We have no absolutely no idea how the WG reacted once Roger became Pirate King and his crew disbanded shortly later. For all we know, they did try their hardest to find and apprehend all of them and simply didn't manage to do so. This isn't a world where every country and island is globally connected and every person has a phone to quickly call the cops in their house once they see a known perp walk by on the street. We have seen plenty of islands that were either a) mostly disconnected from the rest of the world, b) run by criminals and outlaws or c) so huge that it would be really difficult to find somebody on it.

It's simply a baseless assumption that the WG didn't even try to find some of the most notorious criminals of that time period. Like, we could have a line in the very next chapter of one the Five Elders commenting that the damn Roger pirates just managed to evade them again and again, You guys act like we have a complete picture of everything the WG has done in the last two decades, when in reality, it's all been filtered through the perspective of our main characters. Of course we are more aware of what the WG did to capture Robin - we were shown her complete backstory!

That's why it just feels like complaining for complaining's sake to me - it's all just based on headcanon, not anything shown in the actual story.

...So it's a mystery flame, huh?

I've got a question for y'all. Since Yamato basically introduced himself by asking Luffy to join his crew, we have all always judged him according to the standards we hold for a new crewmember. Interactions with the crew, dream, tragic backstory, loveability etc. Basically, we judged him like we would judge a main character. And from the reactions to him not joining after all, I've noticed a sort of consensus that people quite like the character, but weren't so hot on him becoming a full-fledged crewmember and are thus more or less relieved he won't be (for now) (of course, there is an even bigger consensus that the execution for this plot development was really lacking).

So, my question is: does your judgment of Yamato as a character change now that we have to reconsider him not as a crewmember and main character, but as a secondary, more or less arc-centric (time will tell) character? Because, to me, if I forget about all my qualms I had about him joining the crew, forget about all that stuff and just look at him like I would at any other secondary character in the story? Then he might just be one of my absolute favorite non-main characters in the whole series!

I just found Yamato immensely likable and fun. He was a real scene-stealer during the raid, got his own little flashback, even got to fight the main villain for a bit. It's a character with a lot of potential and I find myself wanting to see more of him in the future. That's not something I can say for a lot of characters in One Piece. Don't get me wrong, there are literally dozens of characters in One Piece I really love - that's one of Oda's gifts as a writer, he just knows how to make you fall in love with his creations - and I'm always happy when we get to see them again in the story. But I don't often find myself bummed out at the end of an arc because I want to see more of a particular character.

And that's how I feel about Yamato right now. I'm not per se bummed that he didn't join the crew - as I said in the spoiler chapter thread, I don't really need more crewmembers after Jinbe - but I wouldn't have minded him tagging along for a while, like Law or Vivi did. And as much as I didn't like how Oda executed things in the current chapter, I think the fact that I feel like this about a character that was only introduced really late in the arc, and also that it is totally believable and rings true that Luffy would allow him to join the crew when Yamato feels ready to, that seems to me like a big success on Oda's part.

I've read some people state that now in retrospect, all the time spent on Yamato during the raid was a waste of time because he didn't even join, and I just can't agree with that. Were Wyper's scenes in Skypiea a waste of time? Or Kyros's fight against Diamante in Dressrosa? Or Bartolomeo or Cavendish's fights? Or Bege's scenes in Whole Cake Island? I get it, secondary characters also take away screentime from the main characters and the cast of the raid was already bloated to begin with. But if Oda has a really good idea for a character, should he just scrap that character to save time? Especially if its a character like Yamato that a ton of fans really fell in love with?

Plus, we all figure that a lot of the established secondary characters will play some part in the final war, and if that's the case, Yamato is almost guaranteed to play a particularly big part. While there are a ton of characters in One Piece, there is a surprisingly small set of characters that hold "almost-main character" status for me. Law is in that category, for example. Vivi, too, I guess (don't get me wrong, she'll always be a crewmember to me, but it doesn't feel quite right to give her the same status as the regular main characters). And that's the group where I would put Yamato now - almost Strawhat-level.

That might not be all that satisfying for those who really wanted to see Yamato join - more like a consolation prize than anything, probably. I'm just saying that I don't see his character as a waste of time at all.

