General Blackbeard Thread

[sadrhg]

Because his skill with a sword exceeds that of Mihawk and not simply because he has some ability or other than magically lets him be better.

If he could just sneak up behind Mihawk and stab him in the back, that wouldn't make Lafitte a great swordsman even if he did take down the reigning champion.

Your assuming Lafitte is only strong because of his Devil Fruit and not necessary because of his skills.

True, but that would be his Devil Fruit supplementing strength that is already there.

Look at it this way:

If somebody can fight on an even level without resorting to a trick like turning invisible, then they're fighting based on their own skill and strength.

If they don't stand a chance of winning without said tactic, then it's something altogether different. Otherwise, they'd just fight without it.

So I'd prefer Zoro to fight somebody who can go toe to toe with him without the need for invisibility. Super speed is fine as it's a physical trait that can be learned in the Odaverse, but Devil Fruit powers are a bit different as they can only be acquired by eating a Fruit.

Your assuming Lafitte has to be stronger then Mihawk in order to give Zoro a challenge.

Really shouldn't Shanks encounter with Whitebeard prove a person doesn't have to be stronger then another in order to be a challenge?

Really all Lafitte has to be is at least close to Zoro in power like how Shanks is with Whitebeard.Lafitte could be slightly weaker then Zoro at least physically but strong enough to be close to him.

None of those are swordsmen though, but fight in a manner tailored to their abilities and personalities.

Even then, I don't have any issue with somebody being a great swordsman because they have a Devil Fruit ability that makes them a natural (Daz Bones for instance) so much as I don't like the idea of somebody suddenly being stronger than Mihawk just because they acquire some ability that lets them indirectly get around his skill as a swordsman.

True.

But Ubiq who else is Lafitte going to fight? Going with the assumption that the crewmembers of The Strawhat Pirates and The Blackbeard Pirates are going to fight their respective counterparts then who else could Lafitte fight aside from Zoro?

Not to mention that if Lafitte is the swordsman of The Blackbeard Pirates then Lafitte would have to fight Zoro simply because Zoro always fights swordsman/people who have bladed weapons.

[Sanctum]

But Ubiq who else is Lafitte going to fight? Going with the assumption that the crewmembers of The Strawhat Pirates and The Blackbeard Pirates are going to fight their respective counterparts then who else could Lafitte fight aside from Zoro?

Probably Sanji. Makes sense to me anyway.

[sadrhg]

Maybe but for some reason I doubt that that any of the Blackbeards are going to fight anyone other then their respective counterparts

[Impel Down]

Lafitte isn't the counterpart of Sanji, but they just have simmilar fighting styles, so that's why they'll fight. I mean, they both seem to have focus on their feet and legs.

[sadrhg]

Wouldn't Jesus Burgess be a better opponent for Sanji because unlike Lafitte Jesus Burgess is a brawler/martial artist which is what Sanji basically is.

Sanji always fights brawlers/martial artists/people who don't use weapons or long range attacks.

[cp9luchi]

@sadrhg:

Wouldn't Jesus Burgess be a better opponent for Sanji because unlike Lafitte Jesus Burgess is a brawler/martial artist which is what Sanji basically is.

I think he will fight Franky :happy:

[sadrhg]

Last time I checked Burgess and Franky didn't have anything in common aside from the fact that they are both large which doesn't really mean anything.

Really does Burgess use anything other then his fists? It's kinda like how Sanji doesn't use anything other than his legs.

[dlo62282]

Sanji is laid back and calm, Burgess is anything but that.

Brook could fight Laffite, if he joins. I think the bb pirates will have a couple of more members by the time they face the straw hats.

[Ubiq]

@sadrhg:

Your assuming Lafitte is only strong because of his Devil Fruit and not necessary because of his skills.

Actually, we don't even know that he has a Devil Fruit at this point. Beyond that, the mere fact that he can roam around the Grand Line alone and at will while waltzing right into Mariejoa to boot is proof that he's fairly formidable.

Your assuming Lafitte has to be stronger then Mihawk in order to give Zoro a challenge.

Really shouldn't Shanks encounter with Whitebeard prove a person doesn't have to be stronger then another in order to be a challenge?

No, but they need to be roughly equivalent. Shanks might be weaker than Whitebeard, but it's not by such a margin that he can't duel the old man for at least a while.

Mihawk has been established as pre-eminent swordsman in the world for four hundred chapters now; anybody who would supplant him in that role fairly late in the series needs to be overwhelmingly stronger than him for it to not seem like a cop-out. If he just barely beats Mihawk and then loses to Zoro, what would the point of all that be?

Really all Lafitte has to be is at least close to Zoro in power like how Shanks is with Whitebeard. Lafitte could be slightly weaker then Zoro at least physically but strong enough to be close to him.

It would be odd, to say the least, for the last fight of the series for any character to be against anybody other than the absolutely strongest opponent out there.

But Ubiq who else is Lafitte going to fight? Going with the assumption that the crewmembers of The Strawhat Pirates and The Blackbeard Pirates are going to fight their respective counterparts then who else could Lafitte fight aside from Zoro?

They won't necessarily fight their counterparts; Burgess is an odd match for Nami to say the least.

Beyond that, Teach is still adding members judging by his offer to Ace; they may add a swordsman somewhere down the line and Lafitte may fight a Straw Hat that isn't a crewmate yet or perhaps hasn't even been introduced.

