AsOne Pieceenters its final saga following the end of the Egghead arc, the series is officially approaching its conclusion, though that will still take a few years. With an end to such an expansive story, many plot threads need to be tied up, and one of the biggest of these is the final meeting between Shanks and Blackbeard, where most fans of the series theorize Shanks will finally meet his end.
However, as epic and gripping as this final confrontation is bound to be, it will also answer some important thematic questions that are bound to have far-reaching consequences for the world ofOne Piece. WithShanks serving as Luffy’s greatest inspirationand Blackbeard on his way to becoming Luffy’s greatest enemy, let’s see why the destined clash between these legendary figures may be the story’s most important!
The Superior Power System
Devil Fruits vs. Haki
The debate about the superior power system in theOne Pieceworld has been raging ever since Haki was officially introduced into the series. While the answer to this is fairly straight forward, consideringHaki serves as the only way to counter Devil Fruits(especially Logia types), it’s not quite as simple in this specific case. This is because both of these characters essentially represent the apex of their respective powers.
For Shanks, he has perhaps the greatest Conquerer’s Haki in the current setting, save for Imu and the Gorosei, though theirs still have no confirmed feat. Because of this, many still believe that he is the most powerful Yonko of them all, a statement that does have a lot of reasoning behind it due to how he was able to incapacitate an Admiral of the Navy from very far away.
Blackbeard, on the other hand, has perhaps the most powerful Logia type Devil Fruit in the entire setting, which allows him to lay entire cities to waste with a single attack and can even negate other Devil Fruit powers. Moreover, he shocked the world at Marineford when he somehow stole and consumedWhitebeard’s world-destroying Gura Gura no Mi, which just happens to be the most powerful Paramecia type. Many fan theories state that he will also eventually gain an exponentially powerful Zoan type as well.
While Haki is the perfect way to battle someone in a more hands-on way, Devil Fruits give the user a whole host of unpredictable and overpowered abilities that really can make a difference in a fight, especially since Blackbeard possesses the most powerful Devil Fruits in two different categories. Since Teach most likely has all 3 types of Haki himself, his Devil Fruits more than make up the difference in power between his and Shanks' mastery of it
.Their final confrontation seeks to finally answer this age-old question; which is the better power system to have inOne Piece, Haki or Devil Fruits? With Shanks and Blackbeard beingdeliberately framed as oppositesfor many reasons, their ultimate battle will finally give fans the answer they have been wanting for years, which is further reinforced with their crews echoing this theme. Shanks’s crew is filled with only Haki users whereas Blackbeard’s crew’s main goal is to go around collecting powerful Devil Fruits.
Despite this fight serving as a direct answer to this question, many don’t think that this will be a fair fight. Blackbeard wants to take the shortcut for everything by taking strong Devil Fruits and stocking up on them, gaining his power without working for it since he always plays dirty. Shanks, however, has worked hard and built up his strength by perfecting his willpower and Haki. So, even if Shanks were to win this fight fairly, Blackbeard might just take the underhanded approach and kill him through some cheap shot!
Other Thematic Connections
Other connections Shanks and Blackbeard share
Other than just being the best representative of each ofOne Piece’spower systems, theconnections between these two charactersrun even deeper, which is why their eventual showdown will hit home even more. For starters, on top of the previously mentioned associations, Blackbeard and Shanks are the inheritors of the wills of some of the most important characters in the history of the franchise.
Since he was the apprentice on the ship of the Pirate King, many felt that Shanks is the inheritor of Roger’s will as an incredibly powerful pirate whose strength comes purely from Haki, who commanded utter loyalty from his crew and contemporaries. On the other hand, Blackbeard is seen as the second-coming of the legendary Rocks D. Xebec due to his overwhelmingly evil nature and dream to rule the world as the only other evil D. clan member.
I’ll stop for now. I got what I came here for. It’s still a little early to be fighting you guys!
When recalling the accounts of both of these characters' clash at God Valley, Sengoku revealed thatRocks was Roger’s greatest rivaland the incident at God Valley was the last time he was seen, definitely foreshadowing the eventual clash between Shanks and Blackbeard. To see who will emerge as the victor, fans just have to wait patiently until the story reaches its final stages!
MORE:Dragon Ball: The Unreal Potential of Half-Saiyans, Explained
One Piece
One Piece is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. The series follows protagonist Monkey D. Luffy and his Straw Hat Pirate crew as they explore the Grand Line to find the King of the Pirates' ultimate treasure, the One Piece, to become the next king. The manga’s popularity helped it spin off into a larger media franchise, including an anime with more than 1,000 episodes.
