Future Events Poll: Who is the EoS opponent of Luffy based on your predictions for the final arc?

Who is Luffy's final opponent?

  • Akainu

  • Blackbeard

  • Imu


Results are only viewable after voting.
Blackbeard for me, Im the second choice. I see no opportunity for Sakazuki being the final villain, he’s irrelevant to the main mysteries of One Piece- the Will of D, Laugh Tale and the One Piece, the Void Century, Im, Joyboy, and the Ancient Weapons.

I’ve always thought it would be Blackbeard- the reveal of Rocks just confirmed that. You have a guy- a D nonetheless- that was so dangerous, that Roger and Garp had to team up to defeat, defending the Celestial Dragons in the process? This means Rocks was someone who made the Celestial Dragons look like the lesser evil? And Blackbeard has taken his island, named his ship after him and tried to do what he did by gathering a bunch of famous pirates under his name? How can people not see what is happening here? I wouldn’t be surprised if Rock’s had the darkness fruit originally, given Blackbeard’s obsession with him. Blackbeard looks very much to have inherited his will, and that means, like i posted yesterday, him aiming to place his fat ass on the Empty Throne.

Also as an aside, not only is Blackbeard the next coming of Rocks, he’s also an evil version of Whitebeard. Father and “son”, the person who killed WB, stole his DF and his Yonko place. His crew is set up in the same ways as having “divisions”. I think that Whiebeard’s old WSM title will be resurrected for him. Even their epithet’s are mirror images of each other- White and Black Beard.

One Piece is the story of Luffy and Blackbeard’s rise. Two D’s who are tearing down the Balance of Power and the established order, freedom vs anarchy. Look at the story as a whole. East Blue, a long prologue of sorts (hence Loguetown being the last island there) introducing us to our hero. Then comes Part One, Paradise, where Luffy and Blackbeard’s parallel rise is entwined with each other. Just look at the story.

-Blackbeard murders Thatch, setting Ace into the New World and panicking Shanks
-Blackbeard wrecks Drum, which leads to Luffy going there and saving it, getting a crewmate
-Luffy meets up with Ace who is hunting Blackbeard, and Luffy defeats Warlord Crocodile. This puts Luffy, Blackbeard and Ace on a collision course and has massive repercussions for the rest of the series. As an aside, Shanks plans to meet Blackbeard
-Jaya, Luffy and Blackbeard first meet, have an instinctive recognition that something is special about the other. Man’s dreams never end. Blackbeard applies for the role in the Warlords that is open because of Luffy, and decides that he’ll capture him. We see Blackbeard’s crew mirrors Luffy’s in many ways
-Ennies Lobby. Luffy and Blackbeard announce themselves to the world. Luffy defeats CP9, Blackbeard captures Ace and becomes a Warlord. Shanks meets Blackbeard solely to talk about how worried he is about Blackbeard, revealing that he was the one who scarred him.
-Thriller Bark and Saobody, it’s revealed that Blackbeard’s capture of Ace has resulted in him being in line to be executed, with a war between Whitebeard and the Warlords planned
-Impel Down, Luffy and Blackbeard’s first fight, where the two fight fairly evenly. Blackbeard meets his own powerful swordsman. There’s mention of some infamous, powerful pirates who’s very existence the World Gov has hidden.
-Marineford, Luffy‘s attempt to free Ace, breakout of ID, relationship to Dragon and CoC reveal all make him stand out. Blackbeard reveals his new, full crew, that he’s the only person in the world with two DF powers and kills Whitebeard.

Absolutely no other villain has any build up even slightly comparing to that. That’s a story that has been built up carefully throughout the entiroety of Paradise, intwined with Luffy. Now, Blackbeard’s had to take a but of a lesser role in the New World while Kaido and Big Mom get dealt with, but that’s just because the best is being saved for last. Look at the tidbits we’ve had about him since, it’s all leading up to great things. There’s the already mentioned Rocks parallels, but in addition to that we have

-the Worst Gen. That is literally only a thing to put Luffy and Blackbeard in the same generation. Nobody in-series refers to the Supernova anymore, it’s all Worst Gen.
-going into the New World, Blackbeard’s rise (and the fact he’s hunting DFs) being one of the two big changes
-Chinjao says he’s the only one with potential
-Aokiji has joined Blackbeard
-Blackbeard destroys Baltigo
-Blackbeard won the Payback War
-Im seems to consider Blackbeard and Luffy equal threats
-the little tidbit in Oden’s flashback about Blackbeard never sleeping
-Blackbeard is off to do some mischief after what happened in Reverie, he’s ready to hit the limelight again.

And Shanks’ warning about a ”certain pirate” to the Gorosei, even if its not about Blackbeard directly, almost certainly ties into him in some way since the two are always linked.

