Summary
The Final War ofOne Pieceis poised to be the most significant event in the entire history of the franchise as it has been prophesied since the Void Century ended 800 years ago. Set in motion by Joyboy, this conflict will finally see the end of the corrupt rule of Imu and the Celestial Dragons, ushering in a new dawn for the world and all the people within it who have been oppressed for centuries.
As such, everything regarding this event can be traced back to Imu, who not only served asthe main enemy of Joyboybut has also been built up as the most powerful and significant threat Luffy will have to defeat at the end ofOne Piece. However, many fans believe that Oda is setting up a massive twist after Luffy defeats this villain, opening the door for the perfect ending to the series, so let’s see what this could be.
Luffy’s Evil Parallel Will Be The Final Villain
Blackbeard’s First Appearance
One Piece, Chapter 223, “I Promise Never to Fight in This Town”
Imu’s First Appearance
One Piece, Chapter 906, “The Holy Land May Geoise”
When theOne Piecestory began to expand into a global conflict involving everyone, fans began to question the role that Blackbeard would play in the whole thing. After all, Imu has beenalive since the Void Centuryand is presumably the culprit behind the state that the world has been in for 800 years, so, naturally, everyone assumes that they will be the ultimate villain of the story.
Although Blackbeard is somewhat of a wildcard in this regard, fans have always known that he is incredibly important to the story and especially Luffy’s journey, since he is essentially a mirror-opposite of the protagonist. Their goals are the same but they each want to achieve them for completely different reasons, with Luffy wanting to be the Pirate King to be the most free person in the world, while Blackbeard wants to become the King of the World so he can control it.
Fate has chosen me to conquer this world!
However, at the current moment, it seems that neither of them are on the level of Imu, who has used their appearance on Elbaf to show abilities that seemingly no one has an answer for. However, Egghead proved thatJoyboy was definitely within the same tier of strengthas Imu, if not higher, which clearly indicates that Luffy will also reach such overwhelming levels of power in order to defeat this villain, which will likely only happen at the close of the Final War. This is where Blackbeard comes in.
Teach has cemented himself as one of the most cunning characters in the entire franchise, since he never overestimates his strength and strikes in the most opportune moments for him and his crew. He understands that victory is always more important than honor, so he picks his moments wisely to ensure it for himself. Even so, he is still one of the most powerful characters in the entire setting as the only person with the ability to use more than one Devil Fruit power, and currently, he has the strongest Logia and Paramecia Devil Fruits.
This has prompted an interesting theory among the fandom about Blackbeard’s final Devil Fruit, which will be the strongest Mythical Zoan that is most likely in the possession of none other than Imu currently. The theory states thatBlackbeard will steal Imu’s Devil Fruitto become the greatest powerhouse in the history ofOne Piece, but how would something like this come about considering the overwhelming strength of Imu and the sneaky methods of Blackbeard?
How Likely Is This To Happen At The End Of The Story?
There Is A High Probability
Unlike many otherOne Piecetheories, this is one that a large portion of the fandom agrees with since it not only gives a great way to includethe two main enemies of the storysimultaneously, but also provides the perfect final villain that everyone may have to come together to defeat. This is also perfectly in line with the personalities and journeys of all the characters who would have a direct part to play here.
The main reason that Blackbeard could work better as a final villain than Imu is due to his entire journey and the parallels he has to Luffy. He shows that even if one thing in his development went differently, he could have ended up on an arc that’s exactly the same as Luffy, and vice versa. Blackbeard being the final villain would be an incredible close to not only his and Luffy’s character arcs, but to theOne Piecestory in general.
