@Brennan (I like your spoiler text idea)
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My apologies for the delay in my response, I was going to wait till tomorrow but then got in another debate with another member so it's only fair that I address you now.
Writing techniques aren't usually categorized as 'opinion', so you can be wrong, as can I. You keep throwing around terms that you don't define or don't understand, and given the subject matter, I'm not surprised to see people get a little aggressive; you can't just cry "opinion" and expect to be safe from debate. Anyway, a character pretending to join a crew so he can kill them from the inside, while the crew in question being relatively infamous for making allies out of enemies isn't foreshadow for them joining. It's at the moment baseless conjecture, but sure, he could eventually become an ally in the future.
Surely you are correct when you say that writing techniques aren't usually categorized as "opinion," but a prediction for the next nakama is invariably an "opinion" regardless of if it has some foundation through information available, as mine does.
I keep throwing around terms and then explaining them extensively, some which I may not have explained adequately were explained when I was talking to Jerk Disease, as well. Either way, if you list specific terms that I have used which you would like clarification on, I will clarify them for you whatever degree you require.
You are right that the crew's fame for turning enemies into allies doesn't directly foreshadow that every enemy they encounter will end up an ally, but so far that is a significant and re-occurring theme. I don't need to list these characters because I know you're just as versed in the manga as I am.
That said, I acknowledge that it doesn't always occur. I do not believe Eneru would help the Strawhats in any tangible way, and I believe he said he planned to come back stronger and meaner (don't remember 100%) and there are other examples where, arguably, the villain never changed heart and still wants to kill the strawhats or at least is not willing to help the strawhat (the king on chopper's island, maybe, and a few others).
Caribou attempted to join the straw hat pirates in order to kill/destroy them from the inside. He is an infiltrator type of character, oddly he is being put in that same position right now, deciding what he should do after his surprise attack went totally wrong due to Fate fucking him over and trapping him alone with the Strawhats, because he accidentally caught the EXACT WRONG sea king to try and use to attack the straw hat pirates with.
I agree with you that conjecture is required, but that is the case for any 'prediction', including Jimbei, Perona, Hancock, and etc, as the next potential crewmate. I disagree with you that all conjecture is "baseless" and specifically that any of my prediction is "baseless." I have provided a significant base for this prediction with the minimal amount of material available to me.
It doesn't invalidate this prediction, it's an element of all the current predictions that I have seen (if I am wrong, show me, and I will change my views) on this board.
See, you can't just arbitrarily point at something and assign some writing term to it. I can say Luffy's frilly shirt is foreshadow that he wants to wear longer sleeved clothes from now on, but that doesn't really make sense now does it? So let's look at this portion of your argument: Oda constantly demonstrates extremely significant literary theory by transitioning from one section of story (read: "Mega Arc") to the next. Constantly… that is, one time, going on two. This extremely significant literary theory of transition, as seen by the crew leaving East Blue and entering the Grand Line, is now being repeated by the crew leaving "Paradise" and entering the New World. Amidst these constant transitions, which again is coming up on two, everyone who was traveling on the crew's ship was, in fact, a member of the crew. Lo and behold, we are currently transitioning from "Paradise" to the New World, AND OH MY GOD CARIBOU IS ON THE SHIP. Ergo, this is foreshadow that he will join.
I have not arbitrarily assigned anything to anything in my theory. It is strong and decentralized while maintaining purpose. I said that Caribou's role in the discovery of the Krakken, and Luffy's reaction, was a foreshadowing event, and that the tool Oda used to was the parallel between Caribou's character, and the description Caribou gives of the Krakken. Luffy then states he will tame it.
This is an observation based claim. If I saw an airplane in the sky and announced it, you could state outright that my claim was baseless conjecture, and it WOULD be true that my claim that it was an airplane was conjecture, I wouldn't be able to empirically prove it even if it looked like an airplane. But if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, sure, it's "conjecture" but it's based on experience and knowledge, and it's probably a damn duck.
If you saw an airplane, and identified it, I could likewise accuse you of baseless conjecture, and technically I would be right to classify it as such, it's just your opinion of what the object you are observing is, based only on your past experiences observing said object.
It's the same here, it is not 'less valid' because of this. People accurately identify airplanes in the sky every day even though their doing so is conjecture, they do not have the means to empirically show it is an airplane just from being able to see it in the distance (and in SOME cases, people misidentify airplanes as UFOs).
There is a margin of error but it is pretty low. My prediction here is not as solid as my ability to identify an aircraft in the sky (I was a Reconnaissance Man in the USMC), but it is decent enough that I can and will defend it. Just like if I saw an apple and you told me it was an orange.
Amidst these constant transitions, which again is coming up on two, everyone who was traveling on the crew's ship was, in fact, a member of the crew. Lo and behold, we are currently transitioning from "Paradise" to the New World, AND OH MY GOD CARIBOU IS ON THE SHIP. Ergo, this is foreshadow that he will join.
Correct, Caribou's presence alone on the ship specifically resulting from a hand of god plot development (Moo Moo) foreshadows that Caribou will be traveling with the Straw Hat Pirates on their journey, as does the "tame the Krakken" parallel.
Hell they actually temporarily did tame Caribou, for the moment. He came in invading them and now he's like a god damned trained animal, submissive (but willing to beg).
