That's only apparent through retrospect; Oda never made it a point in the narrative to highlight the need for a helmsman. To be clear, I thought Jimbei was going to join since Impel Down and the helmsman position was widely speculated, so I'm not saying it was entirely unknowable. But there was never any real narrative focus on the importance of a dedicated helmsman, particularly since it was a role largely occupied by Franky as soon as they began sailing aboard Sunny.
Next Straw Hat Crewmates (Vol. 8 - Onigashima)
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ues, but he rarely hits people over the head, especially these day. At the beginning, he mostly made the candidates resistant to joining; Zoro, Nami, Sanji and Chopper had issues that kept them from agreeing off the bat.
They get huge memorable introduction scenes, big splash shots and name tags, and then they get moment after moment to shine within their given arc. Zoro on the cross or Usopp with his minions or Jinbei in chains (not what you expect from a warlord) or Brook's just accepting immediately or Franky's SUPER dance pose or Robin appearing from nowhere on their ship and nonchalantly beating the entire crew while sitting still and then playing with the hat, etc.
Yeah Oda plays with the tension of the story, of course, and gives them obstacles to overcome before they join, but he's not subtle about hammering in "this character is super cool and important and a big deal". He makes big openings and then makes them a big character in their arc, even the crowded ones.
Gaimon comparatively, was the gag of "guy in a treasure chest" and there wasn't much more. He was also only there for exactly one chapter.
Mr. 2 is probably the closest to "this guy could join" big lead memorable introduction vibes that didn't really cut it… but he was also almost immediately a tertiary minion compared to the bigger players in the story. tho given that Oda specifically requested his his VA become Franky and shaped Franky with that in mind...
Notably, even with surprise twist Robin, if Vivi hadn't been on the ship at the time as "the obvious next crewmate" Robin would probably have been much easier to peg for joining given all her prominent scenes and constantly helping Luffy and obvious mysterious backstory... she was clearly super important, not just as hindsight, but Vivi obscured that a lot..
Franky, meanwhile, was not liked by Luffy for a long time. We didn't know he'd be making the crew's new ship, nor that he'd want to ride it himself. The color spread is what really gave him away, but in the story itself, Franky and Luffy took time to get on the same page.
A soon as Franky and Usopp started bonding, and then we got that flashback started, it was over. And then he started bonding with Robin? If you didn't get it until the color spread, or until after he got three different fights in that arc, or until after he made the ship and spoke his true dream?
That's fine, but it was really clear before that.
If you liked Paulie more and wanted him instead, or thought Franky was too weird (Just like Jinbe was "too boring") that's a different matter entirely, but it was pretty clearly going to be Franky long before it was official. Even if Luffy didn't know it yet.
I was one of those incidentally. I was a neophyte reader and hadn't really talked with the community yet and even I was going "Well, I guess Franky is joining, but I'd prefer Paulie."
We all have an equal chance here.
We're not betting on a horse race or picking names out of a hat. We're analyzing the story and the author's habits and history and making judgements.
Yes, we can ALL be wrong, but in a scripted story its NOT even between every candidate. How much you personally weight one over the other is personal, obviously. We're looking at the same info and coming to different conclusions. But no, its not an even chance, we're not wild mass guessing.
If I started pushing really hard and seriously for Ceaser Clown or Caribou to join the ranks long term, that wouldn't actually be an equal chance. That'd be a very bad bet.
In the case of Oda setting up deliberate red herrings, well, that's cheating, but it is part of it.
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For what it's worth, in regard to a memorable introduction, I think Carrot's was fine, though admittedly the fact she's standing next to Wanda diminishes the significance. I really do think what Oda's doing with Carrot is a bit more subtle. Just like we saw Franky masked several times before his nametag intro scene, I think Carrot's stowaway scene is the start of her story arc. Pedro was the one who had all the typical setup for a crewmate in Zou and slowly the model was subverted and because this is the new world and the threats are bigger, Luffy couldn't beat up Big Mom and get back Pedro's missing years; Pedro died to help the Straw Hats escape and what looked like setup for Pedro to join turns into Carrot's 'tragic flashback' moment.
I had been reading One Piece in US Jump Magazine since 2003, but caught up weekly in the middle of the CP9 saga. By the time I caught up weekly, Franky was very clearly going to join. So I was very much team Franky rather than Team Paulie, but also can't say that means much when the flashback had happened already.
