User blog comment:Yesxirb22/What do you think of Carrot's role will be?/@comment-25400375-20171005130333/@comment-24850639-20171005153212

It's more about their past being traumatic, than it is "dark and troubled". The Straw Hats have all suffered some kind of deep personal loss, or someone lost something on their behalf (Zeff's leg and starving himself for Sanji's sake). Carrot lost Pedro, who essentially played a big brother role to her. He gave her shit sometimes, but he was always looking out for her and she knows he cared for her. His final words to her was making sure that she understood just how important it was that the Straw Hats are able to push forward through their journey, and how important the Straw Hats are to the destiny of the Mink and Kozuki tribes. She has to honor that in his name, and we already knew that she had a deep thirst for adventure.