Man, gawd knows I want Paulie to join more than anyone (that I know of ^^")!!
Personally I'd love to see a repeat of the Alabasta arc where it looks like Vivi (Franky) will join but doesn't, then out of some twist of faith Robin (Kaku) joins instead… Kaku actually ranked higher than Franky in the latest fan polls, sigh :wub:
Well really both of them (referring to Paulie and Franky now) are just as loyal to those they are close to, and they've both become fairly important to the SH's.
I know the chances of Franky joining are higher than anyone else by a landslide, but.. I'm hoping Oda-sama does a whole 360 and Franky doesn't join. I could get use to him, but another series character would be nice. Nami, Robin and Zoro are, but Luffy, Sanji, Usopp and Chopper are far more childisg (which is fun and all). But it'd be nice to have a balance, Paulie is clearly far more serious in casual cases. I love how he yells at women that show too much body, he is my hero in that sense. I'd love to see him interact with Sanji in that sense XD
If anything, I longing for the hope that they both join maybe? Then the high chances of Franky joining are still there, and I won't be heart broken ^^ I even had a dream that Paulie stayed with the crew for a little while then left... very very upset when I woke up =_="
And Rai, do you have to be so hard on Paulie? He is by far the FIRST anime character (actually first character in ANYTHING) I have seen yelling at women for wearing skirts!! That's a pretty different character if you ask me! And sure he isn't as strong as Franky, but he's one of the foreman of Galley-La! You have to at least give him SOME credit, at least he isn't as weak as a Marine!! On at least two occassions I've seen people marvel at his strength! I don't have bad points about Franky to argue, because he is an interesting character, not the sort I like, but the sort you'd get from an anime =D You seem to be focusing a lot on how 'inferior' Paulie is just compared to Franky.
..and said he learned every little thing from Iceburg.
Where do you think Sanji learnt to fight? Or Chopper learnt to be a doctor?
Didn't Paulie get killed by the battleships? In my opinion Franky will join, it's just obvious but than again Oda can smack it back right in to my face.
That's what the manga says, but Oda-sama tends not to kill outside of flashbacks, so unless he's changed his mind I highly doubt that they're dead.
I want Paulie to join.
But if Franky does, it'll just take me a little while to get use to (I didn't start watching One Piece really until Water 7, I was all over the place before, watching random eps not really in order) and there's always mini-arcs ^^
Note: This is just all MY opinion, doesn't mean I think I'm right, it's just what I want to happen and how I'd like to see it all.