Marshall D. "Blackbeard" Teach - One Piece's Final Boss
Marshall D. “Blackbeard” Teach – One Piece's Final Boss
So here I will describe, in a descriptive and thoughtful manner, my favourite antagonist and the man I would put quite a large amount of money on to be the Final Antagonist the Strawhat's must overcome in One Piece. It's a large call, and we all know trying to predict Oda is about as difficult pulling an airplane with your teeth. Few people can do it, but even then not all the time. I don't claim to know Oda, 90% of my predictions are wrong, but this is something I have a good hunch on and have been saying it for quite some time in random threads that Kurohige appears in. So to describe my reasoning in a nice thread of it's own rather than typing it in everything he appears in (which is a lot lately since he defeated Ace); here we go.
The Man:
Blackbeard has a character which is both unique and a collection of many of Oda's character creation normalities. Here I will dissect the character himself without little reference to his actions and One Piece history.
Marshall D. “Blackbeard” Teach is, by name alone, already a highly important character. We can dissect his name into two major components. Firstly, both his last name and nickname are a homage to Oda's favourite character (
http://onepiece.wikia.com/wiki/Edward_Teach#cite_ref-Odafavpirate_0-0) the real-life Edward “Blackbeard” Teach (
http://onepiece.wikia.com/wiki/Edward_Teach). One of the most notorious pirates of the Carribbean and America known for multiple successes against both marine forces and other pirates, Blackbeard led a powerful force which was eventually defeated by 2 sloops (ships) and 60 naval officers after a long chase. Though a lot of the fleshy Blackbeard's actions are relatively impossible to parallel to the inky Blackbeard (particularly given our Blackbeard's incomplete history), two important points stick out from his actions:
- Blackbeard spent most of his early life apprenticed to a prominent, but honourable, pirate. (Parallel to his time with Whitebeard)
- After much pirateering, Blackbeard and his most trusted crew turned themselves in, in exchange for a pardon and retained command of his ship, though eventually reverted back to his pirate ways. (Parallel to his uptake of Shichibukai status)
The second part of Blackbeard's namesake is the elusive fourth letter of the alphabet which has created discussions for a decade of One Piece: D. Oda does not bestow these gems lightly, they are the equivalent to a V.I.P ticket for the Oscars and their bearers are all privy to major plot changing events of One Piece. Of the seven D's revealled thus far:
- TWO are deceased, though have been involved in dramatic plot events (Pirate Era for Gol and Ohara for Saul) quite possibly relating to their own namesake.
- FOUR are of the same direct bloodline and are each famed far and wide for different reasons.
- ONE is the only living D who does not exist directly within this famed bloodline (to our current knowledge).
Speculating the Will of D is not what this thread will focus on, but instead I will just note that no character has been given the D initial and faded easily into obscurity. Saul is easily the most arguable point on this, but I weigh Saul's contribution next to Robin's. Every D carries a sweeping change to everything they pass and few escape their vicinity without witnessing some sort of change.
Now (finally), I'll leave the heritage of Blackbeard's name and examine the fictional character's design and appeal to a writer (Oda) and audience (Us). Blackbeard's character design is, by comparison to some of the outrageous and hip character designs of One Piece, rather lacklustre. Though his mangy black hair, partially toothless grin and obese build result in a partially unique character, nothing is particularly memorable. Even the Blackbeard for which he is known is nothing more than a dirty stubble outlining his jawline. However, if I was a cartoonist (which I'm not), and I was asked to draw a stereotypical pirate by my vision, Blackbeard would quite possibly be the result (though he'd probably have a poofey shirt and some tight leather). Intact with unkempt hair, useless jewelled trinkets, gold trimmed captains jacket and pirate tricone, I would be hard pressed finding a more stereotypical pirate amongst the One Piece cast (Zoro would be my next closest).
Personality wise, Blackbeard is a little different from most. Though we indeed have seen ambitious and greedy pirates in One Piece (Crocodile notably), Blackbeard and his crew are particularly interested in fate and it's hold on people and the world. Blackbeard despises those who do not dream for the heights, and eyes those who fate favours whilst thinking he himself is also chosen by fate. Whether he is or not is a contentious issue as he has been proven to be quite lucky (by running into Ace he secured the Shichibukai position he sought) but also slightly deluded (believing the Yami Yami no Mi chose him, though it did actually fall into the hands of Thatch first). To follow up on this, fate and destiny is mentioned by Oda with great weight and it is a concept of the One Piece world which could be dwelled into with great depth.
A pirate spirit that can sacrifice lives for the sake of ambition/dream!!
Picture with huge speech balloons and tiny characters
Blackbeard: "The ambition of a man!!! Will never end!!!!"
He has the same attitude as Luffy when it comes to ambition! The only difference is that Teach could resort to underhand means to achieve his ambitions.
