User blog comment:JustSomeDude.../790 & 791 - Break/@comment-21119641-20150628163108/@comment-24.235.56.170-20150630163143

Robin ALWAYS hated Crocodile, and only joined his crew so that her life would be spared. And she carried a vial of water and a dagger with her at all times for the express purpose of murdering Crocodile; I think that counts as wanting to kill him.

I would also argue that Rebecca is the greater parallel to Vivi than Viola is ... but this post is going to be long enough as it is.

In any event, the point that I'm making here is not that anyone is anyone's direct parallel in the arc, but rather that, depending on how vague you go, you can draw a parallel with literally anything. Even if Viola becomes the next Straw Hat, there will be similarities, but they will still be distinct characters.

Here's what I mean by "vague":

Robin and Viola both have DF powers that allow them to see things from a great distance, through walls, or that are otherwise obscured.

Luffy was only able to reach Robin/Viola in time to save her because he got help from someone who was affiliated with the government, who is known to carry one famous sword which is considered to be their signature weapon, whose three syllable name begins with a T,, and who had been previously defeated when they tried to stop the antagonist themselves and only decided to leave it to Luffy when it became clear that they were outclassed. To avoid confusion: Tashigi helped him get to Robin and Trafalgar (a shichibukai) helped him get to Viola. (Notice however, that I did not say that he showed up to interrupt the antagonist as he was about to land the kiiling blow, as that didn't happen in Alabasta, but in both cases, Luffy did show up at the last moment, and he did save her life.)

Both arcs feature only six Straw Hats on the plot's main island, and they get split up when they try to reach the palace for the final fight, each running into fights with major players from the underground organization. Once the minor fights are over, the remaining Straw Hats rally together with some allies to prevent the antagonist's nefarious plot to kill everyone fighting to survive (including citizens AND his own allies), thus giving Luffy a chance to go kick his ass in person.

Both arcs are started as soon as the Straw Hats cross the Red Line, and the plot to take down the tyrant is sparked when someone who appears to be working for them finally reveals that they are a double agent and propose an alliance with the Straw Hats. (Law and Robin were both double agents too guys, not just Viola and Vivi.) As a result, the arcs take place on multiple islands, including a snow island, a jungle island, and the imperiled kingdom. One of the arc's islands looks like a butt, because it's bisected into two equal, semi-circular sections by a river with a significant history.

See how that works? The river on Punk Hazard hasn't been around nearly as long as the one on Alabasta, but since I said "significant history" instead of a long one, the explosion-which-flooded-the-river-with-seawater and the centuries-of-trade-that-allowed-Alabasta-to-flourish are "exactly the same".

In the same way, the circumstances in which Viola helped Sanji- leading to his skirmish with Doflamingo-are not at all similar to the circumstances of Luffy's three rounds with Crocodile, even though he was saved by Robin in the middle. But with the proper wording, I can describe either one with, "she spared a Straw Hat at a crucial moment and then sent him to a fight with the boss, which he lost, but survived due to last second Deus ex Machina".

Even the phrase "underground organization" is carefully chosen to be sufficiently vague. Baroque Works is supposed to be secret and nobody knew that Crocodile was connected to them in any way. Even the top agents didn't know who he was. On the other hand, the Donquixote Pirates live in the palace as the freaking Royal Family; it doesn't get more public than that. But since Doffy runs a secret trade port, he's still technically the leader of a shadowy organization, even if his affiliations with the members of that organization are plain as day to everyone in the world. They're actually polar opposites, and yet with the right wording, they're "exactly the same".

There are definitely parallels between the two arcs. That's how storycraft works. That's how Oda works, because he's a good storyteller. But not everything that's similar is a parallel. And it doesn't mean that plot elements were lifted directly from previous arcs.