@Faye317:
Garp does say that Shanks is "the man who brought Luffy into this pirate mess in the first place" and that Luffy is "under his bad influence", so even if there might be other reasons (though I doubt it), I think Shanks plays the main role here.
That said, I'm curious to know what Luffy thought about pirates and his grandpa's plans for him to become a marine before he met him.
I can't wait for this flashback either, I've been waiting for this ever since Ace first appeared, I want to know everything about Luffy and Ace's childhood XD
Yeah, Garp did say that, and I agree it certainly could be true, but I recognize that when other characters say stuff it may not necessarily be true (the info about devil fruits is a case in point). It could just be what Garp wants to think because Shanks is the most convenient person to blame, lol. His judgement is almost as bad as Luffy's.
And good point about Luffy's thoughts about pirates and marines before he met Shanks etc. I'd love to know all that stuff. I imagine, since Oda says we're only half way through now, all will be revealed in time.
@MmmBug:
I think, and I'm sure others think this as well, that the flashback is going to be about the incident Ace mentioned when he was dying.
The incident were he tells Luffy don't go writing me off as dead and promises him that he's not going to die. We saw bits and pieces of this already during Marineford.
If this is right, that means somewhere in this flashback Luffy is going to think Ace has died from some unknown event we have yet to have been shown, and then Luffy will find out that Ace is still alive.
How this will affect him in the present time I'm not certain but I'm sure others can draw a few conclusions from this.
I'm willing to say, that whatever comes out of this flashback should at least lighten Luffy's, I don't know burden? all around bad mood? his sadness? at least a little for the better.
Can not wait for anything more about Luffy, man of mystery (lol)
I'm sort of assuming what Ace managed to say to Luffy at the end will play an important role in his eventually finding peace and re-energizing his determination–i.e. I mean the stuff Ace said about not having any regrets (that is what they promised each other, after all) other than not being able to see Luffy accomplish his dream. Luffy has been pretty grounded about Ace all along--even when Ace's card clearly showed him in danger etc, he recognized Ace's right to live (and presumedly die) in his own way on his own adventure. I thought that was pretty mature--but perhaps instead it just highlighted Luffy's complete belief in Ace being able to do/overcome anything? After all, Luffy believes in himself that much, and he was never able to beat Ace in a fight. Maybe he more or less just had this underlying belief in Ace as invincible, in a way.
And for the record, I do not think the SHs will find Luffy first, I think Luffy will set off to get them. Its his role. He's the captain, and has been showing more and more leadership ability, especially recently. It makes sense in the story for his renewed determination to become Pirate King to be illustrated by his finding the crew and getting them back together.
I was wondering the other day, too. Luffy, as goofy as he is, is the glue that holds the SHs together, right? Would they fall apart if something happened to him, do you think?