After rehashing and catching up on One Piece, I noticed that in the most recent episode, Luffy mentions that he wanted around 10 crew members. Not counting the ships or Vivi, we’re still missing, at the very least, a crew member! I’m basing my entire rambling on the fact that he said he wanted 10 crew members.
I went back to the first few episodes and he did in fact say that he wanted 10 members. According to the chapter titles, Brooks is considered the eighth member. If we count Luffy as a member, that still leaves us with an empty slot. It might be worth mentioning that Blackbeard’s crew has exactly 10 with the inclusion of Shiliew the Chief Jailer (I don’t know if I should count the horse Stronger but I thought it would be more epic if it was a 10 on 10 battle royale).
During an interview with Oda at Jump Fiesta, he mentioned that there may be a new member in the form of a previous enemy/villain/boss. This was said in between Amazon Lily and Impel Down. We now know that Luffy indeed groups up with several prisoners of Impel Down, and all of them were enemies at some point in time. I take this rumour of a new crew member with a grain of salt because “nakama” can have many meanings. It could have meant a temporary alliance or an ally but not an entirely new member.
We can immediately rule out Crocodile, Mr. 3, Mr. 1 and good ole Mr. 2 Bon Kurei. The majority of those are doing their own thing and one is no longer living. Vivi had already turned down their offer to join as she wants to remain and take care of her counter, Alabasta. I really would like the addition of a new main character but many of the positions in the crew have been filled.
Luffy is captain.
Zoro is first mate, swordsman, and lookout.
Nami is the navigator.
Usopp is the sniper, cannoneer, artist and inventor.
Sanji is the shef.
Chopper is the doctor.
Robin is an archaeologist, historian, and assassin.
Franky is the shipwright and engineer. He’s also a badass robot.
Brook is the musician.
What positions remain? There isn’t an obvious void that needs to be filled. Looking at the conceptual art in One Piece Green, there are only 9 characters present. The Majority of them still remain true to their current day counterparts, Franky changed from a mini floating midget to a huge cyborg and Robin changed from a sneaky bandit into an archaeologist cum historian.
Most of this speculation is folly but it’s fun to theorize. In reality, I don’t think that there will be any new members. After the huge time skip, the present crew is essentially finalized.
Continuing with the idea though, I would like to see Perona added to the group. Jinbe is another possibility but Perona is my favorite character aside from Robin. She treated Zoro’s wounds and helped them escape from Sabaody and would help to balance the ratios of male to female. Not to mention her wacky personality would contrast well with Chopper’s innocence and cuteness. Ah, I can dream of it at least.
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Ohhh I really love One Piece as well, and I hope Perona is added to the team. That would be extremely awesome. Alas, I doubt it will happen, but one can dream, right?
Haha, that’s exactly what I said. ;P
Perona’s former boss was Gecko Moria back on Thriller Bark. Moria was defeated by one of the four emperors named Kaido. Since Perona likes Moria, and Luffy and crew spoiled her home and treasure stash, there is no good reason for her to join the crew. It would take something really big to get her to travel with Luffy. Oda seems to like time gaps with people, events, objects showing up later on to refreshen the plot and keep the viewers interested with something new. So it would be good to extend the plot out by not adding another crew member until more time has passed or if ratings drop. At that time, Perona can show up and Luffy will mention they are searching for Kaido. That would be a big enough event for her to join the crew and beat up on the person who forced Moria out of the New World where the four emperors are.
But until whenever, it would be good businesswise to hold back until ratings drop or they need to perk up viewer interest in buying more food, clothes, videos, or other merchandise.
It’s unlikely that another permanent member will be added in the near future. Judging by the time of the interview, between Amazon Lily and Impel Down, the ally Oda spoke of was probably Jimbe or Ivankov or one of the many who helped Luffy attempt to save his brother.
In actuality, it was Doflamingo was the one who killed Moria, not Kaido. Kaido is one who defeated Moria’s original crew which lead him to turn them all into zombies and such. When Moria was reported “KIA”, Mihawk told Perona that he recalled seeing him alive after the war. Nobody knows that a higher up dubbed Moria as too weak to serve as a Shichibukai.
Oda does have a keen eye for details though and Doflamingo has been seen numerous times scheming or otherwise being suspicious. If they do need to face him in the future, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Perona join up as a temporary ally. He does love to bring back older characters, to which I am grateful because they’re all so creative.
I think if luffy needs a henchman who helps them to coat their ship, there is only one person remains according to the forum, its jinbei, because he stated in the fishman island that he can join to the group as long as he leaves the group of big mom, and according to oda., the nakama is from the island of boa up to the Impel Down, so let’s see who will be the henchman and as a new member of their group? is it Jinbei, or boa hancock?
Another Perona supporter! Yosh! Perona really IS the best fit for the newest crew member! I’m not gonna lie, Jinbe’s badass but the Strawhats really need more girls. Plus, Perona already has a thing for Zoro and like you said, past villain. There’s also always Boa or even Alvida (she might get tired of Buggy, plus she admires Luffy’s strength) but my vote are with the hollow girl!