The fans who have jumped onto Twitter to gloat about neither Yamato nor Carrot joined have been-I have tangentially, and yet, not surprisingly noticed-overwhelmingly male. The Straw Hats apparently just sailed away. (My ideal situation? Have ’em both join and double the Straw Hats’ non-cis-male membership! Screw the fact that Luffy said he wanted ten crew members the second he left his hometown!) But Carrot didn’t join, either. I noticed the Yamato and Carrot fandoms sparring a bit on Twitter last week and got concerned. It would be one thing if Yamato didn’t join if Carrot-the other viable candidate and another popular character-had become the tenth Straw Hat instead. In short, I and my fellow Anime Expo Yamatos, and many other fans, were really, really excited for Yamato to join the Straw Hats. This popularity only grew once the character was introduced in the anime later that year. Even before Yamato debuted in the anime, they ranked within the top 15 characters in a 2021 global popularity poll-ahead of literally a thousand characters fans have known for much longer throughout One Piece’s 25-year history. Yamato grew very quickly into an incredibly popular character. YouTuber RogersBase uses the world “fake out” in his chapter recap video, which pretty clearly sums up how fans are feeling. I am so excited for #OnePiece1058 next week though: We're FINALLY moving on! /BScURxDLYx- RogersBase Pokémon Worlds August 21, 2022 couldn't have done a better job with the thumbnail art for this one. There's no getting around it, I took a big L this chapter, LOLOL. The reason? All that foreshadowing, all those deep connections to other characters, was dropped.

It was the first time I had seen this much of the One Piece fanbase genuinely upset with mangaka Eiichiro Oda, which is weird, because One Piece fans are typically very supportive of Oda. But then, upon the release of chapter 1057, anger and devastation seeped into my Twitter feed. Multiple outlets claimed Yamato to be the “New Straw Hat” weeks ago. Judging by headlines alone, in the last few weeks, Yamato’s future with the Straw Hats seemed to be even more on lock. The (at least) one hundred One Piece fans amassed for the cosplay meetup were so certain of this that the Yamatos coyly stood in the back of the “all Straw Hats” picture, only the horns peeking out-as if foreshadowing the nakama to come.

Even as someone just caught up on the anime ( I’m working on the manga), Yamato’s path seemed clear: with the Ace connection on lock, Yamato would follow in the footsteps of their role model, Kouzuki Oden, and join the crew of the future King of the Pirates as they find the One Piece in the series’ final saga. The One Piece cosplay meetup at Anime Expo 2022 was a joyful, giddy occasion, especially for me and the handful of others dressed up as Yamato, Kaido’s (transgender!?) son and Luffy’s ally during the Onigashima Raid.

SPOILERS AHEAD for the One Piece manga! However, know that I’m only caught up on the anime, so I’ll be phrasing this in the vaguest of terms, without other spoilers for the end of the Wano arc.

Yamato one piece