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Nov. 15th, 2017 10:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dethoratsOkay, I was trying to keep things in fanon that irk me off of this journal but this is something that bears saying.
Out of the original 5 Straw Hats, Zoro makes the most sense for First Mate/Vice Captain, whatever. And that is solely because he is willing to make the harsh decisions. Unfortunately, being First Mate most often means being the one to be the 'bad guy' or the 'disciplinarian' and Zoro's the only one willing to do that of the first 5. I think Sanji and Nami can often SEE the reasons why but they don't have the personality to be that person. And Usopp is great at making hard choices about himself but he's not great at seeing/applying them to OTHERS (which is not a bad thing! He's a very good person with a lot of empathy and so it's hard for him to apply shitty consequences to people outside of himself). Of the Grand Line crew, I'd pick Robin as the next best choice, but Robin, in a weird way, is getting the childhood she never had by being a Straw Hat. Just because she COULD do it doesn't mean she'd want to do it or wouldn't hold off making/saying/doing the hard stuff because of the maturity it would inflict on her when she's clearly enjoying NOT having to be that person. Jinbe hasn't technically been welcomed back yet, but at the moment he's the only other person I see as being as equally up to the job as Zoro (he might even be better because he's not as battle-hungry!). But again, I don't know that Jinbe WANTS that job (note: I don't think Zoro does either but it's a role he falls into on the basis of his own values fairly easily) or if he'd ever take it.
As for Chopper, he's Usopp x ten and his position as doctor also means that it would be against his profession to permit harm of any kind to befall others. Franky is like Sanji or Nami. He can SEE what needs to be done but it's not in his nature to push it. His family functioned basically without him even though he was the leader. He did things for himself and let them do things they wanted but it didn't seem like he was a BOSS in the traditional sense. Brook....is complicated. I think Brook, like Robin, could do the job easily. But he, too, is getting a second shot and being that mature person isn't a role he wants to take. And I sometimes question just how sane Brook actually is...he may not be fully competent to be in that position. Too, seeing as he seemed to be Yorki's right hand man, he may not want the position due to his previous relationships.
Anyway, it's not like the Straw Hats HAVE a First Mate/Vice Captain in actuality anyway. But if you look at who makes the tough choices or guides things in Luffy's absence, it's generally Zoro. So...take that for what it's worth I suppose.
Also...boats aren't a democracy. Just because Luffy knows he NEEDS his nakama for their support and their skills, and because he lets them say all kinds of things and yell at him, ultimately he's the one with the final say. The whole point of Water 7 was Usopp (and everyone else, tbh) coming to the realization that Luffy really IS the captain and he has final say. They don't vote on stuff. Everybody says their piece and then Luffy does what he wants. That's how a captain works. Hell, that's how a boss works. Someone has to have the final say. Look, I think both Luffy and Usopp made bad choices in Water 7. They misunderstood each other and they both let their emotions get the better of them. The only time that had happened with nakama in the past was with Zoro on Whiskey Peak, but Zoro is not Usopp and so he dealt with that without letting HIS emotions get away from him. However, this doesn't mean that Usopp gets to have final say about Merry. He never DID. Luffy did. He's the captain, he gets final call.
And by hiding out post-Enies Lobby, it showed that Usopp still hadn't learned that lesson. It took Zoro's ultimatum (which could have been worded better) but making Usopp see that the ship was not a democracy is what had to happen. It sucked. It sucked a lot. But it was important. Luffy's the CAPTAIN and that has to stand for something. And post-time skip we can see that everyone is much more cognizant and celebratory (while also amusingly resigned!) to this fact. Water 7 had to happen and it was a culmination of building events that led to this and it started all the way back in Syrup Village. To misunderstand this is to misunderstand how One Piece works.
Out of the original 5 Straw Hats, Zoro makes the most sense for First Mate/Vice Captain, whatever. And that is solely because he is willing to make the harsh decisions. Unfortunately, being First Mate most often means being the one to be the 'bad guy' or the 'disciplinarian' and Zoro's the only one willing to do that of the first 5. I think Sanji and Nami can often SEE the reasons why but they don't have the personality to be that person. And Usopp is great at making hard choices about himself but he's not great at seeing/applying them to OTHERS (which is not a bad thing! He's a very good person with a lot of empathy and so it's hard for him to apply shitty consequences to people outside of himself). Of the Grand Line crew, I'd pick Robin as the next best choice, but Robin, in a weird way, is getting the childhood she never had by being a Straw Hat. Just because she COULD do it doesn't mean she'd want to do it or wouldn't hold off making/saying/doing the hard stuff because of the maturity it would inflict on her when she's clearly enjoying NOT having to be that person. Jinbe hasn't technically been welcomed back yet, but at the moment he's the only other person I see as being as equally up to the job as Zoro (he might even be better because he's not as battle-hungry!). But again, I don't know that Jinbe WANTS that job (note: I don't think Zoro does either but it's a role he falls into on the basis of his own values fairly easily) or if he'd ever take it.
As for Chopper, he's Usopp x ten and his position as doctor also means that it would be against his profession to permit harm of any kind to befall others. Franky is like Sanji or Nami. He can SEE what needs to be done but it's not in his nature to push it. His family functioned basically without him even though he was the leader. He did things for himself and let them do things they wanted but it didn't seem like he was a BOSS in the traditional sense. Brook....is complicated. I think Brook, like Robin, could do the job easily. But he, too, is getting a second shot and being that mature person isn't a role he wants to take. And I sometimes question just how sane Brook actually is...he may not be fully competent to be in that position. Too, seeing as he seemed to be Yorki's right hand man, he may not want the position due to his previous relationships.
Anyway, it's not like the Straw Hats HAVE a First Mate/Vice Captain in actuality anyway. But if you look at who makes the tough choices or guides things in Luffy's absence, it's generally Zoro. So...take that for what it's worth I suppose.
Also...boats aren't a democracy. Just because Luffy knows he NEEDS his nakama for their support and their skills, and because he lets them say all kinds of things and yell at him, ultimately he's the one with the final say. The whole point of Water 7 was Usopp (and everyone else, tbh) coming to the realization that Luffy really IS the captain and he has final say. They don't vote on stuff. Everybody says their piece and then Luffy does what he wants. That's how a captain works. Hell, that's how a boss works. Someone has to have the final say. Look, I think both Luffy and Usopp made bad choices in Water 7. They misunderstood each other and they both let their emotions get the better of them. The only time that had happened with nakama in the past was with Zoro on Whiskey Peak, but Zoro is not Usopp and so he dealt with that without letting HIS emotions get away from him. However, this doesn't mean that Usopp gets to have final say about Merry. He never DID. Luffy did. He's the captain, he gets final call.
And by hiding out post-Enies Lobby, it showed that Usopp still hadn't learned that lesson. It took Zoro's ultimatum (which could have been worded better) but making Usopp see that the ship was not a democracy is what had to happen. It sucked. It sucked a lot. But it was important. Luffy's the CAPTAIN and that has to stand for something. And post-time skip we can see that everyone is much more cognizant and celebratory (while also amusingly resigned!) to this fact. Water 7 had to happen and it was a culmination of building events that led to this and it started all the way back in Syrup Village. To misunderstand this is to misunderstand how One Piece works.