Not to mention that if Lafitte is the swordsman of The Blackbeard Pirates then Lafitte would have to fight Zoro simply because Zoro always fights swordsman/people who have bladed weapons.

Well, again, assuming that he is the swordsman of the crew. Doc Q appears to be lugging around a blade of some sort on his back. Probably his zanpakuto Scapel.

As far as Lafitte goes, it's not a popular theory to be sure, but we haven't seen him do anything yet that couldn't be explained by him being a practitioner of Rokushiki.

Really does Burgess use anything other then his fists?

Depends, is there a hotel handy?

[sadrhg]

Franky is a cyborg, Burgess is a wrestler.

Your point is?

[sadrhg]

@Ubiq:

Actually, we don't even know that he has a Devil Fruit at this point. Beyond that, the mere fact that he can roam around the Grand Line alone and at will while waltzing right into Mariejoa to boot is proof that he's fairly formidable. @Ubiq:

But that's my point! Assuming Lafitte does have a Devil Fruit and said fruit is a invisibility/camouflage fruit and Lafitte's speed is due to him knowing Soru mean that he is strong without his fruit and he is strong because of his own merits.

@Ubiq:

No, but they need to be roughly equivalent. Shanks might be weaker than Whitebeard, but it's not by such a margin that he can't duel the old man for at least a while.

Mihawk has been established as pre-eminent swordsman in the world for four hundred chapters now; anybody who would supplant him in that role fairly late in the series needs to be overwhelmingly stronger than him for it to not seem like a cop-out. If he just barely beats Mihawk and then loses to Zoro, what would the point of all that be? @Ubiq:

Who said he beats Mihawk? Really all Lafitte has to be is weaker then Mihawk and Zoro but close (keyword being close) to them in power hence why he can give Zoro a challenge even though he beat Mihawk.

@Ubiq:

It would be odd, to say the least, for the last fight of the series for any character to be against anybody other than the absolutely strongest opponent out there. @Ubiq:

I do recall several Animes where the final bosses for respective characters were somewhat weaker then them but said bosses were either close enough to them in power to be a challenge or they had a skill which gave them a edge.

This could be the same for Lafitte.

@Ubiq:

]They won't necessarily fight their counterparts; Burgess is an odd match for Nami to say the least.

Beyond that, Teach is still adding members judging by his offer to Ace; they may add a swordsman somewhere down the line and Lafitte may fight a Straw Hat that isn't a crewmate yet or perhaps hasn't even been introduced. @Ubiq:

Is Burgess really Nami's counterpart? Yeah you could say that in terms of function but what skills and personalityF

Imo in terms of skills and personality Burgess is more likely to be Sanji's counterpart then Nami's.

Also while I do think Blackbeard is going to find more crewmembers I doubt he's going to find anymore than 1-2 why? Because Luffy's crew is more or less complete since he has everyone he needs for a crew.

Also who says the respective Strawhats have to fight alone? In order to compensate for the fact that the Strawhats outnumber the Blackbeards Oda could have Strawhats team up against one opponent.

For example I think that Chopper and Franky could team up against Doc Q and Stronger with Franky in his centaur form.

@Ubiq:

Well, again, assuming that he is the swordsman of the crew. Doc Q appears to be lugging around a blade of some sort on his back. Probably his zanpakuto Scapel.

As far as Lafitte goes, it's not a popular theory to be sure, but we haven't seen him do anything yet that couldn't be explained by him being a practitioner of Rokushiki. @Ubiq:

Is it really a blade? I mean how do you know it isn't a bunch of steroids/pills/wierd medical supplies?

True all of Lafitte's feats could be explained away as him being a Rokushiki user. But I just think it would be neat if he had invisibility/camoflauge.

If nothing else it would give him a way to keep up with the top dogs.

@Ubiq:

Depends, is there a hotel handy?@Ubiq:

Ah but how did Burgess throw the hotel? With his hands.

[onemoment]

@Impel:

If Whitebeard is strong enough to be in control of Ace, then I think he should be able to take BB.

How so? Last I checked Blackbeard was a good deal stronger then Ace.

[freedom]

@onemoment:

How so? Last I checked Blackbeard was a good deal stronger then Ace.

Impel Down likes to make lots of random statements.

The evidence supporting BB is overwhelming. Some of us choose to acknowledge and accept it, others must see it happen in the story to believe it. it's just a matter of time. IMO, the thing that some don't realize is that there's no story progression for a WB battle against a worthy opponent with WB being the victor. Similar to how there was no point for Ace to win against BB.

[ONEinchPUNCH]

@sadrhg:

Who said he beats Mihawk? Really all Lafitte has to be is weaker then Mihawk and Zoro but close (keyword being close) to them in power hence why he can give Zoro a challenge even though he beat Mihawk.

You give laffite way too much credit, the fact Blackbeard told his crew to step back on that island shows they can't beat ace. Mihawk is the rival of shanks (In my opinion mihawk is stronger since He has the title of best swordsman. But we've decided to stick with equal, due to lack of info)

So if you think laffite is close to Mihawk in strength, you also think laffite is has almost yonkou strength. So I doubt laffite is anywhere near mihawks strength.

Also thinking laffite will fight zoro just because he has a cane is pretty wishful thinking. I might as well say I think he'll fight sanji because he looks like a tap dancer.

[Angel emfrbl]

I'm not going to say who goes up against who. Aside from BB, Auger and Doc Q, the others are vague right now. Clearly BB will take on Luffy as thats his goal. But Auger being a sharp shooter pretty much sums up who he will take on. Doc Q, obivous Chopper. At this point I may say two or three SHs may even take on one of BB's crew.

