Next Straw Hat Crewmates (Vol. 7 - Wano)

[Shift]

Take a look back, if you care to:
Vol. 1
Vol. 2
Vol. 3
Vol. 4
Vol. 5
Vol. 6

Now we've arrived at Wano, a land destined to be the battleground for amazing characters both new and old. Any of them could very well be those elusive 9^th and 10^th persons we’ve been awaiting for 10 unforgettable years.

No matter who you’re rooting for, whether they be a shoe-in or have a snowball’s chance, you are free to discuss your visions for the destiny of the crew. Who truly knows what the future (and Oda) has in store?

Let’s keep it clean: no flaming, no trolling, no punches below the belt. Ready…

*DON!*

[Monquito]

first!

hehe

do a poll. i like polls.

[Shift]

first!

hehe

do a poll. i like polls.

When Jinbe makes it to Wano, I'll take stock of the candidates for #10 and set something up.

[Wintermute]

Congrats to your promotion Shift!

I can feel it. This time we will get Jimbe into the Sunny.

[fapfapfap]

First page

#10 Jinbe
#11 Carrot
#12 Maybe someone from Wano
#13 Sunny

screencap this post

[Long John Silvers Rayleigh]

#8 checking in. Feels like a great time to refresh the discussion and all.

[Kdom]

Let’s keep it clean: no flaming, no trolling, no punches below the belt. Ready…

*DON!*

I suppose you meant :
Ready...
*BEN!*

:-)

[Piitan]

Let’s keep it clean: no flaming, no trolling, no punches below the belt. Ready…

*DON!*

I suppose you meant :
Ready...
*BEN!*

:-)

Also, pretty sure he meant no punches below the lion.

[.access timeco.]

You know, this week, thanks to Episode of Sky Island and to people talking about the movies on Greg's thread, I thought it was about time to finally watch some of One Piece movies. I decided to watch Strong World, Gold and Omatsuri (which I never even heard about until someone mentioned it in the said thread).

Having watched Episode of Sky Island and then watching later Omatsuri, I realized how much better the crew dynamics were back when they were just 7. Franky is my favorite SH, hands down, Brook probably is my second, but I think it's pretty obvious since they joined the crew the things became a little less cohesive... right now, rather than wishing for new members, I am feeling like maybe it would be better if Oda stopped adding people long ago.

[theackwardstation]

New thread, so I guess I'll say hello to everyone.

Oh, you guys want my opinions on the subject? Sure.

First of all, I hold the opinion that Jimbe is pretty much guaranteed as the 9th crewmate, even tough it's really weird that he was left behind again at the end of WCI.

As for the 10th, if there's going to be one, I see Carrot being written for the spot. One of my main reasons is that there's a character arc going on for her ever since she got onboard the Sunny, a storyline that was made especially clear when Pedro made his sacrifice and told Carrot that it's important to protect the Strawhats because they will bring the Dawn that the minks are expecting. Of course, Carrot has not yet inhirited Pedro's will, but now that the seed has been planted in her mind, she became the obvious vessel for the narrative to explore the concept, and that's when we'll witness her major character development (as it usually happens in flashbacks for the other Strawhats). As of right now, Carrot's sense of purpose (dream) is not to live with the minks in Zou, since her triggering motivation is to have an adventure in the sea, so it's only natural that the evolution of her purpose/dream (to help bring the Dawn of the world?) will reconcile with her original interest... and becoming a Strawhat is the perfect convergence for her character arc, since she'll help Luffy bring the Dawn while having lots of adventures in the sea.

Of course, the destination of her character arc (which will surely happen in Wano, I believe) doesn't necessarily leads to becoming a Strawhat, since there are other possible outcomes. However, I see some other reasons that reinforce my understandment that Carrot will join the crew. First of all, she was added in WCI without any particular plot reasons other than to highlight herself, and her participation was put in the same position as the other Strawhats, as corroborated by the cover of volume 88, and now she's in Wano to have another adventure with the crew (and I must remember that she's the only mink in Wano right now). Aside from that, Carrot's bond with the crew got so strong in WCI that it's really hard to see her belonging somewhere else right now.

Carrot is also overperforming in other aspects. In terms of characterization, her main archetype is the Genki Girl, but it goes really beyond that, since she's got a wide range of personality traits that make her engaging to read (Carrot is not only energetic, but badass, psychotic, airheaded, cute, girly, overly affectionate, smart, naive without being dumb/gullible), and her own set of quirks. It's also extremely positive that her attitude matches Luffy's, because she is a character that will be easily integrated with any kind of situation that usually comes up in One Piece. Not to mention that Carrot is also a strong fighter (with a great power up), so she can defend herself and will be useful against future enemies. By the way, it's worth mentioning that Carrot has a unique fighting style inside the crew, since her weapon is very different (the claw-gloves) and she specializes in melee combat with very acrobatic moves that are visually stunning and gracious, with added electricity. I also hold the opinion that her design is great, very shonen-like in the context of a female protagonist, with physical traits and silhouette that only belong to her in the series.

