Something about Franky and Mr. 2 Bon Clay may have made it impossible for the two of them to sail aboard the Thousand Sunny at the same time.

There are many One Piece fans who secretly hope for the day Bentham, also known as Mr 2 Bon Clay, can become a member of the Straw Hat Pirates. It might have worked in a lot of ways; he had the eccentricity, unique power, and even the direct friendship with Monkey D. Luffy to make him an ideal fit for the crew. This is to say nothing of the intrigue of recruiting a former enemy. Unfortunately, Bon Clay hasn’t joined the Straw Hats yet and, in all likelihood, he never will. However, the reason for this isn’t something many people would think of.

Franky and Bon Clay are played by the same Japanese voice actor, Kazuki Yao. Normally, it wouldn’t be an issue to have the same voice actor play multiple parts in one show, especially one with a lot of characters like One Piece. However, to have two characters with virtually the same voice as a regular part of the main cast could get confusing fast.

This also has to do with the high regard in which voice actors are held in Japan. It’s a much bigger deal when they’re given a role in an anime, so when they voice more than one person, it’s much more noticeable. This holds true even in a show as expansive as One Piece.

Because of this, Kazuki is allowed to play other characters in One Piece, but not many. Besides Franky and Bon Clay, he also plays Jango, the fake Sogeking, and Charlotte Tablet. In all likelihood, none of these characters will ever share a scene narratively, so there’s no risk in reusing Kazuki for each of them.

Whoever’s decision it was to recast Kazuki as Franky following Bon Clay must have known the importance of both characters. They would have to have known that one of them was going to become a series mainstay while the other would make infrequent appearances at best. More importantly, they would have to have some insight into the fact that neither of them would ever be in the same place, at least not for too long. It wouldn’t be surprising to find out that Eiichiro Oda himself had a direct say on this matter.

With all this in mind, the fact that Franky shares Bon Clay’s voice could mean one of a few things. It could mean that someone knew they were going to stay far apart, so reusing a voice actor, in this case, wouldn’t be a big deal. It could also mean that Oda was planning to make Bon Clay a Straw Hat later down the line, but changed his mind retroactively by the time Franky was ready for his anime debut; this assumes he had a say in who voiced the Straw Hats’ shipwright. He could have also changed his mind about Bon Clay sometime after seeing how popular Franky had become. In any case, Franky’s status as a crewmember and a role of Kazuki makes it unlikely that Bon Clay will also become a shipmate.

Src: cbr.com