Of course they weren't. This is a written story, so there has to be a first time for some things, and of course Oda won't rehash his story all over the place. I understand your gut feeling behind this stems from the fact that this is a major event for the crew, but in no way does that suggest Oda has crew member plans for this single unprecedented scenario. Whatever story Oda has planned for Fishman Island, it obviously requires Caribou to be here, split from the rest of his crew. In addition to that, Caribou allows perspective and 3rd party comments to the crew's growth by witnessing their ridiculous antics first hand.
This is why it is a prediction instead of a stated "THIS WILL HAPPEN NO MATTER WHAT." Except that I disagree with the assertion that it "in no way suggests," from what we have experienced so far in one piece, it DOES suggest it. Despite this suggestion it could not come to fruition, but it is suggested based on the history of the manga. It's inconsistent to have a fodder character present through the major transitions in the story. This manga has been going for a very long time and it just has no happened. Hell, even characters that merely 'appeared' on an island in a transition (Aokiji) turned out to be a) Significant and b) related to future Nakama (Robin).
All he did was show up on Longoring Island and nearly decimate the straw hat crew. Then he tore Robin's conscience in half with his display of overwhelming power and the whole entire save robin stuff had to happen. All these characters in these transitions are historically important and none of them actually traveled with the strawhats through one of them, especially not immediately after having attempted to join the straw hat crew (with infiltration rather than loyalty in mind, but still, it can't be ignored).
Oda didn't force anything, and I don't understand why you hold to that idea so firmly. What you are suggesting is forced could be applied to almost anything in the story. Seriously. On top of that, Oda technically started developing Caribou on Saboady. What's most important, however, is that Caribou's actions in this chapter accurately depict how he was setup on Saboady. Him lying and waiting for the right opportunity in this chapter is basically the same as him joining the Fauxhat crew so he could kill them from the inside. His fear of dying by drowning in the water is the only new development, but he's only been around for a few chapters, so of course there is new stuff.
Oda did force this. Any random sea king could have been used, instead, the ONE sea king in the entire one piece world that was specifically established as being scared shitless of the straw hat pirates was caught by Caribou, then used, and then directly caused him to be trapped with the straw hats.
Caribou's situation was forced on him by fate in the story. Similar to how all the other straw hats met through fate, and it's significant because fate is such a big part of the theme, and it's discussed several times in the series (multiple times by the black beard pirates, for instance). Discussions of "fate" re-occur. Luffy's chance meetings with all of his crew was fate. The situation with Caribou right now is due to fate rather than anything else, had fate not interfered then Caribou's whole crew would have boarded, they would have got beat the hell up and decimated, and then he would have just been a fodder character as expected (I originally thought he was the next Bellamy, since Bellamy was right before sky island). Instead, fate interfered and that didn't happen, and now he's stuck with the straw hats on their journey to Fishman Island.
You are completely forcing the argument, plain and simple. You are choosing what to keep and what to scrap so that it fits the mold of your theory. Vivi and Carue were with the crew from the start of the Grand Line all the way to Alabasta. That includes Laboon to Whiskey Peak, Whiskey Peak to Little Garden, Little Garden to Drum, and Drum to Alabasta. What's more, that is considered the 'Boroque Works Saga', and is a pretty significant portion of the story. More still, Vivi was there when they first experienced the Grand Line. Vivi answered a lot of their questions, made comments, and generally told them what they needed to do during their transition into the Grand Line. Story wise, she was much more involved with their "major events" than Caribou likely ever will, and she isn't a member of the crew.
That was all part of the Alabasta storyline (Baroque Works). That was the first big storyline in the grand line, yes, Vivi, one of their closest nakamas, was with them from the beginning of the alabasta storyline to the end of it, being the princess of the accosted nation and an undercover member agent posing as a member of the baroque works agency that was trying to take over Alabasta and get Crocodile his super weapon.
So again, an example would be someone travelling with them from the Alabasta storyline to Skypeia, or from Skypeia to the Water 7 storyline.
That actually happened and her name was Robin and she is a crew member
Vivi was essentially 'entering the grand line' with the Strawhat pirates, because Oda chose to have Laboon be the subject that she was randomly poaching.
Who was on their ship when they first sailed in the Grand Line?
Or sailing the Grand Line for the first time. I thought that was pretty major.
One line could be considered similar. One line.
She did not enter the grand line with them, she was there for their arrival at the grand line, there is a difference.
Robin transitioned with the crew from Grand Line story 1 (ALABASTA) to Grand Line story 2 (WATER 7), she became a crew member.
Vivi was only ever a part of the Alabasta story, and all of the islands leading up to alabasta were part of that storyline. The character that actually went from one storyline to the next ended up actually joining the crew. Similarly, Franky, who went from Water 7 storyline to Shabondy, was a crew member (already, but new).
Only people who either became (Robin) or currently were (Franky and etc) actual strawhat crew members have done this. Vivi was a Grand Line resident long before the strawhats arrived, so no she did not enter the grand line with them, she was there before them, and she stayed after they left, she wasn't traveling "with" them to the grand line. I will give you that Vivi is the closest to having done this. She is also the 'closest' character to being a strawhat crew member that didn't actually become one, and the only reason she didn't was specifically because she had to take care of her nation[/hide]