Yeah but I mean, Blackbeard is rather Luffy's Mihawk. He's his rival, yes, but Blackbeard is so much ahead of Luffy, bringing him up as an equation is kinda faulty tbh.
Meanwhile, the gap between Kidd and Luffy is much closer than the gap between Luffy and Blackbeard.
Yet again, it's about your point of view whom you consider Luffy's true rival. And even if Blackbeard is Luffy's 'true' rival, we can say at least that Kidd is a much better rival to Luffy than the other supernovas, including Law.
Meanwhile, the gap between Kidd and Luffy is much closer than the gap between Luffy and Blackbeard.
Yet again, it's about your point of view whom you consider Luffy's true rival. And even if Blackbeard is Luffy's 'true' rival, we can say at least that Kidd is a much better rival to Luffy than the other supernovas, including Law.
Better take is "Worst gen" and Blackbeard is part of it and also at the top.
Luffy rivalry with Blackbeard goes beyond just who will best each other in beating opponents like in case of kidd and luffy.
Their rivalry touches ideological clash at the grass root level to the highest level of reward - being PK.
They both compete for same but much bigger objective - have their dreams materialized but in complete opposite way.