I have a huge smile on my face right now I just watched a review of the series by a German reviewer of films and tv shows on Youtube, who had never watched or read One Piece before watching the Live Action series. He described how much joy he felt while watching the episodes, and how much he enjoyed Luffy's wide eyed sense of adventure, how touching he found Nami's backstory etc.

He pretty much echoed how I felt when I fell in love with One Piece when I first watched the anime. Then I scrolled down to the comments and was hit by a wave of positivity. Super fans who have been reading the manga for decades! People who watched the anime as a kid and felt really nostalgic after watching the series! People who were completely unfamiliar with One Piece that binged the LA version and are now excited to check out the manga or anime!

Wow!

@Bugs said in Chapter 1066: The Will of Ohara:

On the other other other other other hand, Saul’s status doesn’t change the fact that it’s still a pretty dull chapter. Daz is right, it’s not fun to read an entire info drop (which I should point out didn’t have anything truly groundbreaking besides Saul and the books, which was a chekhov’s gun waiting to be fired so not that much one) with almost no fun antics or character’s discovering things for themselves (Robin’s tears don’t move me; I would get it if the reveal was Robin actually seeing Saul, which would at least take some of the sting off the retcon).

I hate to go all "The Dude" on you, but that's not a fact, it's just, like, your opinion, man. It's a bit of a pet peeve of mine; I find it annoying when people claim their opinion as fact to elevate it to a level where people can't really disagree without automatically being wrong (can't argue with a fact, right?), especially when we are talking about a topic that is super subjective, like if a chapter was a fun read or not. Clearly, plenty of people have enjoyed reading it, some have even been moved to tears by it...

Other people have already pointed why comparing Saul to other flashback characters doesn't really work out, because the other Strawhats all have at least some people left. Robin is the only one who had to watch everybody she ever cared about die - and then she had to live alone for 20 years, with everybody she ever met along the way betraying her. That's a super harsh fate, and one of the many friends she lost that day being revealed to still be alive doesn't really change any of that. She still had to watch everybody else die, including her mother who she never really got to know, and then had to live a really shitty life for two decades. That's why I'm happy for her, she deserves at least a small happy end.

The only other main character who even comes close when it comes to tragedy is Brook, who also had to watch everybody he cared about die and then spent several decades all alone, but at least he wasn't a little kid when it happened. And if you think about it, Brook learning that Laboon is still alive is very similar to Robin learning that Saul is still alive. The only difference is in how the reveal was presented to us, the reader - we obviously never thought Laboon was dead, while we thought Saul was a goner ever since Enies Lobby.

While I'm just as annoyed as everybody else when Oda milks a "death" for all its emotion only to then later reveal that, nah, the character was alive all along, this one feels differently to me. And I think the main difference is the reason for Saul's "revival". When Oda usually brings a character back from the dead, like Pell or Conis' dad, for example, it's just done to provide the arc with a happy ending where everybody can be joyful and nobody has to mourn their dead. There are no reasons beyond that, it doesn't really matter for the story if Pell is still alive or not. Things are different with Saul. While this reveal does make Robin more happy, that's not its only or even main purpose from a story-telling point of view. It figures into Vegapunk's past, it will very likely impact the plot of the Elbaf arc, it will change how we view Kuzan's character in the future.* It's important for the plot and didn't just happen because Oda can't bring himself to kill a character for good.

*On a small footnote, this is very similar to Igaram being revealed to be still alive after Robin apparently murdered him in cold blood in Whiskey Peak, which is "this character is actually still alive"-reveal nobody ever actually talks or complains about. This one was really important in order to make Robin a character we can actually accept as a sympathetic person. If Igaram had stayed dead, Robin would have been responsible for the death of a person that was very close to Vivi, after all. Things are very similar in Saul's case: now Kuzan actually isn't a coldblooded killer (no pun intended) anymore from Robin's point of view, which might be important in the future.

@ARTEMlS said in Chapter 1066: The Will of Ohara:

It's not just you. I also expected the ancient history to be some mystery story, that is, an actual well-written mystery story with everything that belongs to such a story. Including red herrings.

