@Dan:
I have something to say that'll probably be pretty controversial. Of course, no offence to any big Blackbeard fans around here.
This weeks chapter really illustrates why i absolutely HATE the idea of Blackbeard as the final villain and why he would utterly fail in that role. Teach and Hody are a lot a like, and equally unimpressive to me. You see, they aren't responsible for their own power. With Hody it's the ES. Without it, he's useless and a threat to no one. The exact same thing is true of Blackbeard, but in relation to his fruits. If he hadn't stumbled ass backwards into the Yami fruit, he'd still be sitting on his ass being the non-factor that he was for decades. That kind of character leaves me feeling empty when they're thrust into the role of big baddie. Especially when you contrast that to someone like Luffy who's always worked hard to become as skillful and powerful as they are, and it really falls flat. Most of the imporant players in One Peice are similar to Luffy like that. Blackbeard is anomalous in that sense, and not in a good way.
It's one thing with Hody who is an out-of-his-league arc villain, but with the final villain of the whole series? The highest hurdle? The most important single foe? No thank you.
And at least with Hody, he doesn't seem to be a complete coward. He just lacked the power. I don't think you'd ever see him bagging for his life or running away from an opponent. But Blackbeard does do that kind of thing. Even when it was time for him to get another power up, he beats up on a nearly dead guy with his whole crew. Lame.
To me Blackbeard just does not possess the gravitas of a truly great final villain. And if he ever does find himself with enough power to be a real threat to end-game Luffy, it would feel cheap to me. Much in the same way it does now with Hody. They're both pretty much a couple of weak-ass cheaters. But that's fitting for someone in Hody's position, but completely unbecoming of such an important character as the final villain.
Heh, i want to say though, believe it or not, i don't actually hate Blackbeard. I think he's a very good villain. The kind of character you love to hate. I just really really feel he's a horrible fit in the role of final villain. And honestly i don't expect him to actually fill that role either. but maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part.
I understand where you're coming from… but I have to disagree with some points.
Firstly, I'll say that we don't know what Blackbeard did his early years, but we DO know he gave Shanks his scars twelve years before the current storyline, which I interpret as a major feat, assuming Shanks was pretty strong back then too. We also know that Ace mentioned Blackbeard being a pretty covert guy, hiding in the sidelines and showing his true power and intentions when opportunity came to him. So he may have appeared to have been just some fodder at the beginning, but really was one of the strongest in the crew, perhaps. Anyway, this part doesn't really argue with anything, I'm just providing background for Blackbeard's strength, I guess. Moving on.
BB does have few but very significant similarities with Luffy. I'm talking about the belief of dreams, D, and the ultimate goal of One Piece. I can't really support D, since it's one of the most mysterious aspects of the series, but I can say they're both out to achieve the same thing, which of course means a battle is a given. (Also, causing his brother's death bring out the obvious confrontation). Now his similarities point to an inevitable battle, but the reasons why I believe it will be the final battle are their differences.
The fact that he achieved his powers "cheaply", how he relies on his DF abilities, and how he begs for his life at the sight of death... these all make him a pretty good final villian IMO. The reason why I believe so is, in doing all these, he becomes a great foil to Luffy's character in several ways. His personality, strengths, and history all contrast Luffy's morals and his hard-working attributes. It'd be pretty appropriate for Luffy to take down a guy who goes so completely against him.
Lastly, BB is DEFINITELY a threat to Luffy (Hodi, not so sure since we only saw a glimpse of his powers), whether his power was achieved cheaply or not. Even after Luffy's training, I'm sure he'll be more than a match for Luffy, considering he probably didn't sit on his ass these last two years, unlike what he did on Whitebeard's ship. He could be even stronger, since before the timeskip, he was (I'd say) on par with Luffy and he even overpowered Ace - though it could be argued that was because Ace wasn't completely aware of his abilities at the time. That was when he recently acquired his first Devil Fruit. After two years, he could have completely mastered both of them, found some new abilities, etc... I'm actually pretty surprised anyone could call him weak... after he got Whitebeard's ability I considered him overpowered.
@SH-Avenger:
Yeah I'm thinking Akainu's gonna be the final villain, at the very least who Luffy's gonna fight in the end.
I can't see that. Yeah, he killed his brother, but Blackbeard had just a big a role in that, if not bigger. In the long run, I see Blackbeard as the major culprit in Ace's death, while Akainu was just doing his job as a Marine.
Also, Akainu is just an admiral. There are people higher up than him, and if Luffy's final fight would be a government official, I see it being the one on top.
Anyway, don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm saying Blackbeard will definitely be the final boss, I just feel like at this point he's the strongest candidate.