User blog comment:Samium/Nico Robin, human in a world of characters (Essay)/@comment-116.48.235.104-20170228120129

I think you did raise some valid points, that the "friendship" between Robin and Luffy seems to be odd, and her joining the crew not very convincing. But intelligence or wisdom is not the only determinant in whether you befriend with someone or not. Understanding what other feels or needs require not intelligence, but compassion. I do agree that Luffy is at times stupid, naive and childish, but does Robin really only need someone who can talk with her intellectually and understand where she came from?

I don't think so.

With her twenty years of constant escaping, Robin had met enough of those mature, sophisticated, rational and intelligent people. And what did she get in return? just continual betrayal and being used for others benefits. What she really need was not a person who could understand her well, but a person who would dare to go against the whole world for her, in your own words, a knight in shiny armour. Franky might understand her intellectually, but was he willing to risk his own life for her? I doubt that. Luffy may not be smart enough to fully comprehend her situation, but even an idiot would have no problem grasping the severe danger she was facing, that there was the entire world going against her. And yet he chose to fight for her. And that is what made the difference. Over the years there were dozens of smart guys who were smart enough to use her whenever possible and dumped her right away in front of crisis but none of them willing to risk their lives for her. Even when Robyn submissively surrendered to her fate of doom, deep down inside her there was always an eight-year-old girl shouting in anger and sadness, " I want my life back! I want my mother back! I want to live a normal life! I want my childhood!" What Luffy did was in fact, telling Robin that, "Oh yeah, they are strong and powerful shit, but who cares! Let's rebels against them!" Instead of her being alone against the corrupted powerful world, now she had a whole team of companions with her, willing to die for and with her. And that really made the difference.

I agree that Robin is the most human character in the whole crew, but I don't think Oda mistreated her. She did not need to be in the spotlight. No, thanks. She had been in it for more than twenty years. She just needs her childhood, the one that she was deprived of even since she was the little girl in her homeland. The bold, happy, little girl that enjoys the dumb acts of her naive, simple friends and the bizarre adventure games that they are playing. When the straw hat crews speak and act like dumb ass aboard the ship, what Robin does was sit and watch smiling, not saying much. The happy elder sister indulging the mischiefs of her young and foolish siblings. And trust me, she enjoys every single moment of it.

Every single journey will eventually come to an end. I don't know where Robin will go at the end of her adventure. Very probably she would engage in some serious matters like joining the revolutionary army. But before that, why don't we just let her sit back and enjoy the happy childhood that she deserved long ago?