If Luffy beats Katakuri and escapes, does he ever have to beat Big Mom at all? I get the feeling with everything in shambles for her that Blackbeard will conveniently show up and end her reign.
What I mean is this: Luffy defeated Cracker, one of three sweets-commanders. Katakuri is her strongest resource (other than herself).
Her transponder snails aren’t currently working (probably due to fishmen destroying them). The Germa took out probably about 10,000 of her soldiers which should be no small feat (assuming Niji’s response was accurately depicting the force BM’s crew sent after them).
Her castle and stronghold are in ruins.
The most recent chapter contains the line “A proud king loses his crown”.
Her kingdom is ripe for taking by an able-bodied crew (Kaido, Shanks or Blackbeard. Even the WG).
Blackbeard is the most likely candidate, and has been shown to act on impulse (e.g Burgess saying he is injured on Baltigo initiated a huge knee-jerk invasion of the RA Base). He has more than a few reasons to invade her territory.
First off is it’s very likely well known that her crew consists of a plethora of strong Devil-fruit users, which Blackbeard happens to be hunting at the moment. Among these being Oven’s fruit, the Genie fruit (seemed interesting), and a few others. He may not know about the exact fruits, but he probably makes a safe assumption that any yonko crew has a fair amount of strong Devil Fruits in its ranks.
Blackbeard likely knows that she holds a Road Poneglyph. He is the most opportunistic character in the series. Between Impel Down, taking Crocodile’s position, taking advantage of Whitebeard’s weakened state, attacking the RA HQ; I can easily foresee Blackbeard making a detour over to Tottoland once Luffy’s escapades appear in the news. I could see him arrogantly thanking Luffy too. Oda has dedicated a TON of screen-time to Big Mom and Whole Cake Island in general. We are more than six months out from the start of the Tea Party. This has definitely become more than a mini-arc. I don’t feel like Oda is going to want to dedicate another major arc to the same villain, and Luffy probably isn’t going to defeat Big Mom right here. I definitely feel like Blackbeard is going to end her once this arc is over with.
Baron Tamago mentioned that he can’t let Big Mom’s name be besmirched. His reasoning is definitely deeper than blind pride. If the events that transpired on WCI were to leave, it would indicate to able-bodied parties that her territory, her reign, and her possessions are ripe for taking. BM is definitely formidable and not someone that even Teach could take out “easily”, but with her top two commanders out of commission, her surveillance system not working, her first son’s arm blown off and probably on his last leg, multiple children killed by none other than BM herself, her castle in ruins (which Morgans actively took pictures of as it was exploding), and the news that all of this was caused by a “single rookie pirate” I feel like it’s going to be very obvious that the best chance to ever take out Big Mom is right now. I lean towards Blackbeard over the WG, and Kaido for the reasons mentioned above. Plus, with all the Kaido hype it’d be pretty weird for Luffy to arrive on Wano and the beast not be there. Shanks doesn’t strike me as a conquerer. The WG may send CP0, but I’m not sure. I’d imagine CP0 would definitely have a vested interest in stopping the Road Poneglyph from falling into the wrong hands.
Blackbeard clearly wants to be Pirate King and does a decent amount of research (into DF’s, but I’m sure that research extends to his goals as well) so he very likely knows the significance of the Road Poneglyphs, and that BM holds one of them.
*Theory by catagon87
