That "handful" including one of the darkest moments the crew ever faced, the actual death of an ally they grew very close to. That's what Carrot was a part of, and that's a big part of why I'm still on her side.
Pedro’s death was a dark moment, but it’s not one that was especially relevant to the crew. It’s not like their all champing at the bit to avenge Pedro, it’s the Minks that are doing that. It, like Yasu’s death, has been relegated to the side, while the main story of avenging Oden takes centre stage. For being such a huge tragedy... it’s really not focused on. Especially by the one that counts the most- Luffy.
With Yasu’s death the following arc (and we’ll see if any of the Kiku/Kan/Kin ones stick)... present day death in One Piece is starting to lose it’s lustre.
The groundwork and focus she needed to get started were laid out in Totto Land.
It wasn’t, though. Even on WCI, with a smaller cast, she was dropping in and out of the narrative without ever really taking centre stage other than with Su Long. Her relationship with Pedro was woefully undeveloped prior to his death, and her flashback with him was rattled through in about what, three pages? That’s how Carrot has always been treated, she gets a few pages, a moment or two, but Oda never bothers to dive in deep with her.
Contrast that with Yamato, who in a mere thirty chapters has:
-interacted more with Luffy
-brought up the dawn as much as Carrot ever has, and certainly seems to be more clued in about it
-had her flashback with Ace drawn out over the milestone 999/1000 chapters, where we got more of Yamato/Ace in two chapters than we got of Pedro/Carrot in two arcs
-has asked to sail away with the Strawhats
and we haven’t even got to her all important relationship with Kaido yet.
The events on Onigashma have been building it up, and I'd go so far to say that it's been laser focused for the past half year. He hasn't been superfluous with Carrot's story at all: he's been telling it without fluff, making the point in precise sections and giving each moment maximum impact.
He’s been giving it a page or two every couple of chapters while focusing on the more important plotlines. It’s about as “laser focused” as Drake’s plotline is. Both will lead somewhere eventually, neither are major plotlines that require much time dwelt on.
He's been rushing Yamato along like he had no time for less.
No, he’s just been displaying Yamato prominently because she’s clearly a very important part of the arc. We’re still waiting to see her DF and, more importantly, what her relationship with her father is
really like. And in the meantime, Oda’s making sure to keep her in the readers mind by actually drawing her and have her do things.
Jinbe proved that's not the case.
Carrot does not compare to Jinbei at all. Jinbei was utilised brilliantly throughout his first three arcs, always at the fore, his relationship with Jinbei a major plot point developed throughout the three arcs prior to his invitation. Oda was making sure to give big double spreads of Luffy thinking about and reacting to Jinbei to set their relationship up
Carrot has nothing like that. The most that can be used is him telling her and the crew (and Brulee) to watch the ship. I don’t think Luffy and Carrot have spoken since. We can cut Yamato slack now because she is still pretty new to the series, and there’s reason to look forward to her, Luffy and Kaido interacting, but in five years Carrot hasn’t even touched on the buildup that Jinbei got.
What's with the "you people" crack? I'm a person. Carrot supporters are no more the Borg hive mind than Yamato supprters or anyone else. The reasons I support Carrot are my own. And right now you're talking to me, so have the courtesy to focus on my argument as an individual.
Apologies
What about that is irrelevant then? Oda made it relevant by killing Pedro in the first place, something he hardly ever follows through on. He made it relevant again by bring Perospero back when he could have been left down the falls with the others. He's choosing, even now, to keep Carrot's seemingly unimportant story relevant despite everything else left to tell.
Just because the plot hasn’t been dropped entirely, with Oda forgetting it’s existence- which would be dreadful writing- doesn’t mean the plot-point itself is very important.
It’s like Raizo and Fukurokujo having a rivalry. Absolutely no point in brining it up if Oda never does anything with it. But still no reason to think that Raizo beating his great rival, when Oda gets around to showing it, is a sign that he is going to be the Strawhats ninja.
I'd say that said relevance Oda has maintained is reason enough to expect more depth to come. Carrot needs to have her time to shine, she needs to understand why yhe Straw Hats and the dawn are so important, and she needs to move forward and find where she needs to be in the endgame to come.
What Carrot needs is just what every character that has ever existed needs, for her storyline to have a coherent beginning, middle and end.
And there is nothing to suggest that a character that has been used as scarcely as Carrot suddenly needs to become a main character, which would be wildly inconsistent with how she has been used up until now, just because she hasn’t been written out of the series entirely.
Jinbe was left hanging for ten years, during which we got hundreds of characters of all makes and models. If there's one thing I learned, it's not to be distracted by the shiny new toys.
Yes, but unlike Carrot, Jinbei was
always a hugely important character in his long-running joining saga. It took time, but it was worth it, because whenever Jinbei was in the series Oda took the time to give him attention and depth required to be a Strawhat. One Piece would look
very differently without Jinbei in it.
It wouldn’t change much at all without Carrot.
My point has been that I don't think her journey necessarily has to go hand in hand with his defeat. He's gotta go down, clearly. But if her character arc leads her past the need for personal vengeance and to where Pedro wants her to go, as a herald of the dawn supporting the Straw Hats, then she could just as easily trust Neko to take care of Peros and get on to what she ultimately needs to do.
And Oda has apparently set up this Carrot moves on past personal vengecne to be a as Strawhat, representing the Dawn storyline, not by setting her up throughout the arc to explore the relationship between the Minks and the Kozuki, why Wano was closed, what the Dawn actually is, to bond with Luffy... but by continually off panelling her and giving the plotline to other characters like Yamato, the Scabbards and Momo, whom he actually spends time on.
It’s a hard sell
It’s a hard sell.
