Mitzuu

"But they already know each other from before the timeskip! They were just friends! "

Exactly.

Luffy and Vivi already have an established connection. She won't be in the story solely to be his love interest & the best part? The fact that they haven't seen each other in 2 years is a perfect excuse for Oda to reintroduce them to one another with a newly added romantic element.

If he wanted to, Oda could easily have these two seeing each other in a different light based on meeting their "more mature" selves. Friends reconnecting & forming romantic attraction is a very old & popular trope after all.

Why Vivi though?

Like I said, It would need to be someone whom Oda can convince the readers that Luffy could find interesting enough to pursue & I do actually think Vivi is pretty darn compatible with someone as non traditional as Luffy. Let's look at her character:

1) Vivi is a well documented scrapper! Perfect for someone like Luffy who doesn't seem to understand the meaning of gentle.

They've literally gotten in a fight before as well! Vivi gives back as much as Luffy can give her lmao.

2) Vivi is not only as adventurous as Luffy, but she seems to have the bravery needed to do the reckless shit he loves doing.

You would think that Vivi, being someone of normal strength, would be scared to wander in an unfamiliar place, but instead she took the initiative to invite herself along. This shows that Vivi is more than comfortable going at the fast & dangerous pace which Luffy lives his life. Little Garden also showed them having some bonding time alone as she was the only one to accompany him. They play off each other well.

3) Vivi is the only girl outside of the crew Luffy has shown extreme urgency, care, & priority over.

Luffy was so worried about Vivi when they read she had gone missing in the Newspaper that he nearly made the crew turn the ship around to Alabasta! His attitude here reminds me of when Nami left them in Arlong Park, Robin was kidnapped, & even when Sanji went to WCI.

Zoro even points out that even when his brother was in trouble, Luffy wasn't nearly as nervous as he was now. To which Luffy wasn't very happy about LMAO.

This here establishes a good foundation for the two. If Oda wanted to expand on it further & add a romantic twist to Luffy's feelings for Vivi it wouldn't feel out of nowhere & you could easily look back and see these scenes as stepping stones. I mean, even Namivivi shippers felt this type of reaction was prime shipping material...because it is!! (I love namivivi btw 🧡💙)

It also keeps in line with Oda's "policy" of "no romance between crewmates". A sentiment which he seems to be doubling down on in recent chapters during the flashbacks in Elbaph....

(this was in response to Gloriosa asking to be invited on Roger's ship)

4) Both Luffy & Vivi seem against marriage or at least keep rejecting it for one reason or another

This goes to show that both are very independent people who probably view marriage as something stiffling or getting in the way of their "freedom". Luffy is not impressed by Hancock gushing over him & Vivi outright rejects any attempts by her father to set her up.

This can be a good kickoff point for Oda to establish a non traditional, even long distance romance between the two. What better life partner for a Pirate who will probably never settle in one place than a Queen who is busy & happy running a kingdom who is also fine being on her own? She would not be waiting around for Luffy like a sad puppy & in turn Luffy would never make her choose between her country & him.

5) Vivi is also a member of the D clan

This might not seem to matter in the scheme of shipping at first glance, but when you look further there's a pattern which seems to be going on with Oda.

We know very little about Rouge & her relationship with Roger. What we DO know though is that she was also a member of the infamous D clan, same as Gol D. Roger. They were in essence the D couple.

Now, if you are up to date with the manga you might have noticed a recent pattern by Oda to heavily push similarities between the old generation of Roger, Rayleigh, & Gaban with the Monster trio we know & love of Luffy, Zoro, & Sanji. It's very on the nose lol.

This also seems to be extending to romance. Oda has been increasingly paralleling the old generation's love interests with potential endgame set up for the Monster Trio. It goes like this:

Ripley = other race w/unusual physical trait (Pudding??)

Shakky= most lusted after woman who experienced sexual exploitation by men in power (Hiyori/Komurasaki??) 1158 also showed Shakky scamming men out of their money. similar to what Hiyori was doing in Wano 👀

Rouge =D clan

So if Oda is indeed purposefully paralleling the old gen couples as hints for endgame couples of our trio & the ONLY thing we know so far about Rouge is that she was a member of the D clan, well....who is the ONLY know living female D in the current timeline of One Piece that is ALSO in Luffy's age range??

Nefertari D. Vivi

Anyways, this isn't me claiming LuVi will be canon or anything like that lmao. This is simply me speculating all possibilities & entertaining the idea of Luffy actually having a love interest since it does seem Oda might be heading in that direction with the story.

I have never before thought Luffy would get a romantic storyline, but I also try to be as unbiased as I can & I'm just picking up what Oda looks to be putting down.

I will say though, that LuVi is the only hetero Luffy ship I actually feel really good about. The one that seems the best fit & something I can actually enthusiastically get behind.