The Straw Hat Pirates are the protagonists of One Piece and have maintained tremendous importance in the overarching story that was established by Eiichiro Oda almost three decades ago on July 18, 1997, when One Piece published its very first chapter in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump Issue 24. Luffy set out with the goal of establishing a mighty crew capable of surpassing Shanks's Red Hair Pirates. Luffy also proclaimed that he would want at least 10 underlings on his crew.

Now that the story is in the final saga and edging closer to its conclusion, Monkey D. Luffy has a crew of 9 powerful underlings, leaving space for at least 1 more individual to join him. In the Elbaf arc, Eiichiro Oda established the mightiest candidate for the last spot in the Straw Hat Pirates in the form of Loki. Now, however, it has become increasingly likely that Loki will never get to join Luffy's crew and will exist as a powerful ally who aids Luffy from a distance.

When Loki was first introduced in One Piece , hardly anyone believed him to be a candidate for the position of the last Straw Hat. This is because Loki's introduction painted him as a villain and the Accursed Prince of Elbaf, strong enough to destroy the entire world. Eiichiro Oda was also building up a battle between Luffy and Loki at one point, which led many fans to believe that he would be the primary antagonist of the arc. Things took quite an exciting turn when it was revealed that Loki was actually largely innocent of most of the crimes that he was accused of.

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