With where we're at in the story I don't understand how Yamato could have a delayed joining. Oda's been very clear that he wants to wrap up the series and Wano's rushed ending just further cements this.

I was a firm believer Carrot will join after WCI arc but during Wano she mostly disappeared and my opinion started to change. But with Luffy name-dropping Pedro during his fight with Kaido (which felt out of place) and Carrot's reaction to become one of Zou's next ruler I really think she might join. It's also just weird the Strawhats were never shown saying goodbye to her. That plus her fight with Perospero where he told her to go back home and munch on grass. It feels like she'll come back into the storyline again soon.

@Deicide Unless the story makes it clear I don't think role/profession is a good avenue for discussing future crew members. The Strawhats never needed a helmsman until WCI arc when Jinbe was shown being the perfect helmsman. Many assumed Jinbe would be the helmsman he was only really shown steering a ship briefly around Marineford arc and I think some of the evidence people cited was anime-only. Usopp didn't show off his marksmanship until after joining the crew.

Personally I think fighting styles would be a good way to eliminate potential characters. Zoro and Brook both use swords but they fight VERY differently. It wouldn't make sense to add someone like Kin'emon since he fights very similarly to Zoro. Despite me thinking Yamato wouldn't join I thought the use of a bat/club was unique. Carrot to me feels different enough from Jinbe and Sanji. Carrot being a speedy lightweight, Jinbe being a strong heavyweight, and Sanji being somewhere in the middle.

@electricmastro said in Next Straw Hat Crewmates (Vol. 9 - Yamato vs. The World):

@fapfapfap said in Next Straw Hat Crewmates (Vol. 9 - Yamato vs. The World):

With where we're at in the story I don't understand how Yamato could have a delayed joining. Oda's been very clear that he wants to wrap up the series and Wano's rushed ending just further cements this.

The most simple explanation: that Yamato didn't have a clear greater purpose with Luffy and didn't want the development of that to further delay the Straw Hats moving on.

I just think Oda wrote Yamato to be a red herring or even possibly lightly troll the readers. Yamato staying in Wano also feels like a bit of parallel with Katakuri. Both were children of Yonkos and both are in considerable positions of power now that their respective parents have been defeated (ie. passing of the torch to the next generation).

I think Sphinx and the island Ace and Whitebeard are buried on is next. Luffy reached an important milestone and visiting Ace's grave might be a good closing chapter for the saga and opening of another. We also didn't see the SHs say goodbye to Marco so maybe we'll see him soon again. Weevil Jr. and Ms. Bakkin we're surrounded by the Marines on some island which might be Sphinx. Ms. Bakkin was presumably in Rocks crew so this may serve as a vehicle for Rocks lore.

With where we're at in the story I don't understand how Yamato could have a delayed joining. Oda's been very clear that he wants to wrap up the series and Wano's rushed ending just further cements this.

I was a firm believer Carrot will join after WCI arc but during Wano she mostly disappeared and my opinion started to change. But with Luffy name-dropping Pedro during his fight with Kaido (which felt out of place) and Carrot's reaction to become one of Zou's next ruler I really think she might join. It's also just weird the Strawhats were never shown saying goodbye to her. That plus her fight with Perospero where he told her to go back home and munch on grass. It feels like she'll come back into the storyline again soon.

@Zhenja:

I think Luffy's fruit awakening and Zunesha recognizing him as Joy Boy are not correlated… it's just a coincidence.

Joy Boy has to be a D. thing... anything else doesn't make sense, because of what Whitebeard said to Blackbeard... "you're not the one Roger was waiting for". Why would he say this if it would be fruit related... doesn't make sense...

Luffy's will to live, to survive reached such a high level, that it affected his heartbeat... basically he reached Joy Boy level... at the same time his fruit began to awaken.

But as usual, only time will tell... so we have to wait and be patient.

I disagree. I think Zunesha saying Luffy is Joyboy has to do with his awakening. I think the problem is we probably don't understand what Will of D is or Oda is intentionally making us believe its one thing when it isn't.

A lot of people are overlooking that sandwiched in-between the Luffy's awakening we get a flashback of Oden. A man that continues to dance and smile despite his suffering for the benefit of others (and later died smiling I might add). Trademarks of a D. but he isn't one as far as we know. Yes there are people with D. in their name but given the recent chapters I believe there are 2 different things. There is a false understanding of "Will of D", people that have the D. in their name as a result of bloodlines and a true understanding of "Will of D", people that possessed the Will to smile or "Will of :D". Think back to Robin's flashback arc when Saul is teaching Robin the power of smiling and laughter. Or even all the way back to Chapter 1 when Shanks gets humiliated by Higuma and laughs afterward. Looking back, I think Law's flashback probably best encapsulates this. Law was born with D. in his name yet despite this he tends to be very serious compared to the other D's we know. At one point Rocinante even said he reminded him of Doflamingo when he was at that age. I never really thought about it at the time but that flashback had some great irony: Rocinante, once a celestial dragon, encouraging Law, a D., to smile even while he was dying. I mean it makes sense given the themes of the series. Oda has repeatedly s*** on the importance of bloodlines and I don't think having the letter D. in their name will turn out any different.

Honestly I don't feel like anyone else should join at this point. Oda said earlier that with Wano arc One Piece would be accelerating towards it's conclusion and it really feels like that over the past year.

Not saying nobody will join but anybody that does will probably feel not quite satisfying.

We still have the fleet of Marine ships outside of Wano so maybe that'll give us some opportunities for new crew dynamics but my mind has changed since the start of Wano. I don't want anyone else joining.

@ArmamentHero:

Kinemon is out.

He's married to Wano. His whole desire is to free Wano and nothing else.

We don't know that. He's married to Wano I agree, but Wano is important to the world of One Piece as a whole which Oden knew. Perhaps Kin'emon will discover some reason to continue on with the Strawhats after learning of Wano's importance in the grand scheme of things and inherit Oden's will.

Again, I think Kinemon would be lame and I think as a samurai he's too same-y since we already have Zoro but those are just personal gripes of mine.

Is Kin'emon out of the running for next nakama?

I feel like nearly everyone, including myself, has written him off but as we're getting late into the arc everyone else feels…. unimpressive. Carrot's been shafted since the start of the arc. Yamato feels WAY too forward to be the next nakama and her DF reveal is disappointing. I never saw Tama as a possibility.

Kin'emon on paper seems to check off a lot of the boxes for new crewmate material. We got a tragic backstory, his DF actually fits the pattern if you subscribe to number theory, he's been with the crew for a while now. I just don't like him very much and think he's too similar to Zoro being another samurai in the crew, but those are just my personal opinions.

@Zik:

I prefer the Strawhat 13 theory.

I do believe the number 13 holds some kind of symbolic significance that hasn't been revealed yet. The crew is call Mugiwara no Ichimi in Japanese but it could be more numerical wordplay at work by Oda again. Ichi = 1, Mi = 3.

The Vivre Card also had 13 numbers reserved for the Straw hats. Also if you look at the ship from side to side the soldier dock doors are nearly always set to 1 and 3.

Personally I think the crew will end up 13 with the ship being #13 leaving 2 more people but that's just me.