Our only crew strengths:

-BB left his mark on Shanks
-BB took on Ace
-BB told his crew they weren't on Ace's level yet.

[Ivotas]

If it will really be like this that only the Strawhat Pirates against the Blackbear Pirates then for me it is pretty much set in stone that Burgess will fight Sanji, since Sanji always takes on the martial artist of the antagonist crew and since Burgess is a wrestler that would be him. That leaves Lafitte for Zoro then. Wouldn´t surprise me if his staff (don´t know what the proper english term is) would contain a sword inside.

However I think that the final arc will be much more then just two teams opposing each other. I rather think it will be more like Skypiea times ten.

[Taleran]

yeah I can also see a whole shit load of people converging on the same spot at the end.

[sadrhg]

You give laffite way too much credit, the fact Blackbeard told his crew to step back on that island shows they can't beat ace. Mihawk is the rival of shanks (In my opinion mihawk is stronger since He has the title of best swordsman. But we've decided to stick with equal, due to lack of info)

I say your giving Zoro and the other Strawhats too much credit. I doubt Zoro or any of the Strawhats could beat Ace either (especially Zoro). If the Strawhats aside from Luffy couldn't beat Eneru and Akojii than why would they beat Ace?

And if the Blackbeards are so much weaker than Ace then how come they were completely unharmed from Ace's attacks?

And the only reason the Blackbeards couldn't beat Ace was because he was a Logia and Logia's are the most powerful Devil Fruits. If Ace wasn't a Logia do you seriously think he could win a fight against the Blackbeards?

How is Ace going to survive being shot in the head by Van Auger?

So if you think laffite is close to Mihawk in strength, you also think laffite is has almost yonkou strength. So I doubt laffite is anywhere near mihawks strength.

I could say the same about Zoro.

I don't see why Lafitte being close to Mihawk's powerlevel is anymore unbelievable than Zoro being close.

Especially since I doubt Zoro is anywhere near as experienced as Mihawk and probably Lafitte when it comes to combat.

I mean Lafitte managed to sneak into The World Government headquarters and none of the people there including Mihawk noticed he was there. Not only that but he managed to get all the way to Barano Island in a short amount of time.

I have yet to see Zoro do any of this.

Until I see evidence to the contrary I will believe that currently the Blackbeard pirates are stronger then the Strawhat Pirates.

Also thinking laffite will fight zoro just because he has a cane is pretty wishful thinking. I might as well say I think he'll fight sanji because he looks like a tap dancer.

Maybe but I prefer to think of him as a swordsman as there is nothing more badass as a sword in cane.

And if my assumption is correct and Lafitte uses his cane as a primary weapon than why would he fight Sanji? I mean since when has Sanji fought a opponent that primary used a melee weapon? I thought that was Zoro's job.

[sadrhg]

@Ivotas:

If it will really be like this that only the Strawhat Pirates against the Blackbear Pirates then for me it is pretty much set in stone that Burgess will fight Sanji, since Sanji always takes on the martial artist of the antagonist crew and since Burgess is a wrestler that would be him. That leaves Lafitte for Zoro then. Wouldn´t surprise me if his staff (don´t know what the proper english term is) would contain a sword inside.

Exactly as I said Sanji always fights brawlers/martial artists and that describes Burgess perfectly.

The people who thing Burgess will fight Franky only think because they are both large guys even though there fighting styles are nothing alike (since when did Burgess have gadgets)?

If anything I think Franky would fight Stronger.

As for Lafitte who says his cane needs to be a sword? What if Lafitte knows Shigan?

[ONEinchPUNCH]

@sadrhg:

I doubt Zoro or any of the Strawhats could beat Ace either (especially Zoro). If the Strawhats aside from Luffy couldn't beat Eneru and Akojii than why would they beat Ace?

You doubt the other strawhats can't, but it is proven in the manga that laffite can't. If you want to speculate, I speculate the move used in the asura stance may hit a logia when it's further developed. I think this because the move isn't physical (it's mist) and it uses demon ki (which may be able to make contact with anything).

And if the Blackbeards are so much weaker than Ace then how come they were completely unharmed from Ace's attacks?

Maybe because ace basically just knocked them out of the way, he wasn't exactly trying until the Blackbeard fight.

And the only reason the Blackbeards couldn't beat Ace was because he was a Logia and Logia's are the most powerful Devil Fruits.

Are they?

So far two of those have lost to a paramecia

If Ace wasn't a Logia do you seriously think he could win a fight against the Blackbeards?

Blackbeard said his fighting skills were good for a logia user, so who knows?

How is Ace going to survive being shot in the head by Van Auger?

By dodging, he only let himself get shot because he's a logia.

I could say the same about Zoro.

That's what makes his goal special

I don't see why Lafitte being close to Mihawk's powerlevel is anymore unbelievable than Zoro being close.

Zoro is nowhere near mihawks strength yet and neither is laffite unless he gets 20x stronger than he already is. Mihawk is equal (or stronger) to shanks, who is a yonkou. It's crazy thinking laffite or the strawhats are on that level.

Maybe but I prefer to think of him as a swordsman as there is nothing more badass as a sword in cane.

Well if that's what you like….

Oh and can you quote properly it's annoying having to delete your own post while responding to yours.