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Yamato is the 100% obvious choice on how Oda writes and draws his comic.
Now will Yamato be a red herring? Maybe.
But that doesn't mean the characters who are not obvious will join. Carrot and Tama are not obvious so they are not joining the crew. Chances are not in their favor at all. So they are not joining. Simple as.
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Not being a prominent character for over a hundred chapters is telling enough.
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@Vongola_Boss_XI:
Pedro was the one who had all the typical setup for a crewmate in Zou
No he didn't.
He ALWAYS felt like a guest character. Along with Pekoms, and yes, Carrot.
And Chopper already existed.
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No he didn't.
He ALWAYS felt like a guest character. Along with Pekoms, and yes, Carrot.
And Chopper already existed.
I guess we'll see; I think there's a lot more going on with Carrot and Oda is decidedly not closing her character arc here.
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There really is not much going on with her aside from wanting to beat Perospero. Who might be beat by someone other than her for all we know. That's her whole character arc atm. So if she doesn't beat him ever, what else does she really have going for her?
She probably will end up in some sort of leadership of the Minks at some point in the future but the crew? I get personal tastes and such but it really would be the weakest joining we ever had. She needs a lot more work done and so far? Nothing looks to be changing that.
And yeah, Chopper does everything she does a million times better. The cutew furry mascot slot is taken up already. You can sell her merch with her not being on the crew easy.
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Roger denied Pedro of going along with him. Pedro told Carrot about the Dawn of the World. It's not just about Perospero.
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Exactly; The words spoken by Roger to Pedro were later passed along to Carrot, serving as the call to adventure - to set out to sea and help realize the New Dawn prophecy for which Pedro gave his life.
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@Vongola_Boss_XI:
Exactly; The words spoken by Roger to Pedro were later passed along to Carrot, serving as the call to adventure - to set out to sea and help realize the New Dawn prophecy for which Pedro gave his life.
Don't forget;
For which Carrot has shown no interest at all in over a hundred chapters.
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Carrot earned her place on the crew because the pirate king said some words to a guy who said the same words to her. While losing a fight with the candy man who is the only thing she cares about atm.
Great main character right there.
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They lost their first ship at least in part due to bad steering. Reverse mountain, Laboon, SKypeia, whatever else they crashed into…
I don't know that Jinbe would have made the Skypeia trip any easier, but Merry might not have died quite so soon otherwise. (A good shipright would have helped too obviously, but even Franky would have had a limit once the spine was broken.)
I always thought the main thing that led to Merry's death was getting to Skypiea and back, messing with the keel. Other damages like the mast breaking off were also severe but not as relevant and nothing where a proper shipwright was ever absolutely needed. And as you say, having a helmsman wouldn't have helped with the knock-up stream in the first place.
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Carrot while defeated is hearing the exact same words from that day. That shows that she is interested. "Keep moving onwards".
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The worldwide shown tv special that had every single REAL person presenting referring to Yamato as "he". No discussion or confusion, they were all solid on that.
And the twitter comments to that for anime only watchers has been "who the heck is Yamato?"
So, even though there could potentially be confusion to the audience that hasn't met the character yet, they STILL went with "he". Nonchalantly all around, no questioning it. Vetted through official OP staff and editors.
And n the spinoff high school manga, Yamato is wearing a boy's uniform.
When all the media OUTSIDE of the manga is running with it, I think its safe to assume Oda made the point clear to his editors.
Just like he made it clear in the the chapter after Yamato unmasked.
I understand being confused in week 2, given the narration box. I used "she" then too. But after week 3? Not so much. And week 35? You're willfully ignoring what's on the page at that point.
If it changes? Then it changes. In the meantime, take the person's word for it, they know how they feel better than you know how they feel.
While I greatly appreciate all the people I've seen here and other places respecting Yamato's pronouns, along with the tv special I had no idea about, there is honestly not a single ounce of my being that believes Oda truly intends Yamato to be a trans man character, his previous track record simply doesn't hold up. I mean, are we really expecting the person who has heavily used offensive okama imagery to also be able to tackle the nuance of a trans character, especially one who doesn't present/pass as their identified gender? Hell even Kiku wasn't able to avoid the whole "what you're a man?!" style of reveal.
