Everyone can feel differently of course. Absent the forum, I posted a thread on Twitter last week about Yamato. While things were starting to look up for her right after the battle, Oda didn't really take the time to develop her character in a way that I think leads toward sailing away. Essentially, I thought either Yamato would need to carve out her own identity or find a way to extend / build on Oden's legacy aboard Thousand Sunny. Like, even seeking information about the opening of the borders for Momo's sake would've made sense.
Oda also hasn't really deepened Yamato's bonds with the crew over the past 7 chapters since their meeting - which is an odd choice. Her trauma is rooted in being deprived any meaningful friendship. She grew up isolated and Kaido killed anyone who even showed her kindness. Tales of the Straw Hats, just like Oden's journal, offered her a beacon of hope that she would someday find the friends and freedom she was seeking. Which, you would think Oda would have then taken the opportunity to deepen Yamato's friendship with the Straw Hats. From a writing perspective, Oda connected Yamato to the idea of the Straw Hats much more than the actual people / characters. It makes the relationship still feel one-sided.
I'm not saying there isn't a bond there at all or that they aren't friends, but Oda has just... not deepened that connection at all in recent chapters.
Chapter 1056 ended on an ambiguous / uncertain note. Yamato said she made a decision, to live the way Kozuki Oden did. This phrasing is intentionally vague, but makes me less inclined to think Yamato is about to leave Wano. Making a decision implies a change or shift in perspective. Yamato already wanted to live the way Kozuki Oden did, so that's not a new development. This implies Yamato has seemingly reconsidered what it means to 'live the way Oden did.' We know what Yamato wanted / desired previously, to sail away with the Straw Hats. So, logically, that would imply she now wants something different.
Now, there's another layer here where I think 'sailing with Luffy' and 'joining the crew' could be separate matters. The Straw Hats didn't say farewel to Momo and Kinemon, their two closest friends on Wano. While it's hard to make sense of this apparent snub, I can't help but think they didn't say goodbye because they already consider them 'part of the crew,' much like Vivi. Luffy already made a promise to Tama, and as I've said in earlier iterations of this thread, freedom means having a choice. Stay or go, Yamato is already free.
Throughout the Onigashima raid, Yamato forged a real, meaningful friendship - with Momonosuke. That deep need in her life is now filled. Again, doesn't mean she isn't also friends with Luffy and crew. Just that those bonds are now secondary to her connection with Momo and Wano. Especially given that she doesn't seem to be hanging up the Oden costume anytime soon.
This is something I brought up in my twitter thread last week, but I do wonder if Luffy could come collect some of those 'eventual Straw Hats' after he discovers the last Road Ponglyph and before he heads toward Laugh Tale.
The New Dawn is fast approaching and I suspect the final war to liberate the world post-One Piece is going to be a substantial portion of the story. We now know Wano's borders need to be opened just as Fishman Island needs to be destroyed as a part of this final war, so Wano will certainly be revisited and at that time, it's walls and its people no longer need protection - they need to fight by the side of the Pirate King.
So, I really don't interpret Yamato staying behind, if my speculation turns out to be correct, as a prison sentence. Yamato forming an actual attachment to Momo and Wano, not just the fantasy of a friendship, is a representation of her having achieved freedom from Kaido's shadow. Her father is no longer there to take away the people who care about her. And she's still going to see the world, it just may not e fore a few months in-story. How many years of publication that amounts to ... well, that's another matter.
As for Carrot, it really depends if we see her in next week's chapter. She didn't seem at all happy with her new position. She didn't have the final word / say in that scene and never actually accepted. The scene functions to remind her of Pedro's will, which has little to do with ruling Zou. He wanted to join the crew of the Pirate King. He was born too late to join Roger, and too early to join Luffy, but he passed on his will to Carrot. Carrot is right in that she's really not qualified to lead Zou, at least not right now. But more importantly, looking at the context clues in 1056, it's just.... strange. If this was meant to be the end of Carrot's character arc / adventure, he could have easily included one last panel on that page where she reluctantly agrees. But he didn't. Instead, she looks distressed and is left wondering, "Pedro..." Inu and Neko seem to assume the matter s closed, but Carrot's lack of response lends an uncertain / ambiguous note to the scene. Oda's going to have to revisit the topic later. Which, again, seems odd and unnecessary if this was meant to be it for Carrot.
Just like the intentional ambiguity of Yamato declaring she wants to 'live the way Kozuki Oden did,' Carrot's scene feels like setup for a later subversion of some kind. Yamato has repeatedly said, very plainly, that she wants to leave with Luffy, so switching to the ambiguous phrase, 'live the way Kozuki Oden did,' at the eleventh hour, indicates she changed her mind. Ultimately, I think this means that in some way, Yamato has changed her mind about what it is to live the way Oden did. Personally, I think Green Bull's incursion raised doubts in Yamato's mind about leaving. While Momo's reason for keeping Yamato out of the fight was commendable, I think he inadvertently made the opposite point of what he intended. Because ultimately, Momo and the scabbards weren't able to fend off Ryokugyu. It was Shanks' overwhelming conqueror's haki which drove him away. I think t's safe to say Yamato is substantially stronger than any of the other scabbards and Momo at this point. So, if anything, Momo's tearful insistence that he can't rely on those who will soon be leaving had the opposite effect from what he intended. Yamato didn't have any qualms about leaving previously, so leaving Wano defenseless isn't something Yamato was already wresting with. Meaning, Momo introduced, rather than resolved an internal conflict for Yamato. Which, again, is a strange choice on Oda's part if Yamato is intended to sail away next week. Why create this struggle for Yamato so close to the end of the arc, only to resolve it off panel with her arriving at the same exact conclusion.
Ultimately, I don't think it's any small coincidence chapter 1056 featured scenes with all of the popular choices for Straw Hat candidates - Yamato, Carrot, Momo, Kinemon, and Tama. Tama has already been put on the waiting list, so now it's a matter of wrapping things up for the rest.
I don't believe Oda will allow the Straw Hats to leave without any parting words to Carrot. I know she's not popular in this thread for some reason, but she joins a very small handful of characters to have sailed aboard the Straw Hat's ship to multiple islands, and I don't believe she would exit the narrative on such an uncertain and unceremonious note, "Pedro...".
The Jinbei toast was delayed for a reason and I don't think the Fire Festival celebration is a suitable substitute. Robin, and more importantly, Jinbei, weren't even present for that scene. There have been four previous toasts for new crew members - in chapters 41, 154, 439, and 489. In each instance, the entire crew at the time was present, and the celebration took place aboard the ship as they departed.
If the toast only welcomes Jinbei into the crew, it would seem pointless to delay it in chapter 977. So, I wouldn't be surprised if any combination of Yamato, Carrot, Momo, and Kinemon are accepted as crewmembers, even if some or all of them don't join the Straw Hats on their adventures, at least for the time being.
To be clear, I'm not ruling out the possibility of Yamato leaving with the crew. I've never said it's an impossibility, even if I attempted to explain, exhaustively, why I don't think it's a certainty over the past couple years. There have always been, and still are, a lot of points in favor of Yamato joining, but there are a lot of writing choices on Oda's part that still just don't add up. So while right now, my gut is that Yamato isn't going to leave, at least for the time being, I still won't say it's impossible. I thought the needle started to move on her actually joining / leaving after chapters 1050 / 1051, still not certain of course, but the development in the subsequent chapters and particularly the battle scene in 1055 and the cliffhanger at the end of 1056 have really reinforced and solidified my earlier doubts.