[sadrhg]

You doubt the other strawhats can't, but it is proven in the manga that laffite can't. If you want to speculate, I speculate the move used in the asura stance may hit a logia when it's further developed. I think this because the move isn't physical (it's mist) and it uses demon ki (which may be able to make contact with anything).

It is proven in the manga that the Strawhats aside from Luffy can't as they couldn't beat neither Eneru nor Akojii or Captain Smoker. If Lafitte currently can't then neither can Zoro.

And that's nice if Zoro can somehow cut elements but that's **irrelevant as I seriously doubt any of the other Strawhats know how too as that would probably make Zoro les special.

And so what if Zoro can cut elements? He still would have to find a way to not only avoid a Logia's attacks but also somehow outmaneuver them.**

Maybe because ace basically just knocked them out of the way, he wasn't exactly trying until the Blackbeard fight.

You call shooting them with fire and making debris fall on them "knocking them out of the way"?

Are they?

So far two of those have lost to a paramecia

Yeah and said Paramecia lost against two Logia fruits (Smoker and Akojii)

And have you been paying attention to the story? It is pretty obvious to tell that Oda is intending to make Logia's the strongest fruits in terms of both raw defense (them being unhittable by anything except for natural enemies) and raw power (Eneru destroying a entire island and Akojii freezing a ocean)

Blackbeard said his fighting skills were good for a logia user, so who knows?

So what? Without his Logia powers Ace would lose his main advantage against Teach and his group.

I mean not only would he have to somehow survive Van Auger and Burgess's attacks but he would also have to deal with Blackbeard himself as well as the other members.

By dodging, he only let himself get shot because he's a logia.

You do realize that Van Auger shot a group of seagulls that were completely far away from him? Let's see Ussop beat that.

If Auger is skilled enough to do something like this then why wouldn't he be able to kill Ace with a headshot?

All Van Auger has to do is get far away from Ace and when he has found a good position BLAMMO!

Bye bye Ace.

That's what makes his goal special

That doesn't make it any less believable.

And you haven't answered my point about Lafitte's amazing accomplishments.

Zoro is nowhere near mihawks strength yet and neither is laffite unless he gets 20x stronger than he already is. Mihawk is equal (or stronger) to shanks, who is a yonkou. It's crazy thinking laffite or the strawhats are on that level.

Uh… wouldn't Zoro have to get 20x stronger than he is now in order to be close to Mihawk?

Your acting like Zoro is the only OP character who actively trains. Considering how Lafitte and and the other BB Pirates were sailing around The Grand Line on a raft which in case you forgotten is a dangerous place. My point is that Lafitte probably doesn't slack off all day and he most definitely trains and improves his skills.

And If Zoro isn't ever going to be around Mihawks level than how is he going to beat him?

Well if that's what you like….

Yep.

Oh and can you quote properly it's annoying having to delete your own post while responding to yours.

I try to quote with the blue ones but something always goes wrong. Perhaps I don't know how to? Admittedly I am new to the internet scene and I don't quote very often.

[Impel Down]

Um, try to learn to use quotes propertly, no offense.

[ONEinchPUNCH]

@sadrhg:

It is proven in the manga that the Strawhats aside from Luffy can't as they couldn't beat neither Eneru nor Akojii or Captain Smoker.

No it's proven that they lost to those 3, saying they would lose to ace is predicting the future.

If Lafitte currently can't then neither can Zoro.

When we see zoro face another logia we'll see, remember luffy lost to a logia (smoker) and then beat a logia (croc). It could be once you've got the experience of fighting one once, the next time you'll have a better chance.

And that's nice if Zoro can somehow cut elements but that's irrelevant as I seriously doubt any of the other Strawhats know how too as that would probably make Zoro les special.

You speculated, so I did too.

I don't see why one of zoro's moves are irrelevent, I might as well say luffy's gears are also irrelevent

> And so what if Zoro can cut elements? He still would have to find a way to not only avoid a Logia's attacks but also somehow outmaneuver them.

Logia attacks have been dodged countless times, it really is nothing special.

You call shooting them with fire and making debris fall on them "knocking them out of the way"?

Wake up!

People get shiganed and struck with 1000s of volts of lightning, 10 minutes later you see them running around like nothing happened.

So unless an attacked is named it usually isn't all that, you should know that.

Yeah and said Paramecia lost against two Logia fruits (Smoker and Akojii)

Doesn't change the fact he's beaten two and will go on to be the pirate king having beaten all those in his way. Which will then make him stronger than than aokiji and smoker.

And have you been paying attention to the story? It is pretty obvious to tell that Oda is intending to make Logia's the strongest fruits in terms of both raw defense (them being unhittable by anything except for natural enemies) and raw power (Eneru destroying a entire island and Akojii freezing a ocean)

If they were the strongest there wouldn't be 3 great powers, there'd just be a bunch of logia's ruling over everyone. They're strong but they aren't the strongest.

So what? Without his Logia powers Ace would lose his main advantage against Teach and his group.

I mean not only would he have to somehow survive Van Auger and Burgess's attacks but he would also have to deal with Blackbeard himself as well as the other members.

Well if he didn't have a logia he'd have trained his normal attacks more, so the it's unknown as to what would happen.

You do realize that Van Auger shot a group of seagulls that were completely far away from him?

So? I guess he went to specsavers

Let's see Ussop beat that.

When he beats van auger there won't be any need.

If Auger is skilled enough to do something like this then why wouldn't he be able to kill Ace with a headshot?

