The last chapter gave me a feeling we are not far from the final arc of the story. As we are also on a break week, it might be a good time to discuss this topic. I want to see with a poll what the majority think about it. This is not a straightforward debate as it revolves around the core story and arc structures of One Piece. Right now, there are three main candidates =>
1) Akainu:
For many, he is the obvious answer. Many believe there will be a major war against the WG after Luffy gets One Piece due to the final speech from Whitebeard =>
In that sense, the natural order of the last two arcs of One Piece are:
(1) Raftel arc, where the strawhats battle the Blackbeard pirates, and Luffy gets the One Piece and becomes the PK
(2) Final war arc against the WG
As admirals are WG's greatest fighting force, Akainu is the only choice as Luffy's opponent.
People also presents these evidences for Akainu as the EoS opponent =>
- Akainu killed Ace. It would be a poetic justice for Luffy beating Akainu in the final battle.
- Luffy's reaction to Akainu's name =>
- Akainu gave Luffy a visible scar
2) Blackbeard:
We all know Luffy will fight Blackbeard. The rivalry started since their introduction =>
Jinbei said to Luffy he has a score to settle with Blackbeard =>
Luffy still get pissed when he hear Blackbeard's name =>
The question is, will it be the final fight of Luffy of the series? If there is a final war after Luffy gets One Piece, how can Blackbeard be a part of it? There is a lot of options for Oda.
@Celestial D. Dragon had a neat prediction which made a lot of sense to me. I will just copy his quote here =>
"I don't think Blackbeard cares to be Pirate King..... I think he's aiming for the "empty throne" of Mariejois. He wants Im's seat, and wants to rule the world like Xebec did. I think he'll succeed to, and it'll set up Luffy the Pirate King, vs Blackbeard "The King of the World"
Blackbeard is an opportunist, and I 100 percent see him capitalizing on the Revolutionaries going to war with the World Government, and using it as a means to invade and take over Mariejois.
If we follow the pattern of Blackbeard, he's always managed to one up Luffy in every regard. Luffy set out to gather a crew and become infamous, and has slowly been building that up over the course of his adventure. Blackbeard managed to do that in one fell swoop. When Luffy became a Supernova, Blackbeard became a member of the Shichibukai. Blackbeard becomes a full blown Yonko, while Luffy manages to become an unofficial Emperor of the Sea.
Everything Luffy does, Blackbeard manages to trump it. That is how Oda has built this guy up, and so it stands to reason, that when Luffy becomes Pirate King, Blackbeard will trump it. And the way he can do that, is by making it to the "Empty Throne" that sits atop Mariejois. It is no coincidence that Oda introduced Xebec and gave him a dream that exceeds Pirate King, and then has been dropping hints left and right that Blackbeard seems to be following the same path as Xebec.
Another blaring indicator that makes this seem to be the case, is Blackbeard didn't start to make a move until word got out that the Revolutionaries had assaulted Mariejois. The Revolutionaries have made their move, and now Blackbeard is starting to make his.
What happened last time Shanks turned up at someones doorstep to talk to them about Blackbeard? Whitebeard didn't heed his warning, and both him and Ace lost their lives. Now we have Shanks doing the exact same thing with the Gorosei. Sure it's not concrete that he wanted to talk about Blackbeard, but he's the prime suspect, and if that's the case, I can see history repeating itself with the Gorosei and Celestial Dragons, just like how Blackbeard essentially caused the downfall of the Whitebeard Pirates.
There is just too many subtle and not so subtle hints out there that point to Blackbeard going in a complete opposite direction in the story that most people believe he will, and for that reason I stand by the belief that he will be Luffy's Final opponent."
3) IMU:
Since the introduction of Imu, we have another candidate from the WG side who could be the final opponent of Luffy. Not much is known of Imu, but Luffy and Blackbeard seemed to be his target.
Give solid predictions based on how you think the final arc will play out. Some tags =>