@AlmostLegendary:

That's pretty fucking convient I don't remember luffy pulling any punches for Croc or Enel.

Huh? I'm not saying One Piece shall not have malice, I'm saying a member of Strawhats can't. Neither Croc or Enel are Strawhats.

And Luffy did not punch them out of malice.

@AlmostLegendary:

Tell me the requirements that Monkey D Luffy has set for member to join his crew or shut the fuck up. I'll come back when people get a brain.

It's not something Luffy has said, it is something that has been deduced, something that makes sense. For example:
1)Even while One Piece has it's darker moments, in the heart One Piece is a happy story. No Strawhat member shall have malice in his heart.
2)All strawhat members have to somehow contribute to the crew. Luffy, captain. Chopper, doctor. Robin, able to read the runes and solve mystery of "blank century"/revive the superweapons. Franky the handyman. Zoro the vice-captain. Sanji the cook. I'm not entirely sure what Usopp brings in tho. A long-range fighter?
3)All Strawhats shall have an interesting background story. All strawhats have dreams and stories, all strawhats see that dream in Luffy.

I could go on, but sufficient to say none of these have been said or explained by Luffy. However rule #1 is the rule to rule them all.

! Surume for Nakama! :wub:

Zoro was the one that put his foot down, when Usopp left the crew. Pretty much only Zoro could have taken what Kuma did at the end of Moria-arc. Sanji, maybe, but Usopp definately not.

@Urouge:

As for the scene in Water 7 with Usopp rejoining the crew and talking about being vice-captain. When I first saw that, I thought "sorry dude, this is serious, know your place." Hell, I still get that vibe from it. I just can't imagine Usopp holding such a prestigious combat position in that crew.

I 100% agree with this. Mansopp or not, the same old Usopp mentality is there. The mentality that made him leave the crew. Or in other words, I still find Usopp weak in personality. That is no first mate material.

Back before timeskip was obvious, my main argument for Hancock joining the crew was that the crew (or Luffy at least) needed a haki teacher. Now that timeskip has come and gone, and Rayleight has filled the slot of haki teacher. This reduces the usefullness of Boa to comic relief. Or in other words, I admit there is no purpose left for Boa anymore as a central character, and I agree she won't and SHOULD NOT join the crew.

Perona…Perona, well, pre-timeskip Perona was a whiny little bitc-. Now she seems prettier and more mature, so I could in theory stand her. However that isn't really a problem anymore.

I don't have any really good candidates for Strawhat crew right now. Maybe fishman island could present an opportunity, since they are fairly exotic...things in the One Piece -world. And the Strawhat crew is very exotic indeed.

However, I very much feel like the crew is very, very complete right now. The crew is united with a purpose, they are one big family I would say. Can anyone new REALLY make such bonds with each other that we have made with current characters? If someone doesn't join on the fishman island, I'd say the chances of someone new joining will drop significantly with each passing chapter.

I love each and every Strawhat, it will be very difficult for someone to join the crew the more time passes (in relation to how close to end the manga is).

I'm telling you guys, the reunion will have to wait until end of this arc. The full reunion (every SH in the same place) may have to wait until chapter 610 or later. Luffy is going to make his return in a very big way by beating the whole Fakehat crew AND the marines, Sentomaru and the 2 pacifistas all by himself Well, maybe Zoro and Sanji will help, but I'm not satisfied until I see the brand new Fleet Admiral facepalming and sweating over something SH crew did on this island!

I see absolutely no reason to make chapter 600 a special chapter. Chapter 600 makes manga only less than 1% longer compared to manga that is 599 chapters long. It may be a special number for us, but let us pretend for a moment that the chapters were not numbered. What is the special significance of this chapter compared to previous and next ones? I don't see any.

I love chapters like this. I love Strawhat crews new look, I like Chopper and Franky more and more. Also, the SH reactions to news about Luffy makes me very happy too!

Overall an excellent chapter. Anyone saying there is too little action should look at Bleach and Naruto to see what happens when there are non-stop fights one after another.

Sentomaru and the pacifistas are an excellent opponent for testing Strawhats new strenght. Why? Because we know them and know their strenght.

As cyborgs, pacifistas are excellent punching bags :happy: And, Sentomaru is a haki user, thus we can assess Luffys new Haki abilities.

I'm very excited about "One Piece Part 2".

This is my first char tournament I'm voting on so..

..I vote Luffy. For, he's the main reason why I'm reading this manga. Luffy in c398 made the manga unforgettable for me, and thus I just can't vote against Luffy ^^

I love this manga.

I have 100% confidence in Oda, if anyone can pull off a succesfull several year (2y) timeskip, it's him.

I hope the characters get a lot of development, new looks and new skills. This way the timeskip feels like an actual timeskip, not just a magic trick to advance training. The world will evolve, Strawhats fame and glory will fade, enemies will get stronger, world will change.

In the end, it seems very much that part 2 of One Piece will be almost like a "reset" for the manga.
-The world we are about to enter is completely unfamiliar ("New World"), just like when manga started.
-The direction of the story is completely open, just like when manga started
-The world is filled with exciting new characters we have never seen before, just like when manga started (all old characters have gotten development, thus they are new)
-We can look forward to new powers and abilities, we have no idea what main characters have in their pockets, just like when manga started
-Yet, when we enter, we will see the familiar faces we all love: the Strawhats.

I predict that tears will be shed when the manga finally returns, tears of joy. I know at least I will.
–
<--Is very exited about the timeskip. 2 years is not "too long". Remember, during the part 2 the Strawhats will have to be able to fight equally with Yonkou, WG Admirals (perhaps all of them at the same time even), Blackbeard and other supernova. 2 years actually feels very little training for me.

To be the pirate king, Luffy has to probably be on Yonkou level, perhaps even stronger. In other words, Strawhat pirates would have to be able to beat the Whitebeard pirates or Shanks's crew in a head-to-head fight.

2 years of training is actually very little, when you take this small fact into account.

Hah, in addition to providing a manga timeskip (highly likely), he's also providing a real-life One Piece timeskip Go Oda!

The 4 weeks wait will be a real torture..hopefully Oda gives us very good teasers in this upcoming chapter!