User blog:Lasaro Ginjou/The 13 Members of the Strawhat Crew

Hello fellow fans of One Piece.

Many of us have speculated time and time again through the years about the next member of the Strawhats and the total number of members by the end of the series. There is even a lot of theories floating around some with circumstantial evidence and some with root in actual GOda-made material.

I came across  this page  that lists four theories that support the idea of 13 total members. Intriguing with some amazing points. The most intriguing one is the Zodiac Theory which gave me a different idea but we will get there.

First a summary of the other theories.

1st The 4 members per sea
The first theory listed is based on circumstantial evidence from the story so far. It supports that there will be 4 people joining Luffy from each sea. 4 from East Blue, 4 from Grand Line and 4 from new world. It is very intriguing because of the similarities in the stories from the first two seas.


 * The first of each 4 is a chained devil/monster/beast. Zoro (imprisoned), Chopper (kureha's sled) and Jinbe (impel down)
 * The capable female with a female family loss. Nami & Robin lost their parent and lived as criminals on a crew that Luffy defeated. (I guess that matches Yamato)

This is a bit grey area:


 * The craftsman. Usopp and Franky. The theory suggests Bellamy being the 3rd but I can't see that happening. He is already in the Grand Fleet. Interesting none the less.
 * The gentleman. Sanji and Brook from the first two seas. The names popping up in this theory are Kin'emon and Momonosuke as the main ones and Yamato through her affection for Oden. Two for Yamato. It is hard to see Momonosuke joining as he has to inherit his father's legacy and lead Wano. I see him more like another Vivi. Kin'emon is a possibility but I see him staying to support Momo.

2nd The Alphabet
Basically the theory says that the name of each strawhat corresponds to 2 letters of the alphabet and 3 members are missing. I am not a big fun of this one but follow the link at the top if you want to see more.

GOda-made sources
Here are some bigger evidence to support the theories of the 13 total members. I will go about them in different order as the fourth one simply supports the idea of the total number of members and gives no hints on who they may be.

4th The 13 cats
The cover page of chapter 861 depicts Nnekomamushi surrounded by 13 cats some with characteristics of the Strawhats. This led to the theory that nekomamushi embody's Thousand Sunny and the 13 cats are the total number of strawhat members by the end of the series.

3rd The Zodiac
Now this is the big one for me. In chapter 651 Oda shows the strawhats with some animals that have stolen some of their stuff or simply copy them in some manner. The animals shown, oddly enough, seem to reflect the Chinese zodiac. It is important to specify that the cat that is depicted and has ties to the mythology of the zodiac but is not part of the 12 signs, is counted as the 13th sign. Also, my source of this list comes from the page dedicated to the theory and not from the general list of theories above.

There are some inconcistences and some stuff seem forced but the list goes like this:


 * 1. Luffy = monkey
 * 2. Zoro = tiger
 * 3. Nami = cat (as stated above the cat is treated as the 13th sign)
 * 4. Usopp = the theory treats chameleon as the snake sign as they are both reptiles
 * 5. Sanji = goat
 * 6. Chopper = looks like a tanuki but the theory associates it with the rat sign due to its size and the fact that it finishes first. Just like in the mythology of the zodiacs where the rat finished 1st after tricking the cat who finished last and was left out of the 12 signs.
 * 7. Robin = falcon but the theory associates it with the rooster sign as they are both birds
 * 8. Franky = rhino which the theory associates with the bull sign.
 * 9. Brook = giraffe which the theory associates with the horse sign.
 * 10. Jinbe = boar, The cover was made before Jinbe officially joined so he is not depicted.

Now we are only left with rabbit, dragon and dog. Here is where it gets interesting. Coincidentally, 2 of the signs that are left perfectly much 2 fan favourites and mine as well:


 * 11. Carrot = rabbit
 * 12. Yamato = dog (due to the devil fruit).

This is where I come in. The theory teases in the beginning about the 13th being Momo that fits the dragon sign. This theorist also believes that Momo will lead Wano so he quickly shut that possibility down. So the theory suggests Vivi to be the 13th with her Celestial Dragon lineage tying her to the dragon sign. But I disagree. Yes it is smart to associate her with the dragon but there are some flaws in my opinion.


 * 1st: although not a direct member of the crew, technically Vivi is a nakama of the strawhats already.
 * 2nd: she would not leave her kingdom behind. She could however lead her kingdom to the last war on Luffy's side. So she is more of a member of the Grand Fleet.
 * 3rd: all direct members of the crew should be able to hold their own against great foes which I don't think Vivi is capable of. Mainly because of her lack of time to train due to her royal duties.

So, who do I think the 13th will be? Assuming it is a character we have met already, I believe that a big candidate is.....

1st is strength
She is strong as one of the 12 Supernova and even capable of living in the New world on her own and snicking even into the Mary Geoise. She was even confident about facing Blackbeard on her own. She escaped the World Government TWICE again seemingly on her own.

2nd is speculation
You see, we know nothing about her. Only thing we know is that she knows a lot and the World Government is worried/alarmed/terrified even about her existence. We saw that when Akainu said that his blood went cold when he heard she escaped the World Government the first time. Then she replied that she will never forgive them. Then she escaped again. Hehe.. serves them right!!!!

Why was she captive? what does she know? what did they do to her? What if she is also related to the Celestial Dragons? If that is the case, what she knows could jeopardise their operations? And her grudge against them makes her a big threat.

Well this is simply a theory. We might not even have met the 13th yet. Could be in Elbaf.

What does everyone think? Thanks for reading and looking forward to reading your thoughts on these theories.