Speaking of Blue Gilly, I wonder if he's going to have any significance in this arc moving forward. You'll note Ricky was entirely hidden, yet Blue Gilly said "old man," implying Observation Haki.
This could just be Oda's way of introducing us to arcs where haki is more common than normal, but it could also be signaling something for Blue Gilly.
Also, +1ing Franky; Kyros is almost definitely related to Rebecca in some way...
I think Blue Gilly's main purpose in this arc is to give Sanji another fighting style. Zoro is getting the ability to cut fire, Sanji needs something too.