Being a better sniper doesn't make your bullets travel faster, we've seen many characters dodge bullets with ease.

All Van Auger has to do is get far away from Ace and when he has found a good position BLAMMO!

The further away the bullet is the more chance ace would have to dodge

That doesn't make it any less believable.

Oh it does because that would make laffite almost as strong as shanks and close to whitebeard too.

And you haven't answered my point about Lafitte's amazing accomplishments.

Must have missed them, repost if you want an answer.

Uh… wouldn't Zoro have to get 20x stronger than he is now in order to be close to Mihawk?

Yes

Your acting like Zoro is the only OP character who actively trains.

No I'm acting like the Strawhats improve more than anyone else in the series.

Considering how Lafitte and and the other BB Pirates were sailing around The Grand Line on a raft which in case you forgotten is a dangerous place. My point is that Lafitte probably doesn't slack off all day and he most definitely trains and improves his skills.

I'm just saying the strawhats improve more than any other characters, which I don't think you can deny.

And If Zoro isn't ever going to be around Mihawks level than how is he going to beat him?

Where'd you get this from?

I said he isn't on his level now, by the end of the series he will be. You do know OP has only reached its halfway point, if their already at mihawks strength how strong will they be at the end?

I try to quote with the blue ones but something always goes wrong. Perhaps I don't know how to? Admittedly I am new to the internet scene and I don't quote very often.

just type this[….....quote] athe the beginning and this at the end[/quote…....] BUT DON'T ADD THE FULL STOPS …....

[Impel Down]

What the hell do Blackbeard's crew and Mihawk have to do with each other? If you're gonna speculate about the BB crew, do it well. Oh, and Van Auge is a bad-ass sniper, so deal with it.

[Ubiq]

@sadrhg:

But that's my point! Assuming Lafitte does have a Devil Fruit and said fruit is a invisibility/camouflage fruit and Lafitte's speed is due to him knowing Soru mean that he is strong without his fruit and he is strong because of his own merits.

Eh, still seems cheap to me to mix super-speed and invisibility. That's simply a personal opinion; even then, those wouldn't necessarily be all that effective against Zoro. If Lafitte does have a sword cane, then that sword would have to be an extremely high grade blade for him to effectively duel Zoro.

Who said he beats Mihawk? Really all Lafitte has to be is weaker then Mihawk and Zoro but close (keyword being close) to them in power hence why he can give Zoro a challenge even though he beat Mihawk.

I really don't see the need for Zoro to fight anybody after Mihawk; worse comes to worse, Oda can just have a whole bunch of people arrive at Raftel at the same time and have the final arc be a free-for-all like Skypiea.

This could be the same for Lafitte.

I'm inclined to think of him as the group speedster though, rather than a swordsman. Lafitte doesn't even seem to be trying while running away from town and he's still managing to keep up with Stronger and Burgess.

Is Burgess really Nami's counterpart? Yeah you could say that in terms of function but what skills and personalityF

Imo in terms of skills and personality Burgess is more likely to be Sanji's counterpart then Nami's.

Well, he's a direct opposite of Nami when it comes down to it, but that's basically my point. I don't know that she's really that much better at her job than Burgess is (if anything, the Raft O' Doom would be a lot harder to navigate than Merry, which was an actual ship, but they still managed to get by just fine), but his personality is definitely the direct opposite of hers.

Also while I do think Blackbeard is going to find more crewmembers I doubt he's going to find anymore than 1-2 why? Because Luffy's crew is more or less complete since he has everyone he needs for a crew.

Luffy said that he wanted ten people; he may well have eight after this arc, so there will be two more after this. Depending on the Mihawk situation and whether or not there's more to Stronger than meets the eye, Teach would need anywhere from four to six more people in his crew to match up evenly against the Straw Hats.

Also who says the respective Strawhats have to fight alone? In order to compensate for the fact that the Strawhats outnumber the Blackbeards Oda could have Strawhats team up against one opponent.

Well, again that assumes that Teach won't add any more people.

Beyond that, my feeling is that we're going to see running battles throughout the entire last arc with the Straw Hats and Blackbeard Pirates being the last men standing with the probable exception of Mihawk. So we're probably going to see other people get into the mix as well, at least at first.

For example I think that Chopper and Franky could team up against Doc Q and Stronger with Franky in his centaur form.

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Q and Stronger aren't individually capable of fighting by themselves. After the whole Funkfreed business, I tend to think that Stronger is no ordinary horse.

Is it really a blade? I mean how do you know it isn't a bunch of steroids/pills/wierd medical supplies?

It looks like a handle when they toss him up on Stronger's back when he's first introduced. My inclination is that it's either a giant scapel or a folded up scythe.

True all of Lafitte's feats could be explained away as him being a Rokushiki user. But I just think it would be neat if he had invisibility/camoflauge.

Again, just seems cheap to have somebody with both of those abilities.

If nothing else it would give him a way to keep up with the top dogs.

Sheer brute strength can keep him up there as well; it won't allow him to beat Logias, but it will certainly make him competitive against anybody else.

Ah but how did Burgess throw the hotel? With his hands.

Well, if you want to be nitpicky about it, how does Zoro move his swords?

@ONEinchPUNCH:

You give laffite way too much credit, the fact Blackbeard told his crew to step back on that island shows they can't beat ace.

