The Straw Hat Pirates need to do something relatively easygoing before heading straight into the next major arc. Buggy might be able to provide that.
The following contains spoilers for One Piece Chapter 1056, “Cross Guild,” by Eiichiro Oda, Stephen Paul and Vanessa Satone, available in English from Viz Media.
As of Chapter 1056 of One Piece, “Cross Guild,” there’s still no certainty as to where exactly the Straw Hat Pirates are headed once they leave Wano. Not only has the name of the next island not been revealed, but it’s hard to say exactly which threat should follow Kaidō. However, this latest chapter may have also provided an answer as to who will be fought next– Buggy’s Cross Guild.
At the Straw Hats’ current level, it seems like the only pirate crews left who can challenge them are those of the Four Emperors. However, it might still be a little early to go challenging Blackbeard or Shanks. Now might be a better time for a relatively low-stakes battle against Buggy, who has also somehow become an Emperor himself.
The Wano Arc has been one of One Piece’s biggest arcs yet in both length and scale. To go from this arc directly into another massive, high-stakes arc might be too much. It would be exhausting for both the Straw Hats and the audience. What everyone could really use at this point is a cooldown arc. This could be something like the Zou Arc leading into the Whole Cake Island Arc or the Long Ring Long Land Arc leading up to Water 7 and Enies Lobby. It would be a needed break following the intense, years-in-the-making battle for Wano.
Of course, having a less intense arc than Wano doesn’t mean it has to be free of conflict or action. This is where Buggy comes into the picture. As a new Emperor for the wrong reasons, he’s the ideal opponent for the Straw Hats to contend with before getting back into the really serious battles.
As for whether Buggy can pose an actual threat, that has much more to do with who’s under him. Even before the latest chapter, he’d developed a massive loyal following of powerful pirates. They may be foolish for deciding to follow him, but as a united force, they’re not to be trifled with.
However, what’s really threatening about Buggy right now is his new group, Cross Guild. He’s somehow managed to get the likes of Crocodile and Dracule Mihawk to work under him. However it happened, Buggy being able to recruit Warlords with more pride, ambition, and physical strength than he’s ever personally had seems to speak to his level of influence.
The fact that all three of these key members of Cross Guild are former Warlords could mean that fans have only been shown the tip of the iceberg. It’s possible that with the Seven Warlords system abolished, the other Warlords have also rallied under Buggy. Crocodile and Mihawk might have just been the ones to get top billing on the poster.
If Buggy really can recruit former Warlords, then that leaves him with a few possibilities. Edward Weevil seems like he’d be an easy enough target given his lack of agency; if Buggy managed to convince this behemoth to work for him, then he might have used his brute force to strongarm the other Warlords into joining him. Gecko Moria’s fate following his confrontation with Blackbeard remains unknown, though it seems unlikely that he’d take that Emperor’s offer to join him; if he somehow escaped Blackbeard’s territory, he might have seen an advantage in joining up with the other Warlords instead. Boa Hancock seems unlikely at first, but again, if people as ambitious and prideful as Crocodile and Mihawk can join, anything seems possible. Even Trafalgar Law, another former Warlord, could end up in this alliance through whatever twist of fate drew in Crocodile and Mihawk. Cross Guild has the potential to become a gathering place for all of the Warlords who were cast out by the World Government.
However many Warlords there are, a gathering of them would be an ideal challenge for the Straw Hat Crew. Even if Luffy is now an Emperor, the Warlords were mainly established as a means to counterbalance the Emperors. Some of them have even been known to fight with Emperors in the past. Handling one such Warlord was always a big task for Luffy, so fighting several of them at once would certainly prove to be a challenge, especially for the rest of his crew.
Of course, there’s the question of whether all the Warlords are truly up to the task of challenging the current Straw Hats. Some of these Warlords were beaten by Luffy and his crew before their two years of training. The only way they’d reasonably stand a chance against them now is if they, too, have been training since their last encounter; considering how Crocodile is being presented as a credible threat, this ought to be the case. If it is, then perhaps they’re now truly as strong as the Marines hoped they would be.
With that said, the difficulty of fighting these Warlords is precisely what would make them a good challenge for the Straw Hats as a crew. While it’s obvious that Luffy and a few others have plenty of strength that makes them at least as strong as a Warlord, that same boast is difficult to argue for the rest of the crew. Beating actual Warlords could be their chance to show not only how far they’ve come but also to prove to the world that they’re worthy of being on an Emperor’s crew.
Fighting Warlords would also be a good way to raise the crew’s bounties. So far, it seems that Luffy was the only one to get his bounty raised following the events of Wano. The rest of the crew, despite fighting former captains with much higher bounties than their own, received no bounty increases of their own to speak of. This may have something to do with the pirates they fought not being quite as big a deal as their boss. If the Straw Hats were to fight and win against much more infamous pirates like the Seven Warlords, that might give them the recognition they deserve.
It’s hard to say what the matchups would be like for a battle between the Straw Hats and the Seven Warlords, but there are some good guesses to be had. Zoro would most likely end up fighting with Mihawk no matter what. After all, he still has to prove he’s the world’s greatest swordsman by beating him.
Sanji would have to fight Crocodile since he’s one of the only other crew members who can use Armament Haki to hurt him. Alternatively, someone else could fight if they pair up with Nami, who could dampen Crocodile with rain clouds and make him vulnerable that way. Jimbei might take a less frontal role in these fights as he’s already proven he’s at the Warlord level.
“God” Usopp might be left to take care of the Buggy the Genius Jester. This would then bolster his own ridiculously exaggerated reputation. Of course, again, if anyone besides Jimbei beats any of these Warlords, they’d be improving their own reputation in the pirate world significantly.
Luffy might not get a challenge out of Buggy, but he may still have something to do if Edward Weevil is actually present. Whoever this person is, he’s rumored to be comparable in strength to Whitebeard in his prime. If Buggy really did recruit someone like this, then he ought to make a worthwhile opponent for Luffy following Kaidō.
With all of this said, there’s always the possibility that none of these fights happen, at least not all at once. Since One Piece is presumably in its final saga, it may be asking too much to devote individual arcs to all of the remaining antagonists. They may just all be put together into one large, intricate story where everything gets tied together, including the key fights. To this end, Cross Guild could be an antagonistic force, but not such an impactful one that they get their own arc.
In any case, Cross Guild sounds like it would be just right as the Straw Hat Pirates’ next opponent. They might not be quite as tough as a real Emperor’s crew, but they’d still be plenty difficult to face in their own right. They should pose just the right amount of a challenge the Straw Hats need before going into the manga’s true final battles.