And while it's nice that Yamato wore a boy's uniform in that spinoff manga, it doesn't really mean anything. And all of the media outside the manga HASN'T been running with it. For me, the real sticking point for how Oda and everyone else involved is viewing this, is this collaboration image from Shueisha's Ribon magazine, where Yamato is placed with many of the women characters with "ONE PIECE HEROINES" in big bold letters underneath. If we're taking spinoffs and tv specials as things that absolutely had to pass through Oda, then I see no reason why this wouldn't have either.
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Hell, let's not forget that Oda mentioned reading Rose of Versailles right before Yamato's reveal.Hopefully I'm wrong though, I would love nothing more than for one of the biggest manga of all time to have a trans character (especially a trans man, who I personally feel are under represented even in many queer works), with such a real chance of joining the crew, but I'm not holding my breath. I'm still dreading the eventual meetup with Sanji shivers.
Oh and as a quick aside, it wasn't in this specific post but I've seen it in others: I am BEGGING y'all to stop saying stuff like "biologically female". You'd be hard pressed to find any trans people nowadays who use that term.
As for my thoughts on who might be joining, I do think Yamato currently has the best chance of joining the crew, although I've been team Carrot since she expressed interest in traveling with the crew to Whole Cake island, and made up my mind the instant she stowed away. I feel like she had a ton going for her during Whole Cake Island, but her time in Wano has been abysmal. My fingers are still crossed she'll joined though. Yamato has had a much more bombastic introduction, and while not having done much in the story yet, has been gotten a decent amount of focus and seems to check off a lot of the criteria for a Straw Hat. Best case scenario to me right now is that both Carrot and Yamato join but it's incredibly hard to believe something like that will actually happen, sighs.
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So far, it would appear that if someone is getting the learning-dawn thing, that would be Yamato, since he's the only one interested in it.
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Yamato has all the answers to the test.
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Nah, more like speculation.
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Yeah. I wish I was team carrot, cause there are a ton of people on the forum who have made some really good points for her, but I feel like over a hundred chapters I really can’t see Carrot joining. She really got overshadowed by Pedro during Whole Cake Arc, and once he was out of the picture she then had her moment to shine. Even then, as cool as the whole sulong sequence was, it got sidelined again during Onigashima. I do think she’ll have a role after Wano, but it might be more akin to Koby where she gets inspired by Luffy rather than joining him.
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Yamato believes Momo is the one to bring the New Dawn and has no direct personal connection to the prophecy, unlike Carrot.
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We're not betting on a horse race or picking names out of a hat. We're analyzing the story and the author's habits and history and making judgements.
Yes, we can ALL be wrong, but in a scripted story its NOT even between every candidate. How much you personally weight one over the other is personal, obviously. We're looking at the same info and coming to different conclusions. But no, its not an even chance, we're not wild mass guessing.
If I started pushing really hard and seriously for Ceaser Clown or Caribou to join the ranks long term, that wouldn't actually be an equal chance. That'd be a very bad bet.
In the case of Oda setting up deliberate red herrings, well, that's cheating, but it is part of it.
I'm not talking about horse races, either. My point was, I know perfectly well without you spelling it out that the simplest answer may end up being the correct one. But I still have my reasons, what I feel are good reasons, to not take what's seemingly obvious at face value.
If someone wants to argue for Caesar or Caribou, let 'em. I'd certainly get a kick out of us both being wrong about them.
Now when I said everyone, I did not mean the invisible Caribou supporters waiting somewhere. I mean the people actually discussing here: Yamato supporters, Carrot supporters, even Tama supporters and no one else supporters. Even the Boa and Smoker and Vivi supporters could be on to something. I don't doubt that any one of those groups could see something I or others don't. They do add interesting ideas to the conversation, and even if I don't agree, I'm trying to learn something from them.
It's the same with Yamato. There's still too much convenience I can't buy wholesale, and plenty still missing. But time and time again I've conceded his place as a strong candidate, that I could so easily be wrong. But I'm feeling just like Nami against Ulti: I'm not able to be strong-armed into saying Yamato is the next Straw Hat. The answer for me is still Carrot, and will be for still some time to come. If that makes me blind or stubborn or downright sad, if I'm really not bringing an equal viewpoint to this, you'd better just give up on me now.
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Yamato thought Momo was dead not long ago.