First of all, despite lots of fantasy stories trying to tell us, archeology is more than just learning the ancient language and then just translating perfectly tailor-made texts which tell basically everything absolutely accurately. No, that's just not how the human nature works. People lie - be it sugar-coating or outright blatant false claims. Therefore, historical sources cannot and never should be taken at face value. A big part of evaluating historical discoveries is interpretation. Two different archeologists can e.g. both syntactically flawlessly translate an ancient text, yet come to two absolutely different interpretations and conclusions.

There should be some actual hurdles and obstacles in Robin's way for her to overcome. That's where some red herrings come in - be it due to Robin making some false conclusions on her own or someone else actively providing false information and doing historical revisionism. There's so much potential for the latter. Like one of the Gorosei just doesn't believe that it's possible to completely eradicate everything, therefore he instead started an operation to provide whoever tries to research the ancient times with as much as erroneous material as possible, trying to mislead them for years, decades or even centuries. Even going as far as creating fake poneglyphs.

I'm sorry, I think all of this stuff can be really interesting if that is what the story is all about, but as much as I love Robin and find all scenes of her uncovering the secrets of the past fascinating, the story isn't called "Nico Robin: Raider of the Lost Poneglyph" for a reason. Even if some readers seem to suddenly have a problem with this, the focus of the story is still on Luffy and his quest to become Pirate King and find the One Piece, and how he gets closer and closer to his goal, both geographically and regarding his position in the pirate world. Robin's storyline of uncovering the history of the Void Century is exciting and obviously important to the lore of the story, but it's still a secondary plot line at the end of day. Introducing fake poneglyphs that contain false information just seems overly complicated and sort of cumbersome. Do we really want plot lines of Robin going "Damn it, that Poneglyph I read in Skypiea actually was a total lie created by an evil forger/spy from the WG, now I have to rethink my whole theory on the Void Century!". That just seems kinda annoying and also like a very convenient way to me for the author to introduce some retcons to his established mythology

Or how about Black Maria being such a history revisionist - for whatever reason? That also would have given us a battle with some emotional stakes and opportunities for some proper inner conflict for Robin during the battle, but nah...

But that battle did have emotional stakes and inner conflict, those were just centered on her relationship to the crew in general and to Sanji specifically instead of her role as an archeologist. And where does Black Maria being a history revisionist even come from? That's just a case of being pissed at the author because he didn't make your headcanon come true.

@electricmastro said in Chapter 1090: Kizaru:

So is Bonney closer to becoming a Straw Hat after getting over Vegapunk and continually hanging out with the Straw Hats like Sanji?

Do you honestly think she is going to become a Strawhat? What makes her special enough to be a main character?

Personally, I've felt pretty much since the timeskip that we were done with gaining new crewmembers. It just felt wrong to me to add a member now who completely missed the Strawhat's and Luffy's lowest point in the series. Jinbei is a special case, as though he joined pretty late in the game, he was introduced pre-timeskip, palyed a special part in helping Luffy get over his grief, and has joined the crew on several adventures before he finally joined.

But there hasn't been a single new character introduced Post-TS who ended up actually joining the crew. In retrospect, one could say that Pre-TS was mainly about building the Strawhat crew, as new members were joining pretty much every single arc. Post-TS, on the other hand, has been about actually becoming the Pirate King - everything Luffy has done in the New World has furthered that goal in retrospect (making alliances, building a grand fleet, taking down direct obstacles to the throne like the Emperors, finding the Road porneglyphs that lead to the One Piece etc.)

Imo Oda also partially didn't let Jinbei join for so long because he wanted to keep the discussion going on who else might join the crew - after all, if Jinbei was still promised to join, who says others couldn't also still join as well? But now that's done and over with and most promising new crewmember since entering the New World, Yamato, didn't actually end up joining either, it couldn't have been made more clear to me that that's it.

I mean, maybe you'll have some characters joining at the end of the series, like some epilogue-thing, but not for the actual series imo.

It will be a while before I can really form my final verdict on Wano as a whole, but right now I think I would deem it flawed, but good. There were some weird decisions during the raid, particularly towards the end, no doubt about it. But generally, I enjoyed the heck out of it. I'm binge reading Act 3 right now (I'm in the middle of volume 100 right now - Vol. 101 has been released over here only recently), and it's honestly a ton of fun so far.