Carrot's skills are those of a scout (as shown in Zou), so it's quite obvious that her role in the crew would be the same on land, as well as a lookout in the sea (a legitimate job in a ship), and she's been doing it a lot already.

If Carrot is indeed the 10th crewmate and she joins the crew together with Jimbe, it's really cool how many contrasts/parallels they have.
Jimbe is a fishman (sea/water), Carrot is a mink (sky/air and electricity).
Jimbe is the sun, Carrot is the moon.
Jimbe is a veteran/old, Carrot is a rookie/young.
Jimbe is a man, Carrot is a girl.
Jimbe is big, Carrot is small.
Jimbe is very serious, Carrot is very playful.
They balance each other out really well.

So yeah, #Carrot4nakama

[K. Kira XXIII]

snip

But you forget that no Mink can stay on Zou. So why can't Carrot help with the migration of Zou to another land? That also encompasses her desire to travel, is helping her people which the Minks have shown to be loyal to. They are about to engage in a war that might leave them in the same state/weakened after. And protecting the crew does not necessarily mean she has to travel with the Straw Hats, as demonstrated with the Straw Hat fleet. The fleet will help the Straw Hats when the latter needs it, Carrot can do the same as the fleet is doing.

From the previous thread:

You say that Luffy oversimplifies and gets things wrong. But is that the case? With Nami he ignored the details of her circumstance, he was just waiting for her to ask for help. With Robin he didn't care if she wanted to die, but at least do it where you want it, which broke Robin's shell to say she wanted to live. With Chopper he ignored Chobro's insecurities and excuses to breal through to him, and make him realize, if you want come, just do it.

Luffy isn't gwtting things wrong, he is avoidong the needless saturation of information/circumstances and gets straight to the core aspect of things. The same way when he deals against an enemy he breaks down the entire organization's structure. We saw it with Baroque Worls, with overthrowing Mango from Dressrosa.

So going back to his comment about " a land full of Choppers". You can't put forward author's intentions/understandment and then deny this comment. Because it is Oda putting that line through Luffy, that as described he sees the core concepts and people/things/situations. As in any work, there was an intention, the author didn't randomly geberate sentences, he is purposefully putting these details for a reason. This is not a draft, an alternative scenario. The final work had that line, so in Oda's minds the Minks are a bunch of Choppers.

This is even without going into speculation of, what are the origins of the Minks? Devil fruits have existed for a while, could the original Minks have been animals that ate the human fruit during the void century? We also have to see that they have been living on Zunisha for centuries, Zunisha was punishednto walk forever. But anyways, as I said that is the speculative part.

[MrBits]

You know, this week, thanks to Episode of Sky Island and to people talking about the movies on Greg's thread, I thought it was about time to finally watch some of One Piece movies. I decided to watch Strong World, Gold and Omatsuri (which I never even heard about until someone mentioned it in the said thread).

Having watched Episode of Sky Island and then watching later Omatsuri, I realized how much better the crew dynamics were back when they were just 7. Franky is my favorite SH, hands down, Brook probably is my second, but I think it's pretty obvious since they joined the crew the things became a little less cohesive... right now, rather than wishing for new members, I am feeling like maybe it would be better if Oda stopped adding people long ago.

I feel the basically the same.

I’ve been a big fan of Jinbei since WCI, so him joining would be nice in it’s own right, but I think it would be better if Oda just stopped at Brook. Just having new characters join the Grand Fleet would be ideal for me.

That’s why I think the Grand

[Blissed]

You know, this week, thanks to Episode of Sky Island and to people talking about the movies on Greg's thread, I thought it was about time to finally watch some of One Piece movies. I decided to watch Strong World, Gold and Omatsuri (which I never even heard about until someone mentioned it in the said thread).

Having watched Episode of Sky Island and then watching later Omatsuri, I realized how much better the crew dynamics were back when they were just 7. Franky is my favorite SH, hands down, Brook probably is my second, but I think it's pretty obvious since they joined the crew the things became a little less cohesive... right now, rather than wishing for new members, I am feeling like maybe it would be better if Oda stopped adding people long ago.

Oda:

[theackwardstation]

You know, this week, thanks to Episode of Sky Island and to people talking about the movies on Greg's thread, I thought it was about time to finally watch some of One Piece movies. I decided to watch Strong World, Gold and Omatsuri (which I never even heard about until someone mentioned it in the said thread).

Having watched Episode of Sky Island and then watching later Omatsuri, I realized how much better the crew dynamics were back when they were just 7. Franky is my favorite SH, hands down, Brook probably is my second, but I think it's pretty obvious since they joined the crew the things became a little less cohesive... right now, rather than wishing for new members, I am feeling like maybe it would be better if Oda stopped adding people long ago.