Meaning, whatever he read about in the journal, it most likely only included the Opening of Wano borders as a requirememt to properly achieve the Dawn.
Yamato only recognizes Momo as a key for the Dawn because this whole war is being fought on his behalf, and the promise that he will open Wano once the figthing is done.Doesn't seem to know any better than that, and it looks like it sure wants to learn more about it.
Unlike, once again, Carrot, who has consistently not raised any interest at all.
Also, do we even know where Sanji learnt about the All-Blue?
Source doesn't matter, interest does, and so far, Yamato has it
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Yamato wanted to protect Momo before he knew what a Dawn was. Yamato has brought up other contents from the journal as well. There's more to that journal than just the Dawn.
Carrot is thinking about Pedro' words in 1006. That is the opposite of being uninterested.
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I think taking a step back from the fact that Carrot hasn't directly addressed the Dawn since Pedro's death - there really hasn't been any in-story reason for her to do so yet. Oda had her learn about the dawn and the importance of the Straw Hats to the mink tribe for a good reason and I just don't think he has gotten to it yet because there's so much going on in Wano and Onigashima. I don't doubt that he'll address it in the future. Carrot's arc will be incomplete if she simply never mentions or thinks about the New Dawn again.
Yamato only knowing about Momo's connection to the Dawn and whatever else Oden wrote in the journal is actually why I think there isn't necessarily a motivation for joining the Straw Hats yet. Yamato simply doesn't have a dream or a discernable goal yet in leaving Wano, particularly if whatever Oden wrote points toward Momo as the one to bring the New Dawn. Of course we could learn more about this in the future - I'm not closed off to that possibility. I'm just saying right now, the biggest reason I don't see Yamato joining, lack of a dream, hasn't been directly addressed up to this point.
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Not addressing a dream within 25 chapters of introduction?
Burn in the hottest of the holes hell be guarding for youNot addressing the Dawn for over a hundred chapters??
Jeez, ya'll just wait, it'll happen mkaay.
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They lost their first ship at least in part due to bad steering. Reverse mountain, Laboon, SKypeia, whatever else they crashed into…
I don't know that Jinbe would have made the Skypeia trip any easier, but Merry might not have died quite so soon otherwise. (A good shipright would have helped too obviously, but even Franky would have had a limit once the spine was broken.)
I always thought that entering Laugh Tale is akin of a huge puzzle in an RPG, in which you need clues, secret paths, obstacles etc that need the abilities of your current party to open/unlock. So maybe a treacherous sea path that needs awesome helmsman to helm the ship, a dangerous terrain that needs a very sturdy ship and dedicated shipwright on board, Poneglyph clues that need someone that can read the ancient language, and stormy weather that needs a competent navigator to… navigate, etc.
That doesn't meant brute force from combatants are not needed; maybe there are guardians on the island that you need to defeat, etc. Not to mention Blackbeard and Shanks that I believe will be fought there.
Basically everyone on the crew must contribute to reach the One Piece
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Not addressing a dream within 25 chapters of introduction?
Burn in the hottest of the holes hell be guarding for youNot addressing the Dawn for over a hundred chapters??
Jeez, ya'll just wait, it'll happen mkaay.
Sanji hasn't talked about the All Blue in like 500 chapters
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Setting out to sea and finding adventure is a fine dream in itself
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I was one of those incidentally. I was a neophyte reader and hadn't really talked with the community yet and even I was going "Well, I guess Franky is joining, but I'd prefer Paulie."
I think this is something those of us in the community should consider more as we tend to overanalyse things due to our investment. I'm the only one in my friend group who engages with the One Piece community like you all do but I have friends who read it more casually. And when I asked them who they thought the next Straw Hat would be the overwhelming consensus was that it would be Carrot, seeing as of all the side characters she's had the biggest connection to the Straw Hats in recent years and so feels like the obvious candidate (and isn't a character like Law who has his own crew and doesn't feel like he would become a Straw Hat). It's worth noting that some of my friends also don't think there will be a new Straw Hat at all.
To me, it seems the only reason that people think Yamato has a chance is because he asked to join the crew directly, which is pretty big, but if it wasn't for that then he would just come off as an important Wano character rather than a Straw Hat candidate.
If we're also talking about big introductions to characters who would end up being Straw Hats I also think Carrot and Yamato both have equally strong introductions. She's the first Mink we meet on Zou and immediately debuts fighting against Zoro and showing her stuff. Just like how Yamato's first scene is him attacking Ulti.
