Probably just fodder to show off SH new abilities, I really wanna see what has come of Coby after these two years.

Bumped and updated for HYPE!

Reread op, though most relevant stuff is here

My bets (for the current arc):

Sanji will end up fighting Coribou as he wants to save the Mermaids
The Mermaid Princess will end up being a case of Crouching Moron Hidden Badass, probably not too far off given how frickin' huge she is.

They will come way from Fishman Island with the 10th Nakama. Who exactly i can't tell (short list candidates are the Kraken, Van Der Decken, Jinbei, and the Mermaid Princess)

Man, I totally forgot about this thread and One Piece too!(sorry =s)

need to re-read previous arc so I can remember some of the events...

After seeing Suan Juan Wolf anything is possible. I'll leave out the suggestion of a new nakama coming at the moment for these reasons.

1) Jinbei will probably need to oversee how mermaid island needs to reformed, playing an ambassador-esque role

2) So much still needs to be seen and known from the current SH crew e.g. new acquired abilities

3) Her dream is to visit the forest???? Where Jinbei is based at the moment

Seems to incovenient for a new member to come in, point 2 needs to be ironed out before that happens.

My 2 cents.

San Juan Wolf is the only reason why i'm listing the Kraken and the Mermaid Princess, just because i've come to accept the fan theory that Blackbeard is the anti-Luffy, and his crew are the anti-Straw Hats, a theory which gums up when you realize Blackbeard's got 10 total (counting himself), and the Straw Hats need someone fricking huge to counter San Juan Wolf, who is large on a scale to make Monster Chopper look puny

Great update for.... HYPE!

This Week's Topic

The Motives behind the "Gorousei"

Who are they?

Being the top of the World Government, they are the rulers of the entire world, and have complete control over all Government-affiliated organizations, such as the police, the nine Cipher Pol units, and even the Marines. Even Fleet Admiral Sengoku's orders can be squashed by their decisions. However, they only seem to care about the public image of the World Government: they will go to great lengths to keep the public's view of them in a good light. They have ordered the killing an entire island of people to hide the discovery of the Void Century; they have hidden the fact that Gekko Moriah was building an army of zombies; they have even kept the escape of Level 6 inmates of Impel Down a secret. Some of these decisions have even angered Sengoku, a true follower of Absolute Justice and the Marines. However, it is unknown how much influence and command the elders have over the World Nobles, or vice versa, as the World Nobles were described to possess power to do anything they desire.

Political powers aside, it is currently unknown how strong each one of the elders are. However, due to their clear muscles and scars, and that one of them is wielding a sword, it would appear that they have some battle experience and capabilities.

Knowing all this Oda hasn't played his deadliest card which are the "Gorousei". I ponder what are their true motives? Is it closely linked to the "Blank Century" or is it something they are trying to erase. Maybe this explains their morbid hate for pirates or lets say "One piece".

Hopefully these weekly discussions will keep this topic alive, instead of waiting for something big to happen.

What the Gorosei's motives are will likely tie in to the truth behind the Void Century (exactly what the World Government did to seize power in that time that they want to cover up), so it's likely not a question that will be answered until Raftel. I would imagine the Gorosei are the Ministers to the Tenryuubito's Monarchs, as it were: the Tenryuubito are nominally the rulers of the world, but the Gorosei wield the functional power while the Tenryuubito just dick around, buying up mermaid-slaves.

Given that the One Piece world in general and the World Government in particular seems to operate on the precept of "physical strength = rank" (in every case except Spandam that has been shown to be the case), so the Gorosei would at least have to be on Garp's level or so, though it would be fun if they were just that much stronger than the Admirals

Spandam got his rank through birthright.