What has been written shall never be forgotten.
Carrot's moment is coming..
Here are the
REAL potential evidences and how I debunked them:
The respect of Luffy
Yamato really respects Luffy to the point of admiration and if we could take that as a real clue to her potential recruitment, there is also two catch:
- First the Strawhats (at least in the crew) don't admires Luffy, they only have a deep respect for him and right now, Yamato is leaning more toward admiration than respect
- That respect in based on the action of Luffy toward them and not his words. Each Nakama has been changed deeply by the presence of Luffy but it didn't happen to Yamato, Yet. Yes Yamato has been freed for her shakles, but not her mind.
Panel time
One of the parameters that is often discuss about is the amount of paneltime of Yamato compared to Carrot
First we must NOT forget that whole Cake happened, you can't just say it doesn't count anymore when the storylines from this arc are still being developped. The part of the story we are in is called the Yonko Saga for a reason, everything is linked together. And so, the screentime of Carrot during whole Cake is still relevant.
Now, let's get that out of the way to look at the content where Yamato appears: We can notice that almost every apparition of her are constructed to enhance another character. First it was Ace, then it was Luffy, then it was to Help Momonosuke then to stall down Kaido until the real battle of Luffy and finally recently with the interactions of several supernovae and Big Mom's fight. Aside from her fight and her flashback, the content is almost never focused on Yamato first.
It doesn't mean Yamato's panel time is irrelevant, it just means that we have to be careful with how much she is shown by Oda. Yamato is still a very important character, as important as an "arc character" like Kyros, Rebecca, Shiraoshi etc.
The heritage of Kaido and Oden
This point is very simple, it states that because Yamato is the "Son of Kaido" and heir of Oden, therefore a strong character, it gives her a place of choice in the strawhat crew.. This assertion is based on a bias. Luffy doesn't recruit character because they are strong or because they are the heir of someone.
The parrallel with Oden
The heritage of Oden is often used to show that Yamato wanting to be Oden will lead her to go.. Like Oden, on sea to see the world. If this could be true, this is also a hypothesis that ignores three important factor:
FIRST
We must not forget that the reason why Oden was accepted on Roger's ship, was to decifer the poneglyph. On the Sunny, someone already has that role.
SECOND
.. And this will be long. We must be VERY careful with the parrallelism as it is a big theorist trap and confirmation bias blackhole. Indeed there are elements indicating some similarities between the strawhats and the Roger pirates, it's undeniable.. BUT.. there is also evidences that those similarities are here to contrast the real differences between those two crews. Let me explain:
Yes Luffy is very much like Roger, their mindset are similar in a way. Also, like the Roger's Pirates, the crew is founded on a strong base of powerful people with some specific roles : Doctor / First hand man etc.. And of course, their is a very close bond between the members and there are also small similarities within the story..
But that just it.. within the scope of the crew itself.. we can't go farther.
For example, we can't expect the strawhats to be around 30 in numbers at the end of Raftel, it wouldn't make any sence. Plus, each strawhat is specialized, not Roger's crew. The same applies to the dynamic of the crew, yes Roger is familiar with his crewmate, but there are no evidences supporting the similarities between Luffy's view of the world of his crew and Roger's. Luffy would rather be an underlings of Big Mom rather than lost a crewmate..
Do we think that Roger would do that ? There are no evidences supporting it, and taking the character of Roger into account, it's debatable. Finally, Luffy doesn't recruit just for his purpose it goes a lot deeper than that.
THIRD
... and the most important one, there are reasons to believe their is much more to Yamato's character that meet the eye. Indeed Yamato was constructed as a conflicted character by Oda. How come such a strong character never tried to get the cuff off, how come such a spirited character had to wait Ace to express the desire to go to sea..
...I think that Yamato is a character ruled by Fear. The fear of taking her own freedom, the fear of taking action without thinking about the consequences.
I think that: is why Yamato loved Ace so much, that is why Yamato respects Luffy and that's why she wanted to become Oden.
All those character are free from their fears !! Those are the type of character Yamato follows.
That's why Luffy is not the one Yamato will follow but Momonosuke. Momonosuke's arc of character is all about concquering his fears and gaining his freedom in order to rule Wano. I think that those actions are what will lead Yamato to follow Momo and in a way completing the parrallel with Oden, by staying in Wano.
Time spent with Luffy
This one is also very simple. The argument rest on the fact that because Yamato had a conversation with Luffy, they have more chances to join the crew than Carrot. This can be debunked in two points;
- First Yamato didn't spent a lot of time with Luffy, only a few minutes, and most of the time, Luffy was more interested in saving Momo than hearing Yamato.
- For this moment to meant a real deal, Yamato would need to pass the "Nakama naming test" after the conversation. But it didn't happened. In fact Yamato was named Yama-o or Yama-bro by Luffy at the end of the scene. And even after being asked by Yamato to say it correctly Luffy proceed with Yama-O
Remember, a Nakama will always be named correctly when they reformulate their name to Luffy. This will be important when we will analyse Carrot later, you'll see.
The demand
This is one of the most frequent arguments in favor of Yamato. The argument is as follow:
"Yamato asked Luffy to join, this is therefore a foreshadow to the recruitment of Yamato in the crew."
Well.. This is where things gets interesting. Because the fact is, that demand is not a foreshadow, in fact it's not a demand at all.
- This argument ignores the fact that Yamato didn't asked Luffy, she affirmed that because Luffy was the brother of Ace, she would therefore have a place on the ship. But remember, Luffy don't like being push around and this is false logic.
- This affirmation is not a foreshadowing but something else, something I call a subversion dialogue.
Click
HERE (link to my blog) to understand what a subversion dialogue is.
Yamato's "you should be giving me a ride on your ship" is a false promise (for the fan) from a Positive > to > a Negative and a Negative > to > a positive (for the character of Yamato).
The hint is the corruption of the promise. Yamato wants to go on the ship for the wrong reasons (not for Luffy but by simple "logic") and she doesn't ask, she states.
Imagine any other character having the same statement ("you should be giving me a ride on your ship") it would be clear that this is a false promise.
This is why I think that by understanding what she really wants, Yamato will change her goal and might realise that there is no need for her to go. A good reader of One Piece will know that all the Nakama will follow Luffy because of him first. That why here, The story hints us that Yamato is kinda lying to herself.
This "subversion dialogue" shows us two things:
- What Yamato said to Luffy won't happen, even if she becomes Nakama, that won't be for those reasons! So and even if it's still possible, the integration of Yamato to the crew is still unlikely.
- Oda is still playing with the "nakama" card and what better way to plan the surprise of the integration of a new crew member, that to make us believe another member will join. And if you don't believe me..
Remember that Oda already did that. With Vivi and Robin.
Now.. Here we are..
With 6 argument in favor of Yamato
Are they enough for Yamato to be considered a good recruit? No. I fact, each of them can be debunked.
Don't get me wrong, Yamato is a good character, she has some potential and Oda could surprise us with that character, but she is FAR from being as close as Carrot in the race for the Sunny right now.
The most obvious argument being the lack introduction as a future crewmate. Like previously mentionned, each strawhats are introduced EARLY with a clear capacities for a post on the ship. If that happened already for Carrot (and on her introduction), it did not for Yamato. Even in battle, Oda could be giving us hints. But there is nothing and we are far, now, from her introduction.. The chances for her to be introduced as a potential crewmate are therefore getting slimmer and slimmer.
Wut?
