Pedro was never really someone that was suggested with much vigor as a future Strawhat.
From very early Zou people latched on to Carrot and she took up 95% of the discussion as the “Mink Candidate.”
He was really just a bit bland in all honesty. The generic strong ally warrior type of a nation without any quirks or distinguishing factors. Kyros and Kine’mon played that particular role much better. Pre-skip Wyper and Paulie were better than him as well.
I've suggested Pedro since Zou. In the beginning, most stated Mink was Nekomamushi being the most unique looking. The Carrot experience was speculated during the very end of Zou as she went missing the last Zou chapters and expedited when she stowed away.
You think he's bland but Pedro has shown to be another straight man like Jinbe to keep them grounded as well. Pedro's role was to spot danger and provide valuable travel information and to sacrifice his life for the Strawhats. What candidate can compare to Pedro's feats?
Pedro's Quirk of being in high places is a distinguishable quirk. There are panels of him in "high" places in Zou, traveling on the Sunny, and in WCI arc. Yamato's Quirk is imitating Oden which has not been seen favorably in the OP community. Carrot chews on Luffy which at least is a direct interaction. What great quirks are out there?
"High Place" Quirk is a better, less abrasive, more subtle Quirk than "Imitate Oden" Quirk, IMO.
“Likes to stay up high” isn’t really going to convince me that Pedro was anything other than bland.
I’m not saying every Strawhat needs to be Franky or Brook- Zoro and Jinbei are pretty grounded characters- but Pedro really had nothing special about him at all. His personality is really very like Jinbei’s. But Jinbei then excells himself through his relationships through other characters and the effect that’s had on him- the other Fishmen in his background, Luffy, Ace, Whitebeard, the effect his inaction had on Nami.
Pedro though, Pedro was always just an obvious side character. Oda never really went into depth with him at any time. No real expansion of his relationship with Carrot, Pekoms, Bepo’s brother or Neko. A single page where he met Roger. Jinbei got to be with Luffy at his lowest moment and snap him out of it, Pedro and Luffy never had any big scenes together.
Always a side character? Without Pedro, the plan to rescue Sanji AND copy a Road Ponegliff would have failed. Pedro had a decent 1v1 fight with Tamago. Pedro was connected to the antagonist of the arc. Pedro's sacrifice which is a big scene eventually gave Luffy the opportunity to awaken Gear 5. Side characters don't get mentioned multiple times in an arc they're not even actively participating.
Pedro actually met Roger the Pirate King in Pedro's youth AND wanted to travel with them. Has any other candidate had direct interaction with a figure that important in the series!?
Pedro literally had an exposition dump of his past experiences with Zepo, Pekoms, and the Big Mom Pirates. We saw how he sacrificed his eye to save some of his lifespan. He took his own eye out. This is the opposite of bland. And that Pedro was looking onto the future of what Luffy would do after Kaido shows a possible use in the future to the 4th and Final Road Ponegliff after all he was searching for Ponegliffs for Nekomamushi.