This is an interesting discussion to me, because I used to feel the same as you many years ago.

But honestly, there are so many variables other than the number of crewmates that are also affecting the dynamics of the main cast, so it's not about stopping at Robin and everything is fine. Truth is that One Piece arcs before Water 7 were much quicker and more compressed (despite some bigger arcs like Alabasta and Skypiea) and many arcs had a ratio of more Strawhats than non-Strawhat characters, so there was a higher concentration of crewmates interactions. It's also worth noting that the beginning (especially from Arlong Park to Skypiea) is when the dynamics inside the crew were taking shape, so it was fresher. (And then the CP9 saga was, of course, a story focused on the Strawhats' personal drama despite its larger scale, so everybody was great there.)

Some things have changed since then. Most islands that we go now have denser plotlines and the villains are much more complex than before, so new characters get a lot of focus. Also, Luffy is constantly separated from the rest of the crew, which really matters, since the narrative is very Luffy-centric. The crew itself is constantly scattered around the islands, so they have less moments together. Also, there are less fights now compared to the beginning of the series.

Of course, the number of Strawhats may have some influence in some aspect, but it also a conscious choice of storytelling.

I'd also say that Oda's style has changed. When it comes to the protagonists, Oda exaggerates their comical side more nowadays, sometimes even too much (like Sanji's chivarously nature becoming too perv later in the story). Other characters are a little difficult to write, like the non-mysterious Robin post-EL. It's also controversial when some characters don't show evolution, like Usopp still being too coward everytime. And these are "problems" (subjective) that are not caused by the additional crewmates, but because Oda has changed his writing. Overall, the pacing and the art style are also different.

All that said, we're not being really fair here and there's a lot of selective nostalgy around (remembering only the gold moments instead of the average). There are some great dynamics of the crew post-time skip and I especially like how the original crewmates (from the East Blue) are still the heart of the gang. I think WCI was awesome for the Strawhats. And there's a lot of potential now in Wano and future arcs.

[FelRes]

OFFICIAL RUNNING:

1) Jinbe (99.9% chance)
2) Kuma (29% chance)
3) Pudding (10% chance)
4) Vivi (1% chance)
5) Okiku (0.1% chance)
6) Smoker (0.01% chance)

Not even in the running:
Perona
Monet
Carrot
Otama

[MrBits]

2) Kuma (29% chance)

Nani the what????

[Blissed]

2) Kuma (29% chance)
3) Pudding (10% chance)

Lol, come on now...

[Game And Guy]

Holy shit it's a new thread. It's been so long.

[Piitan]

Nani the what????

Based on the fact that his DF has the 2 and 9 missing from the SH numerology theory.

[theackwardstation]

But you forget that no Mink can stay on Zou. So why can't Carrot help with the migration of Zou to another land? That also encompasses her desire to travel, is helping her people which the Minks have shown to be loyal to. They are about to engage in a war that might leave them in the same state/weakened after. And protecting the crew does not necessarily mean she has to travel with the Straw Hats, as demonstrated with the Straw Hat fleet. The fleet will help the Straw Hats when the latter needs it, Carrot can do the same as the fleet is doing.

As I said, becoming a Strawhat is not the only possible outcome for Carrot's arc, and that's why I mentioned other reasons for why I think she will join. Anyway, becoming a Strawhat is much more fulfilling for her purposes than the examples that you mentioned, and much more appropriate than "adventuring" by helpink your folk move to another island or suddenly becoming a Captain of a crew.

From the previous thread:

You say that Luffy oversimplifies and gets things wrong. But is that the case?

Yes, that is the case.

Here is Luffy meeting Kaku and thinking it's Usopp because of the long nose: https://www.mangareader.net/one-piece/325/15
Here is Luffy thinking that Cricket is talking about Usopp because he mentioned a great liar: https://www.mangareader.net/one-piece/228/7
Here is Luffy saying that Nami is stealing the villagers' houses after she told him that she steals from pirates: https://www.mangareader.net/one-piece/9/15
Here is Luffy thinking that a zombie is an old man: https://www.mangareader.net/one-piece/448/12

These are only the examples that I can recall from the top of my mind... but it should be mentioned how Luffy also misunderstands or simplifying many things, like his childish concept of a hero, or saying that allies are friends, or his famous jokes of calling something "mysterious" whenever he doesn't understand it, or confusing the physical traits of people and animals (like calling the bananawani a banana with a crocodile).

His observation that Zou is like an island full of Choppers is in-character for him.

That doesn't mean that an artist should have the same understandment of concept-design as Luffy. As I explained, "furry" is a pretty big umbrella design-wise and the extremes are too far apart to matter.