THE 13TH AND FINAL NAKAMA

I am now becoming more and more keen with the possibility that all the Strawhats to be recruited from the New World will be non-human, this means nobody will join after Dressrosa if this turns out to be true. There is some logical basis for this idea. Cast your mind back to the previous seas and who Luffy had recruited:

East Blue

What do you notice? Personally I see that the characters are becoming more and more “non-human”. Even with the heights of the characters in Paradise, they become more and more excessive. Chopper is less than 2 foot, and over 8 foot tall in Human form. Robin is a 6ft4 woman, Franky is 9ft tall post timeskip and Brook is 9ft2. If this theme carries on with Jinbe as Nakama number 10 being the first completely non-human Nakama then this will perpetuate and result in consequent Nakama being of a distinguished species. Oh and Jinbe is even more ridiculous in terms of height as he is 11ft tall. Another reason for this to be true is the fact that the non-human species all seem to reside in the New World and are far more common there than elsewhere. For example, we already know that Elbaf is in the New World, as Fishman Island is too. Tontattans also live in the New World. Minkmen likely inhabit an island in the New World (maybe Zou?). Therefore, logically the chances of recruiting a non-human Nakama is far higher.

Now, let’s just assume, at least hypothetically that Jinbe is the 10th Nakama, as we can see with the foreshadowing in these cover pages

Who will the other Nakama be? Or rather, what Species will they be?
Fishman = Jinbe
Long Arm Martial Artist= ????
Giant = Hajrudin
Minkman DF user= ????

Now today, I’m focusing on the Minkman Nakama that’s likely to join based upon the aforementioned logics. We do not know who he/she is nor where we will first see them. But what we do know is that they will likely be the consumer of the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi. I know it sounds extremely strange, but hear me out:

I’m sure we’re all familiar with the numbers that encompass the Strawhats Devil Fruits, but for those that either don’t understand the theory/logic or that have been living under a rock, the numbers from 1 through 10 in Japanese have all been included in a Strawhats Devil Fruit name, except from 2 and 9. Here is how they are pronounced (you may not be familiar exactly with the words as there are at least two ways to say each number):
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

Now, as I previously mentioned the numbers 2 and 9 are missing from this pattern, and it is far too consistent to be a coincidence. There are two possible Devil Fruits that match 2 and 9 – Fuku Fuku no Mi (Clothes Clothes fruit) and Nikyu Nikyu no Mi (Paw Paw fruit). Lots of people favour the latter over the former, but lots of people have dismissed this because the fruit has already been consumed by this guy:

Big problem: he’s a Marine weapon and we already have a cyborg in the crew, plus: there is a high likelihood he will be destroyed because of his correspondence and protection of the Strawhats and the Thousand Sunny, especially considering the immense amount of damage done unto him. It is likely more cost effective to scrap rather than repair, therefore I won’t be surprised if Kuma becomes deceased. This would also mean that the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi would regrows elsewhere in the world, as we now know:

This means anyone can eat the fruit. Anyone! Now, why would a Minkman be the chosen nakama to eat the Paw Paw fruit? Well, Oda has foreshadowed or at least indicated that a minkman would later eat the fruit and become a member of the Strawhat Crew.

1. The same arc in which Bepo and therefore Minkman as a species are introduced is also the same arc Kuma separated the Strawhats using the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi on Sabaody Archipelago. The fruit has a huge and deep symbolism with the original 9 crewmates. It may just be a coincidence that Bepo is introduced around that time, but I believe it was extremely subtle foreshadowing by Oda
2. Bartholomew Kuma’s name literally means Son of Talmai (Bartholomew) Bear (Kuma). Talmai in Hebrew means “furrow” and a furrow is a type of cave. Therefore Kuma is technically called “cave bear”, could the Minkman Nakama be a Cave Bear? Probably
3. What do Cave Bears have in common with the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi? Paws. The Paw Paw fruit gave Kuma paws, which seemed incredibly out of place, funnily enough, the fruit is way more suitable for somebody or something with Paws, such as a Minkman or mammalian animal, the fruit seems like a perfect fit

If I were to make a prediction I would say that the final Nakama is a Cave Bear that ate the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi, but is quite a new Devil Fruit user. This would mean that they are not too overpowered and we also see a new dynamic to the current storyline whereby the Strawhats themselves teach this Nakama how to use their own Devil Fruit powers. There is potential for millions of running gags! Due to the symbolism of the fruit and due to its significance to the plot and how Kuma affected the Strawhats and caused them to separate, the last Nakama with such a symbolic fruit can be a symbolism of everlasting and infinite friendship, it’s cheesy, but it’s something Oda might just do.

Oh yeah and being a Cave Bear, this Nakama would likely be gigantic, like Jinbe and Hajrudin, fitting the motif of extreme non-humanism.
So yeah, this badboy will be on the Sunny!