That's not necessarily a strength issue though so much as it was a physical impossibility for them to beat Ace because of the Mera Mera Fruit. Anybody besides a Logia (and Luffy) has a bullet in their brain, throat, heart, stomach, and kidneys before being hit by an entire wooden building before they even realize what happened. I doubt that most people would fare that well against that sort of stacked deck.

[sadrhg]

No it's proven that they lost to those 3, saying they would lose to ace is predicting the future.

Uh… If couldn't beat Akojii, a Admiral of The Marines/Navy then why the hell would they beat Ace!?

And just how are they going to beat Ace? Seeing as how Ace is immune to all of their attacks and he probably can blow up a town I don't see how the Strawhats can beat him.

When we see zoro face another logia we'll see, remember luffy lost to a logia (smoker) and then beat a logia (croc). It could be once you've got the experience of fighting one once, the next time you'll have a better chance.

I seriously doubt Zoro will ever fight a Logia since A: It, like Ace beating Blackbeard it wouldn't really accomplish anything. B: It wouldn't make any god damned sense for Zoro to suddenly stop fighting swordsmen/melee weapon users and for no reason to fight a Logia user. C: It would be obvious and retarded fanservice.

I don't see why one of zoro's moves are irrelevent, I might as well say luffy's gears are also irrelevent

They would be irrelevant as that would be taking away what makes Zoro and Luffy unique (Luffy's Gears and Zoro's sword skills) and shoehorning them onto the other Strawhats in a obvious and pathetic attempt at fanservice.

I mean what would be the point of giving Luffy and Zoro all these fancy moves if the other Strawhats are going to know them for no reason?

Logia attacks have been dodged countless times, it really is nothing special.

By who? Last time I checked the only Strawhat who consistently dodges SERIOUS Logia attacks (more than a attempt to "knock them away" as you say)is Luffy and I can name several times where Luffy was hit by a Logia's attack.

Wake up!

People get shiganed and struck with 1000s of volts of lightning, 10 minutes later you see them running around like nothing happened.

So unless an attacked is named it usually isn't all that, you should know that.

Lucky Roux shot a man in the head. Said man didn't get up

Crocodile drowned a group of pirates in sand and he killed some Alabastan warriors. They didn't get up.

Bellamy and Sarquiss set a man on fire and threw him out a window. He most definitely didn't get up.

Burgess beat the crap out of a guy who challenged him to a fight. Considering that prior to the fight someoe had yelled out "MURDERER", that means that Burgess definitely killed that man. He also didn't get up.

Akojii turned Saulo into a Ice statue. He sure as hell didn't get up

You get my point?

Doesn't change the fact he's beaten two and will go on to be the pirate king having beaten all those in his way. Which will then make him stronger than than aokiji and smoker.

No it wouldn't since Luffy would have no way to actually harm those two and those guys could easily kill Luffy (Smoker could strangle Luffy and Akojii could freeze Luffy and then smash him with a bat).

Seriously if Akojii could kill a freaking GIANT then I don't see why he couldn't kill some rubber guy with a strawhat.

And if being the Pirate king makes you invincible then how did Gold Roger die?

If they were the strongest there wouldn't be 3 great powers, there'd just be a bunch of logia's ruling over everyone. They're strong but they aren't the strongest.

Actually there would be a 3 Great Powers as the stronger member of all 3 groups probably would have methods to defeat Logias.

If Mihawk can cut through elements then why couldn't Sengoku or Whitebeard?

Well if he didn't have a logia he'd have trained his normal attacks more, so the it's unknown as to what would happen.

Considering how The BB Pirates outnumber Ace and are probably as strong as him when it comes to physical combat then no Ace wouldn't win.

So? I guess he went to specsavers

If he can hit a group of MOVING Seagull that were extremely far then he's probably a better Sniper than Ussop.

If Ussop such a amazing Sniper then why doesn't he actually snipe you know snipe?

Ussop is the second weakest Strawhat,deal with it.

When he beats van auger there won't be any need.

Originally Posted by Aldrich

For all the expectations it'd be pretty funny if Franky, Brooke or a yet to be introduced new crewmember ended up defeating Van Auger.

Ussop doesn't deserve to beat Van Auger.

Van Auger is to badass to lose to a loser like Ussop.

Being a better sniper doesn't make your bullets travel faster, we've seen many characters dodge bullets with ease.

There's a big difference between some random marine shooting Ace and Van Auger, possibly the best sniper in the world shooting Ace.

And if bullets don't bother Zoro than why did he need Luffy's help to escape from that firing squad?

The further away the bullet is the more chance ace would have to dodge

No because Ace wouldn't see the bullet coming. Which in case you forgotten is the whole point of sniping

Oh it does because that would make laffite almost as strong as shanks and close to whitebeard too.

So what would that make Zoro?

Your saying it's okay for Zoro, a swordsman with no where near experience as Mihawk and probably Laffite to be almost as strong as Shanks and close to Whitebeard but it's not okay for Lafitte?

Not to mention if my theory is correct and Lafitte has both super speed and invisibility and knows more powerful versions of Roushiki techniques than I think he would deserve to be close to (keyword being close) Mihawk and Zoro because of how potentially overpowered he is.

Must have missed them, repost if you want an answer.

Lafitte managed to sneak into The World Government headquarters and none of the people there including Mihawk noticed he was there. Not only that but he managed to get all the way to Barano Island in a short amount of time.

Yes

So why can't Lafitte be 20x times stronger than he is now?

No I'm acting like the Strawhats improve more than anyone else in the series.