Stuff like Luffy seemingly running up stairs to reach Kaido for countless chapters is a complete non-issue now. The chapters just fly by and honestly, a lot of set-up happens during these couple of chapters. It provides the Scabbards with an opportunity to fight Kaido on their own and some of the Strawhats to meet their match-ups. The Ice Oni stuff also doesn't bother me at all anymore, as its purpose is much clearer now: it's main purpose is to provide Chopper with a great moment since he won't get a fight this arc, and also to build-up Queen as a cruel villain that needs to get his ass kicked asap.

While I haven't gotten to that part yet on my reread, I know that I enjoyed most of the fights during the arc. Aside from the final, somewhat lackluster clash, everything that happened on the rooftop fighting-wise was amazing, imo. Zoro's, Sanji's, Robin's, Law & Kid's and even Killer's fights were all really good overall. Jinbe's and Franky's fights were good, but too short. Nami vs. Ulti....would have been alright if Big Mom hadn't intervened in their fight. Good build-up both to their personal conflict and to Nami finally gaining Zeus as a permanent power-up, but the fight already wasted a lot of its initial potential when we didn't get an actual Nami & Usopp vs. the Dinobros fight. And then when Big Mom had to tenderize Ulti so that Nami could beat her....yeah. Big disappointment there, no sugarcoating it.

Anyway, regarding acts 1 and 2, I've watched both acts in the anime lately (Act 1 was aired over here earlier in the year and Act 2 is in the middle of airing right now) and am surprised how much I enjoy them now. I don't know if it's the anime adding details and extra scenes, but everything flows pretty well for me. Most notably, I remember feeling like all the Strawhats except for Luffy were totally underused to instead focus on the large cast of secondary characters, but watching the anime, I don't get this feeling at all, somehow. Most of the Strawhats are doing stuff in almost every scene, be it Chopper finding Big Mom and leading her to Udon, Sanji fighting Page-1, Nami, Robin and Brook sneaking into Orochi's party etc.

And while I guess it's somewhat of an unpopular opinion, I have to say I really like the Wano supporting characters. Momo and Kinemon really came into their own this arc. Tama and Hyogoro are really sympathetic, while Shinobu is a ton of fun. And the Scabbards...maybe there should have been less of them. But I do like them all in their own way, individually, they all have their own interesting little backstories. Honestly, I know that many readers were experiencing arc fatigue and just wanted the fighting to end, but in general, I wouldn't have minded seeing more from Kawamatsu and Denjiro in particular. Watching Act 2 again made me realize how much I enjoyed them initially.

This trailer was amazing. I think I would actually give this a watch even if I wasn't a fan already. Seriously it actually looks really good. And I surprisingly don't care at all that they cut out Krieg and combine Baratie and Arlong arc into one arc. I hope they still find away to give Sanji his proper screentime and characterization.

Damn, I'm actually fucking hyped now.

@ARTEMlS said in Chapter 1066: The Will of Ohara:

@Riddler said in Chapter 1066: The Will of Ohara:

But that battle did have emotional stakes and inner conflict, those were just centered on her relationship to the crew in general and to Sanji specifically instead of her role as an archeologist.

The problem is this inner conflict just did not work at all because Black Maria didn't provide anything for Robin to be emotionally challenged in any way. When she asked "Did I hit a nail?" I just thought: No! You did hit nothing. You completely missed the mark. It just doesn't work.

She confronted her with her fear of only being a burden to her crew, which was literally one of Robin's biggest fears and the reason she left the crew in Enies Lobby. How does this not provide a good emotional hook for the fight but Black Maria being a history revisionist does? Black Maria didn't miss the mark at all. The fact that Robin wasn't fazed by those remarks as much as Black Maria intended was meant to show how much Robin had grown since then, both regarding her feelings of self-worth and her trust that the Strawhats would ever abandon her.

Of course, Luffy is the protagonist. But that does not mean there cannot be more compelling and better thought-out sideplots for the other Strawhats than what we actually have here.

I mean, I guess it's all subjective in the end, but I do find Robin's sideplot plenty compelling as it is and the suggestion that Robin hasn't actually had to work to gain information just isn't true imo. The only reason she found anything out on Fishman Island and Wano was because she was actively looking for Poneglyphs and then confronted people who might know something. Heck, she was even criticized on here for "carelessly" asking Oden's Dad questions about Pluton's location.

