I'm sure many of us predicted something along these lines once. I swear I predicted there would be someone who could steal other powers or use numerous ones which would be the final big bad of One Piece. And it came. The reasoning of having an irregular structure was perplexing as I assumed it was eating two fruits which killed you and Blackbeard was able to absorb the Tremor-Tremor fruit, however iRakan's theory is wonderful. Either way, as dumb and thoughtless and cruel and arrogant as Blackbeard can be this plan was genius. From the beginning he joined Whitebeard to find the Dark-Dark fruit and even killed a nakama for it. Then he went to find Luffy and his plan changed as he got an even bigger fish to fry, Ace. Sending Ace to the navy ignited a war and got him a position as a warlord where he was able to then get an all powerful crew of prisoners with the promise that they could ride on the trail of being nakama of the pirate king, and he was able to finish Whitebeard off and use his Dark-Dark fruit to steal the power that can destroy the world. He now has two hands, one of the power to annihilate anything and invalidate power users, and one which can destroy all. And, we saw his entire journey to getting into this position, it was happening in the background of the series since freaking Jaya and he has not appeared as overpowered even with his Dark-Dark fruit before now. He nearly died to a half dead Whitebeard a second ago for crying out loud. He's just been one resolved and determined guy on the path to enacting a plan to become the king of pirates... As disgusting as he is I can respect how genius this whole plan was and I love that he didn't start as a giant looming threat, instead we saw his whole journey to becoming one and we even saw his young self on the Whitebeard crew before he killed Thatch. This was awesome. I do presume he cannot have that many powers however as if he could he may as well kill and take every power user's power he can find, maybe the limit will be 2, one for each hand.
To touch on two other bits I liked, firstly I cried a little when Jimbei was saving Luffy and Hancock was defending him from the Pacifista's. Luffy may not have been strong enough but his will and his empathy were enough to gain Jimbei's respect. Even in the bloodshed and misery that has been ongoing, this is a bond that has been made. Luffy is held in such high regard that Jimbei isn't protecting him as Ace's younger brother but instead is willing to die for him like he would have died for Ace. That is a powerful outcome of his battle. Plus Ivan and Inazuma came in to help in that ridiculously cool way too, Luffy has made some serious allies over the course of Amazon Lily to here.
Lastly, I went from seeing the beauty in that to feeling such dense hopelessness. This war isn't even over yet, Blackbeard is here as perhaps the strongest person ever to be in terms of powers and the Navy are already weak from what's happened. And the admirals are freezing the darn ocean to stop the Whitebeard's from escaping and Akainu is confronting Jimbei and Luffy... Could this get even worse??? Oh my gosh. At least it means Luffy may get to avenge Ace one day since Whitebeard fell short. Seeing how Luffy would interact with the man who didn't just hurt his loved ones but killed one of them would be something for sure...
P.S. Croc and Rayleigh's reactions to Whitebeard falling got to me the most. Rayleigh's sad acceptance that it was his time, that he was gone now was melancholic.. and Crocodile showed some real emotions this arc.. I am looking forward to where Oda goes with him! I think we totally saw a new side to him, it made him feel human with how connected he is to other people and how badly he wanted to beat Whitebeard at his full strength, potentially going as far to save Ace and protect Luffy to win the war against the navy. Incredible stuff. |