That doesn't matter as The Blackbeard Pirates are probably also going to improve. Not to mention gain new crew members.

When are you going to realize that the world doesn't revolve around the Strawhats? This isn't freaking DBZ where Goku is automatically stronger than all his opponents.

I'm just saying the strawhats improve more than any other characters, which I don't think you can deny.

You can't deny that other characters improve either.

Where'd you get this from?

I said he isn't on his level now, by the end of the series he will be. You do know OP has only reached its halfway point, if their already at mihawks strength how strong will they be at the end?

So why can't Laffite be close to Zoro and Mihawk by the end of the series?

[sadrhg]

Eh, still seems cheap to me to mix super-speed and invisibility. That's simply a personal opinion; even then, those wouldn't necessarily be all that effective against Zoro. If Lafitte does have a sword cane, then that sword would have to be an extremely high grade blade for him to effectively duel Zoro.

Ubiq I don't see how Lafitte's cane can't be a high quality sword as arguably weaker characters such as Daz Bones and Nero managed to clash swords with Zoro without their swords breaking.

I really don't see the need for Zoro to fight anybody after Mihawk; worse comes to worse, Oda can just have a whole bunch of people arrive at Raftel at the same time and have the final arc be a free-for-all like Skypiea.

Well I figure Oda would have Zoro fight somebody simply because he wouldn't want poor Zoro to feel left out.

I'm inclined to think of him as the group speedster though, rather than a swordsman. Lafitte doesn't even seem to be trying while running away from town and he's still managing to keep up with Stronger and Burgess.

Couldn't he be both though?

Well, he's a direct opposite of Nami when it comes down to it, but that's basically my point. I don't know that she's really that much better at her job than Burgess is (if anything, the Raft O' Doom would be a lot harder to navigate than Merry, which was an actual ship, but they still managed to get by just fine), but his personality is definitely the direct opposite of hers.

That's true but couldn't a lot of Burgess's traits be compared with Sanji's?

Also you didn't answer my point about Burgess's skills.

Luffy said that he wanted ten people; he may well have eight after this arc, so there will be two more after this. Depending on the Mihawk situation and whether or not there's more to Stronger than meets the eye, Teach would need anywhere from four to six more people in his crew to match up evenly against the Straw Hats.

True he did say that but would he necessarily need that many people?

Also I never denied that there wasn't anything special about Stronger. In fact I believe the opposite.

Well, again that assumes that Teach won't add any more people.

Again I never said that in fact I believe he will add more crewmembers.

Beyond that, my feeling is that we're going to see running battles throughout the entire last arc with the Straw Hats and Blackbeard Pirates being the last men standing with the probable exception of Mihawk. So we're probably going to see other people get into the mix as well, at least at first.

That's what I think too.

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Q and Stronger aren't individually capable of fighting by themselves. After the whole Funkfreed business, I tend to think that Stronger is no ordinary horse.

Did I say they weren't?

It looks like a handle when they toss him up on Stronger's back when he's first introduced. My inclination is that it's either a giant scapel or a folded up scythe.

That's funny I always thought it was a bag.

Again, just seems cheap to have somebody with both of those abilities.

Is it anymore cheap than Logia Fruits?

Sheer brute strength can keep him up there as well; it won't allow him to beat Logias, but it will certainly make him competitive against anybody else.

True but I figure that since Teach and Co. might end up fighting people like Whitebeard and Doflamingo that all the members would have to be extremely powerful.

Also it wouldn't be just Whitebeard and Doflamingo they would be fighting, they would also probably end up fighting their respective crews and underlings.

Well, if you want to be nitpicky about it, how does Zoro move his swords?

Well he moves one of his swords with his mouth.

And while Zoro may use his hands to use his swords that's basically all he does with them. Burgess on the other hand from what I can tell he exclusively uses his fists.

That's not necessarily a strength issue though so much as it was a physical impossibility for them to beat Ace because of the Mera Mera Fruit. Anybody besides a Logia (and Luffy) has a bullet in their brain, throat, heart, stomach, and kidneys before being hit by an entire wooden building before they even realize what happened. I doubt that most people would fare that well against that sort of stacked deck.

Truer words have never been spoken.

[Greg]

I saw the first page of this was started by me which I thought was kinda odd. Then when I read the first post it was even stranger. How did it become this? ^o^;

[Ubiq]

@sadrhg:

Ubiq I don't see how Lafitte's cane can't be a high quality sword as arguably weaker characters such as Daz Bones and Nero managed to clash swords with Zoro without their swords breaking.

Daz Bones is actually made of what amounts to magic steel; beyond that, his arms and legs are going to be quite a bit thicker than your average sword.

Any sword that fits into Lafitte's cane is going to be very thin; if it isn't one of the Saijou-Oo-Wazamono or at least a Oo-Wazamono, then it couldn't be very sturdy as a result.

Nero never fought Zoro, besides, he didn't use a sword. Kaku did, but he largely avoided letting Zoro hit his swords with any special technique. Baskerville blocked him, but there's a fair chance that he has a Meitou anyway considering his status.

Well I figure Oda would have Zoro fight somebody simply because he wouldn't want poor Zoro to feel left out.

Well, again, I don't know that that's necessary. Mihawk could be wandering around while everybody else is fighting and Teach could just be short a person. That or Mihawk could always join up with Teach for whatever reason.

Couldn't he be both though?

Well, yeah. On the other hand, his first inclination doesn't seem to be to attack like most swordsman we see.

