One Piece: The pros and cons of Yamato not joining the Straw Hats

One of the hottest topics amongst One Piece fans was Yamato’s choice to not join the Straw Hats at the end of the Wano arc. The Oden copycat instead decided that they should truly follow their idol’s path, choosing to travel around Wano like the former shogun once did before setting out to sea.

Expectedly, this decision has disappointed and, in some cases, even angered some One Piece fans to the point of week-long debates being spawned on social media. While some are upset that their favorite character of the arc didn’t join the crew, there are some positives and negatives to Yamato’s decision not to join. Let’s find out what the pros and cons are.

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One Piece fans are furious at Yamato for not joining the crew, but there are a few silver linings

The pros and cons

Despite the anger many feel towards this latest turn of events, Yamato’s decision to not join One Piece’s protagonistic pirate crew has some positives to it. There are some negative aspects of the choice, but the benefits it presents certainly can be found.

One major benefit of Yamato’s choice to stay behind in Wano is that it allows Jinbe to enter the spotlight. The Fish-man has been an unofficial member since the end of the Fish-man Island arc and has finally joined the crew in an official capacity hundreds of chapters and several years later.

As one of the more complex characters to be heavily featured in post-time-skip One Piece, Jinbe deserves the spotlight. His status as a fan favorite only provides further positives to this reality, giving fans what they’ve wanted to see for quite some time. Furthermore, he’s one of the crew’s strongest members and deserves time to show what he can do in the upcoming arc.

On a similar note, one significant detriment to Yamato’s not joining the crew is their losing out on yet another Monster Trio level fighter. With enemies such as the Blackbeard Pirates, an infuriated Akainu, and the enigmatic Im-sama on the horizon, Yamato’s absence will no doubt be felt when it comes to battle.

There’ll certainly come a time when Nami, Usopp, and Chopper will be too weak to make any major contributions to the battles. In these moments, fans will feel Yamato’s absence and will no doubt bring up what they could have done had they joined the crew and been present for the current situation.

Another positive of Yamato’s choice to stay in Wano is that it is consistent with their character, which is centered around living like their role model Kozuki Oden did. While the former shogun did depart to sea, Yamato is correct in that he didn’t do so until after journeying around Wano, taming the Kuri region and being respected enough to be recognized as shogun.

Yamato has no actual need to wander around Wano other than their desire to live as Oden did. However, with this being such a consistently portrayed aspect of their character, it is a positive to see series author and illustrator Eiichiro Oda choosing to remain consistent in his characterization of Yamato.

One negative of this, however, is that it provides no room for them to grow as a character in the series’ immediate future. With Yamato’s identity being so intertwined with Wano at their core, it’s unlikely they will go through any significant offscreen development or growth while fans are away from the isolated nation.

It’s a shame, as many Yamato fans specifically cited their excitement to see the character grow beyond simply being Kozuki Oden when discussing why they want to see them join the crew. However, it seems that this won’t be a reality that comes to pass anytime soon.

On a more positive note, their staying behind in Wano essentially makes them the country’s guardian while Momonosuke still learns to control his dragon powers. This, in turn, will likely make them much more robust while the Straw Hats continue their adventures. As a result, fans may see a much more powerful version of Yamato should they appear once more in the final saga.

Going back to the battles the Straw Hats have to face, this would also end up being beneficial in this context, making what would have been a powerhouse crew member even stronger. With many fans expecting the Grand Fleet and the general Straw Hat allies to appear in whatever final confrontation approaches, this is likely to become a reality by One Piece’s end.

One final negative of Yamato’s choice to not join the Straw Hats is fans being deprived of seeing them growing closer to and continuing to interact with the other current Straw Hat members. The chemistry Yamato showed with each member they interacted with was palpable, even when meeting them for the first time.

However, their decision to live as Oden did has cut short the time One Piece’s fans would have otherwise had to see these interactions. While it’s hard to say whether Oda’s decision was the right one for One Piece’s future, what can be said is that there are both positives and negatives to the series’ current reality.

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