One thing I wanted to also respond to from your previous post was your statement that there were no (or not enough) hurdles in Robin's quest to uncover the secrets of the Void Century. To which I want to say: traveling the Grandline and surviving is in itself the hurdle for all of the Strawhats. Be it Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Franky or Brook,* they can all reach their goals and dreams by generally traveling through the Grandline, fighting the strong enemies along the way, and surviving. Why is Robin the only one who needs some extra hurdles in her way?

*I left out Chopper because I'm honestly not even sure what his dream even is. Now this is a character who would benefit from some story focus!

@Alfiere said in Chapter 1066: The Will of Ohara:

@Marcotty How is disclosing a secret by finding the right key "bad writing"?
Again, Luffy had to actually go out of his way and walk several extra miles to get and keep Robin in his crew. And all this while knowing nothing of how crucial she actually (once) was to obtain the One Piece. He gained the key and deserved it, for being a decent person.

If Kid and Law know of the burned man on Elbaf that knows ancient kingdom lore (and know what that entails), they would surely know of the Ohara scholar in Crocodile's entourage and work from there.
But they were likely too busy with their edgelord revenge plans and crucifying civilians habits, and they missed their chance, too bad for them.

Also, the OP being basically hard locked for anyone that isn't the reincarnation of the guy who buried it in the first place is instead good writing? Because now all hints are pointing to that, ask Roger for reference.

Robin will still be crucial for Luffy's group in particular to reach their goal. The fact that there a few more ways to read the Poneglyphs doesn't change the fact that Robin is still a super important help. If there were only 5 people in the world who could read the Poneglyphs, each of these five people would still be a really vital asset to your crew.

I am confused about your second point. Isn't it the other way around? If Robin, a member of Luffy's crew, was the absolute only way to become Pirate King, wouldn't that in fact make Luffy more special? Like, "of course, it's the Chosen One who has the one person in his crew that can help you get the One Piece, everybody else can just go screw themselves, they have no chance." The fact that there are other ways that may give other crews like Kidd, Blackbeard or Law a chance actually makes Luffy less special...

@Gizmo said in Volume 105 Predictions/Discussion:

Okay, so Oda addressed that Tama is a Kurozumi, that Hiyori’s final line about burning was meant to address Orochi only, but leaves open the possibility of Kurozumi hatred in the future…

Given the discussions had here about that line When it came out, I’m glad Oda addressed the fact that discrimination might still exist on the Kurozumi, and that while Hiyori might have not meant the line to bear no ill will on the bloodline, it could still be interpreted like that for some of the folks out there.

I really appreciate Oda's thoughtful and mature response to the question. Ideally, he would have depicted that stuff in the story directly, but this at least shows he really put some thought into the situation and its implications. What Captain M said is also true, reading the ending of Wano in volume format will really be an improvement, since you get all these extra information inbetween chapters and Hiyori's statement about the Kurozumis will immediately be clarified and put into context.

I dunno. You could say about a lot of scenes or character moments that we didn't need to see them because we can predict how it will most likely go. Any Strawhat fight against the villain's minions could theoretically be skipped because we know our guys are going to win in the end anyway, by that logic.

Personally, I was really enjoying the Labophase Death Game. I know not everybody agrees, but to me, it was a fun scenario and I liked how it involved pretty much all of the crew plus most of the Punks (it would have given us more time to spend with these characters, too). I didn't even mind the twist reveal that the Strawhats had already resolved the situation when we came back to Egghead, that was kinda cool, too, but I was pretty disappointed when we didn't even get a flashback afterwards to show us how it had come to this. And as Zanze said, it's even more disappointing considering a lot of the characters involved didn't get anything to do for the rest of the arc...

I'm surprised anybody could enjoy reading One Piece while apparently completely hating the main characters lol

I love Harrison Ford's "give no fucks" attitude in interviews. I mean, for this role, he probably had to motion capture a a big red angry monster. "Acting like an idiot for money" seems like a pretty apt description for that lol. And he does stress that he had a ton of fun acting in the film and I fully believe him there. He just didn't take it too seriously, which is completely fine by me.

