@brennen.exe:
Indeed, but was that not him finishing his "narration" of the story he told? Seems to me the point of his story picks up at the bottom of page 12, and from that point to page 15 it is all about him.
In the context of the story he was telling to the SHs, I agree with you. They needed to hear the story in order to get some sort of closure on relationship between Jinbe and Arlong. To us as readers, it goes for beyond that. I'm not trying to downplay its significance, but we were exposed to the broader significance of the impact of these events on FI. For me, it was hard to focus on Jinbe with that rolling around in my head especially when Hodi appeared at the end of the chapter circling us back to the larger conflict of FI itself.
I might be mistaken, but from what I understand he was involved in every chapter of the flashback in some way, shape, or form.
True, but his presence in 625 and 626 felt like more of a cameo than anything else. Both of those chapters were the real meat of Otohime's story and Jinbe's absence during them just doesn't feel right if this was supposed to be his character flashback.
I hope we can agree that this flashback showed us a solid history of his development and explained why he is who he is now?
No argument here.
Not trying to draw perfect parallels, really, just pointing out that I think Nami's line about Jinbe is similar to Brook's tone dial; likewise, I think Oda still has room for development with Jinbe.
Fair enough. Personally I don't really see any real story driven reason to stagger Jinbe's development as of now. All of the little hints Oda dropped about him all fed into the current subjects at hand, but if we get some major changes within the arc and a bombshell or two dropped about Jinbe it wouldn't be too far-fetched.
But I'm not saying it was held back. I'm saying it was there, it just happened in portions rather than a single moment.
The thing is Oda generally likes to wrap things up into nice tidy packages for us. He always seems to drive his point home with one scene that ties all the elements and themes he builds throughout an isolated story together, especially when it comes to new crew members. I recognize Jinbe's development in this flashback, but without that moment everyone else has gotten it would feel pretty uncharacteristic of One Piece to have him join.
Anyway, all that said I would like to apologize, I think my initial reply to you came off a little more rude/sarcastic than I meant, and as usual I appreciate your calm and polite responses.
No worries at all.