I'm assuming you're referring to the idea that Wano is Monet's last chance to come back, which seems to have been a fairly popular idea lately.
The thing about storytelling is that, as I've said many times, anything is possible. Oda can do whatever he wants, including bringing back a character at the last possible minute and only having them be important for a short time.
We as the audience, though, would likely find that dissatisfying. If Monet is going to be important, we would obviously prefer her to be around for as long as possible, which leads to this particular discussion. Since One Piece only has a few years left, a lot of fans have trouble envisioning Monet coming back past Wano without detracting from the plot of the final saga.
For me, though, I wholeheartedly believe that Monet's return can be tied into said plot. I believe that whatever character arc Oda intends for Monet can be made into an essential puzzle piece for the overarching narrative going forward, so the only thing that really matters is for her to show up at all, it doesn't really matter when.
Of course, there can be a threshold where her return would no longer be feasible. If the Straw Hats start getting into what we would all consider their final battles (likely either against the Blackbeard Pirates or Akainu/CP0/Im) or they've actually found One Piece and Monet still hasn't shown up, I couldn't really hold it against anyone who decided to give up hope. Heck, I'd probably do so myself.
Saying that Wano is that threshold though is completely arbitrary. There is literally no reason to assume that Wano must be the cutoff point, people are just making up rules to make themselves feel better.
"But it's the moment that Luffy is establishing himself as a Yonko-level pirate, shouldn't his crew be complete?" Ideally, sure, but maybe that's what Oda wants you to think. He's gone this long without bringing Monet back, he hasn't even alluded to it elsewhere, he obviously wants it to be a surprise. Maybe he wants to spring a last-minute crewmate as a final fun bonus. Who can say?
The Straw Hats have had so many iconic moments with an incomplete crew as it is, who really cares if future members miss a few more? Brook and Jinbe weren't there for Enies Lobby. Jinbe wasn't there for the return to Sabaody. Franky and on weren't there for Skypiea. Chopper and on haven't met Laboon. The only iconic moment that the crew needs to be complete for is finding One Piece itself.
While we're on the subject, I'd like to address another similar argument I've heard a lot: if Oda were going to bring Monet back, he would have done so by now. I understand the impatience, but it's really a silly thing to say as it demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of how storytelling works. Things need to happen at the appropriate time, and near as I can tell, there hasn't been a truly appropriate time for Monet to come back yet with the story we've been told so far.
Of what we've seen, Dressrosa would have been the most appropriate, but consider this: Dressrosa was a full 100 chapters long. Within Dressrosa we had the following plot threads: the colosseum, trading Caesar and Doflamingo's deception, the Dwarf uprising, the Riku royal family, the appearance of the Big Mom Pirates and the subsequent separation of the Straw Hats, the liberation of the Toys, Kanuro's rescue, Law's past, Doflamingo's past, the return of Sabo, the formation of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet (which itself saw at least six smaller character arcs in Bartolomeo, Cavendish, Sai+Baby 5, Hajrudin, Leo and Bellamy while also still trying to get us attached to Orlumbus and Ideo), and all of it finally culminating in Fujitora's conflict with Akainu.
Sure, Monet's return at Dressrosa would have made
logical sense, on the basis that she was a Donquixote Pirate and this arc saw the defeat of her captain, but would it have made
narrative sense? Would it have been appropriate to throw another character into the mix when there were already so many new characters vying for our attention? Plus, if she showed up right at the end, would that not have detracted from the formation of the Grand Fleet, arguably the entire point of Dressrosa as an arc? And if the intention is to make her a Straw Hat as I theorized, would it have been appropriate to add a new member when the crew was cut in half?
Now let's go to Zou, which is the most urgent business following Dressrosa because as far as we know, the Sanji team may have gotten hurt: and look at that, they're fighting the Beast Pirates. The crew needs to make their way to Zou, an island that can only be found by Vivre Card or random chance, to reunite with their friends and ultimately protect one of the samurai from the Beast Pirates. They also learn that Sanji has been taken to Big Mom to get married, which will in turn force the group to split up once again.
Where would Monet fit into this? She has no connection to the samurai, no connection to the Beast Pirates, and no connection to the Minks, so she'd have no reason or method for going to Zou aside from maybe following the Straw Hats, but again, she'd be a completely random addition to the cast in this scenario.
How about Whole Cake Island? Here we deal with Sanji's new backstory, the Sanji retrieval arc, Germa 66, Jinbe's recruitment, Big Mom's backstory, the dynamics of the Big Mom Pirates and her empire, Bege's betrayal of Big Mom, Pudding's character arc, the theft of Big Mom's Poneglyphs, Katakuri's character and battle, Pedro's belief in the Dawn of the World, Pedro's death and the subsequent influence that he has on Carrot's character, and finally Luffy's establishment as being a viable threat to the Yonko.
Almost another 100 chapters packed to the brim with characters and plot points....that don't have a single thing to do with Monet. The closest would be Caesar, but by this point, Monet's directive to "protect Caesar and his experiments" has kind of gone out the window, and again, how would Monet even know to go to Whole Cake Island? Caesar went to WCI from Zou, which again, Monet had no way of getting to, so she wouldn't have known to go there by following him. Some suggest that she could have been in Mont-d'Or's library, but there really isn't any reason to assume she was, and the fact that she didn't show up in this arc is likely reason enough to assume that she wasn't.
Then there's Reverie, which didn't have anything to do with the main cast anyway, so we can just consider that a wash, which finally brings us to Wano.
Aside from Monet working for Doflamingo who worked for Kaido, what connection does Monet have with Wano from a story perspective? She has no relation to the samurai, she has no relation to the people of Wano, she has no relation to Oden, she has no direct relation to Kaido, what purpose would she serve this story aside from further complicating what has already passed another 100 chapter arc?
One could make the argument that characters like Caribou also have no relation to Kaido or Wano, but that just isn't true. The story we were explicitly told of Caribou saw him inadvertently finding himself appointed as the new leader of a resistance movement specifically opposing Kaido, resulting in him being taken captive by Drake, one of Kaido's top brass. Oda set up Caribou's narrative to clearly and definitively lead to Wano, whereas Monet's thus far has not extended past Punk Hazard.
"If Oda wanted to bring her back, he would have done it by now." I counter that he hasn't brought her back because he wants to bring her back at a specific time, and none of the arcs that we've read thus far have fit the bill, either because she has no connection to them or because there was too much else to do at the time and she would have been too awkward to shoehorn in.
If that isn't a compelling enough argument for anyone, please consider the following:
Chapter 631 came out in July 2011, almost ten years ago to date, and introduced us to a man wearing what appears to be Wano garb having a friendly drink with Crocus. We still have no idea who this is, but surely if Oda were going to tell us he would have done so by now, right?
all those theories about another nico robin with wings that did and said absolutely nothing, sorry bro but even the ball guy from skypiea was more interesting because at least that thing was funny
