As we know Law has been fighting Blackbeard while Kid has been preparing to fight Shanks. I can’t see Blackbeard and Shanks losing at this point of the story because of many reasons, among which narrative and hype built for over twenty five years.

At the same time, I can’t see Kidd and Law dying at this point of the story, especially Law who seems to have become for Oda the “vessel” throughout which we have to learn about the D.Clan, the Will of D. and their “checkered fate”.

So what now? I can see this being resolved like this:

Blackbeard will reach his goal, he will take the Red Poneglyphs that Law has, while the latter is utterly defeated. But when Blackbeard is on the verge of killing him for good, a third party will appear, the Navy, it could be Garp or Fujitora.

That will make Blackbeard retreat immediately since he doesn’t want to deal with the Navy, especially with a legendary marine or a gravity controlling Admiral, now that he is worn out after a tough fight with a Supernova.

Law and the Heart Pirates will escape on their own with the submarine. So it’s good for everyone Blackbeard wins, fulfills his agenda, and Law doesn’t die and escapes, but he’s back to square one (or zero) with no Poneglyph rubbings.

Kid and the Kid Pirates look to be in a worse situation, they are against Shanks, his executives, the remnants of the old Giant Pirates and his allied crews. How can he survive this?

I don’t think Kid can fight on par with Shanks. When the Kid Pirates are on the brink of being overwhelmed, it will appear the Cross Guild with Crocodile and Mihawk. Thanks to this, Kid will escape, but will lose Poneglyphs to Shanks

In both cases the appearance of a third party will soften the extreme outcome of utter defeat/death in this deadly scenarios.

I think these match ups were Oda’s way of allowing Shanks and Blackbeard to compete for the One Piece with Luffy. Oda had to give them the three Poneglyphs someway. The final three crews going all out will be Red Hair Pirates, Straw Hat Pirates, and Blackbeard Pirates.

Do you think it’s a plausible scenario of what will happen? Do you have better ideas?