Discussion The 10th person

[electricmastro]

So with Chapter 1081 out now, do you guys think that Oda emphasizing on Blackbeard’s 10th Titanic Captain could possibly mean we might see closure on Luffy’s 10th person sooner? Regardless of whether or not Kuzan leaves Blackbeard and is replaced, this still seems to reinforce Blackbeard Pirates mainly being structured as 11 people. Straw Hats currently have 10 people, so it only seems appropriate they later have 11 to make it an 11 vs. 11.

 

[Fox666]

Not like the Straw Hats already have a candidate who, like Kuzan, has a questionable status as a crewmate, is stronger than even the 1st mate, and controls ice, right?

 

[electricmastro]

Not like the Straw Hats already have a candidate who, like Kuzan, has a questionable status as a crewmate, is stronger than even the 1st mate, and controls ice, right?

Makes me wonder.

 

[Riku]

Not like the Straw Hats already have a candidate who, like Kuzan, has a questionable status as a crewmate, is stronger than even the 1st mate, and controls ice, right?

That or Kuzan betrays BB and never ends up fighting any Strawhats.

 

[Zmsp]

I honestly think it's time for people to start being less adamant about the Straw Hats remaining intact until the end of the series, and entertaining more possibilities.

You don't even have to make a lot of mental gymnastics to see that the math doesn't add up:

• Vivi is still a Straw Hat, and she can't go back to the kingdom that made her decline the offer to join.
• Yamato, Momonosuke (and even Kin) have been invited to join, and Wano has Pluton, so we're going back there.
• Law just had his crew obliterated, and he's pretty much the secondary protagonist of the post timeskip story.
• The Sunny could even be considered a member, just like the Merry was, but this one is weirder.

We're getting to a point where Oda is starting to reveal some of the crew's origins, and we have many potential twists ahead of us.

Sanji is perhaps the best example, considering Wano put a lot of focus into him being turned into a weapon, and Pudding's in love with him, with memory altering abilities, an evil side to her, and currently being held captive by Blackbeard.

Brook is straight up likely to be an antagonist.

People have bought into this idea that we will have a classic crew vs crew showdown with Blackbeard, and while that's certainly a big possibility, we're not even sure if he's the final antagonist anymore.

 

[_goshi]

Brook is straight up likely to be an antagonist.

This stood out to me. I don't follow. Would you care to elaborate?

 

[Zmsp]

This stood out to me. I don't follow. Would you care to elaborate?

Well, I'd have to compile a lot of stuff in order to make it coherent, so I'll just focus on one or two more recent arguments, and if those spark your interest, I'll make something more elaborate:

What have we learned about Brook since his introduction? He knew quite a lot about the deep sea, when the crew was travelling to Fishman Island, despite being found in the first half of the Grand Line, and he knew the Germa Empire. That's pretty much it, and he was a character that Oda had sketched/thought about since before Alabasta started. He was also the commander of an assault convey on a "certain kingdom", and I seriously doubt we have a lot of new kingdoms left to visit, so it's going to tie into an ongoing plot point.

Wano picked up on a lot of stuff from Thriller Bark, and while it was obviously supposed to give Zoro his spotlight, not Brook, it was also the arc where Brook got introduced, so Oda usually makes some sort of association. He barely did anything the whole arc, but we did have some interesting metaphors that might've gone unnoticed: Kanjuro and Apoo.

Kanjuro was the traitorous artist hiding his abilities, with a weird hairstyle, who we had been following since Dressrosa, and during Oden's flashback we were told that he was a weirdo that was found stealing hair from corpses to make brushes, while having secretly been given a devil fruit to help the Kurozumi coup come to fruition. Brook was found on a sea of corpses, has mentioned the importance of his hair, and his Devil Fruit has a lot of potential.

Apoo was the traitorous artist, with music related powers, that commanded the failed Ancient Giants, a plot point that's been around since Punk Hazard. He was also a member of the long armed tribe, and Brook coincidentally stayed with them for part of the timeskip.

We also have Aokiji, that shares a physical resemblance and matching devil fruit themes, and he's either a spy or a traitor.
We got introduced to Rocks during this period, and they're from around the same generation, something that very few characters have in common.

If you find these arguments compelling, I could go on, but I think it's these ones are a good starting point.

 

[Aki1991]

I like the theory with Vivi as the tenth member because of the X tattoo back then quite plausible. However, she is definitely too weak.

Yamato as Ruffy's Oden makes sense. She is also quite strong, as she possesses Conqueror's Haki. Besides, her dream is to travel. But she might not fit into the team.

Bonney really harmonizes well with the crew. I could already imagine her becoming a member.

Tama would have been cool, like a child on board like Shanks and Buggy back then. But unfortunately, that's no longer possible.

 

[Fox666]

Yamato as Ruffy's Oden makes sense. She is also quite strong, as she possesses Conqueror's Haki. Besides, her dream is to travel. But she might not fit into the team.

Oden was a "temporary" member of sort too

 

[electricmastro]

I like the theory with Vivi as the tenth member because of the X tattoo back then quite plausible. However, she is definitely too weak.

Yamato as Ruffy's Oden makes sense. She is also quite strong, as she possesses Conqueror's Haki. Besides, her dream is to travel. But she might not fit into the team.

Bonney really harmonizes well with the crew. I could already imagine her becoming a member.

Tama would have been cool, like a child on board like Shanks and Buggy back then. But unfortunately, that's no longer possible.

Yamato has Oden’s mission for the borders on her shoulders and Vivi has Lily’s Dawn of the World mission on hers. Both of those elements have significant info related to Laugh Tale.

Heck, it has been a year since Wano ended, and we’re still on Egghead. And in that time, Oda has elaborated on Vivi’s disappearance, given her a Will of D. legacy to follow-up on after her dad got killed, and now knows where Luffy is.

So regardless of any of fears of “no time left”, Oda still accomplished all of that in the span of a year for Vivi, all while the crew was at Egghead. “No time left” can’t realistically apply here, given how Oda took his time.

So with all that evidence, I think it’s reasonable enough to suggest that Oda is focusing on gradually having Vivi come back to the crew, perhaps by Elbaf or in the next two or three arcs, and that’s when we may finally receive closure on Vivi that we’ve waited for for so long.

 

[TitaniumOxide]

Just wanna point out that the ship is also a crew member...