I'm personally still hoping for both to join but I think when taking a step back and looking at the story from a more casual level, Carrot still has a bit more going for her than Yamato does.
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Setting out to sea and finding adventure is a fine dream in itself
I think all of the Straw Hat dreams are deeply connected to the central narrative arc of One Piece in some meaningful way. Setting out to sea for adventure would be an okay motivation, but nothing about it necessitates sailing to Laugh Tale specifically. I do think going to Laugh Tale will be necessary for every member of the crew in some way.
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I mean, are we really expecting the person who has heavily used offensive okama imagery to also be able to tackle the nuance of a trans character, especially one who doesn't present/pass as their identified gender? Hell even Kiku wasn't able to avoid the whole "what you're a man?!" style of reveal.
People can grow and change and find new influences and learn, and be better than they once were.
Yeah the freaky monster okama that chased Sanji were in poor taste, (as were Sanjis nose bleeds after the time skip) but that was over a decade ago. Bon Kurei and Ivanakov were always treated pretty well and their gender stuff is complicated.
And yes, Kiku has that not great moment, but overall has been handled pretty respectfully, and subtly. The audience didn't even catch on initially.
We just had a discussion about how 23 years ago Oda presented the Kuina situation as "a woman can never be as strong as a man!", and Oda definitely has hangups about male hero characters fighting women, and he has definitely been sexist, but he HAS gotten better about all those things over the years. Look at how many fighters in this arc are women!
Compared to just a few years ago in Dresserossa where there were only three female fighters in the arc, two of them got turned around by love, and one of them was an old lady. Or Punk Hazard where Monet was basically beaten by Zoro looking at her funny but then needing Tashigi to jump in to make it not a beating.
And as precedent for "learning what might be problematic and changing" look at Whitebeard's old symbol and how he changed that after being told "hey, the manji is cool and all, but it kind of looks like the swastika."
Hell, let's not forget that Oda mentioned reading Rose of Versailles right before Yamato's reveal.
That's a common misconception. He actually mentioned RoV (and Glass Mask) in issue 28 for 2019, so June 2019, almost exactly a year before Yamato showed up.
I think people see "Oda said it in the june issue" and Yamato first appeared in June 2020, so they make the assumption.
It's perfectly legit to assume that Oda being surprised there carried over to him wanting to do something similar. It was plain as day when he started watching Game of Thrones for instance. Or that he'd been watching a lot of Tarantino when he did Alabasta. Man's a creative type, he gets influenced by things he finds interesting.
, is this collaboration image from Shueisha's Ribon magazine, where Yamato is placed with many of the women characters with "ONE PIECE HEROINES" in big bold letters underneath.
Yes, the magazine for girls uses one of the most prominent new characters that looks feminine. Not a huge shocker.
Hopefully I'm wrong though, I would love nothing more than for one of the biggest manga of all time to have a trans character (especially a trans man, who I personally feel are under represented even in many queer works), with such a real chance of joining the crew, but I'm not holding my breath. I'm still dreading the eventual meetup with Sanji shivers.
I think we're all worried about how Sanji is going to go. That particular encounter might be a pretty strong signal how much a candidate Yamato actually is.
I think Oda is having his cake and eating it too here. He's still drawing "cute girl" but then making her a tough manly type that can rough it up with the best of them.
The whole "I am Oden" thing softens the issue to get people used to it. (But also makes them assholes about it, so…)
If Yamato had a more flat chested or androgynous look, or a more butch haircut, more Sailor Uranus style, I think it might be easier to wrestle with. (But then if he looked like a man, that loses the shock value of "Kaidous son is a GIRL??!@?" ) Though while Haruka was explicitly gay, and dressed like a man, (and passed for one sometimes) that was always kind of skirted around... in that manga and anime from the 90's. (The the Sailor Stars made things REALLY confusing...)
Just judging from how Oda has handled it so far, I think he's mostly going with "Yamato wants to be tough and a warrior and not seen as a damsel like all the other dainty Wano ladies. Men get to have adventures while women cook!" and he's pretty much going to leave it there, without actually touching on sexuality or feeling uncomfortable in his body at all.
