Just been thinking about how much I love Robin's Straw Hat initiation. Some of the Straw Hats took an entire arc to join, meanwhile Robin's just like "Hey my boss tried to kill me and I sorta got nowhere else to go. Can I crash with you guys?" and Luffy just goes "Oh for sure, bro"
Okay but Jimbei is like, an old pirate. Joining the Strawhats is basically his retirement job. He’s like “ugh man I’ve been doing all this political maneuvering for decades it’s so exhausting” and Luffy pops up like “wow lame wanna join my Funtime crew instead? I’ll let you punch whoever you want” and Jimbei’s like yeah. I do want that actually.
Just a fun, low stakes little romp with some funny jokes, creative concepts, and silly games. It's fun to see a pirate themed fair ground and some pirate sports. I think maybe the story structure is a bit weak with them getting Chopper back in round 2, meaning there's significantly lower stakes in round 3, but it's not a major criticism. Also, of course, afro Luffy is goated. And, I'll certainly say, for as simple as this arc was (and as little happened in it as it did), that ending absolutely serves as a great hook for Water 7. Looking forward to it.