This discussion thread would be about the probable would-be Straw Hat crew members in the future. (Note: Nakama means various of words in English, in this case, it means crew mate)
This mostly leans on the manga.
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Some of you may remember Luffy stating that he will gain ten crew members (excluding himself) before he reaches the Grand Line. (Although this was clearly discarded, only having four crew mates, namely Zoro, Nami, Usopp, and Sanji.)
Anywho, it's a good guess that Luffy would have at least ten crew mates before he reaches the final island at the New World, where the One Piece was supposedly hidden.
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Now, currently in the manga, the Straw Hat crew are almost at the peak of the Fishman Island Arc. OP fans all over the internet are convinced that a new "nakama" would be gained here.
As a result, debates have been set up all over on who would join the Straw Hats, would it be a merfolf or a fishman?
These characters are mostly debated (and have strong arguments) that they would join the Straw Hats:
- Princess Shirahoshi
- Former Shickibukai/Warlord of the Sea Jinbe
Each and everyone of them has their pasts revealed, especially Shirahoshi and Jinbe.
A recurring theme for the would-be SH character is the revealing of a tragic past and their goals.
All of the Straw Hat Pirates lost a loved one:
- Luffy: Sabo; to be King of the Pirates
- Zoro: Kuina; to be the Best Swordsman in the World
- Nami: Bell-mère; To draw the first map of the world
- Usopp: His mother and the absence of his father, Yasopp; to be a brave warrior of the sea like his father
- Sanji: His real parents; to find the All-Blue
- Chopper: Dr. Hiluluk; to cure any disease
- Robin: The Scholars of Ohara and her mother, Nico Olvia; to find the Rio Poneglyph and to discover the true history
- Franky: Tom; to create the dream ship and to travel with it throughout the world
- Brook: His crew mates and friends/captain; to return to Laboon
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In Shirahoshi and Jinbe's case:
- Shirahoshi: Her mother, Otohime; Before she died, Otohime announced that the mermaid who can control the Sea Kings will meet a guide who will help her change the world, with the guide presumably Luffy
- Jinbe: Fisher Tiger; to continue on Fisher Tiger's goal of "freeing the oppressed and not becoming cold-blooded murderers"
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Some characters are also speculated to join:
Madame Shirely: Her fortune telling skills would come in handy; Luffy made her mad in a comical way
Caribou: Is currently with the Straw Hats. I doubt this. He wants to kill the SH, but no one know what goes on in Oda-sama's mind...
Characters that are speculated to join, but as the story line progresses/ed, it becomes/came doubtly:
- Boa Hancock
- Perona
- Keimi
- Hatchan
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So, who do you think would be the next nakama? (Btw, if a new crew mate is recruited, he/she would be number 9, excluding Luffy)
No one knows if they would get new crew members...yet.
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In my opinion, Jinbe would be the best candidate. Shirahoshi's past is faithful to the layout of SH pasts, but...SHE"S TOO BIG.
If she were to join the Straw Hats, they would need a bigger ship that the Thousand Sunny, which would destroy Franky's dream. She could just tail the Straw Hats, traveling in water.
Another is that Shirahoshi is too attached to her family and vice versa. She also has little fighting skills other than controlling Sea Kings.
So yeah. Jinbe. He's strong. His past is tragic. And he can be a helmsman.
Well so can be Hatchan...
my best guess is jinbe, hatchan, or boa hancock, but it all depend if luffy needs something important he need on the ship, because each crew mate have a ability they have needed on the ship to help luffy get the one piece
^ Jinbe and Hatchi both can fulfill the role of helmsman, the person who takes care of the helm/practically the driver.
Currently, Usopp, Chopper, and Franky take turns on the helm.
Hancock doesn't have any position to fill...
I think Boa will join about 1/3 of the way into the New World.
Then I think there'll be a new character as a helmsman, maybe with a water-type logia or something like that.