- Yellow Databook: http://forums.narutofan.com/showpost.php?p=13043099&postcount=5
The Yami Yami no Mi, without particularly going into specifics of it's strength, is both unique and highly useful to plot. The element of darkness itself is easily associated with major antagonists and Oda has even gone so far as to combine it with gravity which is an element which has hold over almost every other element as far as science is determined. Rather than simply make the darkness element a normal logia type, Oda has tweaked it to make it severely unique in that the damage cannot be nullified via elementalising the user, and in fact the damage is supposedly heightened. This unusual handicap plus the devil fruit nullification ability kind of balance out, but suddenly this feels like a lot of effort has been made towards a devil fruit when typically most antagonists are just given an ability and four to five different ways they abuse its power before luffy sends them flying. No writer makes effort lightly and the only fruits I have seen thus far with so much variety in application are probably Gomu Gomu no Mi (Luffy - gears), Goro Goro no Mi (Enel – Best Logia demonstration so far), Kage Kage no Mi (Moria – overwhelming control over shadows) and Nikyu Nikyu no Mi (Kuma – Best Parmecia demonstration so far).
Finally (for now), Blackbeard's crew is just as important as the man himself. No self important final boss would be there to take down an entire crew/army by himself and only idiotic bad guys who monologue and make ten stage plans that can be easily foiled do this (read: most bad guys everywhere ever. James Bond, Captain Planet and most Marvel comic franchises are good for this). Five named crewmembers (six if you count the horse) have already been revealed for the Blackbeard crew which puts it behind quite a few pirate crews such as Thriller Bark (quite a few small names for zombies), Baroque Works (so many numbers!), Kuja Pirates (though the warriors may not technically be pirates), Foxy Pirates (also many small names), Sunny Pirates (if you include Arlong Pirates) and the Strawhats. Technically, I would only put Blackbeard's behind the Strawhat's for pirate crews as most of the above included two page characters (Foxy, Kuja, Moria) or over a couple of different arcs (BW, Sunny). Four of the five named crewmembers have their names also tied in with known historical pirates (Blackbeard, Van Auger, Jesus Burgess, Laffite), and though this isn't quite a V.I.P ticket to One Piece's greatest events like the D initial, it is also nothing to be taken lightly else Oda is wasting his time with meaningless research. Of many known pirate crews, Blackbeard's is the only one in which positions other than “Fighter”, “Gooder Fighter” and “Goodest Fighter” as we have Auger the Sniper, Burgess the Helmsman, Doc Q the Doctor and Laffite the Navigator. So to summarise this long paragraph, Blackbeard's crew is well defined and has been given a surprising amount of effort for enemies who aren't to be dispatched within the same arc they were introduced.
The Legend:
Blackbeard, despite his few appearances on screen/paper, has caused a sweeping change through the world. Those who have met him have left with an impression, and his actions so far in One Piece speak louder than the few paragraphs I will type following this statement.
Our earliest knowledge of Blackbeard and his motley crew comes from two scarce mentions before his actual appearance. Firstly, Dalton mentions the attack from the Blackbeard pirates which forced their king Wapol to flee without throwing up any resistance. Though I instinctively tagged Blackbeard as “bad-guy”, a thought crept into my head that, because of Wapol's runner, Blackbeard Pirates may have actually freed the Drum Empire from his villainy. This, however, was expertly quashed by Oda a mere 20 chapters later as Ace is introduced with his mission of hunting Blackbeard who killed one of Whitebeard's own crew, a nakama of his own. My tagging of Blackbeard pirates changed with this, however I saw the new antagonists more as a means for Luffy and Ace to meet later down the track and fight a common nemesis.
His first appearance in Jaya did nothing more than reinforce this whilst giving Blackbeard all the signs he would be an enemy to be met sooner rather than later. Even though it was unusual for an enemy to be revealed and not defeated in the same arc, Oda had already begun to build some useful long term antagonists with Smoker and Mihawk already by this stage, so adding another seemed inconsequential. At the same time, Blackbeard illustrated the same persona as the other long time antagonists by, though having quite a fearsome reputation, making a likable character in ignoring DoFlamingo's gang though his crew gave a cruel impression of their own with their games of fate. It was at this time Laffite also suggested Blackbeard as a Shichibukai replacement to the WG, and though I thought this was impressive, I still just logged Blackbeard as a mid-tier Shichibukai that would be defeated when Luffy reunites with Ace probably in a couple of arcs time.