I personally always kinda cringe when interviewers ask celebrities like Ford super nerdy questions like "Who'd be the anchor being of Earth-616"? Does anybody seriously expected him be that deep into the MCU lore to know what the heck that is supposed to mean? I appreciate actors being honest about their work.

Looks pretty cool. I can't believe we are actually getting Harrison Ford as Red Hulk!

@Robby said in Season 2 (and Beyond?) Speculation Thread (Spoilers):

Holding off on Crocodile, Robin,, Hiriluk, and Kureha. Maybe they're not cast yet, or maybe they're saving bigger characters for later. (or they're casting in-sequence and just haven't quite officially gotten there yet.)

How could you forget Vivi

David Dastmalchian as Mr. 3 is fantastic, that guy has been in so much notable stuff in the last couple of years. Interesting that Miss Goldenweek hasn't been revealed with the other Baroque Agents of early Alabasta saga.

We have no absolutely no idea how the WG reacted once Roger became Pirate King and his crew disbanded shortly later. For all we know, they did try their hardest to find and apprehend all of them and simply didn't manage to do so. This isn't a world where every country and island is globally connected and every person has a phone to quickly call the cops in their house once they see a known perp walk by on the street. We have seen plenty of islands that were either a) mostly disconnected from the rest of the world, b) run by criminals and outlaws or c) so huge that it would be really difficult to find somebody on it.

It's simply a baseless assumption that the WG didn't even try to find some of the most notorious criminals of that time period. Like, we could have a line in the very next chapter of one the Five Elders commenting that the damn Roger pirates just managed to evade them again and again, You guys act like we have a complete picture of everything the WG has done in the last two decades, when in reality, it's all been filtered through the perspective of our main characters. Of course we are more aware of what the WG did to capture Robin - we were shown her complete backstory!

That's why it just feels like complaining for complaining's sake to me - it's all just based on headcanon, not anything shown in the actual story.

@Alfiere said in Chapter 1116: Inner Conflict:

This 8 year old girl may possibly be able to read an ancient language, based on the fact she lived on the same island as some other people who could, which means that in the case she manages to go around the world visiting all the islands where these ancient stones are located (something that's been done only once in almost a thousand years) may actually discover something about this old story ---> relentlessly hunt her down l, no matter how carefully she hides, and attempt to kill her at the first chance
And
These guys actually went there, learned ALL the story and came back ---> jeez there are a lot of small inconveniences in tracking them down, let's hope they keep the secret...

I already remarked on the differences between Robin's situation (little girl without any money or friends in the world) vs. the situation for Rayleigh and the rest of their crew (powerful, well-connected pirates, probably have some money saved from all their treasures as well).

Is it really that hard to believe that it would be much easier for the WG to track Robin's steps at the time than those of Rayleigh and co.? Not to mention that it would actually be much easier to apprehend Robin than somebody like Rayleigh.

"Little Robin was seen somewhere? Send a group of 20 marines to capture her!"

"Dark King Rayleigh was seen somewhere?! Holy shit, sent an armada of twenty ships and at least one admiral!"

The sheer manpower required to capture someone as powerful as Rayleigh is much more than a "minor inconvenience". Especially if you want to track and follow him over a prolonged period of time.

And while the WG did try to hunt down Robin relentlessly, the bounty they gave her was 79 million. Impressive and scary for such a little kid, but how big do you think Rayleigh's bounty is? 2 billion? Doesn't that also reflect that the WG did see the Roger pirates as the bigger threat overall?

@Alfiere said in Chapter 1116: Inner Conflict:

Crocus had a bounty on his head, and if that remote marine station in east blue had enough intelligence capabilities to know of Koby's past as a cabin boy for the smallest fry pirate crew around, I trust the top dogs of the world police to know about him being in Roger's for however long. Also I may misremember but he doesn't consistently live inside Laboon, he was just in there that one time to give her painkillers, and it isn't necessary to do so anymore since she stopped headbutting the red line.
Warships sailing through the calm belt isn't an excuse at all, those are just the top class military ships, everyone else has to do the classics and once you are there there's only the lighthouse and the lighthouse keeper is someone anyone over the age of 30 has a fair chance to recognize as a Roger pirate.

