1. Throughout this entire arc Yamato fans have been moving the goalposts for when Luffy would accept her. First it was that Luffy would let her in the crew when he defeated Kaido. Then it was that Luffy would accept her when he wakes up. Then it was that Luffy would accept her at the party. Now it's that Luffy will accept her at some unspecified point
People have been talking about Yamato being connected to the Jinbe toast for years. Don't try to pretend it's some new idea thought up after the last chapter.
It's blatantly obvious that Yamato's desire to join the crew is not being taken seriously by the narrative. That's what I'm getting at here.
Right, which is why she consistently talked about leaving Wano since her debut, had multiple highlights talking about going out to sea, and has yet to be framed as wrong for thinking so in the narrative.
2. The part about the poem is blatantly incorrect and is built on nothing but baseless headcanon. Chapter 999’s title was a reference to a Japanese poem written in the 8th century, which goes as follows:
The sake I brewed to drink with you, I drink alone in the field of peace, for I no longer have a friend to drink it with
In the poem, the speaker references their deceased friend, who goes unnamed. The reason why this title was used for chapter 999 is because chapter 999 was about Ace, Yamato's deceased friend. You're trying to make it seem like Chapter 999's and Chapter 1000's titles are referring to Yamato brewing sake for Luffy, even though this completely goes against what the poem was actually about.
And if you look at the actual content of the two chapters, which are meant to be put together for the cover spread as well, Yamato talks about looking forward to Luffy after Ace passed away. The unanswered toast is meant to be finished by him, just like every other Wano plot thread that Ace left over.
Again, whether or not a character joins is up to the author, not the characters they're writing. If Oda decides for Yamato to join, she won't join no matter what. That's just how it is
Unless you can probe the mind of Oda himself, idk why you keep bringing this up. He's the one that wrote Luffy's criteria for accepting members that Yamato is checking off, the crew growing close to her, and her insistence on leaving Wano instead of being some guardian like some people cope her to be.
Jimbei wasn't a side character in his flashback. The whole point of his flashback was to show how he developed the ideals he did by inheriting Tiger's and Otohime's wills. The reason why he's not the main focus until the end is because the entire flashback up until that point was about how Tiger and Otohime affected him and made him into the person he currently is. You're trying to deflect from the fact that Yamato's flashback was incredibly lackluster and told us nothing new that we couldn't already infer.
Or I'm saying your standards for a SH is flawed and doesn't apply to numerous members. Zoro had a lackluster flashback, Brook has a borderline pointless role, Robin was nowhere near as close with the crew as Yamato when she joined, etc. Not that your SH criteria matters in this discussion anyway since they don't affect her chances.
And you're forgetting the fact that the story went to great lengths to show Franky genuinely bonding with Robin and Usopp. Yamato hasn't gotten that with any character other than Momo
Now you're just moving the goalpost since you made a bad comparison. Franky had no teary reaction to Luffy defeating anyone for him nor did Luffy have him as any kind of motivation.
Yes. Unironically.
It'll tie into the theme of Luffy bringing the dawn. Wano's borders can't open until Luffy brings the dawn and Yamato can't leave until that happens. So this given Luffy a personal stake in wanting to bring the dawn.
If Wano's borders can't open until the dawn, wouldn't it make even more sense for her to leave with the person that'll make it happen?
