Nakama Theory

I know how much a lot of people hate Nakama theories these days and understandably so because there are always so many circling around. But I’m currently re-reading the One Piece Manga and I’ve had some interesting thoughts about who the future Nakama could be. For the purpose of this theory, please keep in mind that Oda stated in an SBS from near the start of the Dressrosa Arc that we had already seen all of the future Strawhat Pirates.

For hypothetical purposes of this theory, Jinbe is the 10th Strawhat crew member

as this will be focusing on the 11th Strawhat crewmate. Hooray! A Nakama theory that doesn’t revolve around Pekoms or Carrot or Wanda!

I think Choppers words will ring true for the 11th Crewmate as well. So to speak, I think the Strawhats will have two ex-Shichibukai crewmates by the end of the Manga. Who though? Well, this brings me to the recruitment pattern as many people know. To re familiarise yourself:

• Sea 1: East Blue: Zoro (Male recruit – 1), Nami (Female recruit – 2), Usopp (Male recruit – 3), Sanji (Male recruit – 4)
• Sea 2: Paradise: Chopper (Male recruit – 5), Robin (Female recruit – 6), Franky (Male recruit – 7) Brook (Male recruit – 8)
• Sea 3: New World: Jinbe (Male Recruit – 9), ????? (Female recruit – 10), ????? (Male recruit – 11), ????? (Male recruit – 12)

Now, this means the 10th recruit will be female and is the character I’m going to theorise. There is a set criterium needed for this and as I said, she’s likely to be an ex Shichibukai when she joins. Now, why do I think Boa Hancock might join the Strawhats? Well if we consider other female characters we know who the Strawhats are great friends with:

• Vivi – far too weak for the New World, she also has outright said she cannot leave Alabasta
• Rebecca – Has chosen to live a life of secrecy with her father Kyros
• Viola – Is the next Queen of Dressrosa and now, with Doffy gone, has no reason to leave Dressrosa

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But Hancock is different. She could quite easily leave Kuja and the Kuja Pirates. In fact there are two reasons as to why she would join the Strawhat Pirates out of logic, not even taking into account personal motivations. Firstly, the Tattoo

Hancock has explicitly said that if the Tattoo is uncovered then she will have to leave the country, in fact, she would be compelled to leave the country. And where would she go if she wanted to leave (which is not outside the realms of possibility)? To her beloved Strawhat Luffy’s ship of course!

The second logic lies in an assumption that the Shichibukai system will be abolished like Issho has exclaimed his goal is:

This being said, would make Hancock an Ex-Shichibukai, given it’s going to be a long time until the likes of Jinbe and Hancock join the crew. Hancock used her Shichibukai status to protect the country, and having lost that title, the only other way to protect it is under the name of a Yonko or incredibly powerful Pirate, whom Luffy will one day become. Thus, she can use her membership of the crew to protect her sisters and her homeland. And, unlike Viola and Vivi who have nobody else to inherit the throne, Hancock can pass it over to several different candidates. This is because the Kuja monarchy is actually an elected office.

The candidates are as follows:

• Gloriosa, the former incumbent of the throne
• Sandersonia, the next eldest sister whom, if she remains, can inherit the throne as protocol
• Marigold, for the same reasons as Sandersonia if both Hancock and Sandersonia leave
• Kikyo, the most authoritative and powerful citizen of Kuja besides Gloriosa
• Ran, the most powerful Kuja Pirate member besides the Boa sisters themselves

This therefore allows Hancock to leave if she wants to, which is perfectly possible if her past is uncovered by residents of the island.

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Hancock also retains some crucial criteria. She may possibly have a dream that directly opposes the World Government, as she was herself a former slave of a Tenryuubito. Although we haven’t got a confirmed dream it’s likely to be revolved around Slavery. This makes sense when you consider the compatibility with other dreams of some of the Strawhats: namely Luffy (Pirate King), Robin (Void Century), Franky (Dream Ship to reach Raftel) and possibly Jinbe (Racial parity). It’s sufficient enough to say she hates the world government and has the substance needed to have some kind of dream that can only be achieved under the wing of the Pirate King.

