Will Shanks team up with Mihawk? I don't know. I think they might, if only because otherwise Shanks wouldn't make much of an impact. If he spends his time dueling with Mihawk, he can't very well stop the war.

Will Sengoku outmatch Blackbeard? Yeah. If only during the short run, I think that Sengoku will win. Blackbeard may destroy the fortress, but he won't leave the island unscathed, and Sengoku will definitely stop him before he can destroy it.

SHOULD Shanks fight Blackbeard is a very different question from your previous "will" questions... Now that that has been pointed out, "Should" in what way? Should he morally? Yes. He values nakama, and Blackbeard has directly led to the death of Whitebeard and Ace, who were, if not nakama, at least good friends. "Should" he in the story? No. Blackbeard will not be able to match Sengoku and Shanks. There simply is no way. Shanks doesn't even use a devil fruit, he uses Haki and his sword, so Blackbeard's much vaunted devil-fruit-neutralizing-ability is useless. And obviously, Blackbeard can't lose yet. He is the new villain, the new ultimate boss, to be fought with after Luffy defeats the admirals. He can't die until then.

Obviously, Luffy and Jimbei will be saved by Law, and they will escape. This is necessary for the storyline. Though they may end up traveling with Shanks for a while, which would be great, because he could finally teach Luffy how to use Haki! Then Luffy can beat the crap out of those Admirals, like we all want him to. Especially Akainu and Kizaru.

Here is what I think will happen: Shanks and his top members (Yasopp, Beckman, etc) will hold off the Marine Admirals and the rest of the marine forces while the Whitebeard Pirates/Luffy/Law make their exits. Meanwhile, Blackbeard ends up overexerting himself, and gets rescued by his crew, who then escapes (probably while riding in San Juan Wolf's palm). Perhaps Doc Q will heal him? Wait, maybe that is why he is so sick all of the time: he has the ability to suck damage off of people, like Kuma. So when Blackbeard fights, and takes all of that damage, Doc heals him by taking, I dunno, half of the damage off. Anyway, Shanks guards the pirates' retreat, teaches Luffy about Haki, and drops him off at Shaobondy Archipelago, where Shanks and Rayleigh get drunk. The end.

Oh, speaking of speculation, 5,000 internet points says that one of the Yonkou has the "air" logia power. The ability to control air, fly, compress air, etc. Imagine what it could've done in conjunction with Ace's fire logia...