So, this theory is about how the Marco storyline will play out. Nekomamushi is heading towards Marco’s location. Unless he’s been captured, I don’t think he’s gonna be difficult to find. He’s probably sitting somewhere deep into WB’s past territory, half-heartedly trying to hold onto the whitebeard pirates’ former glory.

But more importantly, I don’t think Marco’ll be thrilled to join their cause.

I took a closer look at Marco’s picture, and gosh, he does not look cheerful.

Actually, he looks like a man who’s been through the last two years of Marco’s life… First, the loss of one of his best friends, and immediately afterwards, his leader and father figure. He was forced to take up the mantle of responsibility for a crapton of people who’re wounded, directionless, and just as sad as him following Ace and WB’s deaths. And last but not least, the first battle he gets into, a revenge-fight against BB, he loses miserably.

I think Marco has become a beaten, bitter man, and he never wants to fight again.

Inuarashi admits it’s a slim chance, and there’s no strawhat on the marco-retrieval squad, so that’s another point against Marco joining.

The interesting question is, what consequenses will this have? Well, what usually happens when the Achilles in his tent trope is played? Achilles refuses to fight, the heroes head into battle without him, loses, Achilles is convinced to fight after all, Achilles makes a badass entrance, wins, but a bunch of guys are dead…

So that’s the overall picture of what I think will happen.

Diving into the details…

We know that Weevil, the little bastard, is looking for a fight with Marco. Even though Weevil is incredibly provoking, calling himself WB’s real son and sullying his name, I don’t think Marco cares at this point, and he’s probably postponing the fight with Weevil. I’m not saying Marco will ignore Weevil if he gets up in his face, but as long as it’s over newspaper and his subordinates, I think Marco will ignore it to simmer in his own misery.

The battle is going to be further postponed by Weevil being called to participate in the battle of Wano, tipping the battle into Kaido’s favor.
At this point, Marco might head into the battle willingly, or he’ll continue to sulk until one of the strawhats slaps him out of it.

The battle against Weevil will see the revival of Marco’s spirit, metaphorically. I think him and Weevil will have a heart to heart about fathers, and ultimately, Marco will offer Weevil to join his crew.

It’s possible that one of the Strawhats will join the retrieval team. In that case, it would be Robin. She’s optimal for scouting missions. Plus, Marco might be located close by Baltigo, tying together two plotlines.

*Theory by Birdy

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On Naruto’s face on the Hokage Rock, Boruto paints the Straw Hat Pirates’ jolly roger, a reference to One Piece by Eiichiro Oda. In return, the cover art of One Piece’s chapter 766 references Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto.