I honestly don’t think Monet is evil, she may have helped Caesar during his experiments, but she was only carrying out the orders she was given by her captain and ultimately Monet was never shown to kill anyone. Her actions were conveyed as being incredibly ambiguous by Oda, and I have been wondering, why exactly would Oda do such a thing?
Monet was never shown to hurt any of the children during the Punk Hazard Arc and even when Monet had the opportunity to immobilize Mocha in Biscuit’s Room while Mocha was running away with the “candy”, Monet didn’t, she settled for only blocking the doorway. Monet also had the opportunity to kill or severely wound Robin when Monet caught her by surprise, but Monet chose to only shallowly wound Robin to “warn” her. Seeing as Robin is fine on Dressrosa a day after she received the injury from Monet, the injury itself must not have been too serious (Robin is able to defend herself against Hakuba and defend Rebecca against Diamante).
Monet going after Nami and Chopper wasn’t a surprise, those two are also pirates, so from Monet’s perspective, not knowing that the Straw Hats were helping the children, she most likely thought that they did some bad things to the children, being ‘crude’ pirates and all. It is unclear if Monet would have wounded Nami and/or Chopper in the same way as Robin – a shallow wound. Additionally, Monet was actively preventing the Straw Hats from following the children, but after Chopper mentioned it was the children who asked them for help in response to Monet’s comment about one of them planting the thought inside Mocha to rebel, she turned her focus to Zoro and let Robin, Nami and Chopper go – well she didn’t make any more attempts to stop them or block the doorway again with snow. Monet could have continued to pursue Nami, Chopper and Robin and avoid Zoro, but she didn’t after Chopper made that comment.
As for Monet knowingly giving the children NHC10, it is arguable whether Monet was aware of the drug inside the “candy” or even what the drugs exact effects were. The flashback scene with Momonosuke finding out about Caesar’s intentions implies that Monet was only told about the nature of the Giantification experiments at that point. It would be quite redundant for Caesar to tell Monet about the limitations and dangers of the Giantification experiments again if he had told Monet before. The fact that he mentions it implies that it is Caesar’s first time sharing that information with Monet. Monet had already expressed that she had no idea what Caesar’s “Smiley” experiment was about, so she may not have known about the NHC10 in the “candy” or even known about the effects of NHC10 – according to Chopper NHC10 is a rare drug for doctors to possess, implying that some doctors may not even be aware of its exact effect. Monet would have either had to researched what NHC10 was or have Caesar tell her, but seeing as neither was expressly mentioned to have happened in the story arc, it is possibly that Monet had no idea about the true nature of NHC10. Also the only reason Monet even knew about Caesar’s slime pet was because Caesar told her about it a few chapters prior to Monet mentioning Smiley to Vergo – Monet didn’t seem to have much interest in the workings of Caesar’s experiments. Furthermore, not even Law knew about the danger of the “candy” during his several month stay on Punk Hazard within the facility, and Law is a doctor. Seeing as Caesar is cautious around “smart” people (taking Law’s heart), he may have purposefully withheld information from Monet, until of course he expressly mentioned it to her.
Monet is also of the opinion that Caesar is a man with “atrocious taste”, implying that she doesn’t agree with his ways of handling things. This is further supported by how Monet takes a jab at Caesar and calls his experiment after killing a person (his subordinate who believed in him) a “failure”. Monet also brings to Caesar’s attention the Den Den Mushi call with his subordinates asking for help and in another occasion, she inquires with Caesar about his men being left outside with the Shino Kuni and how they are going to be let in. Monet also questioned Caesar’s decision to release the Shino Kuni where Sanji and Vergo were fighting. As you can see, Monet doesn’t agree with Caesar and has expressed on several occasions how different she is from him.
Whatever Monet’s intentions were with the children, what is certain is that Monet made sure the children were cared for and comforted while they were in the facility, she seemed to genuinely care for how they were treated and while carrying out her “mission” she made sure the children got along with each other. One of the kids even said that ‘they have fun in the Biscuit Room and can forget their troubles’. Certainly that proves that the children were looked after and weren’t mistreated to the point of them falling into despair and wishing to die. I highly doubt it was under Caesar’s guidance or the former prisoners care (who the children were seemingly afraid of) that led to the kids maintaining such a peaceful environment and joyous attitude. Monet was the one caring for the children and made sure that the kids had a comfortable and stress free time in the Biscuit Room. Ultimately Monet was under orders from Doflamingo, who would eliminate her if she failed in performing them. Due to her orders (and belief in Doflamingo), Monet had a reason to continue allowing Caesar to experiment on the children regardless of whether she knew the risk he was putting the children under with the drugs.
Monet was also the one who suggested to Law to use his Ope Ope no Mi ability and medical skills to heal the ex-prisoners who had been ravaged by the poison gas on Punk Hazard. I find it hard to believe that a person without compassion would make such a request, especially when they just found out that there was a doctor in possession of the Ope Ope no Mi in their presence. Requesting Law to heal the former prisoners was beyond Monet’s scope of duty, and if she were evil and cold-hearted, one would expect her not to give a dam about anybody else (i.e. Caesar), but instead we have Monet coming up with a solution to end the suffering of the former prisoners afflicted by Caesar’s poison gas. Once again we have evidence of Monet caring about Caesar’s subordinates.
There is also the possibility that Viola was able to be kept alive because it was Monet who brought her Devil Fruit ability to Doflamingo’s attention. There is nothing at this point in the story to indicate that Doflamingo knew anything about Viola’s ability before he began his takeover ten years ago, but we know for a fact that Monet was aware of Viola’s Senrigan and what it could do. During the takeover, the Riku Family members were being targeted and killed, which is why Scarlett ended up dead as opposed to captured. Viola may have ended up the same way, but Monet captured her instead, I wonder why? Most likely so Viola could be of use to Doflamingo? Monet having some skills in scouting and information gathering, could have allowed her to realise the value in the Giro Giro no Mi which Viola possessed.
Monet certainly did contribute to the children’s problems in Punk Hazard, but based on how Oda conveyed Monet’s character, she genuinely had a heart capable of compassion and love conveyed through her making sure the children on Punk Hazard were looked after and happy as well as trying to help Caesar’s subordinates by trying to get Caesar to help/care for them (unfortunately Caesar didn’t give a damn about them).
There’s Something About Monet (Nakama Theory):
>>Evidence against Monet being dead
>>Is Monet evil and irredeemable?
>>Monet’s loyalty to Doflamingo
>>How will Monet become relevant to the story?
>>What will Monet’s role in the story be?
>>Using Nami and Robin to predict who the third female Straw Hat member could be