User blog comment:Videogamep/The Future/@comment-4729061-20150904021224

Hm, I would say it would be like what I assume Buggy does with the Pirate dispatch thing, everyone has their own ships, and through the snails, they form a effective navy(I'm really hoping we get some kind of major sea battle in the future where one of the Straw hats(likely sanji or Usopp), has to play strategist.

The navy does their own thing most of the time, maybe takes an island like Fishman Island once they're strong enough, and mostly they are out of the main story until, like you said, the Straw hats really need them.

I would bet we would see a few filler arcs following their journey's, which would be nice.