Currently watching: Berserk, Fairy Tail, Bleach, Naruto Shippuden, One Piece, Ghost in the Shell, Yugioh: Zexal, Yugioh GX, Gun X Sword
Currently playing: Final Fantasy IX
Honestly, I don't think it's even going to happen...the crew is pretty well rounded out as it is and in thinking about the story, where it's at now and what it's done, it feels to me that gaining another member would not really fit in with the symbolism of the timeskip and passing into the New World.
Don't forget, people can ally and even become good friends to Luffy and co. without actually becoming members of the crew.
Just because Luffy said at one point that he wanted ten members doesn't necessarily mean it will happen....sometimes I think people are reading too much into that. Not everything is a foreshadow. Besides, depending on how you look at it, they could already have ten people on the crew, just one of them isn't active, that being Princess Vivi, cause we all know that they considered her part of their group.
At this point, I really think that the Straw Hats official roster is pretty much complete.
I just really think Shirahoshi wouldn't add anything to the crew at this point. She doesn't seem to have any skills besides keeping her mouth shut. And honestly, I thought it was pretty much confirmed that Jinbei would be joining the crew for a while now. I mean he has been relevant in the story for the last 100 chapters or so. The only problem is, hoe could he benifit the crew? It is great that he is strong, but each straw hat member so far has their only skill they bring to the crew.
On that same vein what's Robin's role in the crew? You can say archaeologist all you want, but her real role is that of a stowaway. If Jinbe wants to join the crew, Oda will find a way.
Be careful....you're narrowing the definition of the crew members' roles here when you say this about Robin...and that's a bad way to analyze. Robin has a unique role among the straw hats. Of all of them, she's the ONLY one who remains level headed through everything. All the others, even Zoro, can get rather excitable. In addition, Robin's role as archaeologist/historian plays a much larger role than it appears you think, given that her search for the past goes directly against the aims of one of the series "villians", the world Government. Oda did a whole arc on this aspect of the story, even. One that many are awaiting most anxiously for FUNimation to announce, I might add. Hopefully today.
In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if the series' concluding arc involved the complete collapse of the World Government.
And it's based in this idea is why I think that there isn't likely to be another added....because in nearly every level as near as I can make out, all of the roles that the story needs to fill for the sake of the story and in terms of technicality (captain, navigator, shipwright, etc) has been filled. As one example, the possible roles that Jinbei can fill are already taken....strongman is taken by Zoro (and Luffy and Sanji, for that matter). That of the emotional rock is already taken by Robin. Even "non-human/oddity" is already filled by Chopper and Brook.
Basically, as I see it, any more crew members would end up being superfluous in some way, and that serves a story no purpose and would actually be detrimental to One Piece.
HUNDREDS of people befriended the Straw Hats, sometimes, one of them ends up being part of the Straw Hats.
No one knows what goes on in Oda-sama's mind. Just because everything is not a foreshadow does NOT mean that what Luffy said isn't a foreshadow.
Yes, Vivi and Carue are still Straw Hats.
Like I said, this is only probable. Likewise, the idea of the Straw Hats is already complete is probable too. Until the end of One Piece, no one (except for Oda-sama of course), if they'll get a new member or not.
Shirahoshi has the power to control Sea Kings, something that is valuable in a safe journey with how crazy the New World is already.
There are the positions of helmsman and...cabin boy.
Who knows? Luffy and the others might need a devoted chore boy?
Btw, I fixed something in your post...
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Okay, here is the list of the Straw Hats and the role they fill:
Luffy: Captain
Zoro: Swordsman
Nami: Navigator/somewhat a tactician
Usopp: Sniper/Weaponsman/unofficial helmsman/unofficial carpenter
Sanji: Cook
Chopper: Doctor/unofficial helmsman
Robin: Archaeologist/Historian/somewhat a tactician
Franky: Shipwright/unofficial helmsman
Brook: Musician/Swordsman
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Also, with the crazy seas that the Straw Hats endured just going to the Redline, they may need someone who's familiar with the New World and how the seas work there, so I HOPE they need a helmsman.