So he's very very lightly touching the issue, but he's not going to dwell on it, and that's the level of respect we can get from the guy that did the crass okama jokes before. So the representation is there but it's mild and treated lightly as a character quirk more than a serious issue, in a way Yamato can show off whatever is needed..
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@Vongola_Boss_XI:
Sanji hasn't talked about the All Blue in like 500 chapters
Which is not equal to not addressing it at all.
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Which is not equal to not addressing it at all.
My point is the chapter count is arbitrary as long as this is an ongoing story arc. The arcs themselves are getting longer and as I said, within this very long ongoing story arc, that particular plot point hasn't been brought up yet, but that doesn't mean it never will.
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She's the first Mink we meet on Zou
We actually see Chopper's girlfriend and the lookout monkey first.
And any intro Carrot has is immediately overshadowed by Nami's bikini.
I mean really, that was the chapter cliffhanger. Why is Wanda wearing Nami's clothes?
Then they got character boxes at the same time (but not until after the bull and gorilla!) Wanda proceeded to get all the dialogue and scenes for the arc.
Yeah the flip dodge around Zoro was a neat moment but it was very quickly overshadowed. It wasn't a huge wowing moment. It wasn't milked or played up or the chapter cliffhanger, it was one page.
That then got overshadowed by a bikini.
And then she was a complete background character for all of Zou.
It really feels like a case where Oda's editor went "I like that character, include them more" and so… he did.
@Vongola_Boss_XI:
within this very long ongoing story arc, that particular plot point hasn't been brought up yet, but that doesn't mean it never will.
It's come up several times.
With Yamato.
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It's worth noting that some of my friends also don't think there will be a new Straw Hat at all
Good man. Another recruit for team salty
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I think there's better evidence Oda designed the Mink race or at least the concept of Sulong for Carrot. The moon is the most important and recurrent symbol / thematic motif used throughout the entire series and it's no coincidence the Minks are deeply tied to the moon.
Among the mink tribe, Carrot has the deepest thematic ties to this moon based transformation based on her 'species' - the Moon Rabbit. Given just how much thought went into Carrot's design, I think it's really reaching to say she's an afterthought or that Oda only focused on her because his editor asked him to, especially when Oda has said he doesn't allow his editors to have that type of influence. Whether I'm right about the Mink race being designed around Carrot or not, I don't think there's a doubt Oda had the Sulong scene in mind from her introduction. It's foreshadowed as soon as she's introduced and, as said, the moon rabbit myth provides a folklore based thematic link between Carrot and this moon-based transformation which doesn't really exist for other members of her tribe. Also seems no small coincidence that Oda gave a full mon based transformation to a character who happens to share a name with Son Goku (Kyarotto / Kakaroto).
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We actually see Chopper's girlfriend and the lookout monkey first.
And any intro Carrot has is immediately overshadowed by Nami's bikini.
I mean really, that was the chapter cliffhanger. Why is Wanda wearing Nami's clothes?
Then they got character boxes at the same time (but not until after the bull and gorilla!) Wanda proceeded to get all the dialogue and scenes for the arc.
Yeah the flip dodge around Zoro was a neat moment but it was very quickly overshadowed. It wasn't a huge wowing moment. It wasn't milked or played up or the chapter cliffhanger, it was one page.
That then got overshadowed by a bikini.
And then she was a complete background character for all of Zou.
It really feels like a case where Oda's editor went "I like that character, include them more" and so… he did.
It's come up several times.
With Yamato.
There is Toki's prophecy of the New Dawn from Oden's flashback, which likely has double meaning for both the world and for Wano. In the context of her flashback, it's likely in reference to the current battle on Wano. Pedro was talking about the endgame / liberate the world from Imu and the World Government (dark powers who took over 800 years ago and plunged the world into night) stuff when he told Carrot the Straw Hats would fulfill the new Dawn prophecy.
Yamato mentioned the New Dawn once and said that Momo will be the one to bring the New Dawn.
Carrot was not involved in either of these scenes.
This is something which is very clearly going to be brought up in the future.
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And yes, Kiku has that not great moment, but overall has been handled pretty respectfully, and subtly. The audience didn't even catch on initially.
What was that one moment?
I wasn't really that interested in the first half of Wano before Big Mom showed up, maybe I missed it. But yeah, in Kiku's case Oda is doing so, so much better than I expected and I hope he leaves it there. Not even asking for more here.
