Alright, time to get out my copium take
We know a couple things about the islands that are upcoming. There’s only 4 notable islands left on the Grand line. Sphinx, Elbaf, Hachinosu, and Lodestar. It appears the Straw Hats are heading horizontally to the island Sphinx, with Kid and Law respectively going to Elbaf and Hachinosu. The major thing of note is that all of these are relatively close to Wano, with the last island Lodestar coming up as well. Here’s the thing, we know we need to go back to Wano and open the borders one day, that’s sorta been setup, so I’m wondering if Oda’s waiting till then to have Yamato sail with Luffy. Or it’s possible that Yamato will join earlier since the Straw Hats next island is not too far from Wano and she could realistically catch up one day down the line. Here’s the thing, we know the One Piece is not on Lodestar and it’s possible that we’re gonna have to double back on our journey and visit some previous islands along the way, so we could revisit Wano later at some point and Yamato could join then. Oda waited 300 chapters to have Jinbei join, so it’s not necessarily uncommon for Oda to just make us wait a long while for Yamato to join, but I admit this isn’t exactly solid.
We’re in the Final Saga right now, and even if Oda wanted Yamato to join, it would very likely only be at the tail end of the adventure at this point, which is a bit sad. This does mean us Yamato fans are in the mud a bit, but at the very least, our hopes are not completely crushed. I expect the next cover story to be one that covers Yamato’s adventures in Wano, and it may just possibly lead to her finishing up what she wanted to do in Wano and then choosing to join the Straw Hats, I really don’t know.
Before this chapter, I was fairly confident she would join, but at this point, I’m not too sure anymore. At the very least, Yamato has expressed she still desires to go out to sea one day and Luffy said definitively that the second she wants to, he’ll come and get her. So that has me hopeful at least. We know that Luffy still needs one more crew member in order to match Blackbeard and his 10 Commanders, and I still think Yamato is the #1 candidate for that at this time.
Overall this is not a huge L for Yamato fans, but it is quite a set back, at this point we have to say goodbye to Yamato and hope that maybe one day we will have her sailing aboard the Sunny with the Straw Hats
Copium over
