I think Bonney’s the best 50/50 we‘ve seen. Can go either way and neither would surprise me.
Pros: excellent flashback with a mentor figure that’s been heavily involved in the series for a long time
Easy potential for a dream that requires her to travel with Luffy to Laugh Tale
Unique design that stands out from the rest of the crew. Pink hair for colour spreads, lipstick and face-ring for facial features
Very interesting DF. One that I thought would be too gimmicky but has been given quite a few interesting uses
Cons: does her true age count against her?
Also her DF, funnily enough. I’m not sure Oda will have someone else on the crew who can do things that are clearly the same as Luffy. That was a G3 punch to beat Alpha.
Similar note with being too similar to Luffy- her epithet is Big Eater. That’s kind of one of his main things.
Is she a side character for the main story that is Kuma?
Will Kuma and her get a happy ending? He’s not joining, and we won’t get two new Strawhats.
I don’t much care about role, Oda can easily say Cabin Girl or Apprentice and thanks to her age it would make sense. Age wise she is just three years younger than Chopper was, so I think that’s an either way (Tama by comparison was far younger).
I expect her to stick around until Elbaf, which may not be the next island based on Oda’s recent message.