My guess is that no one will be joining this arc. Fishman Island, to me at least, has been a reintroduction arc, a chance to show off everyone's new abilities and deal with the last big issue of the part 1 (fishmen relations). Then we'll be off the the new world and that is where I think we'll be gettign our next crew members.
Now this is high speculation but here are my theories on future members and the new world in general.
1. The new members may have a 4th devil fruit type (you never know with Oda)
2. In the New World it's not just navigation that's messed up but physics in general, example you might be steering the ship to port but you're going up instead (wrap your head around that) meaning it's not just a simple issue of navigation anymore it's about recognizing the new physics, something you would need a new member for
3. The new memeber may not have a directly useful speciality (like Robin's archeology) but their speciality will be important to the overarching story.
You do realize that this is actually an argument in favor of my position, right?
These two things essentially say the same thing, which is "anything is possible". This is not an ideal rebuttal for two reasons. First, you're undermining your own position. Two, of course anythings possible, otherwise it wouldn't be a debate, now would it?
In any case, you seem to be missing my point, which is that I think a new member of the crew is not too likely....if we go off of the assumption that Luffy's statement of ten members is true, then the inclusion of Vivi and Carue makes the total ten, which would meet that requirement, meaning no new members.
In addition, as I mentioned before, the current state of the story, where it's at and where it's going doesn't make it conducive to the story, because at this point, any new character is going to have a starring role in an arc that heavily involves their past, or a whole arc is dedicated to their backstory and both of those options will need to have heavy relevance to current events otherwise such a story arc will essentially be dragging things out...not a good strategy, unless you want to see your series popularity drop like a stone. Especially now, at this point, given the work that has been done on the main plot (ie, Marineford) and all that has been established regarding the major players and organizations, the potentiality of a new member with a related backstory is drastically reduced.
The one exception to this is if a new member has some relation to DoFlamingo, as thus far, he's the only baddie with a key role in the main plot who has had little exposure. (Actually, I have a theory that he's the series ultimate bad guy and the final obstacle the Straw Hats will need to overcome before the series ends. and I think that the Straw Hats and Blackbeard and his crew are going to have to team up with each other in order to take him down.)
I think that someone on the crew would have mentioned a need for either of these by now if they were really needed, as most of the members (excepting Robin) has had it mentioned that such a person was needed multiple times (or wanted, as in Brook the Musician's case) and since neither helmsman or cabin boy been mentioned much (if at all), I think it's rather unlikely.
Tacky, real tacky.
As I mentioned to someone else, don't boil down each character's role to their profession...they have other, deeper, roles that they fill as well. But in responding to this list...first, I would lose the somewhats....Nami and Robin have certainly shown themselves to be quite the tacticians, as well as Zoro and Usopp on occasion, so don't count them out. Also, Zoro and Nami tend to share the role of first mate as well, given that there is a tendency that after Luffy, one of them will take charge of the situation and the other crew members tend to defer to them when that happens.
I disagree with this....in fact, I would go so far as to say that given the choice, Luffy would actually turn down an offer of such a person (unless they turned out to be a really good friend) on the basis that Luffy lives for the adventure of the journey into the unknown. Remember his reaction to Usopp's asking Rayleigh about the One Piece? There you go. Such a person joining the crew has the potential to diminish that aspect of the journey by a great deal, so I don't think that is too likely.
Now, I want it to be clear, I'm not saying that a new member is an impossibility....I'm simply saying that it is highly unlikely, given everything that has been done within the story, since the story at this point, just doesn't seem to call for it.
By the way, can someone provide me with the basis for why people think a new crew member is going to happen, because I have to be honest, I really can't see where people are getting the idea for this, outside of pure speculation.
Anyone else get irritated by the quoting systems dislike of multiple carriage returns?
I'm not a bear, kuma!