And in addition to Blackbeard himself, just a smaller mention- no other organistion has a crew that is so perfectly matched to the Strawhats as a whole. The Marines don’t, the Gorosei are by design a homogenous blob of soulless bureaucratic stagnation. In the Ten Titanic Captains you’ve got the perfect evil mirrors of the Strawhats lined up- that’s why they were the only other crew where each members position was revealed initially. They’ll hunt down DFs that perfectly oppose the crew. Every one of them is real, nasty, evil piece of shit, with a great, unique design.

There’s this arguemnt that persists that somehow Blackbeard is some sort of gatekeeper villain to be dealt with before the final war and it honestly just baffles me. Why would Oda be casting this unique, longrunning villaim aside before the endgame? The final war is meant to be the one that makes Marineford look small (not Wano, which i see people saying a lot), why exactly would Blackbeard not be involved in that? Because Whitebeard said he wasn’t Joyboy, basically? Yeah, that’s no surprise, was anyone reading One Piece and thinking “I bet Roger was actually waiting for Blackbeard instead of Luffy.” Because Luffy needs to “challenge the world to a fight?” Sorry, is Blackbeard some sort of alien that doesn’t count as a part of the world (actually maybe, depending on the people from the moon), but anyway, Blackbeard on the Empty Throne as King of the World like Rocks wanted would fulfil that regardless.

Im, I see the argument, I don’t think it would be as good (that doesn’t mean it’s bad, but Im would have a hell of a lot to do in a short time to catchup with Blackbeard) and I don’t think it’s were the story is going. Mostly because of the glory of Blackbeard, but also because I’m 99% certain Im is a woman- Oda does not have powerful men relaxing with butterflies in a room called the flower garden, and that really looks like a dress with a train that Im is wearing. Im being the Final One Piece Princess, wouldn’t surprise me at all.

That was a lot longer than I thought it would be
Very good post man.

And in addition to Blackbeard himself, just a smaller mention- no other organistion has a crew that is so perfectly matched to the Strawhats as a whole. The Marines don’t, the Gorosei are by design a homogenous blob of soulless bureaucratic stagnation. In the Ten Titanic Captains you’ve got the perfect evil mirrors of the Strawhats lined up- that’s why they were the only other crew where each members position was revealed initially. They’ll hunt down DFs that perfectly oppose the crew. Every one of them is real, nasty, evil piece of shit, with a great, unique design.
This is very true. Their numbers perfectly align with the strawhats, as if they are set for their final battle. We even got a proper story of how Blackbeard recruited his swordsman.

Im, I see the argument, I don’t think it would be as good (that doesn’t mean it’s bad, but Im would have a hell of a lot to do in a short time to catchup with Blackbeard) and I don’t think it’s were the story is going. Mostly because of the glory of Blackbeard, but also because I’m 99% certain Im is a woman- Oda does not have powerful men relaxing with butterflies in a room called the flower garden, and that really looks like a dress with a train that Im is wearing. Im being the Final One Piece Princess, wouldn’t surprise me at all.
Lately I am also entertaining the idea that Imu can be a woman.
 

Bogard

You can't win
The final villain will be between Blackbeard and Imu imo.

The historical conflict since one piece started has always been between Ds and Celestial Dragons

> Existence of the ancient kingdom that has been erased by them


> Said ancient kingdom who had enemies

> And with the alliance of nation creating the land of mariejoa

With Ds viewed as enemies of the gods(celestial dragons)



So because of this, alone i think the final arc will resolve more around the Ds and Celestial Dragons than marines who are more used by the world government in the entire thing(Gorosei using Cp0 behind Akainu's back for a deal with Doflamingo, them using Cp0 to keep tabs on Wano without marines knowing, Aokiji deserting the world government after believing they aren't the end of all, Fujitora doubting the world government behaviour and so on).

----

And beyond this, i believe this picture in particular suggest there would be a meeting between Imu, Blackbeard and Luffy

With Blackbeard representing the "evil D" aiming at overthrowing the Celestial Dragons and reign supreme in an era of terror, disliking "boring peace" in MF while attempting to sink everything

With aims at controlling the world



With his behaviour being too evil imo for Whitebeard to realize Roger wouldn't root for him since he'd try to destroy the world and create his era of terror instead of seeking peace.

Hence why i think that overall the final villain will be between Imu/Gorosei and Blackbeard
 
The final villain will be between Blackbeard and Imu imo.

The historical conflict since one piece started has always been between Ds and Celestial Dragons

> Existence of the ancient kingdom that has been erased by them


> Said ancient kingdom who had enemies

> And with the alliance of nation creating the land of mariejoa

With Ds viewed as enemies of the gods(celestial dragons)



So because of this, alone i think the final arc will resolve more around the Ds and Celestial Dragons than marines who are more used by the world government in the entire thing(Gorosei using Cp0 behind Akainu's back for a deal with Doflamingo, them using Cp0 to keep tabs on Wano without marines knowing, Aokiji deserting the world government after believing they aren't the end of all, Fujitora doubting the world government behaviour and so on).

