Well, I personally really loved this chapter. I was severely against Jinbe being the next nakama ever since it was proposed, mostly because I thought the next nakama shouldn't be someone Luffy knew for a prolonged period of time before they join: after all, pretty much all of the strawhats he didn't meet until the arc in which they joined (Robin is kind of an exception, because they met her briefly before they got to Alabasta, but I don't really count that, considering how brief that meeting was). So I thought that if anyone would become the next nakama, it should be someone brand new from the New World. Well, when 3D2Y came around, I started turning it over in my head and decided that a fishman should definitely join; it seems like a given, considering how diverse Luffy's crew already is, and how fishmen have been present in One Piece since East Blue. Then I got to thinking that meeting a brand new person in the New World to join wouldn't be fair, considering the two years the strawhats had to wait to get back together, so I reasoned that it would be one of the fishmen they already met. Not Caimie: she's too useless. And not Hachi; we don't need any more swordsmen, and he's rather weak besides. So I accepted Jinbe would join a while ago, and I've been steadily warming up to the idea, considering his role in planning their strategy and fighting alongside Sanji. This is just a wild guess, but I wouldn't mind his role in the crew to be strategist. As for his dream, I suppose it would be human-fishman equality? Who knows. Anyway, although I wouldn't say I support Jinbe becoming the next nakama, it doesn't bother me. I didn't really like a lot of the strawhats before they joined: Usopp, Chopper, Franky, Brook. But they've grown on me, and I trust that Oda will make Jinbe just as great as the rest of the strawhats, because somehow he always manages to make them awesome.
As for the fate discussion here, it kind of bothers me. I didn't really think much of Luffy being similar to Roger before. Somehow, it seemed like a given. It's been alluded to repeatedly already, and I've always thought it makes sense that he should resemble the previous pirate king. I don't think that these similar traits suggest that Luffy's destiny is to become pirate king, but that he has the qualifications to become pirate king. The argument that the ability to hear the voice of all things undermines his effort seems groundless to me. We don't even truly know what it does yet, so I don't think it's fair to say that it makes Luffy destined to be pirate king. Roger also had King's Haki, but so do Rayleigh, and Shanks, and Hancock. Having this Haki doesn't point to one destined to greatness: rather, it suggests one's capacity to be great. I think this more or less illustrates my point about the voice of all things. Furthermore, Luffy worked hard to master Haki: he trained for two years to get it right. You can't argue that he didn't work for his abilities. Honestly, I would argue that Luffy resembles Shanks far more than he does Roger; essentially the only thing we've seen so far that is a trait shared exclusively between Roger and Luffy is the ability to hear the voice of all things. Yet Luffy is still entirely his own person: his ambition to become pirate king, a defining trait for him, is his alone (granted, a lot of other pirates have the same general ambition, but not many of the big-shots we've seen so far), as if you recall Roger's intention was never to rule anything. I understand why people would assume the parallels to Roger recently would point towards fate, but I think that the point that Oda's trying to make with the parallels is that Luffy is suited to become the pirate king, not that his fate to do so was predetermined.
Well, that's my input. Great chapter, I think: kind of cheesy, but pleasantly so. I do hope that we get some big, incredible twist soon, because lately I think the story's been uncharacteristically predictable. Otherwise, though, I have no complaints.
This is probably the most well-worded post I have read on this thread. And I agree with you 100%.
