Jinbe’s Role in the Straw Hat Crew

Jinbe’s role is to keep the Thousand Sunny and whoever is on it safe while everyone who has fights does those fights.

I see a lot of people complaining that Jimbe wouldn’t be a good Strawhat because he’ll upset the Luffy > Zoro >= Sanji dynamic.

They also seem to like complaining that he doesn’t fit in because he’s an old guy and will ruin the sense of adventure.

Which he could, but I don’t think he’ll be used that way. Seems pretty clear that one of the Strawhats’ biggest weaknesses as a crew is that their ship is always in danger while they’re out exploring. We’ve seen it time and time again, in Skypea, Water 7 / Enies Lobby, in Thriller Bark with everyone getting captured, Sabaody with Kuma, in Fishman Island with the whole hostage situation and the royal guard, in Dressrosa and them literally having to split up never to meet again for like 300 chapters, the ship and the people on it are always in danger and that’s always a plot point.

That’s where Jinbe comes in.

He’s seen a ton already and doesn’t strike me as particularly adventurous. But he’s reliable and strong enough to fight a mid-high New World level threat. At the very least enough so that Chopper, Nami, Robin, Franky, Usopp, whoever doesn’t actively have a fight this arc, to escape. Plus he’s a helmsman, so he can literally keep the ship itself safe. Combine that with him being a fishman who’s basically a waterbender, it’ll be hard for anyone to harm the ship while he’s there. So while everyone who’s going to play a role is off doing their things, Jinbe can play base defense.

He might throw off the balance at first, but he won’t be having the huge struggling, Haki developing, power increasing fights that everyone else does, and eventually the monster trio will outscale him.

What do you think?

*Theory by LilDodecee