What is a Nakama?
Here is a little summary of what you can find on the One Piece wiki concerning the word "Nakama":
"Nakama" is a common Japanese word, loosely defined as "people who are close to each others and who do something together". In One Piece it is often used to denote a crewmate or an ally.
Into the scope of the storytelling in One Piece, the usage corresponds to the definition in the Iwanami Japanese Language Dictionary: "People with united hearth, who do something together, and who have maintained this relationship for a relatively long time."..
Sometimes, the relationship is not so much positive. For example, captain Kuro is known to kill his own "Nakama".
But if we take the story through the scope of the strawhat crew, this words gets a lot more meanings: Luffy makes a distinction between his friends, and his Nakama. In the strawhats, a Nakama is something as important as family, They share unbreakable bonds and are forever part of the crew.
But that said, a Nakama is not necessarily a crewmate. The obvious example is Vivi who stayed back at Alabasta but is still considered a Nakama by the strawhats.
For practical purpose, I will use the word Nakama as a crewmate. In other words, as someone who act has an active part on the Sunny.
Is the crew complete?
In One Piece, each strawhats are numbered from 1 to probably 10. We can see that in the title of a few chapters, starting from chapter 6 until chapter 489:
- Zoro: 一人目"/ Hitori Me / The first - Chap 6
- Nami: 二人目 / Futari-Me / The Second - Chap 94
- Usopp: ３人目と７人目 / Sanninme to Nananinme / The third and the seventh - Chap 439 - Sanji: 4人目 / Yo-ni Me / The fourth - Chap 68
- Chopper: ? - Robin: ?
- Franky: ３人目と７人目 / Sanninme to Nananinme / The third and the seventh - Chap 439 - Brook: ８人目 / Hachininme / The Eighth - Chap 489
- Jinbe: ?
This implies that Oda is starting the "Nakama count" at Zoro not Luffy.
Now in One Piece chapter 1, Luffy says this:
Until recently, the doubt was permitted. Did Luffy was including himself? Or not? Then, the One Piece magazine n°10 revealed that Luffy was in fact, NOT including himself.
Because of those informations, we know that the crew is most likely not complete yet, so we can assume there is place for at least one more member, one more "nakama".
Now the question is... who?
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