User blog comment:AYET/Strawhat Pirates Armada/@comment-5640399-20130506114850

You haven't really given a reason why you think a large crew would "weigh down" the Strawhats. I agree that it would be difficult for them to claim territory and protect it if they are always off adventuring, but surely that's the point of creating an armada, so that Luffy & co. don't have to be bothered with that sort of thing. Also, Luffy has already expressed an interest in claiming territories, he wants to take Fishman Island from Big Mom and I can see him starting to treat claiming territories the same way he treats gathering nakama, i.e. "I want you, you're comin' with, who says you get a say?" Luffy doesn't want freedom to just go wherever he wants on a whim, in fact, Luffy really doesn't even want to know where he's going (beyond eventually reaching Raftel, I suppose), what Luffy wants in his own words is to be "the person with the most freedom in the world." Luffy wants to be able to DO anything he wants, he wants to just take what he wants from the world and never give it back, and Luffy doesn't want money or even fame (beyond a big bounty, i suppose) what he wants is nakama... and food. Both of which he can get from claiming territory.

Next, I think it's too early to even guess at what drives Shanks, Kaido and Big Mom, and, also, Luffy plans to kick all four of the Yonko's asses, and according to Law that'll take some serious manpower and planning.

I'll admit though, I'm an advocate for the Strawhat Armada idea, so I'm definately biased in this.