I hope they give him something other than generic tough guy attitude
Yeah completely agree. There's so much wonderful potential for nuance with him. Oda loves to subvert expectations and make some characters have completely different, surprising sides to them so I pray Akainu is like that too.
If Hibari is really his daughter too, that adds so much potential to how Oda set up Akainu vs Koby as characters and literally even. Koby is the Antithesis/Opposite of Akainu and Hibari would be the perfect ironic bridge between them. The one to maybe make them even work together when necessary and to be the hilarious awkward future father-in-law to Koby if Koby and Hibari get together and married, with Akainu disapproving of Koby entirely and trying to kill him as well as comparing him to the previous Marine Hero Garp and the guy who seems to have inspired Akainu the most too lol. (I really feel Garp inspired Akainu heavily, as well as Zephyr).
That cover page of him tending to the Bonsai with his BFF Kizaru showed a more tender side to him and I like to think he would be upset if something happened to Kizaru or vice versa. The fact he chose to spare Aokiji when he shouldn't have had to nor would he usually, given his track record, showed he does have a sense of honour, respect and even mercy surprisingly, which made me like him more too.
I was talking to a friend earlier on how Akainu can truly be a tragic character by the end of the story too, very easily. The potential is there. He's similar to Inspector Javert from Les Miserables and thus characters like that can have bittersweet to tragic revelations and fates too.
I genuinely find most of the Admirals really fascinating. Like Woro, Franky, Brook, Jinbei, Robin etc, there's subtle layers to their characters.
In this song too, Akainu shows a much cooler, more proud and inspiring side to him too:
An almost "romantic" side to him even, especially in the adventure/bravado sense too.
The autumn leaves are a beautiful magma color.
After you saw the autumn leaves, you returned to the route.
It reminds you of family.
After you ate maple manjuu, you returned to work.
Be sure not to live disgracefully.
Once you fall behind,
you can't take the frontlines for your whole life.
Holding up thorough justice,
invincible, it's kill or be killed.
Battle without honor!
The villains you hate push you too far.
Abuse! Come, blow out the flame.
The red hot magma..
is prepared.
After you saw the carps fighting, you returned to the route.
It beats at your bravery.
After you ate lots of oysters, you returned to work.
You fight with those guys towards that sea.
Once you feel fear,
you can't win against yourself for your whole life.
The alarm ringing on the wanted poster,
burning, it's catch or be caught.
Battle without honor!
It's a fate where pirates don't prosper.
We'll win! Come, roar out, color it.
This naval bond...
is kicking about.
Battle without honor!
The villains you hate push you too far.
Abuse! Come, blow out the flame.
The red hot magma..
is prepared.
If you say I “won't run away,”
you're already living, don't give up,
you idiots!
Both him and Fujitora as well as some other characters like Woro ofc and Doflamingo have amazing songs like these too! Akainus and Fujitoras songs really hit different, especially when you know the lyrics too.