SHANKS AND BUGGY
Shanks and Buggy served on the Roger Pirates since their childhood and they constantly fought with each other. Ironically, in their youth, Buggy accused Shanks of being too naïve and innocent to ever make it as a pirate, but Shanks is currently a great pirate while Buggy and his crew are very weak in comparison. Due to Shanks’ sudden but accidental actions, Buggy lost a treasure map and ate the Bara Bara no Mi by mistake, thus making him unable to swim. Buggy has developed a grudge since then.
However, despite their constant arguing about each other, Shanks did not hesitate to save Buggy after the latter almost drowned, meaning that Shanks at least views Buggy as his friend despite the feeling not being mutual. Shanks also tended to him after he fell ill while the rest of the crew went to Laugh Tale, and later wanted Buggy to be part of his crew. Neither Buggy nor Shanks have visited Laugh Tale. It remains to be seen if they can fulfill their childhood promise to visit that island.
PERONA AND MORIA
Perona followed her master, Gecko Moria, for at least ten years. Her loyalty to him is somewhat complex: when she sensed defeat, she attempted to leave and abandon him while noting that she had only stayed with him for fun, but tried to take Bartholomew Kuma down as a final gift for Moria. Despite not clearly showing it, she is said to love Moria like a father since he found her and raised her as a child, and when the newspaper falsely reported that Moria died in the Whitebeard War, Perona was deeply saddened. When she learned that Moria is alive two years later, Perona is overjoyed, and she quickly departed Mihawk’s castle to go find him.
DRAGON AND LUFFY
Dragon was never a part of his son Luffy’s life, giving custody of him to his (Luffy’s) grandfather Monkey D. Garp. Luffy never knew or cared who his father was, only finding out it was Dragon two years ago when Garp told him at Water 7, and seeing Dragon’s face for the first time after reading the report on Baltigo’s destruction. When reading about the Revolutionary Army’s peril, Luffy did not pay nearly as much mind to his father as he did to his sworn brother Sabo. In the past, Ivankov noted Dragon to be constantly looking toward the East Blue from their base and wondered if he had family there. Dragon appears to be supportive of Luffy’s journey as a pirate, expressing approval of him becoming one when at Loguetown and reflecting at Baltigo that he hoped for Luffy’s pirating career to play a role in the world’s shifting. To that end, he saved Luffy from being captured by Smoker in Loguetown and anticipates reuniting with his son in the future.
One day they will meet to fight the final battle against the World Government.
USOPP AND YASOPP
Yasopp is Usopp’s father. While Usopp has yet to be shown interacting with his father, Usopp has remained proud of him even though he took the path of a pirate. Yasopp also seems to care deeply about his son despite being absent for the majority of his life. It is also unclear as to how well he knows his father, as it was never said when exactly Yasopp left. One clue is in Chapter 41, it is said Usopp’s mother died not that long after Yasopp left, in the flashback, Usopp looks like a small child. Usopp either knows about his father from stories told by his mother or from actual memories, which one it is remains a mystery.
As we approach the series finale, their reunion is closer than ever.
FRANKY AND SENOR PINK
Despite being enemies, Franky and Senor Pink developed a certain degree of respect for each other during their battle at the SMILE factory. Senor Pink told Franky if he survived his finishing move, he’d accept defeat and he even kept his promise when the latter withstood it. Upon being defeated by Franky, the cyborg wiped his fallen adversary’s tears and showed an interest in hearing of Pink’s past, should they ever meet again in the future.
VIVI AND THE STRAW HAT PIRATES
Vivi traveled with and assisted the Straw Hat Pirates for almost the entire Arabasta Saga and strongly considered joining their crew after Crocodile’s defeat. Though she ultimately declined their offer in favor of working to restore her country, she remains closer to the Straw Hats than anyone else outside of their crew. She and Karoo are now regarded as honorary members of the Straw Hat Pirates, at least by Luffy and the others.
Vivi went missing during the Levely around the same time as her father, Cobra, was seemingly assassinated by Sabo.
SHANKS AND LUFFY
Luffy looks up to Shanks, who is his role model, a childhood hero, and the man he wants to eventually surpass.
As the ultimate expression of this, Shanks entrusted Luffy with his signature straw hat, which is of extreme sentimental value to Shanks (as it belonged to his former captain Gol D. Roger). There is an understanding between the two that Luffy will return the hat upon him becoming a great pirate, a promise that they have both taken very seriously—Luffy defends the Straw Hat with his life, upon arriving at Marineford, Shanks was not ready to accept the hat back.
Luffy has stated that, in spite of Shanks being his idol, he has interest in taking him down as well, since the red-haired man is one of the Four Emperors and, thus, in his way of becoming Pirate King.
After Luffy took down Kaidou and was declared one of the Four Emperors, Shanks looked at the newspaper declaring Luffy’s victory, with a look of pride and impression before reminiscing about his past with Luffy and how Luffy ended up eating the Gomu Gomu no Mi. Despite this, Shanks said he does not want to meet Luffy yet.
SAUL AND NICO ROBIN
Jaguar D. Saul was one of the three people who influenced Nico Robin. Saul was the first person to have befriended Robin (besides Ohara’s archaeologists) after she found him washed up on Ohara’s shore. One day, he taught and encouraged Robin to laugh whenever she was sad, even if it hurt. Seconds before his death, Saul told Robin that she would find friends that will protect her and live with her someday. As Robin left the island, she mourns for his death, along with the destruction of her home and the death of her mother.
Robin hallucinates Saul’s appearance alongside Olvia and Clover as her “most precious memories” under the effects of Black Maria’s illusion mist.
It wouldn’t be until 22 years later that Robin would learn that Saul was still alive and in hiding at Elbaf which she was brought to tears when Shaka revealed this information, despite not being able to verify Saul’s name directly.
BONNEY AND KUMA
Bonney’s father is Bartholomew Kuma, the former king of Sorbet Kingdom turned Revolutionary then Warlord. Their relationship was a very positive and affectionate one, as Bonney remembered the love her father gave during her childhood. She became very outraged towards the World Government for turning her father into a cyborg, followed by enslaving and allowing him to suffer abuse at the hands of the World Nobles. This is further emphasized by the fact that she went to Vegapunk’s island base of Egghead to ask questions of him regarding Kuma’s Pacifista transformation. Kuma is the only family Bonney has left, as she defended a Pacifista unit that resembles her father from Luffy despite how it was trying to kill them. She also defended her father’s true personality whenever people bring up his reputation as a tyrant.
If Vegapunk is able to restore Kuma’s original mind back into his original body, Bonney will then finally be able to meet her father again!
BROOK AND LABOON
Over fifty years earlier, Laboon met the Rumbar Pirates after becoming lost and separated from his pod and began following them in his loneliness. After a while they notice how sad he looked and they cheered him up by singing and as a result he continued to follow them. The crew grew attached to him because he was “cute”. Eventually, while feeding him bait, Brook named him “Laboon”. He was accepted as a crew member and even aided them when an attack left a few crew members having fallen overboard and no one else could help them.
Brook cares a lot about his afro. Because it is the only part of him that did not rot away after he died, it means a lot to him. It is the only thing he believes that Laboon would still recognize him by after fifty years. Since it will not ever grow back again should it be cut, Brook is extremely protective of it. Because of the promise Brook and the rest of his crew made to Laboon, Brook feels obligated to meet up with Laboon in order to fulfill that promise.
During the From the Decks of the World: The 500,000,000 Man Arc, Laboon is shown very happy after learning of Brook’s new bounty indicating he is aware of Brook’s survival and involvement with the Straw Hats.
