@AGOG:
You disagree?[hide]
Fair enough, but human nature has done this continuously, it's become an art, really… Humans don't give a damn for how characters do things, just as long as they know what happens.
Let's do more examples:
Titanic, no one gives a fuck if Leonardo drew a picture of her being naked, they only really remember that the ship sank, everyone pretty much died, and the guy himself did die.
Romeo and Juliet:
No one gave a fuck what and how Juliet got the poison, the only thing that mattered is that she drank it.[/hide]
Now, since we are doing OP, let's continue: Pell… No one gives a fucking care how he lived, they're too busy whining over him living period.
Well, if that's how you feel about the world, then carry on.
I know for a fact that my friends and I, and also many fellow forum members don't just want a conclusion. There's no fun in that for me, I like the build-up. It gives me something to feel satisfied about. It gives the show substance. I could go on and on about the rhyme and reason, but everyone is different, and many things in life are subjective. I just find it a bit sad that you're not enjoying the substance of a great series like One Piece and all you want is the ending when Luffy becomes Pirate King.
@Uncle:
Depending on how haki functions could determine her level of hax. For instance, we know that haki is capable of nullifying devil fruit powers but we don't know if you can block a long-distance devil fruit power with haki (what I'm saying here is it might be possible to nullify being turned to stone with haki but we don't know yet). In addition, her devil fruit powers against fodder don't seem more hax than Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji's performance against fodder. Whereas she would have a crowd of stoned (ha ha, stoned) people behind her, the monster trio would have a crowd of knocked out bodies behind them.[hide]
Because of our limited knowledge on haki and who might get haki (I believe it's reasonable to say that Zoro and Sanji might get it) we can't yet say for certain if Hancock is overpowered in comparison. We do know that Luffy and Zoro will eventually be stronger than Hancock come the end of the story but how we get to that point, what steps are taken, etc. all depends on various details, the concentration of which currently is haki and its functions. It's not a stretch to say that Luffy will learn king's ambition by next arc and since Zoro (and Sanji) aren't far behind, they'll learn whatever they gotta learn to close the gap as well. Hancock should be somewhere equal to or greater/lesser than by a slim margin to Luffy come next arc.
I agree that Jinbei isn't that much stronger than Luffy on land but at sea he is virtually unrivaled (seriously, summoning those huge ass whales; what ship could beat them?) and though that's not necessarily a bad thing (hell, we don't know what the New World is packing) it is an amazingly powerful feat. Since Luffy's bounty should be rocketing soon, the bounty isn't an issue and doors certainly aren't an issue (ha ha). I'd say that I wouldn't mind Jinbei joining but I expect Oda to tune down his effectiveness at sea or tune up the New World's effectiveness (with like… nukes or something) if he does.[/hide]
@Deicide:
I think Jinbei has almost the same chances as Hancock. Who has the higher chances is a matter of biased opinion, I believe.[hide]
I agree somewhat that Hancock's petrification powers seem a little overpower, but Oda has yet to show her having a real fight against a touch opponent. The pacifistas were defeated off-panel, so it's hard to judge what happened there, and her powers may be specially good against them. Her fight against Smoker was not that impressive, IMO, since she also had exactly the right ability to hit him, and that was not a full fight with Smoker retaliating.[/hide]
Other than that, I think Hancock's personality is better developed, and Jinbei has so far little to no reason to stick to Luffy once he's healed.
I agree, Hancock's personality is more developed, but it had to be. Otherwise, she'd never have agreed to take Luffy to Impel Down. We needed a character that connected with Luffy enough to be willing to risk this high level of danger. And a situation like Law saving Luffy just because wouldn't work the same way. Either way, that's a whole other topic.
Out of the two, I'm just more comfortable with Jinbei over Hancock, and it's because of the current abilities of her character. How would she grow? I know we haven't seen a real fight with Hancock, but let's not forget that she's already one major step ahead with her "King's" Ambition (haki). Even during this war, we saw big names failing to make contact with logia users, and this seems to be a critical ability needed for being one of the top contenders. I'm not gonna make any claims about Hancock and how she is the l33t. However, we have to consider that she's the ruler of an entire nation of warriors, and to be the most beautiful where beauty is strength indicates that she should be well developed in her fighting abilities. So my biggest concern is with her growth if she were to join the crew.
Ok, so I had to step away in the middle of writing this up, so I'll attempt to keep the continuity, but I may not succeed all that well :)
I know a lot of my theory is based off of the premise of being able to make contact with logia users being pivotal to achieving the top, but I think this is a very important point to consider. Right now, Jinbei seems to be almost there but not just quite yet, and has the room to grow along with Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji. Hancock on the other hand, already has this ability and is known specifically for Kuja haki and perhaps a little less known for possession of the King's Disposition version of haki.
There's also Hancock's responsibilities as the Snake Princess, but this can easily be dealt with IMO. So, all-in-all, development and growth wise, I'd say Jinbei has more potential for joining. But personality wise, Hancock hands down.