That's cause his crew is his family. These would be his underlings.

 

They will simply be like the Kung Fu Dugong. They can tag along and be cannon fodder for Luffy's invasion of Mariejois during the Reverie. I'm only half-kidding.

 

I just realized that all those guys are expressed gratitude to God Ussop and owe him. So the Ussop theory is most likely going to be true.

 

Its the ending chapters of that arc, I'd say you're only about 10-20 chapters behind.

Basically Luffy beat up Donflamingo with a new Gear mode and is now escaping the island from the marines. We also got to see Kaidou and there's overshadowing of the coming war between Luffy and Kaidou.

 

Luffy and Law proceed to fight Doflamingo.

Inevitable flashback(Law's) happens.Some cool stuff is revealed.

Luffy fights Doflamingo. Gear 4 happens.

Fight ends. Huge plot points move forward a bit.

We see Kaidou. Looks like a badass. Comitting suicide is his gimmick.

2 days pass off screen. After spending close to 2 years on one day.

Luffy wakes up, they are now running away from marines and an Admiral. Who Luffy has fought.

 

You might have stopped right before the climax of the arc, where everything comes together and plot stuff is revealed. D:

 

MangaPanda's is out. MangaStreams should be out in a few hours. And we should probably have PowerManga's out later Wednesday or Thursday.

Spoiler

The "acceptance" pretty much went how I figured it'd go with the type of person Luffy is. A fun chapter either way. Sengoku riding a fucking gorilla was too good.

 

I love you, Oda, and how you manage to be even more then I could wish you could be.

 

Eeeeh. I guess I sort of expected Luffy to be a dick and refuse, but at least they're in reserve. What bullshit reason was that, anyway? He already has a crew, he already has subordinates. What's this about not taking on others to 'not deprive them of their freedom'? That's bullshit.

It would have been nice to break the single crew format and for the story to grow in scale.

 

Someone two weeks ago on a different forum predicted exactly what Luffy's response was going to be-

Spoiler

"I have a feeling that Luffy will reject the offer. He's not really the kind of guy who cares for such things - remember he does NOT want to 'conquer' anyone. He just wants to be the most free guy around, which is what the title 'Pirate King' means to him. Having friends and allies, is a different thing. He might think of them as friends, but making a fleet? He's too impulsive for that. "

(Chronodekar on TFF)

It makes a lot of sense to me, not only Luffy's response but also the pirates response to him. It really is all about freedom to him, and in the end its essentially the same as if he had said yes from the start, except now he doesn't have any real day to day obligation to them/them to him. It's more of a formalized alliance, and the way it was done really feels... right to me.

 

Yeah, this chapter is like a member formally joining the Straw hats. I liked it, the funny thing is this guys being attracted to Luffy validates Doflamingo's prediction that the age where people followed strength was coming.

There is probably a deeper reason but for each of this guys their respect for Luffy stems from him having the power to beat them down(Chinjao) and also beat DD.

 

What I want to know is, the 500m beri bounty those pirates mentioned. Is that Luffy's new bounty or Usopp's bounty that Doflamingo placed during his little "pirate hunting game".

I feel barely enough time has passed for all the shit Law+Strawhats did for the government to figure out a new amount to give Luffy, and then for that to circulate around the world enough to the point some random pirate fleet would come by and inadvertently let us, the reader, know Luffy's new bounty.

Then there's also the case where, if its Usopp they were talking about(because Usopp is the one who took down Sugar which was the most key player in his operation aside from Caesar), he had the 500m bounty during the game 'Mingo had going on, but how would again some random pirate fleet that wasn't there know about it?

I suppose some of the pirates that were turned into toys was apart of that fleet and still felt enough enmity towards the strawhats for breaking the weapons deal(even though they saved them from being a toy for the rest of their lives) that they went and told the fleet, but still seems weird given its been what? 2 days? since the end of the battles.

Edit: Since brought to my attention, the leader of that fleet is apparently the same pirate that was gambling Fujitora in the beginning of Dressrosa, so its no longer just "some random fleet". Question remains if he was talking about Luffy or Usopp with that 500m bounty though.

 

http://readms.com/r/one_piece/801/2943/1

Everything about this weeks update is amazing.

Barto club for life!

 

LUCCI! LUCCI! It's fucking Lucci. Ooooh snap.

 

Thats one of the best things about Oda, is how often he brings characters back.

Enel, one day man... one day you will return with your army of space dogs...

 

I would like to get into anime and a friend has been explaining me some stuff about One Piece. However, I prefer my stories to be shorter or to have arcs when I can get off the boat as if it was the finale. I guess my question is: are One Piece's 780ish chapters are worth it?

 

Totally. I don't like anime or manga at all. Except for One Piece. It's story and plot is probably one of the best. Right up there with Tolkein.

 

The short answer is: HELL YEAH!!!
Get to reading them, NOW!!!!!