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Without going into too much detail and as I’ve written probably a million times before by this point, to be a Strawhat also requires some close inspiration from external sources, whether it be real life, novels etc. Oda closely follows these designs far more passionately in comparison to other characters who are normally loosely designed at best, if at all, on other sources. Hancock is one of a select few characters with intense inspiration that Oda has strictly followed. Hancock is incredibly reminiscent to her inspirations to a similar extent that the Strawhats are. You’d be sitting here reading several more lengthy paragraphs, all nearly 300 words long at least, about the incredible lengths Oda goes to to design the Strawhats, here’s the list, but please just take my word for it, it saves us all a lot of time:

• Monkey D. Luffy – Young Eiichiro Oda and Sun Wukong
• Roronoa Zoro – Francois L’Ollonais and Don Diego De la Vega aka El Zorro
• Nami – Cat Woman and Miriam Karlin (Catlady from A Clockwork Orange)
• Usopp – Aesopp and The Boy Who Cried Wolf
• Sanji – Romeo Montague and Steve Buscemi (Mr Pink from Reservoir Dogs)
• Tony Tony Chopper – Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Waylon Jones (DC Comics)
• Nico Robin – Cinderella and Alexandra Kollontai
• Franky – Ace Ventura and Popeye the Sailorman
• Brook – A character from ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ poem and Jimi Hendrix
• Jinbe – Whale Sharks and Taiho Koki

This being said, Hancock is also designed on two sources of inspiration, and intensely so. But who and how?

The most obvious links are the fact that she is the “Snake Princess” and has the ability to turn onlookers into Stonewith her Mero Mero no Mi. Constantly in the company of Salome, this is a clear nod to Medusa whom also had two sisters, just like Hancock. In fact, Medua is described as being “almost two meters tall” and extremely intimidating for a female humanoid, Boa Hancock is 1.92m tall. And if this wasn’t enough, they both live on islands where no men can go (Sarpedon and Kuja), both Islands names even have links! They’re both genus’ of butterflies and moths! Geez Oda! (Oh yeah, and Hancock has the “Gorgons eye” on her back)

And if that wasn’t enough: Penthesilea was the queen of the Amazon Warriors from Greek Mythology. She was enslaved as a child by Persians but she later escaped with two of her sisters. Since the Kuja are referred to as Amazons, there’s a clear enough link, but then you also have to consider the fact Penthesilea is sometimes referred to as the greatest female archer, which by the way is a nod to her Devil Fruit abilities again. In fact, Penthiselea is one of 13 named Amazonians in the lost poem; the Aethiopis, there are 13 named Kuja Pirates: Hancock, Marigold, Sandersonia, Ran, Daisy, Cosmos, Rindo, Fan, Marguerite, Sweat Pea, Alphelandra and Gloriosa (ex member).

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Many people say that somebody like Monet could be the female Nakama, but I disagree for one crucial reason: The female Nakama are normal women by design. The male Nakama seem to be getting more and more excessive, as is the trend you can see here:

• 1.Monkey D. Luffy, Normal Human, Gomu Gomu no Mi
• 2.Roronoa Zoro, Green Haired Human
• 3.Usopp, Human with a Tengu nose
• 4.Sanji, Human with Curly eyebrows
• 5.Tony Tony Chopper, Sentient Animal, Hito Hito no Mi
• 6.Franky, Self Designed Cyborg
• 7.Brook, Living Undead Skeleton, Yomi Yomi no Mi
• 8.Jinbe, Whaleshark Fishman

While the trend for Male nakama is becoming more and more extreme, the trend for Nami and Robin and whomever the next Female Nakama is far from it, although they diversify slightly:

• 1.Nami, Normal Human
• 2.Nico Robin, Normal Human, Hana Hana no Mi
• 3.Boa Hancock, Normal Human, Mero Mero no Mi

Even in terms of design they’re normal, extremely attractive women. They aren’t excessively tall (like Brook, Jinbe and Franky) or small (like Chopper), nor do they have bizarre colorations or blemishes (Zoro, Usopp, Sanji).

Hancock is just that. An attractive, normal human (duhh, she’s famed for her beauty for gods sake!) being without bizarre characteristics beyond her Devil Fruit powers. This is what makes her an appropriate candidate, unlike Monet who has Wings or Wanda and Carrot who aren’t even Human in the first place.

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Have you ever heard of Goroawase?

Oda has done this with the Devil Fruits within the Strawhat Pirates.

• Go Mu = 5 6 = Gomu Gomu no Mi – Gum Gum fruit – Monkey D. Luffy
• Hi To = 1 10 = Hito Hito no Mi – Human Human fruit – Tony Tony Chopper
• Ha Na = 8 7 = Hana Hana no Mi – Flower Flower fruit – Nico Robin
• Yo Mi = 4 3 = Yomi Yomi no Mi – Revive Revive fruit – Brook

Because of this, people assumed that the next Devil Fruit using Nakama will have a Devil Fruit name comprised of 2 and 9, such as the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi

