When I was first catching up with the series, one of my favorite elements of One Piece was whenever a new character would join the Straw Hat crew. I loved the “honeymoon phase” that happened every time someone came aboard as a permanent addition to the main cast, and unfortunately I never got to enjoy that feeling for as long as I’ve been current with the manga. “I think about ten men should do,” Monkey D. Luffy said at the beginning of the series. This line has always been heavily debated by fans. Obviously this is Eiichiro Oda communicating with the readers as to what we can expect from the final crew, whatever that specifically means to him.

However, I don’t believe Oda had ever completely, one hundred percent, decided what he wanted the final crew to look like way back then. I also don’t think he would restrict himself to that number if he ever decided along the way that he had an even better idea. Regardless, the end results are important in the hearts of fans. When the moment comes where the narrative makes a clear distinction that someone is now officially a crew member, it holds a unique sense of legitimacy.

Obviously, the main nine are indisputable, but the amount of gray area has only grown exponentially in the past few years. Vivi has always been iffy, and obviously Jimbei is his own can of worms. On top of that, we now have things like Luffy and Trafalgar Law’s alliance, and all the friends made in Dressrosa’s colosseum during the current story arc. So with all this in mind, what does it mean to be a Straw Hat at this point in the story?

With the advent of pirate alliances in the series, the world is truly Oda’s oyster when it comes to divvying out these roles for characters in the future. We’re living in the era of One Piece where the concept of who gets to be a “main character” is more fluid than ever. In fact, the current arc has even temporarily written half of the main crew out of the story just so there could be room for all the newbies.

Which ever way you slice it, Luffy and Law are a team. Considering Law’s overwhelming popularity among fans, he’s also bound to stick around in the story for a very long time. He may never become a permanent shipmate, but does that mean he’s not a Straw Hat? His personal dream of finding Gold Roger’s treasure hasn’t been brought up since the time-skip, and clearly it never took priority over his vengeance against Doflamingo to begin with. It’s not a stretch to imagine that after the Dressrosa arc, Law will want to support Luffy on his way to being the Pirate King, as will most potential alliance members in the future. My personal theory is that Law’s new aspirations will come in the form of fulfilling the “Will of D” that he and Luffy share, allowing the two to remain a symbiotic duo.

The thing I really love about the concept of alliances is that it offers a new way for the Straw Hats to grow. We can rope new and old characters into the “family” without having to disrupt the carefully planned balance of the main crew. Characters like Law and Bartolomeo are the obvious contenders, among others.

Alliances have been present in One Piece since at least the Marineford arc, but I think it’s taken on a whole new meaning now that it’s being applied to Luffy and friends. I really want the inclusion of new people in the alliance to mean something. I want it to feel important in the way that adding new crew members has in the past, however broad of a concept it may be. With the likes of Law and Kin’emon occasionally being featured in color spreads alongside the crew, I feel like we’re off to a good start.

Another very present element that doesn’t get a lot of talk among fans is the concept of territory. We’ve seen several islands in the New World adorning the pirate flag of the major names that govern them, and that can manifest itself in many ways. Whitebeard frequently lent his symbol to the islands he wished to protect, while Big Mom has shown that she’s not above manipulating poor civilians selfishly. Though, no one ever said that only the Four Emperors could claim territory in the New World.

It’s possible that Kaido has staked claim on Dressrosa, but I feel there’s an equally likely chance that it simply belongs to Doflamingo. If so, what happens when Doflamingo is inevitably beaten by the end of the this arc? Could Luffy or Law claim the island? At what point do we consider an entire kingdom to be part of the alliance?

There are certainly a handful of examples within reach when you consider Dressrosa, Fishman Island, Kano, Wano and many other places as potential homes away from home for the Straw Hats. If we’re lucky enough to see any of this stuff mapped out, then Luffy’s conquest of the New World could end up looking like a badass game of Sid Meyer’s Civilization as he faces off against his Worst Generation rivals and the Four Emperors.

The One Piece world is a big place, and it’s only getting bigger. The various islands in the New World are as varied and zany as ever, but they’re likely to be far more connected than what we’ve seen in the past. Either they’re relevant to the power struggle of the ocean’s biggest names, or they’re home to the ever growing list of recurring faces.

Wherever Law ends up in the series from this point forward, he is a main character. I’d reckon this is also true for Jimbei, Sabo, Bartolomeo, Kin’emon, Momonosuke, and all other characters related to them and their respective groups. With the way the story is going, what will happen to all the debates over who the tenth member should be? Are those days numbered? Will we slowly have less of a reason to care about who’s an “official member” and who’s not? Only Oda can really answer that question, and we’ve all learned that no matter what he delivers, it’s definitely going to be something.