Most of you probably didn't notice or care, but I've often wondered where the Drake, Hawkins and Apoo crews are and what they are doing. The last time we saw the On Air Pirates was when Apoo was making his way to Onigashima, but we didn't see a single member of these three crews in just one panel during the entire battle. I'm a bit surprised about that, as even the Fire Tank Pirates have two members (Vito & Gotti) that stand out from the unnamed uniform-looking members. In the archipelago, I had the impression that the Fire Tank Pirates were less relevant than most of the other Supernova crews. Since the Zou Arc, as with the Heart and Kid Pirates, I have expected one to three members of each crew who stand out in particular.
The members of the three crews I mentioned have a very thematic look. The Hawkins Pirates are reminiscent of witchers, voodoo priests and shamans, the Drake Pirates are reminiscent of former French guards and the On Air Pirates are largely similar in style to Apoo. Faust, a cat mink from the Hawkins Pirates, was actually the first mink we saw. In a SBS, Oda humorously implied that Faust uses "meowgic". So he can use magic and Electro. It would be interesting to see how he fights other minks. Bepo would be a good opponent. But we haven't seen him since the timeskip, in fact we haven't seen anyone from Hawkins' crew again. Even a mouse named Chuji has more relevance in this battle. Where are they? What do Apoo's people do? Why does he have more interactions with the Numbers than with his crew members who have been with him for years. The only explanation I have is that Oda is keeping these characters out so the arc doesn't get any longer than it already is. In other places, however, I have the impression that he is doing everything to artificially elongate this arc. I think this is a missed chance to show that the Worst Generation crews also have unique characters that make these pirate crews so special.
The members of the three crews I mentioned have a very thematic look. The Hawkins Pirates are reminiscent of witchers, voodoo priests and shamans, the Drake Pirates are reminiscent of former French guards and the On Air Pirates are largely similar in style to Apoo. Faust, a cat mink from the Hawkins Pirates, was actually the first mink we saw. In a SBS, Oda humorously implied that Faust uses "meowgic". So he can use magic and Electro. It would be interesting to see how he fights other minks. Bepo would be a good opponent. But we haven't seen him since the timeskip, in fact we haven't seen anyone from Hawkins' crew again. Even a mouse named Chuji has more relevance in this battle. Where are they? What do Apoo's people do? Why does he have more interactions with the Numbers than with his crew members who have been with him for years. The only explanation I have is that Oda is keeping these characters out so the arc doesn't get any longer than it already is. In other places, however, I have the impression that he is doing everything to artificially elongate this arc. I think this is a missed chance to show that the Worst Generation crews also have unique characters that make these pirate crews so special.