Abou Ray, even assuming he managed to hide in plain sight, 2 years ago he hindered an admiral,making himself an accomplice to assaulting a celestial dragon, and shortly after raided Marine ford with other two most wanted criminals.
So either the WG definition of "inactive" is very lax, or there something more to it.

Or it wasn't thought out very well.

Lots of little points I want to respond to!

Crocus having a bounty is complete news to me. Where is this information from? I couldn't find anything on the wiki.

The East Blue marines didn't know about Koby's past on Alvida, as far as I remember. One of the marine grunts mentions the possibility that Koby could be a pirate spy, but that is due to Koby clearly being friends with Luffy, who already declared himself to be a pirate in front of them. It would be insane if the marines actually could identify the freaking cabin boys of any random pirate crew. And even if some member of the marines later mentioned Koby's past, remember that Luffy actually told them about it! Back in chapter 7, I think, Luffy mentioned Koby being on Alvida's crew in order to piss him off. The leader of the Navy base chose to ignore it though because he was a cool dude. So any knowledge about Koby's past on their part would not be due to unbelievably amazing Navy intelligence but simply because they were randomly told.

Crocus may not live full-time inside of Laboon, but he did spend enough time in there to build himself a house and paint the inside of Laboon's stomach. And even if you want to argue that he doesn't have a reason to go in there anymore since Laboon stopped hitting his head against the wall, fine. He still has a very convenient and effective hiding place right next to him. The marines can't magically teleport right next to him. He would see their ships from a wide distance, so he could jump into Laboon and have him submerge underwater for a few days. Boom, he's gone. Even if the marines came to apprehend him, they would have to reach the conclusion that the reports were either wrong or that Crocus had left and went somewhere else at that point.

I think you also overestimate how many people actually cross into the Grand Line using River's Mountain on a regular basis. The Grand Line is known as a pirate graveyard - the average person - and probably the average pirate as well - fears it as a very scary place you wouldn't want to visit. Plus, it's dangerous as well to sail up River's mountain - so we can assume that it's mostly used by pirates and perhaps adventurers. How likely is it that a random pirate of one the blues would a) actually recognize someone that was infamous 20 years ago (assuming that Crocus really did have a bounty) b) report it to the government?

As for the people already living on the Grand Line, they don't have any reason to sail to its entrance, since you can't actually leave that way.

Again, where is the information that only the absolute top class marine vessels enter through the calm belt from? That's news to me. Seems kind of shitty to expect average marines to senselessly risk their lives going through River's mountain if there is a much safer way for them to enter.

As for the point about Rayleigh, as I said, he left the island for at least a year after the events of Sabaody arc. Are the WG supposed to just station an admiral on the island indefinitely? Not to mention that Rayleigh, unknown to the marines, has a contact on the island in Shakky who could call him as soon as the coast was clear to come back.

As for the comparison of Robin's and Rayleigh's cases: very different situations involving very different people. At the time of their disbandment, Rayleigh would have been in his absolute prime. So, an extremely powerful, but sociable pirate who traveled across the whole world twice. He knows exactly how the world works, probably has made countless friends in dozens of islands during his travels. Friends that would help him out while he was hiding from the WG. Rayleigh would know exactly where he could go to disappear from the WG's eyes and he would know exactly how to get there; he'd probably have some money in his pockets as well. And even he were to encounter some foes, they would most likely be criminals themselves and thus not exactly likely to report to the nearest Naval base.

In contrast, Robin: she is eight years old, has absolutely no friends, no possessions, no money, has never left Ohara before, and is sailing all by herself ona ruddy little rowboat. Even though she managed to escape from Ohara thanks to Aokiji's help, it would naturally be incredibly difficult for her to continue to escape the government's grasps from there on out, and much easier for the WG to track her movements. Since she is an innocent little girl, at this point, she would of course not to be inclined to seek help from criminals - which is exactly what her flashback depicted. She first tried to hide at random civilians's houses, who would have no qualms of calling the Marines for help - especially with the WG's propaganda machine against the "demons of Ohara" in full swing. The real surprise here is not that the WG didn't manage to find Rayleigh or Crocus in all those years, it's that little Robin was crafty enough to escape on her own for so long.