@BobLoblaw:
I see the Carrot discussion has ramped back up. We're through Act 1 of Wano. Where's this alternative NN that people like Robby were waiting on?
No one ever said that the last character HAD to show up here. Just that
1)it feels like beating Kaidou is too big a step for someone else to come after
2)there is still plenty of space in the arc for new characters.
3)the structure of the play style Oda is specifically pointing to has the first section as the shortest, the setup. It's length has very little bearing on how long or dense the rest of the arc will be.
Given that Luffy was promoted to emporer status BEFORE the arc started, beating Kaidou doesn't matter as a marker on the world stage anymore like it did a few months ago. And there have in fact been quite a few new characters in the arc already that are having space made for them, but none of them are "the one."
We haven't seen em yet. There's still space in Wano for it to happen, but it doesn't HAVE to be Wano. Especially since only Oda knows what other surprises he might have after the arc. He has to have something else in mind that isn't just Elbaf-Raftel-done.
Also, given that Oda has given us unconventional dissapointing ninjas to defy hopes and expectations twice now, he probably has to deliver on a real ninja at some point.
Say what you want about Carrot and nitpick to the Nth degree about her jumping, appearance, or whatever, but she's still the only viable candidate that has appeared and has been since Zou. She debuted over three years ago btw.
Kinemon debuted six years ago, btw. He ain't joining either.
Usopp was so good at it, he needed Viola's help to "see" Sugar. Sniping and being a lookout are two completely different things.
He unlocked his observation haki during that scene. We saw in realtime him learning to visualize and see exactly the same kind of shot he needed help for to line up seconds earlier., and we've seen what others with observation haki can do. Presumably he can do similar feats on his own now. And this is after he was already doing sniper shots beyond the range other people could even see.
(Also, he has long distance goggles built into his helmet as a regular accessory.)
In the event of an attack, it would be Carrot calling out where things are and Usopp would be sniping them. Why is this so hard for people to grasp?
Because she hasn't shown anywhere near the same specialty that extreme case best in the world at seeing Viola did. And she has constantly failed to actually be any help in observing oncoming threats. If that was to be her focus and specialty, she should have succeeded at it a little bit during their 30 chapter ship battle where she failed to make any helpful calls, and Nami did the direction given.
We've also seen what the BB equivilent sniper does, and he didn't need someone calling shots for him. That's not a tagteam job.
Everything Carrot did that stood out during that arc was setting up all the minks being able to do it.