#Jinbei's fate was already sealed the moment Luffy popped the question

[beif0ngs]

someone, who requested to not be named, asked me to try to convince them in a post as to why Jinbei should join the Straw Hat crew. first, i’d like to start off by saying that i, personally, have been rooting for Jinbei to join the Straw Hats ever since Luffy popped the question back on Fishman Island. and there was no doubt in my mind that Jinbei would eventually be a part of the Straw Hat crew, and it really only became a matter of when will he join since then. 

so... to those who oppose to or express their dislike of Jinbei as the next Straw Hat member for reasons such as, “he’s not ‘straw hat material’!!” or “he’s too serious to be a Straw Hat...” or “Character A, B, or C should join the Straw Hats instead of Jinbei!!” blah blah blah... and to that, my initial reaction is:

but on a more serious note, when some of you say Jinbei’s not ‘straw hat material’, what exactly do you mean by ‘straw hat material’?? last i checked, there was never a specific set of qualities a character had to have in order for them to become a Straw Hat member. literally, and i mean LITERALLY, the only thing that made one a Straw Hat is based on whether Luffy had invited you to join his crew or not (with Robin being a special case, but that’s not the point here). everyone in the crew has very distinct personalities, so i don’t get this whole ‘straw hat material’ reasoning. 

and let me just break this down for those who come up with the reason of not wanting Jinbei to join because he’s “too serious” to be a member of the Straw Hats. so, we were first officially introduced to Jinbei’s character back in Impel Down, and learned that he was imprisoned because he was opposed to the impending war between the Marines and the Whitebeard Pirates. being surrounded in such a grim situation, where you’re trying to prevent a whole damn war from happening, there was no time for Jinbei to even be fooling around. then next, the story delved more deeply into his character during the Fishman Island arc. however, this time he’s found in a sort of similar situation where he’s trying to prevent history from repeating itself. so yes, to some, he may have come across as being a rather serious character up to this point. but if you think about it, there haven’t really been many instances where Jinbei could let loose and show other less serious sides of himself, but that doesn’t mean that his seriousness is all there is to him. in fact, Jinbei has shown that he can be kind of a dork at times too, and his devil-may-care attitude. (***SPOILER ALERT!!!*** for those who haven’t read the manga) we hear from Aladdin that Jinbei has been talking incessantly about Luffy for over the past 2 years since the timeskip, to which Jinbei actually BLUSHED when he realizes he’s been talking about Luffy that often (reminds me of two certain older brothers of Luffy who can’t stop talking about their lil bro either...). and Jinbei also literally laughed in the face of danger while blatantly telling Nami that he’s rebelling against Big Mom. it’s been mentioned time and time again throughout the current arc that no one who ever walked away from Big Mom’s crew has ever lived to tell the tale, and yet here Jinbei is, LAUGHING as he outright declares he’s rebelling against Big Mom. (***END SPOILERS***) so yeah, Jinbei has often showed his serious side when it’s time to be serious, but that’s definitely not all there is to him. and frankly speaking, i think when it comes down to it, if there has to be one absolute requirement to become a Straw Hat, it should be based on whether one is an inherently good person or not; it should go without saying that Jinbei is probably one of the most selfless characters in One Piece.

oh, and let’s not forget how many times Jinbei has saved Luffy’s life too. not once, when he tried to protect an already unconscious Luffy, who just lost Ace, from a direct attack by Akainu... not twice, when he stayed by Luffy’s side during his lowest point and reminded Luffy that he still had reason to live despite just losing Ace in the war... not thrice, when he donated his blood to Luffy, who at the time desperately needed a blood transfusion after losing a large amount of blood back on Fishman Island... and (*SPOILER ALERT*) last but not least, when he saved Luffy from ripping his arms off in a desperate attempt to get out of Mont D’or’s book... (*END SPOILERS*) all in all, Jinbei has saved Luffy 4 times in total... has anyone else saved Luffy from the brink of death more than 4 times, HMMM??? yeah, i didn’t think so.

if you ask me, i honestly think Jinbei is MORE than qualified to be a Straw Hat... like can you just imagine, despite being such a small crew, how much their strength as a whole would multiply with an ex-shichibukai joining them??? what’s more, he can call upon whale sharks too. that’ll surely come in handy with 4 DF users on board, though i’m sure Jinbei is more than capable of easily saving all of them if they were to ever be thrown overboard. and with Jinbei joining, he’ll take over Brook and become the tallest among the crew! Brook will finally have someone to literally look up to. it’ll also be very interesting to see someone like Jinbei being part of the Straw Hat shenanigans!! but most importantly... LARGE FISH UNCLE GIVING HIS TINY (by comparison) CREW MEMBERS A RIDE ON HIS BACK/SHOULDERS!!! 

#JINBEI FOR NAKAMA 2K17!!!!!