Ever since it was revealed that Kuzan is 100% an active member of the Blackbeard Pirates as its Tenth Member, there's been a lot of discussion over who will defeat Kuzan. Some people believe Kuzan will switch sides and was never truly with Blackbeard, other people believe that Trafalgar D. Law or Sanji will fight and beat Kuzan.
Sanji has no connection to Kuzan and the most people can argue is that Kuzan uses ice and Sanji uses fire, so there. Match up made. Which is the same logic that dictated King vs Sanji, so we can throw this potential match up into the dumpster.
Law is even worse off. Kuzan isn't the one who destroyed Law's submarine or brutally beat him up. That's Blackbeard, Law has nothing to do with Kuzan. This would be an even less impactful fight.
That leads us with Kuzan betraying Blackbeard, which tonally misses the entire point of Kuzan's flashback. He isn't loyal to Teach—he's apart of the crew for his own agenda, as is every other pirate. Kuzan would only betray Teach if that agenda couldn't be reached via Teach. I do not see Kuzan deciding that Teach is the wrong horse in this race now, after defeating Garp and arguably consigning him to death.
This leads Koby. Who has an obvious connection to Kuzan via their master, both using battleships as punching bags, both being prominent boxers as well. And it's not like Koby's connection ends there either. Koby has ties to Blackbeard, who recognizes him on sight, holds some value on Koby's name and takes him prisoner. Blackbeard believes Koby is valuable enough to be made legitimate.
And this all stems from Koby's involvement in Rocky Port, so Koby has a tie to both Blackbeard and Kuzan. The effective heads of the Blackbeard Pirates.
Looking at the Hachinosu chapters, it actually resembles a reverse—Marineford, stripped down a little, but the important story beats are there.
Koby = Ace
Garp=Whitebeard
Kuzan = Akainu
TL;DR
Thematically, Koby is Ace who escaped his execution.
Koby has been referred to as the future of the marines.
Koby displayed unreal attack power, a major hint that Oda has big plans for Koby in the future (you don't randomly make characters stronger if you have no intention of using said strength).
Koby's ties to both Blackbeard & Kuzan guarantees that he's going to be the one to take down Kuzan, allying Luffy in a move that is identical to Rox fighting Roger & Garp.
Some tags: @Veku @Shiroyru @HA D CLOWN @General MonsterZoro @Natalija @Gol D. Roger @Elder Lee Hung @MarineHQ @Philosoraptor
Sanji has no connection to Kuzan and the most people can argue is that Kuzan uses ice and Sanji uses fire, so there. Match up made. Which is the same logic that dictated King vs Sanji, so we can throw this potential match up into the dumpster.
Law is even worse off. Kuzan isn't the one who destroyed Law's submarine or brutally beat him up. That's Blackbeard, Law has nothing to do with Kuzan. This would be an even less impactful fight.
That leads us with Kuzan betraying Blackbeard, which tonally misses the entire point of Kuzan's flashback. He isn't loyal to Teach—he's apart of the crew for his own agenda, as is every other pirate. Kuzan would only betray Teach if that agenda couldn't be reached via Teach. I do not see Kuzan deciding that Teach is the wrong horse in this race now, after defeating Garp and arguably consigning him to death.
This leads Koby. Who has an obvious connection to Kuzan via their master, both using battleships as punching bags, both being prominent boxers as well. And it's not like Koby's connection ends there either. Koby has ties to Blackbeard, who recognizes him on sight, holds some value on Koby's name and takes him prisoner. Blackbeard believes Koby is valuable enough to be made legitimate.
And this all stems from Koby's involvement in Rocky Port, so Koby has a tie to both Blackbeard and Kuzan. The effective heads of the Blackbeard Pirates.
Looking at the Hachinosu chapters, it actually resembles a reverse—Marineford, stripped down a little, but the important story beats are there.
Koby = Ace
Both are young, powerful and well respected individuals in their factions. Koby is known as a hero and highly valued as a hostage by Blackbeard himself. Meanwhile, Ace was a big enough shot to turn down a Warlord invitation and then challenge Jinbe, beat him, then be recruited as the 2nd Commander in Whitebeard's crew.
Both require being rescued by their allies and mentor figure. Additionally, both are shocked at those who arrive to save them.
Both require being rescued by their allies and mentor figure. Additionally, both are shocked at those who arrive to save them.
Garp=Whitebeard
Very self explanatory. Both are big dogs of the oldgen, legends of their factions and arrive with a ballsy attitude to rescue their students / underlings. Both suffer similar injuries, being weakened and stabbed in the chest.
The parallels keep coming.
The parallels keep coming.
Another very obvious case—both of these guys were the only forces to take on the old legends in their respective battles. We don't see any Blackbeard pirate lasting more than a panel against Garp. Even Shiryu was punked after impaling Garp, whereas Kuzan keeps getting up for more. Very similar to Akainu in Marineford.
But the biggest parallel between them is visual. One Piece is a visual media and as such, Oda's art is responsible for telling a massive chunk of the story, including foreshadowing and drawing allusions to other works or even moments in One Piece.
But the biggest parallel between them is visual. One Piece is a visual media and as such, Oda's art is responsible for telling a massive chunk of the story, including foreshadowing and drawing allusions to other works or even moments in One Piece.
TL;DR
Thematically, Koby is Ace who escaped his execution.
Koby has been referred to as the future of the marines.
Koby displayed unreal attack power, a major hint that Oda has big plans for Koby in the future (you don't randomly make characters stronger if you have no intention of using said strength).
Koby's ties to both Blackbeard & Kuzan guarantees that he's going to be the one to take down Kuzan, allying Luffy in a move that is identical to Rox fighting Roger & Garp.
Some tags: @Veku @Shiroyru @HA D CLOWN @General MonsterZoro @Natalija @Gol D. Roger @Elder Lee Hung @MarineHQ @Philosoraptor