However, it was not until after the Water7/Enies Lobby arc that everyone begun to pay attention to the Blackbeard. Within the matter of 10 chapters, not only was Blackbeard given a great threat level by Shanks, the Yonkou captain who had always, to me, looked like Luffy's final boss, but also defeated Ace with an ease we thought impossible. The meeting between Whitebeard and Shanks was always one of high interest between us as it was impossible to guess the reason for it. A common front against the WG was a likely guess, but for the large amount of effort the both obviously underwent to break through marine forces just to talk about Blackbeard seemed very peculiar. Not only this, but Shanks' infamous scar over his eye was accredited to the former member of Whitebeard's crew and I would go so far as to say I can detect a level of fear from the tone of the red-haired's words. Sure, I'll never go so far as to say “Blackbeard can totally pwn Shanks without even trying”, but surely you cannot read over Shanks' words to Whitebeard and believe there is not a level of fear there. He may be concerned for Ace, but even then I expect, more than that, he is concerned for the world and would rather Whitebeard stayed his hand and keep Ace for a larger battle.
The person who left three scars on Shanks' face!!
Shanks: "What hurts the most now is this scar...!!!"
Shanks got the scars on his face during his battle with Blackbeard. Able to injure Shanks without the help of the Dark Dark Fruit, Blackbeard's power should be considered as incredible...?!
- Yellow Databook: http://forums.narutofan.com/showpost.php?p=13043099&postcount=5
Words are, of course, meaningless in the face of actions as the build up for the Ace v Blackbeard showdown appeared over 2 glorious chapters. The entire battle was completely unpredictable by anyone's standards and we were left with ominous words which, as we now know, eventually resulted in Whitebeard openly attacking the World Government. The power Blackbeard displayed was definitely unique and though the battle is still discussed in terms of how close it actually was, with Blackbeard as the winner I'm going to lean slightly upon my bias here for a bit and ignore all the guys/girls who are hot for Ace. From how I read the two chapter fight, Blackbeard was probably given his first true battle with his new Devil Fruit and he came out relatively unscathed. Sure, he took quite a few hits which is uncommon, but when Blackbeard nullified Ace's greatest ability, the ability to elementalise himself and allow damage to pass through, it simply became a glorified fist fight. And in this glorified fist fight, Ace was the first to recognise the raw strength of Blackbeard which could break the neck of Whitebeard's second division captain. Ace was able to counter beyond the handicap which was unexpectedly forced upon him, but even with all the fire in the world at his command and a dragonball-esque spirit bomb in his hand, Blackbeard did not only emerge victorious (but I won't say unscathed, as the end is not completely shown), but also quite possibly stronger for the experience against a real opponent.
After this fight everyone, myself notably more apparantly, took notice of Blackbeard in a new light as a contender for the strongest pirate of One Piece. Though arguments often come down to his short range melee fighting style and that he takes more damage than anyone physically should be able to, I'm only here to relay the facts of his power in terms of the story so I won't post what I haven't already posted in other Blackbeard V <insertstrongguyhere> threads. Though we already guessed Blackbeard would replace Crocodile if he captured Ace, we only had to wait another few chapters for the confirmation from another Shichibukai: Kuma. Now I'm as much a fan of Kuma as I am of Blackbeard, so I take anything the rather unpredictable Shichibukai says alongside words from Oda himself. As Kuma alerts Moria of the new appointment, there is one quote I want you to pay attention to:
“Well, it's good that they've managed to fill the empty spot. That should bring back the world's equilibrium or whatever, right?” “....No. In my opinion, the situation would seem to indicate the exact opposite...but no matter.”
- Moria and Kuma: http://www.onemanga.com/One_Piece/474/13/
Though we can easily admit Blackbeard is more of an opponent than Crocodile would ever be, the balance of the world is not so delicate that by filling in the gap for a Shichibukai the balance would tip in the favour of one side. This may sound like an off-comment to some, but to me it's more Oda foreshadowing that Blackbeard is a force to be reckoned with, but more than that it's a sign that the WG is aiming for the end of the pirate era and Blackbeard is the extra force they have been searching for. However, I'm sure they are as aware as we are that Blackbeard has plans inside plans and did not accept the Shichibukai title just because it makes him feel stronger. We know Blackbeard spent a good decade or so with Whitebeard just to have the opportunity of finding a rare Devil Fruit, so his reasons for joining the Shichibukai are probably also not so black-and-white. Combine this with some words from Oda's yellow databook and we have an enemy who is as unpredictable as Oda:
Finally we have Blackbeard with the Shichibukai readying himself for Whitebeard's assault, and though by the time the confrontation actually happens this thread will possibly be archived, I will mention it here that it is almost because of Blackbeard that the WG has declared war. I can predict that Blackbeard will defeat Whitebeard and all sorts of crazy things, but for now this is where our facts with Blackbeard and his history end. Everything else is for the future (10 more years of One Piece, whoohoo!)