Like, are people aware how freaking awful it could have been? Especially when Sanji met Kiku for the first time? Imagine it. -
To me, it seems the only reason that people think Yamato has a chance is because he asked to join the crew directly, which is pretty big, but if it wasn't for that then he would just come off as an important Wano character rather than a Straw Hat candidate.
Oh come on, we’ve gone over this time and time again. Yamato asking for a ride is one of the arguments but by far not the only one. Caribou also asked for a ride and you don’t see most people jump on his bandwagon, and it’s not because he doesn’t have boobs.
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Yamato asking for a ride isn't a reason he might join.
But it IS now a lingering plot point that needs to come back and be adressed one way or another.
If that's Luffy saying "sure thing" or "no way" or Yamato going "I changed my mind, I'm going to do X" doesn't matter, but it does need to be followed up on now.
And if Luffy says no he needs a reason.
It can be handled in a page, or even a single line of dialogue, so its not a big lingering issue with big expectations, but it DOES need to be adressed.,
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It’s not the reason, i.e. the character’s drive why he would join, but it shows a clear interest to accompany the Straw Hats which should be the bare minimum for any potential crewmate. It’s also the starting point why Carrot and Tama are being considered, but then there’s much more stuff for each of them that becomes the deciding factor
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I'm all for Yamato joining, i realy like the charachter and look forward to see them interacting with the rest of the crew, but there are 2 major points that i see may get in the way:
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Less important, there's no actual role onboard left to be covered, and they've 0 expertise in sailing. They could just join just because and be totaly fine, of course, especially since strong fighters are going to be vital in the final rush, but it was neat to have each person covering a fundamenal role, with Robin being the apparently odd one but who has an actually crucial role in completing the journey;
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They read Oden's log and therefore must know about Laugh Tale. If you remember how Luffy reacted to Usopp asking about it to Rayleigh, it's hard to believeehe's going to be thrilled of travelling along with a living spoiler hazard .
Anyway, while i'm still convinced that Jimbe was a mistake and the final Strawhat was better left as being Brook, if there's going to be one more i'd definetly say Yamato, i just hope my two points get addressed properly.
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- They read Oden's log and therefore must know about Laugh Tale. If you remember how Luffy reacted to Usopp asking about it to Rayleigh, it's hard to believeehe's going to be thrilled of travelling along with a living spoiler hazard .
You’re assuming that there’s more in Oden’s journal beyond “we learned everything” which we actually don’t know, so “must” is a strong word to use.
Robin, Brook and Jimbei as seasoned pirates/travellers are also walking info repositories but that hasn’t stopped Luffy from welcoming them aboard. -
You’re assuming that there’s more in Oden’s journal beyond “we learned everything” which we actually don’t know, so “must” is a strong word to use.
Robin, Brook and Jimbei as seasoned pirates/travellers are also walking info repositories but that hasn’t stopped Luffy from welcoming them aboard.At the very least they must know crucial details about what One Piece is, there was no reason for Oden to be extra cryptic in his own logbook. I didn't mean to say it's an overwhelming obstacle, i did say it has to be addressed. Maybe it contains a clue that gives the strawhats an edge on other pursuers when they're there, or the pge with the important details is actually missing and the have to rash to Erbaf to retireve it… and so on and so forth,what i'm saying is that the Log isn't there by chance and it could be both the reason for Yamato joinin or NOT joining, for what we know now :)
Jimbe an Brook don't have any knowledge on the One Piece, that's the only thing Luffy is interested in keeping spoiler-free.
Robin must have theories on it, but won't know for sure untill she's there and anyway she's enough considerate to not share them with her captain. -
Agree with you on that. There has been an instance where Oden straight up lies in his journal. (The whole men don’t cry scene, where they are straight up bawling.) While I don’t think he lies in his journal constantly, I do think he could’ve omitted information. Plus, now that Momo has said journal, he may end up mentioning what info it says to Luffy. I do think that what spoilers that may be in the journal of all things would be more about linking the Will of D and the new Dawn. One of the known things in One Piece is the fact that Robin really is the only one who is aware/interested in that area (apart from Law).
If anything, it wouldn’t surprise me post-raid that the journal comes up in regards to Laughtale, with Momo saying “it says nothing apart from the One Piece existing.” Or mentioning the will of D/the New Dawn to the rest of the strawhats and making them a bit more aware of its importance going forward.