----

And beyond this, i believe this picture in particular suggest there would be a meeting between Imu, Blackbeard and Luffy

With Blackbeard representing the "evil D" aiming at overthrowing the Celestial Dragons and reign supreme in an era of terror, disliking "boring peace" in MF while attempting to sink everything

With aims at controlling the world



With his behaviour being too evil imo for Whitebeard to realize Roger wouldn't root for him since he'd try to destroy the world and create his era of terror instead of seeking peace.

Hence why i think that overall the final villain will be between Imu/Gorosei and Blackbeard
If Oda is going to to a big war as the finale then ivolving BBP, Imu/Gorosei/CP0, Ancient Weapons, Revs and other allies makes sense, no coincidence BB is a D also, while the Gorosei/Im view them as sworn enemies.
 

nik87

Kitetsu Wanker
Imu or Blackbeard depending on who comes last.
If SHs defeat BB pirates before facing the WG then it is Imu.
If SHs take on WG before facing BBPs then Blackbeard will slide in towards the end and do to Imu what he did to Whitebeard and possibly obtain Imu's DF which would complete his trinity theme.

The issue with that scenario is that all the SHs are going to be in a bad shape from previous fights.
However, every problem has a solution, Mansherry could give them a fighting chance.
If BBPs are scheduled to appear that late in the story then my theory of RHP united with CP0 crushing the BBPs during Wano could come true. That could be what Oda meant with Shanks starting to move.
 
Im's the leader of the World Government, manipulating everything from the shadows. Pretty much every iffy order the Marines have been asked to do is due to the government that Im runs. I think they'll be the last opponent. Luffy's dream is to be the freest man alive and Im, who's in charge of the government that's in control of most of the world, will likely be his last opponent.

Blackbeard will definitely be a major antagonist and he'll be Luffy's biggest rival to finding the One Piece but I don't think he'll be final villain. Akainu and Luffy have plenty of reason to fight (Akainu mentally and physically scaring Luffy, Akainu making it his goal to hunt down all Pirates while Luffy wants to be Pirate King) and Akainu is Fleet Admiral, I don't think he'll be final villain but he'll definitely be an important one and Luffy will likely take care of him.
 
I honestly think Luffy v Akainu is the big finale and that Imu is a just figurehead in so far as fighting is concerned.
Luffy is Roger's successor, Blackbeard is Xebec's. Blackbeard isn't the D. to challenge the WG, so he loses before the finale. Luffy picks up where Roger left off AFTER he beats Teach for the title of PK, so the story doesn't end at Laugh Tale.
"B-but Akainu is too weak to fight the PK!" No more so than Sengoku or Garp were. *IF* the admirals are roughly individually on par with the yonko then Luffy vs the admirals is a bigger feat the fighting one or even 2 yonko (admirals) in the same arc. Luffy vs the marines is akin to Luffy and friends vs Kaido, Big Mom, Shanks, and Teach all in one arc.


Thoughts: Aokiji was willing to kill Luffy during Marineford and outright killed fellow marine Saul during Ohara, so whilst he might not agree with Akainu's unnuanced sense of justice he's still a marine through and through. And as an admiral he served the CDs directly unlike Garp. He's not a pirate and his actions up to this point suggest he views the WG as the lesser of two evils; I don't put much stock into him "joining" Blackbeard. I'm convinced he's working for SWORD or was transferred to Cipher Pol (under Kong) to avoid working directly under Akainu.
 
I would personally absolutely love this sequence, hope it comes to fruition:

Luffy v Akainu
Luffy v Teach
Luffy v Im

I would also like if he took on Big Mom first either and not necessarily in this one arc. It would depend on how fast Oda wants to end the series in my book.
 
@Myuu
The thing is we need a character who embodies the evil of the grander one piece story line - the ancient kingdom - D clan - void century...........and we need them to be defeated.........if imu is just a figure head like spandam then it will be very underwhelmeing.........no matter how much powerful akainu is he has his own reasoning - dark justice , he doesn't covers the entire grand one piece story line........
Imu has to be a powerhouse who is holding the string and should be defeated in a physical combat by luffy to complete the circle of one piece story.......
 
Luffy is not fighting Akainu. Sabo is. Or even Garp who knows.


I'm not sure if BlackBeard is fighting Luffy. He probably fight Shanks. But many things can happen. BB can turn into allie to Luffy, they have similar dreams to be free. Different visions but same path or same vision but different paths? Not sure. But is a possibility.

Only Im-sama is 100% sure to be his enemy. BB has nothing against Luffy and Luffy should have nothing against him. Akainu has issues with Luffy.
 
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