I've seen a few people disliking Yamato, mostly for being a sheltered princess with a bland character pretending to be Oden, and disliking the possibility of her joining the crew ever since she made her apperance. Let's talk about both points.
What is Yamato's character like?
Hard to say as she's trying to emulate Oden all the time. She's willing to risk her life, cause he believed Oden would've done so. She loves fighting, but so did Oden. Everything we know about her revolves around being Oden. She does however view "Yamato" as her other name and didn't like Luffy giving her a nickname. She wants to go out to the sea as that's what Oden did. We can only guess that we saw some of the real Yamato (little naive, compassionate, excited, quirky, fun, ambitious, strong willed) before she found the notes, in the Ace flashback and in her mannerisms in Wano.
Why is she that way?
Yamato was Kaido's prisoner (almost?) all her life. There was no room for her to grow, no air to develop freely, no freedom to gain depth. Her only straw in life was Oden's notes, and later Ace to reinforce her clinging to the notes, while also giving her a time to wait for: Ace's return or Luffy's arrival. Only once Kaido is defeated (now), will Yamato get the chance to shine and become more than the rather bland person she was shown to be.
She couldn't have character development in the past because she wasn't allowed to be herself. Getting beaten to a pulp by her monster of a dad whenver trying to express her will didn't really help. Neither did growing up in a toxic environment where encountering torture, slavery, war and killing of innocents was just another Tuesday. She had to cling to these notes that gave her a beacon of hope by presenting an alternative - fun adventures in a wonderful world that seemed so far away from her suffocating bubble. That was a traumatized kid's way of dealing with her problems. Yamato couldn't handle these problems, but you know who could? Oden. He was a chad and got things done. He was willing to be a dork for years to protect others. He laughed while suffering. That's what Yamato needed, so she became Oden to be able to live that shity live and actually start being rebellious towards her abusive pos dad. She didn't want to be Oden - she had to.
Now that she can close this chapter of her life, she might actually find out who she really is. She'll have to realize that the Yamato inside can actually be just as awesome as Oden, in her own way. She'll never be such a chad though.
Short digression:
Let me just throw in a random scenario that'll come true in an alternate timeline: She wants to be Oden. Momo might look like Oden. Momo doesn't want to resemble the Dragon that ruined his country. She's the guardian of Wano. She would be able to utilize Kaido's df much much better as she's seen it in action a lot. Law is present and can switch bodies. Momo is a horny boy. I'll leave the rest to your imagination.
Also, here's what Oda pictured Yamato's sideboob to look like as a person in a SBS:
Now should she join the strawhats?
Pro:
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extremely strong, just what our yonko lvl crew needed
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another df user, makes for interesting fights and matchups
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it's the point of her whole involvement with Ace
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it's been her goal for more than half her life
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she's cute
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another race on Luffy's ship
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she'll fit into the crew greatly - she'll be excited about everything she sees, will show Brook her panties, won't understand Sani's simping, will believe Usopp's lies, confuse the fuck out of Chopper by claiming to be Oden, loves fighting so she can train CoC with Zorro and will blindly charge ahead with Luffy.
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she could explain details about the awakenings of mythical zoans as they're weird (including both zoan and paramecia characteristics)
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it's the catalyst for her to stop being Oden and beginning to be Yamato
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her knowing Oden's notes and knowing about Kaido means we'll always get to hear another angle on stuff
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Luffy's harem needs growth each arc
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if she's Gloriossa's daughter, we'll get some nice interactions once the Kuja join the Grand Fleet.
Con:
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her df is the guardian of Wano as Kaido said, that does kinda bind her to Wano
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Oden wanted to set sail, which is why Yamato wanted it too, but what does the real Yamato actually want? She'll have to find out.
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she could just become a member of the Grand Fleet and protect Wano (Momo being the good Orochi and Yamato being the good Kaido)
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Kaido urged her to be Shogun and Kaido wanted to get rid of #fuckOrochi. #fuckOrochi was only kept in power because that's most likely what Kaido promised the old hag for giving him Wano - the Kurozomi clan ruling Wano as long as he's there. If the hag was Yamato's mom, Yamato being the shogun would mean he kept his promise as the Kurozumi clan keeps being in power without having to keep #fuckOrochi around.
What do you think?