But, there are several complications to this. The first being that 2 and 9 can be rearranged through many different combinations due to the amount of ways you can say numbers in Japanese. Such examples include the Fuku Fuku no Mi which by the way is the Clothes Clothes Fruit (potentially Kin’emon’s Fruit). You see, it’s not a conclusive piece of evidence to go by at all. Plus, there is the inconsistency of the fact :”Na” can also mean “0”, “Go” can mean “9”, “Mu” can mean “3” and “Mi” can means “2”. This therefore would leave the options of 2,4,5,6,7 and 9 depending on how you rearrange the characters. In fact it’s also possible that Luffy’s fruit is 9 and 6 and 3 while Brooks Yomi Yomi no Mi can be rearranged as 3,4 or 2

Here is the full list of terms for Goroawase:

Notice the ones I’ve highlighted and increased the size of.
In fact, Hancock’s Devil Fruit can reside in one number alone. This fixes a major problem with the Goroawase: Oda can’t use all numbers just once between 0 and 10 because that is eleven figures. The Strawhats Devil Fruits can be arranged as:

• • Go Mu = 9 3 = Gomu Gomu no Mi – Gum Gum fruit – Monkey D. Luffy
  • Hi To = 1 10 = Hito Hito no Mi – Human Human fruit – Tony Tony Chopper
  • Ha Na = 8 0 = Hana Hana no Mi – Flower Flower fruit – Nico Robin
  • Yo Mi = 4 2 = Yomi Yomi no Mi – Revive Revive fruit – Brook
  • Me Ro = 6 6 = Mero Mero no Mi – Love Love fruit – Boa Hancock
• This means that Oda can use all of the numbers in Goroawase by having six devil fruit abilities, the only one left being made of 5 and 7. Hancocks Devil Fruit fits perfectly with the theme.

The Strawhat Pirates also have a phonetic and alphabetic assortment and pattern to them. You may not have noticed this but each Strawhat Pirate represents a Binary Pair of Letters, assigned by their first name. Most Alphabets in the western world have 26 letters (the only exceptions being Greek and Russian as far as I’m aware), this is perfect considering that there will be 13 Nakama and 26/2 = 13. Each Nakama has their pair of letters, these pairs are in sequence and alphabetical order, in which one letter is the first letter of their name, if you still don’t get what I mean – a visual demonstration will suffice:

• AB – Brook
• CD – Tony Tony Chopper
• EF – Franky/Cutty Flam
• GH – Boa Hancock
• IJ – Jinbe
• KL – Monkey D. Luffy
• MN – Nami
• OP – ?????
• QR – Nico Robin
• ST – Vinsmoke Sanji
• UV – Usopp
• WX – ?????
• YZ – Roronoa Zoro

Clearly, Boa Hancock fits the pattern with some. This is something else that plays in her favour.
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Just a little point here. Wouldn’t it make sense for the Pirate Empress to be on the same ship as a future Yonko (Emperor), something Luffy likely will become before being the Pirate King? The Pirate King and Queen on the same ship also makes a lot of sense.

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Hancock has plenty, and I mean plenty of potential for comedy value with most of the Strawhat crew. Not just Sanji and Luffy as you all likely thought. Of course, we have the obvious ones for Sanji and Luffy

Moving on to the less obvious ones, we have potential for Hancock being extremely competitive with Nami and Robin to get Luffy’s approval and endearment. As we’ve already seen before in Hancock’s crazy fantasies. This means there could be inter crew hostilities or rivalries just like Sanji and Zoro, it brings much more entertainment factor to the crew than before

Then there’s also the fact there are two more (three more if we’re counting Jinbe) Male Nakama who won’t find her attractive the same way Luffy doesn’t find anything attractive. You see, this has a lot of potential because it will piss Hancock off and provides a lot of comedy value to inter-crew interactions. I am of course talking about Chopper and Zoro. Chopper isn’t into humans and Zoro seems to lack any sort of Libido. Then there’s the opposing trio of Sanji, Franky and Brook. Having already talked about Sanji (who may or may not regularly turn to stone), Franky and Brook would also be easily petrified by her ability. This again, as I’ve repeatedly said would provide a goldmine for Oda in terms of comic effectiveness, it’s even possible that Brook can’t be petrified, we don’t know how it works yet.

And then there’s Usopp who I quite frankly am unsure about.
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Clearly, Hancock has what it takes to be a Nakama. She has all the substance and material, a potential dream, sad past and a potential reason to join the crew in the first place. She would be hilarious on the Sunny as well and adds some much needed Long-Distance fighting power to the crew. Her Mero Mero no Mi can fit within Oda’s Devil Fruit Goroawase and she’s a former Shichibukai, possibly foreshadowed by Choppers line at the start of the theory.

Keep in mind I don’t fully support this theory but I found these ideas interesting and intriguing so I decided to present them for your enjoyment anyway.

Theory by L o g i a