User blog comment:Fintin/Sabo?/@comment-1736597-20101018220621/@comment-423448-20101019000036

not necessarily. just about every Straw Hat member has lost someone close to them who helped shaped them to be who they are. the loss of both Sabo (i'm not counting him out as dead just yet; but as far as Luffy knows he is), and Ace made Luffy realize he still wasn't yet strong enough but rather than stay depressed about them, their deaths spurred him on to get even stronger. don't assume someone needs to be alive to have an impact on the story