 Jinbei is a man of great, unwavering, profound honor. A man who wears his decisions proudly on his chest, much like his trademark tattoo, which he uses to encourage people to subscribe to the Ground Line Review. For regular One Piece content, upload it straight into your YouTube feed. Thanks, Jinbei. Hello and welcome to the Ground Line Review, your source for everything One Piece. And today, it's time to discuss the ongoing injustice being dealt to by far the most forgettable straw hat in the series, Jinbei. Now, to be fair, it's not his fault that many people, including me, often just flat out forget that he is a legitimate crew member. It's not as if he appears in color spreads, movies, or even general group merchandise. And really, from an outsider's perspective, you would never go so far as to associate Jinbei with the straw hats. In fact, with how much distance is kept between he and they, you might even think that he was a series antagonist if you weren't a One Piece fan. And this is something of a shame to say the very least, but quite an intriguing situation to examine narratively, because at this point, he has been put off officially, quote unquote, joining the crew, not just once, but twice now. And yes, I know that he is a crew member, but you all know what I mean. He hasn't joined them. He hasn't fought with them. He hasn't had the crew party thing, et cetera. In any case, I'm not convinced that the situation we found ourselves in was Oda's original intention for the character. And he feels like more of a victim of an organic storytelling process. And I'll explain what I mean by that. But first, I would like to take us all back to a much simpler time, December 2011 to be precise, and a little chapter I liked called 648, primarily because that's the number it was. Cut to the end of said chapter with an incredibly smiley Luffy who asked Jinbei to join the straw hats. And this was a monumentous moment. The first straw hat to join the crew post timeskip and it was a former warlord of the sea and current badass boss whale shark. And yes, just yes, it completes the crew. Now cutting sharply back into modern times, January 2020 at the time of this recording, and this feeling conjured in late 2011 is like fleeting childhood nostalgia. You know that thought of back in the day when everything seemed magical and like it would all work out before you get smacked in the face with the cold, hard reality of life. And yes, this is clear hyperbole, but damn it, I want that whale shark on my crew. The moment he temporarily refused, I was aghast. And then throughout the entirety of punk hazard, dress, Rosa, Anzo, there were times where I couldn't help but think what would have happened if Jinbei had joined right then and there. But at the same time, I did also appreciate that Jinbei was not taking the standard route to becoming a straw hat. This man had responsibilities within the greater world and he had to settle them before packing up and joining the straw hat circus. So come June, 2016 when Jinbei finally reemerged into the story after a four and a half year absence, not counting the cover story or random bounty reaction, I knew that this was the time. Oda had strategically saved Jinbei for some grand purpose to play out on Hawkeek Island, in which he did rather epically sever his ties with Big Bomb and officially accept Luffy's invitation to become a straw hat pirate. Ah, Oda, you've done it again. As much as late 2011 may have been a source of despair for me, this moment has blown my mind and I cannot wait to see Jinbei with the rest of the crew. Oh, but he's not coming with the crew. Ah, hmm. Wait, did Jinbei just officially join the crew only to not really join the crew? Because right now Jinbei is a straw hat in terms of technicality alone, but he still hasn't had his proper induction, shall we say, into the crew and we're now about a year and a half removed from that event and he has not reemerged on what was planned, not yet anyway. Jinbei my man, you are such a tease. And yes, there is obviously going to be a reason why Jinbei needed to not join the straw hats right then and there. I mean, we've heard tell from Oda himself of a change of appearance when he is reintroduced on Wano, but that's a mere aesthetic difference and I don't see Oda putting off Jinbei joining once again just to change his design. No, there's something else at play here, whether it's Jinbei emerging heroically to lead the straw hat grand fleet or landing on Wano as part of the remnants of the white beard pirates or any of the other things we know that at least one of needs to happen in order for the Allied forces to have any chance whatsoever. But at this point, you do really need to stop and think, was this Oda's original intention or has Jinbei become a bit of a victim of circumstance? Because I really don't see Oda sitting down in 2011 and planning out Jinbei's decade long character arc to finally become a straw hat. It feels more like Oda has had a vague plan to have Jinbei join maybe only to be foiled by a better idea each time it got to the point where he actually could. As for what that better idea is in the slightest case, although we can only wait and see, but it's certainly not unheard of for Oda to make very last minute decisions in regards to One Piece. In fact, this story is a lot less planned than most people think because that's just how good Oda is at seamlessly putting it all together. But still, I can't help but feel like Jinbei has gotten a bit of a raw deal in One Piece, at least compared to the rest of the straw hats, Vivi and Kiryu included. And it's a bit rough because Jinbei doesn't appear in any color spreads or much official merchandise in the role that he technically inhabits. In fact, I only very recently saw some official artwork with him in it but it was part of a music video that heavily featured One Piece. And yeah, it was really nice to see. He definitely belongs in this group. It's just that the actual series, as of yet, refuses to make that happen. And you know, at this point with all this talk about One Piece ending in five years, which you know, take that with a massive, massive grain of salt, never trust any words from anyone involved with One Piece in regards to time. But if you were to take it as a vague guide, we are really running out of time for Jinbei to actually, you know, be part of the crew. I mean, let's suppose that he joins during the Wano arc, gets involved in the big battle, whatever that's cool. But after that, Jinbei probably has only about one big arc and maybe a bridging arc or two to actually be a member of the crew before the series comes to an end if you were to go with that five year timeline. So it's a very 11th hour joining and he may not have that time to develop a rapport with everyone else, especially since our current nine members have been together in the eyes of the readers