The Straw Hat Pirates are currently one of the most powerful and most important pirate crews known to One Piece fans, but it's not just their strength that makes them so interesting. The crew's diverse motivations, their extensive travels, and their surprising positivity are what draw many One Piece fans to follow their seafaring adventures.
Despite how amazing it would be to eat a dinner prepared by Sanji while Brook plays a sea shanty, being a Straw Hat Pirate is not always such a great time. Without a doubt, there are some harsh realities that any crewmember would face aboard the Thousand Sunny.
10 Love Will Have To Wait
Romance has never been a huge part of One Piece, but it still has its place in the story. Boa Hancock has stated her wish to marry Luffy on many occasions. Sanji's arranged marriage, although farcical, did lead to genuine feelings between him and Charlotte Pudding.
Even the long-sidelined romance between Usopp and Kaya has remained an occasional talking point among fans. The truth to all of these romantic relationships is that if any of them do happen, it will not be until each character achieves their dreams. As Eichiiro Oda has stated in his Chapter 317 SBS segment, each character is too in love with adventure to focus on romance.
9 Constant Military Pursuit
As the Straw Hat Crew draws closer to the end of the Grand Line, and their bounties continue to rise, they have become high priority targets for One Piece's World Government and the Marines.
Being a pirate of any reputation makes someone a wanted criminal. The Straw Hats have gone even further and made personal enemies of high-ranking soldiers like Smoker, Sentomaru, the three admirals, and even Fleet Admiral Sakazuki himself. Becoming a criminal is one thing, but having the leader of the Marines as a personal adversary might be reason enough to avoid becoming a Straw Hat Pirate.
8 Terrible Weather & Unpredictable Lands
When traveling to new islands, it could be expected that a sailor would run into inclement weather eventually. The Grand Line pushes that expectation to its limits. The first notable and strange natural event encountered by Luffy was the reverse waterfall at Reverse Mountain. Later, he encountered the Knock Up Stream that sent the crew roughly 6 miles upward to the cloud-dwelling island of Skypiea.
Not long after leaving Thriller Bark, the Straw Hat Pirates encountered rain made of hard candy followed by airborne, circular rainbows. These were pretty harmless, but the Straw Hats later ran into boiling seas on the way to Whole-Cake Island and even an entire nation on the back of an elephant. The Straw Hats seem to constantly run into strange weather and strange lands that no pirate would ever expect to see.
7 Being Attacked By Enemy Pirate Crews
Not only is the World Government after Luffy's allies, but most of the criminal world also wants the Straw Hat Pirates out of the picture. Being Luffy's crewmate immediately puts pirates at risk of being attacked, assassinated, turned in, or otherwise removed from the story by rival pirates and bounty hunters.
Luckily, as seen with both Robin and Sanji, if a Straw Hat Pirate is kidnapped, Luffy will stop at nothing to get them back. A crewmate might have to accept their new life as a target, but at least they wouldn't be locked up for long.
6 Being Tied Down By The Log Pose
Some might see the Log Pose in One Piece as just a helpful tool for getting from one island to the next in the Grand Line, but they are just a bit more complicated for a pirate. When being chased by rival pirate crews or the Marines, it is not always convenient for the Straw Hat Pirates to wait around while Nami's Log Pose resets.
Many island visits in One Piece have concluded with Luffy and friends subtly securing supplies for the next voyage while they wait out the Log Pose's reset and then flee under Marine pursuit.
5 Money & The Lack Of It
This has not been a huge issue for the Straw Hats in recent years due to more pressing matters of survival, but One Piece fans should not forget how much money played into the early story and how little of it the crewmates had. Nami's initial motivation and her reason for eventually betraying Luffy was her immense monetary debt to Captain Arlong. Luckily, Luffy, Zoro, Usopp, and Sanji could see the situation she was in, and they collectively defeated Arlong to clear Nami's debt.
The Straw Hats also had monetary issues when it came to securing and maintaining ships. Before being gifted the Going Merry by Kaya in Syrup Village, they just had two tiny dinghies that never would have survived the Grand Line. When the Going Merry was finally damaged beyond repair, it was made very clear that it would take practically all of the Straw Hat Crew's treasure to secure a new ship.
4 Nami Wants Your Money
If a One Piece fan took a ride on the Thousand Sunny, they would eventually run into one of Nami's swindling attempts. Nami is the crew's thief but she probably wouldn't steal from a friend. That does not mean she wouldn't try to acquire that friend's money in other ways.
There was the time she lent Zoro 100,000 berries in Roguetown and expected him to pay 200,000 berries in interest despite Zoro paying her back mere hours later. There was also another time when she performed her "Happiness Punch" attack on her male onlookers in Alabasta's royal bathhouse then claimed they each owed her another 100,000 berries for it.
3 Your Goals Come Second To Luffy's
Since Luffy is the Straw Hat Pirates' captain, the crew's personal dreams will have to wait until they become relevant to Luffy's own goal of finding the One Piece. It seems like each crew member's goals will come up naturally during the story, but it's not like they necessarily have to. Usopp's dream of reaching the island of giants, Elbaf, is completely at the mercy of whether or not Nami's Log Pose brings them there on the way to Raftel.
For all the fans know, everyone's goals could be achieved simultaneously on Raftel, but any single dream held by a crewmate might just be put off until Luffy becomes King of the Pirates.
2 Sanji's Bias Toward Women
Sanji goes out of his way to make any woman's stay on the Thousand Sunny a pleasure cruise. Sanji has typically just used his preference for women to serve exclusive meals and drinks to Nami and Robin, but on the downside, Sanji has been known to be uncomfortably attentive to the point of becoming annoying.
Sanji's preference for women does not stop at treating them better but extends to actively treating men worse. Sanji has even claimed to serve expired food to Zoro, Luffy, and Usopp. Luffy still said the food tasted great, though.
1 The Realization That They're A Temporary Crewmate
During practically every arc in One Piece, there has been a character that fans latched onto and claimed might become the next member of the Straw Hat Pirates. It happened with the carpenter, Paulie, it happened with the rabbit mink, Carrot, and it will surely happen again when another cool character travels with Luffy for an extended stay.
Kin'emon and Momo recently traveled with Luffy for over 200 chapters, and Vivi and Karoo were temporary Straw Hat Pirates for roughly 100 chapters. Despite their lengthy adventures, the two samurai, the princess, and the duck wound up not making it into the Straw Hat Pirates' exclusive roster. Even if a fan of One Piece were to join Luffy's crew, the harshest reality would be that their stay with the Straw Hats might be a short one.