@Welkin:
Despite the apology I slowly find myself losing respect for purple names.
You shouldn't have any more respect for us than normal folk; Navigators are the editors of the AP wiki, we're got no power on the board (nor would most of us want any…). The only authority we might have is relevant to OP related material; we've got "expertise" in this field.
Complaint noted, though; I'll correct my behaviour in the future to be more cordial, although I thought I was being fairly receptive as is. Maybe people are just getting more sensitive, I dunno; it hasn't been two months since AP was a roaring pit of flames, curses, and insults. If people take criticism badly, people should have more caution in putting forth ideas.
@Welkin:
Telling people not to speculate and share improbable ideas on the internet is just like telling oda to stop surprising us.
There's a difference between putting something stupid on the board, like "is Sanji a vampire", and sharing far-fetched ideas. Generally, far-fetched ideas aren't that welcome either without support, and at the very least CB provided that.
However, as I said before in my very tactful post, it's an elaboration on a fairly minute and insignificant detail. People point out Dragon, but then again I say that's just fanservice; there's no realistic reason to suspect Franky's father would be important, no more so than Nami or Sanji's parents or Robin's father.
"ascendant heritage" is a shounen staple Oda's not all that big on, but he weakened with the Dragon deal. Even then, though, it's not all that a big deal.
…and finally, this has been pointed out before. Am I repeating myself? It sure feels like it.
@Fire Fist:
Uh, hello?! Ransom, anyone? Not that it's likely to happen, but kidnapping Luffy to get Dragon is quite literally killing two birds with one stone.
That's speculative, though interesting; I'm looking for one concrete reason as to why Dragon being Luffy's father is significant outside "Luffy's from a powerful family, so it's expected of him by outsiders to make it big". That was established by Garp and not Dragon anyway.
@Raven:
1. It shows that Luffy is related to one of the most dangerous men on the GL.
Garp is arguably the same, so that's not something unique to Dragon and that's a "what", not a 'why". Why is that important? We can't determine if it is important if there's no reason as to why.
@Raven:
2. It raises the doubt as to whether or not Ace and Luffy are blood brothers.
When I first read that, I thought "BINGO, that's probably one" but after thinking about it a couple seconds longer I remembered that Garp's full name is Monkey D. Garp. So, no, that's not something unique to Dragon either.
@Raven:
3. It shows that Luffy had no idea who is father was, and hence has had no father figure in his life.
Ok, that's another "what". Where's the "why"? Why is it significant that Luffy had no idea about his father? Here's the why:
It's significant because it shows Dragon is being so secretive he doesn't even disclose his identity to his own family members.
…but that tells us something about Dragon, NOT why Dragon being Luffy's father is important. I mean, just plug 'n chuck; Dragon being Luffy's father is significant because he's secretive? Huh?
@Raven:
4. We now know (or at least have some idea) why Dragon saved Luffy from smoker.
Yes, that's the most likely, but it's not concrete; saturated dirt would be a better observation.
@Raven:
what you said was harsh and you wont accept that you might be wrong.
No, it's not; I think people are getting waaay to sensitive on this board. Taking criticism is part of discussion, and there are frankly people who, through sheer attrition, become more crude over time. omae + Ivotas, whom are also highly respected people on this board, are even more blunt than I am; if this is surprising, I'd advise you lot to please browse more before calling someone a bully.
@Captain:
i still think its funny he didn't even acknowledge the two speculation/theory threads of his own that i linked to. just don't see what the difference is.
I must have missed 'em, let me take a look. Could be funny.
…
For #1, Ener's priests and Sniper Isle, I cited three factual instances of Usopp's lies/legends/myths coming true, whereas in this case we've only got one direct lineage connection (Dragon -> Luffy). It's not correct to infer that ALL Mugiwara could unknowingly have famous parents from that relationship alone (Usopp doesn't count since he knows his father is famous). Ergo, it's a step above wild speculation or even a hunch; it's a trend.
For #2, Tashigi defeating Zoro, I wasn't providing enough info in the first post, which explains why so many people disagreed with me. The facts are that Tashigi has the skill of a swordsman, she has Kuina's appearence, and she's of the same age Kunia would be while sharing the trend of being named after a bird.
So, for all purposes of discussion, she's like a Kuina gone wrong. A Kuina who forgot her promise with Zoro.
Given this original relationship with Zoro (love), plus Tashigi's relationship with Zoro (hate), their fates seem intertwined at some point later down the line, as is Smoker and Luffy and possibly Koby + Helmeppo.
What gives that post more credibility is that Koby + Helmeppo were shown to be on the path to greatness once they were recruited by Garp, which is Oda's way of saying he wants to expand their role in the story, in contrast to someone like, oh say Gaimon. Since Koby + Helmeppo jumped onto the ladder of power, and Tashigi is already on it, it's reasonable to expect Tashigi to climb higher if they did.
This is derived from facts; it's not speculation at this point. The speculation is that Tashigi will surpass Zoro, which could be considered an implication given Tashigi's mirror-life of Kuina. It's quite solidily foundational.
...
What the Franky-de Flamingo topic relates to is how I think Higuma the Bear is actually Bartholomew Kuma; it's base on shounen trends outside the manga and physical appearence.
As I said earlier, while anything is possible in OP, using shounen trends to predict stuff is more unstable in OP than not.