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At the very least they must know crucial details about what One Piece is, there was no reason for Oden to be extra cryptic in his own logbook.
I've been arguing for a while that Oden as the last known stonemason from the clan that created the Poneglyphs in the first place should know better than to leave all the important details about the One Piece and the Void Century as plain text in a single normal journal for anyone to stumble across.
Imagine going through all the trouble of finding the Poneglyphs, deciphering them, reaching that last island, learning that there's nothing left for you to do but wait for the right time, and then Oden, fully aware of why the Ancient Kingdom had to hide everything in indestructible stone cubes spread across the world, just decides to forego all of it. That would be a million levels of stupid.Not only that, it would also be horrendously stupid from a narrative perspective to have Yamato and Momo and even Shinobu know what the One Piece is before the Straw Hats can find out themselves.
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Oh come on, we’ve gone over this time and time again. Yamato asking for a ride is one of the arguments but by far not the only one. Caribou also asked for a ride and you don’t see most people jump on his bandwagon, and it’s not because he doesn’t have boobs.
That's not what I'm saying. Yes people can make arguments for why Yamato will join that are supported by things in the text but there are people in this forum who also do that for Momo, Smoker, Hancock and others. What I said is the only reason why Yamato even became one of the top candidates is because he asked to join. It was the catalyst. Otherwise I feel like Yamato would be a character who people want to join the crew but there are plenty of arguments for why they might do their own thing (with the beast pirates or samurai).
As Robby said, it is a lingering plot point that will need addressing before we find out what Yamato is actually going to do.
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At the very least they must know crucial details about what One Piece is, there was no reason for Oden to be extra cryptic in his own logbook.
Every one of the people we've met that made that trip has stayed tight lipped about it. Even in his own journal Oden might have kept quiet about it.
Even by accident you wouldn't neccessarily want that having even a chance of getting out.
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That's not what I'm saying. Yes people can make arguments for why Yamato will join that are supported by things in the text but there are people in this forum who also do that for Momo, Smoker, Hancock and others. What I said is the only reason why Yamato even became one of the top candidates is because he asked to join. It was the catalyst. Otherwise I feel like Yamato would be a character who people want to join the crew but there are plenty of arguments for why they might do their own thing (with the beast pirates or samurai).
As Robby said, it is a lingering plot point that will need addressing before we find out what Yamato is actually going to do.
Even if Yamato hadn't asked for a ride people would still have flocked to him, between inheriting Oden's will, hints of a tragic background, being a strong fighter with a unique design and colors that complement the rest of the Straw Hats, a unique fighting style, being indebted to Luffy, demonstrating a strong desire to go out to sea, his connection to Ace, knowing about Luffy's secret dream, readily accepting Luffy's orders, immediately gaining Franky's trust and raising Sanji's curiosity about him. Smoker and Hancock don't even compare, Momo is a child that Luffy sees more as a future peer than a nakama.
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Even if Yamato hadn't asked for a ride people would still have flocked to him, between inheriting Oden's will, being a strong fighter with a unique design and colors that complement the rest of the Straw Hats, a unique fighting style, being indebted to Luffy, demonstrating a strong desire to go out to sea, his connection to Ace, knowing about Luffy's secret dream, readily accepting Luffy's orders, immediately gaining Franky's trust and raising Sanji's curiosity about him.
Sure, like I said there are points in the text that support Yamato joining regardless of whether he asked or not. But some of those points aren't very strong evidence without the knowledge that Yamato wants to join. Lots of characters have made Sanji curious or gained Franky's trust and there are entire islands indebted to Luffy.
Being a strong fighter with a unique fighting style and having a unique design aren't exclusive to Straw Hat candidates.
Yamato isn't the only character with a strong desire to go out to sea (Carrot wanted to), not the only one with a connection to Ace (Tama and Marco) and not the only one to inherit Oden's will (the Scabbards - I also think this is more evidence for him staying behind seeing as Oden's will is to save Wano and open its borders, not to go out to sea again)
But I know why all this is evidence for Yamato wanting to join, what I'm saying is that the reason it is stronger evidence than it would be otherwise is BECAUSE we have the context that Yamato wants to join. Other characters have a strong desire to go out to sea but because we know Yamato wants to do so on the Straw Hats ship, that evidence is much stronger.