The Final Boss:
By comparison, from both a writer's and reader's perspectives, there are very few currently viable “Final Bosses”. The obvious candadites currently, excluding Blackbeard himself, consist of Shanks, Whitebeard, Dragon, an admiral (leaving it vague for now) and the Gorousei. I will gloss over each one below before returning to my
rant topic, but first I just have to say that my prediction of Blackbeard being the final boss is given with comparison to these other viable final bosses. I acknowledge that, given One Piece is only “half full”, someone else may appear in the future that will change my mind. So for now, this is how I view the others as possible Final Bosses with my personal ranking of how likely I feel they would be:
- Shanks – Shanks is, though a Yonkou and extremely powerful, a friend of Luffy's, and by extension, his crew. Though Shanks is one of Luffy's aims and someone Luffy may have to fight, an epic battle of friend versus friend just doesn't have the same emotion a battle to dictate the direction of the world would have. So though a Shanks fight would be epic and excellent and may even happen, because of their similar creeds it would be a battle where it really doesn't matter who wins. One Piece hasn't had any of these battles yet.
- Admiral – I would like to put money on Aokoji, but as we are yet to see Akainu (and I still think Smoker is moving up ranks fast), I won't give a name. Nevertheless, a marine enemy is an easy enemy for Oda to write and they are all quite powerful. Luffy would easily be pressed against any admiral, whether he has Haki in the future or not, so I see it as also likely. That said, I just don't feel they rate to Blackbeard and all they would do would be to deny the One Piece to Luffy rather than claim it for their own. In that way, it makes it more a battle that Luffy could flee from and come back tomorrow and try again for. Of course, it's also possible that the WG could throw any number of plot elements alongside an Admiral like Pluton. It's only number 2 because I can't figure out which Admiral I would throw against them and only Aokoji and Smoker have really been fleshed out half decently so far.
- Dragon – Well, it's been predicted by a lot of people, but I put Dragon here more because of popular opinion rather than my actual beliefs. Dragon is trying to free the world of the WG, so I'm still wondering why he'd ever fight Luffy unless its about his mother, brother, grandpa etc or Dragon is doing something evil for the greater good. Either reason to me makes it more a family squabble than an epic fight the Strawhat's can all join in on. Most wanted criminal or not, I imagine Dragon's most powerful weapon is his mouth and though he's probably strong he's probably also not one who would fight Luffy.
- Whitebeard – Well he is “The Strongest Man in the World”, but he'll be dead soon so he's only here as an obligatory cameo.
- Gorousei – Combine them with the Admirals, and they're number 1. On their own, they're just five old geezers with one sword and lots of silly hair. Did the English get Queen Elizabeth to settle any squabbles instead of the military herself? No, same thing applies as the Gorousei are just kings/dictators and nothing more.
So back to Blackbeard. Though 1 and 2 are quite possible in my opinion, I don't feel they weigh against our unlovable obese Blackbeard. When you combine his character with the many many numerous hints from Oda that set up Blackbeard as the final boss, I cannot fault him. The final boss should be an opposite from the main protagonist, have the ability to destroy their hopes and dreams and spark a battle which can not be rivalled again. Blackbeard has already shown to be similar to Luffy in respect to dreams and hopes, meaning that if one would be to win and obtain the One Piece, the other's dreams would be crushed. Blackbeard, unlike Luffy, would resort to underhanded means to get the One Piece and is a great planner, both things that Luffy would never do. Finally, the great battle at the end will surely involve all the Strawhat's, but more importantly it would need to be Luffy v Blackbeard mano e mano. Knowing Oda, there will be much more to a final battle than the 1 on 1, and though I count Blackbeard's crew I wouldn't put it past Smoker or Shanks for massive cameos in an epic confrontation of grand line proportions.
To me, Blackbeard can quite easily tick all the boxes three times over while others can usually tick them after much deliberation. If a story has a finale in which black and white is lost and grey takes over, sometimes the story ends with a feeling of disappointment. Black and white was gone from stories such as Code Geass, Darker than Black, Black Cat and Negima, and they all struggled in some of those bits as we all tried to wrap our head around it with mixed feelings. One Piece has never had shades of grey throughout fights, when Luffy sends something flying with a punch, the enemy, for the entire fight, is Black and White and this is always what happens in all the greatest battles. Arlong, Crocodile, Enel and Lucchi are all the greatest Luffy v enemy battles because the enemy has been there to crush Luffy's hopes and dreams which has thrown Luffy into a frantic determined state where he cannot be defeated.
Summary:
So in summary, Blackbeard > you. Character + build up + build-up-to-come-in-the-future = final boss and Blackbeard meets this formula. Discuss away, I'm tired after typing all this. I might as well have called it “Bittman Reviews – Chapter Blackbeard”, cleaned it up and thrown in some pretty pictures, but you can't have everything. Maybe I will later to make it easier on the eyes rather than looking over all my links and quotes.
EDIT: Crap I wrote a lot. I'm really going to have to add pictures. And a wall of text warning...
. But really who knows what Oda might come up with.
