Do you think Rocks was as impactful as Whitebeard in Marine ford??
I think he is close second but Whitebeard writing was much more peak.
What kind of impact? The amount of destruction they left in their path before death, or the actual impression they left on the fans?
Either way, if it's legacy then it's Xebec for me. He has been consistently growing up character wise ever since the backstory started, suffering no real hiccups so far.
The things Xebec achieved throughout his career left a bigger impression than what WB ever did in his entire career, and that's evident by Loki respecting him a lot:
>Killed a Marine Admiral
>Clashed equally with real Imu for a while
>Resisted control and taunted Imu about Jones to the very end
>Solo-stomped Garling, a HK, and an army of demons
>Inspired and led the actual greatest pirates of the next generation
>Infilterated Imu's headquarters and made it clear his ultimate goal was the world itself, showing the biggest ambition to date
>Recruited his crew through sheer strength by Davy Back fights
> Destroyed the Gates of Justice with his sword
>Conquered Hachinosu and from there, took down a nation, 5 towns, 76 ships, 14 ports down.
The only reason why no one speaks of Xebec when WB was alive is because he was erased from history.
The fact Oda resorted to fell Xebec through mind control instead of actually losing on panel further shows his respect to the character.