and watchers for well over a decade now. In fact, Brooke joined first thing in 2008. So it's been 12 years since the last draw hat was properly recruited into the mix, which is kind of insane to think about because before that point, the longest gap between straw hats was Robert and Frankie, which was about five years. So I do worry about Jinbei hopping on board at the last second. You know, it's like he appears on Wano, they do that arc, they do the party. And the next thing we know, we have the crew arrive at Laugh Tale. Luffy is pirate king and one piece becomes but a beautiful memory for all of us. He just, yeah, he doesn't have a lot of time. But that of course brings into question, what if Oda has changed his mind about Jinbei? Or what if Oda never really intended for everyone's whale shark to join the crew? And all of this is a red herring for an eventual twist like a Jinbei death to hit us right in the feels. It would be the first official straw hat death, not counting Brooke, I guess technically. And it would be quite shocking, but also kind of appropriate because taking on an emperor of the sea or two surely needs to come with some sort of consequence. And some of this sort does come from his mysterious fate on Hawkeye Island because we know the big mom came out of that situation in pretty fine condition. But as for Jinbei, the sun pirates and the German, well, I highly doubt they're in an equally as good spot. Which means that Jinbei himself may have finally been forced to take on big mom's roulette wheel, which can claim any number of body parts or more commonly, years of life. Now, if Jinbei was captured by big mom, I think it's a certainty that he was subject to this. Meaning that when he returns, it could be without an arm or a leg, or it could be that he's aged a hundred years and I don't exactly know how long fishmen live for. But if he didn't die on the spot, then it would certainly make him an incredibly old fish man by the time of his reappearance, which may put him in a narrative position where he sees fit to use the final burst of his life to assist Luffy Onwano and then pass away tragically. And maybe that act would have something to do with his role as helmsman of the crew, giving us a taste of how invincible Jinbei claimed the thousandth sunny would be on whole cake island, but claim his life in the process. And look, if this was any other straw hat, then I would dismiss this idea entirely. And before anyone in the comments tries to tell me that Oda has already stated that a straw hat will die by the end of one piece, this is one of the biggest and possibly most ridiculous internet myths regarding one piece that has ever been perpetrated. Some people will try to claim that Oda said this in an interview in pretty much every year that goes by, but nobody is ever able to provide a source. So please do not believe a single person who says anything along these lines. With that said, if a straw hat had to die before the completion of one piece, I feel like it would have to be Jinbei. If we aren't including Vivi that is, and you know, maybe we should, because Oda did release a legitimate statement to jumpfester 2020, claiming that Vivi and Kokansabo were in a bit of trouble. But that thought aside, Jinbei is still the natural choice. This man has lived through it all and his honor is so devout that I have no doubt he would give his life in a heartbeat if the occasion called for it. But most importantly, if Oda was setting him up to die, then it would make sense to not showcase him as part of the main crew to this point. Because the problem with being associated as a straw hat is that those characters do acquire a degree of plot armor. I mean, I hate that term, but it is true. I never fear for the lives of any of the straw hats because they have their dreams to accomplish and we have not come this far with them to see them fail because one piece just isn't that kind of series. However, Jinbei falls into a more unique category in regards to this. He may not necessarily have a dream per se, but he does have the inherited will of both Fisher Tiger and Otahime. The will and desire to see fishermen and humans living peacefully together. And that is the sort of thing that I can see him passing on to another character like Luffy to carry out, which may even make a lot of poetic sense because the Luffy-Shira-Hoshi combination does seem to be very much a mirror of Joy Boy and the former mermaid princess who was Poseidon. So yeah, look, I don't know guys. We've been waiting for this whale shark to join the fun for an awfully long time now, almost a decade, and for one reason or another, he just hasn't. So it does force us to question exactly why that is and what he can contribute so late in the game of One Piece. Regardless, Jinbei will continue to be one of the characters in the series who intrigues me the most and I eagerly await his continuation to the story, whatever path it holds. But that pretty much does it for this discussion on Jinbei's short end of the stick in One Piece. If you enjoyed this video and the content this channel produced in general, then please do consider donating to the Grand Line Review Patreon because the support of all of your amazing people is what continues to make this channel possible. And if you'd like to see more videos like this but applied to other anime manga series, then please do feel free to check out my second channel New World Review for all of your wider needs. And if you'd like to join the fun at any time, then please do head over to my Discord server where a wide array of shenanigans takes place on a daily basis. And finally, please do comment with your thoughts on Jinbei's future. This has been the Grand Line Review and I'll see you next time. Do you think they hinted at the fact that Zoro had to conquer his haki when he scarred off the fat man? All right, so in case anyone isn't aware, this is referring to an anime-only scene where Zoro, seemingly through sheer will alone, sent a jolt of terror in the general direction of Urashima, the other pink-haired sumo. So I definitely wouldn't read too much into it, especially because the Wano era of anime has really taken some grand artistic license with how they portray certain abilities, especially those that weren't in the manga like this interaction between Zoro and Urashima. With that said, I do think it would make a lot of sense for Zoro in general to have conqueror's haki. I mean, he wants to be the world's greatest swordsman, so he does have that desire for the top that all natural conqueror's haki wielders possess. Plus it would further allow him to mirror Ray Lee, the first maid of Roger, who also has conqueror's haki, so why not? The big question would probably be whether or not Mihoch has it. If Mihoch has conqueror's haki, then I would say that Zoro almost certainly needs it to eventually achieve his dream.