By Rei Penber
Yamato finally joined the Straw Hats following the defeat of Kaido. How does the crew's latest addition change their power dynamic?
One Piece's Wano Country arc is extremely close to its end and as with each arc, fans are wondering whether a potential ally from the arc is going to join the crew. With Wano being the biggest arc in the story yet, both in terms of length and consequences, it is no surprise that it had quite an incredible number of compelling characters in it who would make excellent crewmates. The Knight of the Sea, Jinbe ended up joining the crew officially during the beginning of Act 3 of this arc. The likes of Momonosuke and Kin'emon, who have already sailed quite a lot with the crew, would be a few of the characters who, as some fans would argue, have what it takes to be a Straw Hat.
However, there is one character in particular that Oda has repeatedly mentioned could join the Straw Hat Pirates – Yamato. Introduced in Act 3 of One Piece's Wano arc, Yamato is Kaido's son who allied with Luffy and the alliance in an attempt to take the Yonko down. In the recent chapter, he exclaimed that he'll now sail with the crew. While having Yamato onboard would be incredible for the fans, the question about how he would affect the crew's power dynamic remains.
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Yamato's Level Of Strength
When it comes to strength, Yamato is easily one of the very strongest characters seen in the Wano Country arc. Introduced as Kaido's son, it's no surprise to know that Yamato was blessed with immense talent and a high ceiling as a fighter. At the tender age of 8, he awakened Conqueror's Haki and knocked out many members of the Beasts Pirates, showing that he indeed had the disposition of a King. Interestingly, his sour relationship with his father only led to him getting stronger. Yamato was and still is, incredibly invested in Kozuki Oden and held a grudge against his father. Attempting to fight him on several occasions, he was defeated every single time, however, each encounter made him much stronger, slowly building up his strength. At one point, Yamato proceeded to eat the Inu Inu no Mi, Model: Okuchi no Makami, which granted even greater powers to him, being a Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit.
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With time, Yamato grew tremendously in strength and, somehow, learned to control his Haki in a brilliant fashion. He gained access to all three Haki types and his mastery over Armament and Conqueror's Haki grew to be exceptional. Using Armament Haki, he could knock out one of the numbers of the Beasts Pirates in a single hit, which is nothing short of impressive. His main strength, however, lies in his Conqueror's Haki usage. Yamato can use the advanced form of Conqueror's Haki incredibly well, as seen when he knocked out Ulti with a single hit using it and more extensively when he fought Kaido on the rooftop of Onigashima for quite a while in a one-on-one battle. Yamato's mastery of this is such that he could injure Kaido with it. What's more, he could even hold his own against the Yonko for quite a while. That, when coupled with the incredible physical strength, stamina, and recovery rate that his Devil Fruit grants him, makes him the second-strongest member of the crew, directly after Luffy.
The Monster Trio
Ever since the East Blue days, fans have seen the Monster Trio be the strongest three members of the crew. In every single arc, Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji would fight the first, second, and third-strongest members of the opposition forces respectively. However, with Yamato thrown into the mix, things will change quite a bit. Yamato is stronger than both Zoro and Sanji, as is evident from his excellent showing against Kaido in a one-on-one battle and his incredible control over advanced Conqueror's Haki – something that Zoro could use unregulated for barely a few minutes. That said, it is quite likely that things will change for the trio a bit, however, differently than what fans have imagined.
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Eiichiro Oda has always maintained that the Monster Trio is special. Zoro and Sanji are Luffy's wings and deserve a special place so for that reason, Oda would simply have to make them stronger than Yamato in the coming arcs to restore the balance. Despite Yamato being stronger than the Wings of the Pirate King right now, the Monster Trio is more than likely to remain and be called into action when Oda feels like it.
For Yamato, taking on extra opponents that are incredibly powerful would seem to work. Interestingly, every Yonko crew has three powerful pirates directly under the Yonko themselves. In the Big Mom Pirates, fans saw the introduction of the Three Sweet Commanders which included Charlotte Katakuri, Charlotte Smoothie, and Charlotte Cracker. In Kaido's Beasts Pirates, fans saw the All-Stars, which included King the Wildfire, Queen the Plague, and Jack the Drought.
Similarly, Shanks has the likes of Beckman, Roux, and Yasopp, while Blackbeard's strongest three aren't known just yet. Evidently, Oda seems to be building a pattern where every major pirate has three powerful pirates under them and it will, more likely than not, be the same with the Straw Hat Pirates. Under Luffy, fans could see a new trio form, with a completely new name and it would include Zoro, Sanji, and Yamato. The strength of all these three characters is likely to be relative to each other. When compared to the other crews, however, the Straw Hat Pirates would certainly be much more powerful, as is expected of the crew that is set on a course to surpass every single pirate crew that came before them.
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