@Robby:
Boatswain, striker, cabin boy, quartermaster, statue, and since people insist on it, lookout. Or just general fighter like Zoro without a defined role.
And lack of ability to imagine a new character with a new dream is a failing of your imagination, not Oda's.
Didn't you say that lookout wasn't a relevant position?
Boatswain - A ship's officer in charge of equipment and the crew. Remind me again how irrelevant a lookout is in comparison to this? A new character being responsible for the crew's equipment when they all carry their own. Besides that, none of the SHs would answer to some new person. Lookout > Boatswain
Striker - Not a valid role from what I can tell. Lookout > Striker
Cabin Boy - Basically runs errands for the captain. This one's more relevant than an actual lookout? Nope. Besides, this "cabin boy" would also be expected to take on one of Blackbeard's captains. Lookout > Cabin Boy
Quartermaster - A military officer responsible for providing quarters, rations, clothing, and other supplies. Another role that's useless. The clothing part would've worked if Kinemon was a viable candidate, but he isn't and neither is this position. It's also a lot less useful than a lookout simply because we've seen instances where a lookout would've helped the SHs. I don't recall seeing an instance where I said, "You know what, the SHs can really use a change of clothes right now." Lookout = More relevant
Statue - This was a joke right?
My imagination works just fine. I'm simply using logic to determine what makes the most sense.
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Post time-skip, Oda hasn't had a single character join in the same arc they were introduced/featured in. The one we expect to join soon has been included across multiple arcs. Carrot will be in her third arc in Wano and Jinbe his fourth.
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There will be dozens of characters we already know of in Wano (Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Franky, Brook, Jinbei, Carrot, Law, Law's crew, Momo, Kinemon, Kajuro, Raizo, Inuarashi, Nekomamushi, Marco, Kaido, The Shogun, Sheepshead, Ginrummy, Scotch, Jack, the two other calamities, X Drake, Apoo, Hawkins, Kidd, and possibly Weevil/Moriah/Caesar).
As I mentioned earlier, Oda hasn't had a single new character join in the same arc they were featured/introduced in since the timeskip. With all of the aformentoned characters already due panel time, I'm expected to believe that they'll all be put on the backburner while a Wano native takes center stage and gets a ton of development?
We can already assume several of the potential matchups at Wano such as Luffy/Kaido, Zoro/The Shogun, Inu/Neko/Jack, and Law/Sanji/Jinbe/Calamities and that's not even taking into account Kidd/Killer (who would likely side with the SHs) or X-Drake/Apoo/Hawkins. What this tells me is that the brand new character wouldn't even have a decisive impact on the final outcome of the arc that they were introduced/featured in. Again, I'm just using simple logic.
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The SHs will have 3 of the 4 road poneglyphs needed to find Raftel after Wano ends. I'm supposed to believe that some new character who shows up (having risked nothing at all outside of the Wano arc) is now a viable candidate who is willing to risk their life to help Luffy find One Piece and become PK? That would take an enormous amount of character development to believe and with a ton of characters already due more development, I'm gonna go ahead and say this isn't possible.
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Oda has made it a point to split up the SHs since Punk Hazard. The odds are extremely high that he'll do the same thing in Wano given the complex nature of trying to juggle dozens of characters. With that being said, the odds of a brand new character having interactions with the entire crew are extremely remote. That's one of the knocks I've seen against Carrot and the same thing would apply here. Thing is, this would also be Carrot's chance to interact with the remaining SHs, thus making her more accepting to the crew.
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There's already a decent amount of stuff supporting Carrot for the potential last spot. She's both fearless and combat ready, she already has an unofficial role on the ship, she has or will inherit Pedro's will (the same person who wanted to sail with the future PK and someone who will not have died in vain), she's unique enough among the females in the crew (she should NOT be compared to the diversity seen amongst the males) in both looks and fighting ability (Nami can't electro-punch someone in the face or bite them and send electricity through them), fits a "little sister" role (as even stated by Chopper), and likely has a bounty after WCI (and won't stick around on Zou). I can go on, but those are enough.
The bottom line is Carrot asked for the role of the lookout and it's no mistake that Oda has shown her in that position nearly a dozen times. Regardless of the job you think she's done or how vital you think that role is (same goes for people who thought a helmsman this late in the story would be), it is not a mistake that Oda continues to draw her in that position. He's the king of details.
That being said, there are more reasons to support her staying along with the SHs than there are for her to give up on Pedro's dream and head back to Zou after Wano (or for some reason become a pirate captain (something she has shown neither the skill nor the desire for) and resurrect a defunct pirate crew to go around the world looking for poneglyphs on Skypeia, FI, and beyond.
Again, logic. It doesn't have much to do with imagination if you're completely objective about what's happening. There are a ton of things we already know will happen, so it's basically about working backwards from there, much the same way people foresaw Jinbe being a potential crewmate even when there wasn't much there yet.