Recruitment Drive

The Straw Hats rescued their Robin and escaped the Buster Call. Meaning the Marines only succeeded in leveling their own government's judicial island. If only the evil in our world was so stupid. But the Merry Go has sailed its last, which leaves the pirates stuck on Water Seven. They're all pretty broken up about it.

I said, they're all pretty broken up about it.

That's better. One Piece, volume 45 is a bridging volume Oda uses to offer some measure of closure between certain characters, while also introducing new things that will eventually blow up into big deals. So on the one hand, we have the famed "Hero of the Marines", Vice-Admiral Garp, showing up by barging through a wall (because it's more dramatic), yelling at Luffy for not becoming a Marine. Which is when it's also revealed that, in addition to a Marine grandpa, Luffy's father is the leader of the Revolutionary Army, and considered the most wanted criminal in the world.

While this could give Luffy another title to aspire to - no one but Pirate King should be Most Wanted! -Monkey D. Dragon is clearly not the smartest man in the world if he left his son in the care of Garp, who in turn, foisted Luffy off on a bunch of bandits. I mean, Dragon was raised by Garp, he knew how shit a parent the guy was and still handed Luffy over. I get the impression Oda doesn't think much of blood relatives as family. All the people who are actually related in this series treat each other horribly. It's the weirdos you meet along the way and choose to run around with that are cool. See also: Sanji's father and siblings, Usopp's deadbeat dad, Franky's parents who just abandoned him, Robin's mom, etc.

Robin also gets covertly approached by Admiral Aokiji, mostly to confirm he did the right thing not murdering an 8-year-old girl 20 years ago. If he really wanted to do the right thing, he could gargle with concentrated sulfuric acid. Instead, he'll eventually lose a battle to become Fleet Admiral, leave the service, and throw in with an asshole of a pirate.

One of those things that will blow up much bigger later, the guy who inspired Luffy to become a pirate, Red-Haired Shanks, pays a visit to Whitebeard, proclaimed the Strongest Man in the World, and the captain of Luffy's brother, Ace. Shanks wants Whitebeard to keep Ace from chasing after a member of Whitebeard's crew that killed a crewmate. Considering Ace was hunting the guy when he met Luffy in Alabasta over 25 volumes ago, Shanks' concern is a bit belated. Especially since, at the close of this volume, Ace finally catches up to his target, Blackbeard. that fight isn't until next volume, and will result in a huge war.

The whole conversation also serves to highlight a different side of Shanks. We mostly saw him as this cheerful guy who teases Luffy as a little kid about drinking juice, but is kind enough to lose his arm to keep said kid from being eaten by a sea beast. Although I think there's been some recent revelation that the loss of the arm wasn't entirely as it seems. Here, we see Shanks the badass. So powerful that Whitebeard's weaker crew members pass out in his presence, the start of the whole "King's Haki" thing that has steadily mutated into "Supreme King's Haki," and Supreme's King's Saiyan God Haki with a Cherry on Top."

However, the two matters of most immediate import involve Franky and Usopp. Franky reveals what he used the money his crew stole from Usopp to buy, and that he intends to use it to pursue his dream of building a great ship that can circle the globe. If he's got a dream, then Luffy's got to have him on his crew. A difficult task when dealing with someone as stubborn and impossible to shame as Franky.

(Not even the chance for another Florida Man joke will get me to post a panel of Franky running around with his bare ass exposed.)

As for Usopp, though he fought alongside them at Ennies Lobby, he's still not back on the crew. It's unclear if he'll rejoin them or not, or if he'll be accepted if he tries. Usopp is, like many of us after an ugly fight with friends, trying to come up with ways to just slide back in like nothing happened, avoiding a tough conversation about who may have said what, or who challenged whom to a fight for their ship. Which leads to a tense moment as most of the crew seem eager to play along, and Zoro's not having it. He makes his own ultimatum: If Usopp doesn't apologize first thing, he can't come back. Or else Zoro will leave, because he won't follow a Captain that would allow himself, and by extension, the crew, to be disrespected like that.

I've seen some arguments about how, well, Zoro didn't make Robin, who also left, apologize. Ditto for Franky, who attacked Luffy, stole their gold, and had his crew beat up Usopp (twice.) But Robin never officially left, so much as just took off. She didn't attack Luffy (though she did attack Usopp when he tried rescuing her on the train, rough week for the Sniper King), or defy an order. If she didn't specifically apologize, crying out she wants to live and for them to please take her with them is a pretty clear acknowledgement she was wrong.

(There's also a bit in volume 44, after she gets Luffy to safety aboard the Merry, where she covers Luffy's mouth rather than let him thank her. Which seems like a clear sign Robin didn't want thanks for helping her captain, who declared war on the World Government for her.)

As for Franky, he wasn't on the crew when he did that shit. Doesn't mean there shouldn't be some hard feelings (particularly from Usopp), but that's a different situation. And when Franky says he'll be their shipwright, he tacitly acknowledging Luffy's captain. Franky's joining a crew, so he's got to recognize who's the boss. Plus, he built his dream ship and then entrusted it to Luffy, despite the fact he saw what happened to Luffy's last ship. Putting your dream ship in the hands of someone you know is a reckless idiot is a definitely a sign of something. Respect, or maybe just poor judgment.