That's a good question and easily the biggest reason why Carrot as a crewmember is seen as unlikely. I will preface that some of my points rely on the unknown future, but I will try to present my thoughts on this as nuanced as possible so here goes.
I want to first focus on her treatment during Wano, specifically after Chapter 1006 since I believe that's the exact point where Carrot's stocks as a crewmate sunk for a good chunk of the community. I say this because after skimming through the earlier parts of Wano I noticed that Carrot's presence was actually not too bad. Nothing front and center but she at least had a presence. During this time the events of WCI were fresh in the minds of the audience so there was no real need for her to take center stage for a little while.
But now we're at the point where the freshest memory we have of Carrot is her defeat to Perospero, she can't rely on WCI anymore as that happened years ago. Not only that but she's been largely absent since 1006 as well, the only check-ins being mostly unmemorable. This meant that for this entire year her most memorable moment is her getting kicked through the dirt by Perospero. Now she can't do another goofy stowaway gag to join the crew as mostly everyone (including me) would not be satisfied as she didn't "earn it" in a lot of people's eyes.
So the question now is, how does she come back from this? As you said, she would have to reconnect herself to the themes of the current story as well as remind the audience of her previous moments. She needs to earn it like she arguably did in WCI.
This is where the unknown future comes in, I think the optimal way to do this is through giving her a moment that applies what happened during this saga as a whole and not just Wano. Basically, a redemption that helps people forgive her defeat from Perospero and instead see the foundation that she has built. What that moment would be I would not know. But I think it might include both the wild card elements of the BM Pirates and the WG as well as a potential power-up with Sulong. Of course, it would also have to involve the Straw Hats as well.
Basically, Carrot was arguably fine during early Wano because WCI was fresh in people's minds. 1006 changed that and now that's all a majority of people remember. I would argue that the foundation she built since Zou is the main thing keeping her afloat. She will either get a redeeming moment to cross the roadblock in front of her, or she will get the Rebecca treatment and get a proper send-off from the main story instead of joining the crew. Considering the current Wano wildcards it all really depends on what she does before the arc ends.
I want to first focus on her treatment during Wano, specifically after Chapter 1006 since I believe that's the exact point where Carrot's stocks as a crewmate sunk for a good chunk of the community. I say this because after skimming through the earlier parts of Wano I noticed that Carrot's presence was actually not too bad. Nothing front and center but she at least had a presence. During this time the events of WCI were fresh in the minds of the audience so there was no real need for her to take center stage for a little while.
But now we're at the point where the freshest memory we have of Carrot is her defeat to Perospero, she can't rely on WCI anymore as that happened years ago. Not only that but she's been largely absent since 1006 as well, the only check-ins being mostly unmemorable. This meant that for this entire year her most memorable moment is her getting kicked through the dirt by Perospero. Now she can't do another goofy stowaway gag to join the crew as mostly everyone (including me) would not be satisfied as she didn't "earn it" in a lot of people's eyes.
So the question now is, how does she come back from this? As you said, she would have to reconnect herself to the themes of the current story as well as remind the audience of her previous moments. She needs to earn it like she arguably did in WCI.
This is where the unknown future comes in, I think the optimal way to do this is through giving her a moment that applies what happened during this saga as a whole and not just Wano. Basically, a redemption that helps people forgive her defeat from Perospero and instead see the foundation that she has built. What that moment would be I would not know. But I think it might include both the wild card elements of the BM Pirates and the WG as well as a potential power-up with Sulong. Of course, it would also have to involve the Straw Hats as well.
Basically, Carrot was arguably fine during early Wano because WCI was fresh in people's minds. 1006 changed that and now that's all a majority of people remember. I would argue that the foundation she built since Zou is the main thing keeping her afloat. She will either get a redeeming moment to cross the roadblock in front of her, or she will get the Rebecca treatment and get a proper send-off from the main story instead of joining the crew. Considering the current Wano wildcards it all really depends on what she does before the arc ends.
