Yeah, I'm hoping that Carrot winds up stowing away, and Yamato joins the crew later. It seems weird that we don't even get a scene of the Straw Hats saying goodbye to the Minks, by all appearances, so hopefully something comes of this and the idea that Carrot is uncomfortable with being put in charge of Zou.
If nothing comes of it, then I feel like Oda fumbled the ending of this arc, considering that it would mean that one character who seemed set up to potentially become a Straw Hat was forced into a job that they had no confidence in against their will, with no say whatsoever in whether or not they took it, and another character who was basically screaming "I'm going to be the next Straw Hat!" did a complete 180 off-screen in the final chapter of the arc and decided to stay in the place that they'd wanted to escape for almost all of their life.
I've been reading One Piece weekly for about 17 years, and depending on how the next few chapters pan out, this might be the most disappointed that I've been with the series.