User blog comment:Kaido King of the Beasts/Chapter 912: A Futile Feudal Life/@comment-24850639-20180720161553/@comment-24850639-20180725190049

Think I have a tad bit more clarify after re-reading all this, as well as some of your comments.

- I agree on the story flowing a bit better with the Ace-Luffy connection being delayed. Luffy's incredibly blunt reveal of Ace's death is also actually a sign of maturity. He's dealt with this tragedy in the most direct way he possibly can - holding on even tighter to his crew, and continuing to get stronger so that he doesn't lose anyone else. Ace died right in his arms, and it will definitely make Hitetsu and Tama a lot more endeared to him once they learn her suffering over this is ABSOLUTELY nothing compared to Luffy's trauma. It just threw me off because Luffy loved his brother so much and was so proud of him. I'd expect Luffy to brag to everyone about him just like Ace & Sabo love to brag about their little bro who's gonna become Pirate King.

- I believe Hitetsu's allies will either recognize Luffy's sword, the patches on Luffy's kimono (could be some kind of organization's logo), or see Tama and know that she needs help. As far as who Hitetsu is waiting on, I'd be quite surprised if it wasn't Zoro, just based on the way that Oda set it up. Of course we don't know WHY Hitetsu is waiting on this person, but given his background, I'm willing to wager that his family has some kind of folk tale around the background of the Kitetsu blades and who is ultimately destined to wield them. I know a lot of people don't want Wano to turn into Zoro's background arc, but it's starting to seem pretty inevitable.

- Drake's actions in Amigasa Village I believe were meant to serve as a distraction that his tale of joining Kaido's ranks was much different than the rest of the Supernova. We're meant to believe that he's truly gone to the darkside, and is not a redeemable character, I and I fell for it. The fact that the other Supernova were forced into servitude while he sought it out is a rather obvious hint that something is up with his situation. It's also peculiar that we see him attack Scotch prior to the timeskip, yet he's not an actual member of Kaido's crew until 1 year later. Yonko move the world in days, I'm not convinced that it took a year for Kaido to address Drake's transgression. Even still, that would make Drake a Beast Pirate for at least a year now, while Hawkins and Apoo couldn't have been for more than a week-ish. I would expect Drake to have a higher rank than Headliner.

- Ace was a Spade Pirate during this time confirmed. The two Spade Pirates he is tied up with are known as "Ducky Bree" and "Aggie 68". Mihar also appears behind Aggie later in the chapter. Also if you look really hard, you can see that the beached ship is the Piece of Spadille, and not the Moby Dick. For some reason, 2 things never occured to me:

1. WhiteBeard could have, and most likely did visit Wano wayyyy before he knew who Ace even was. Oden/Inu/Neko's expeditions were at least 20 ish years ago, not sure how that didn't click to me.

2. Ace didn't need to be in Wano in order to make the kasa hat for Oars. Well yes, he had to learn by visiting there, but I had it in my head for some reason that he forged the hat for Oars WHILE IN Wano. Once he learned he to make it from Tama he could make them anytime he wanted as long as he had the materials. Therefore, upon joining the Whitebeard Pirates and eventually meeting Oars, he crafted the hat then.