Like Odyssey, Carrot went through a journey that put her on a specific path with a specific inertia. She became attracted by the sea.
First, it was just at a small speed, she was seen during the conversation between Luffy and Pekom saying this:
Note that this panel is also a PLANTINGS, a shadowing. Without it, Carrot jumping on the Sunny would feel weird.
Carrot first was just funnly attracted by the sea and therefore adventure, but she didn't saw it.. Then Oda clearly depicted Carrot's wonder in front of the sea:
And the ship went faster...
And faster....
And touched lightspeed...
At the beginning of Wano, Oda cimented Carrot as a character that was not only attracted to the sea, but a character whose attraction for danger, the sea and adventure was a fondamental part of.
I've given you the key point of this change, but you will find dozen and dozen of panel showing Carrot being attracted to adventure in the story.
This is what Carrot's development inertia look's like, a course toward danger and adventure...
Let's fast forward to the end of the arc
We are now at the end of Wano and the character are returning home... and here is what Oda is doing for Carrot:
Oda makes Carrot the new ruler of Zou, and therefore makes her go back to her home on Zunisha.
But here is the thing.. Carrot still has her inertia, nothing in Wano changed that, her diminitution for attraction for adventure was not shown. And therefore, Carrot is put in a peculiar place.
To make a metaphore, it would be like saying to a child who just went to a fairfest: "ok, you can go to the see whenever you want, but we choose for you to go home, what will you do ?"
An error from Oda ?
Many people interpreted those panels as an error from Oda. And it could be. If Oda ends One Piece and we never see Carrot again out on adventure, yes, this will be a big mistake. It would mean that Oda didn't pay enough attention to the character's development inertia of Carrot and let the ship crash on Zou.
But that's only if Carrot doesn't come back... What if she does ? This what I theorized
here.