That's true but couldn't a lot of Burgess's traits be compared with Sanji's?

He doesn't seem repulsed by women, but we haven't seen him interact with any of them yet.

Ultimately, Burgess is Nami's evil counterpart. I tend to think that Teach will add a cook somewhere along the line that will have a personality opposite that of Sanji. Perhaps Nami and Sanji will switch out.

Also you didn't answer my point about Burgess's skills.

His fighting skills or his skills nagivation wise?

The latter I can fairly safe categorize as at least competent as you can't sail the Grand Line without a good navigator. He's probably a great deal more than competent simply because of what he has to work with, but his methods are nowhere near as refined as Nami's are.

As far as his fighting skills go, he's an unarmed melee fighter. As such, I tend to think he'll fight Sanji.

True he did say that but would he necessarily need that many people?

Probably not, but needing something and wanting something are two different things. If Luffy wants ten people, then he'll get ten people.

Considering how much like Teach is like Luffy when it comes to basic personality, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he didn't decide to get ten people in his crew as well.

Also I never denied that there wasn't anything special about Stronger. In fact I believe the opposite.

Same here; it's just a question of what.

It's probably significant that Stronger shrugged off Hiken as easily as the rest of the crew did.

Again I never said that in fact I believe he will add more crewmembers.

That's funny I always thought it was a bag.

Check the chapter again; it looks like a hilt at one end and the shape seems to indicate something that's wrapped up.

Is it anymore cheap than Logia Fruits?

I really don't think of them as being cheap to be honest; they usually have clearly defined weaknesses and are extremely rare.

True but I figure that since Teach and Co. might end up fighting people like Whitebeard and Doflamingo that all the members would have to be extremely powerful.

I tend to think that DoFlamingo will go after Luffy in the long run simply because the whole Mocktown incident would have diminished his mark. Now, I can see him carving his way through an Admiral or two in the long run when he finally decides to make his move.

Also it wouldn't be just Whitebeard and Doflamingo they would be fighting, they would also probably end up fighting their respective crews and underlings.

Sure, but Whitebeard alone has plenty of people to go around. According to OP: Yellow, there are sixteen corps. That's at least two for each member of Teach's crew.

Well he moves one of his swords with his mouth.

And while Zoro may use his hands to use his swords that's basically all he does with them. Burgess on the other hand from what I can tell he exclusively uses his fists.

Yeah, I was just being facetious. As far as we know, Burgess just pummels people with his fists, though he probably has a wide repertoire of wrestling holds and moves when he needs them.

@Greg:

I saw the first page of this was started by me which I thought was kinda odd. Then when I read the first post it was even stranger. How did it become this? ^o^;

If I recall correctly, Bevin (I think that was who it was) just merged a bunch of threads together and wasn't paying much attention at the time. That or she merged several other threads together and this accidentally happened somehow.

[mujushin]

For fun I think Zoro will fight Burgess who calls himself the muber 1 strongest fighter/wrestler? :p Zoro and Luffy is so incredible strong, that is why Zoro will ifght him :p
And Lafitte looks like a tapdacer, and girls like dancers? That¨s why Sanji will ifght him and show him soom good maners :p

Littla Choppy will ifght that werid doctor ;) He cant tolerate docs being evil :p

Sharpshooter vs. sniper of the SH team ;p Yay

[ONEinchPUNCH]

@sadrhg:

Uh… If couldn't beat Akojii, a Admiral of The Marines/Navy then why the hell would they beat Ace!?

Aokiji is far above ace in strength.

And just how are they going to beat Ace? Seeing as how Ace is immune to all of their attacks and he probably can blow up a town I don't see how the Strawhats can beat him.

I never said they could or couldn't I;m just telling you it isn't proven, since you believe it is.

I seriously doubt Zoro will ever fight a Logia

He's already fought enel, he's seen his attacks miss and got the experience. Next time he fights one it will be different just how luffys was.

since A: It, like Ace beating Blackbeard it wouldn't really accomplish anything. B:

What the hell has this got to do with zor protecting his nakama?

It wouldn't make any god damned sense for Zoro to suddenly stop fighting swordsmen/melee weapon users and for no reason to fight a Logia user.

Who said he should stop fighting swordsmen? And his reason for fighting a logia would be to protect his nakama

C: It would be obvious and retarded fanservice.

That's your opinion

They would be irrelevant as that would be taking away what makes Zoro and Luffy unique (Luffy's Gears and Zoro's sword skills) and shoehorning them onto the other Strawhats in a obvious and pathetic attempt at fanservice.

I mean what would be the point of giving Luffy and Zoro all these fancy moves if the other Strawhats are going to know them for no reason?

Who on earth said the other strawhats were going to get abilities like asura and gears?

It's quite obvious luffy and zoro are above the pack and their moves are also above the rests, since they are new states.

By who? Last time I checked the only Strawhat who consistently dodges SERIOUS Logia attacks (more than a attempt to "knock them away" as you say)is Luffy and I can name several times where Luffy was hit by a Logia's attack.

Right and zoro is equal to luffy so he'd dodge everything too and I have full confidence that sanji would dodge too. Also don't forget usopp dodging in the enel fight and nami's dodges.

Lucky Roux shot a man in the head. Said man didn't get up

Crocodile drowned a group of pirates in sand and he killed some Alabastan warriors. They didn't get up.

Bellamy and Sarquiss set a man on fire and threw him out a window. He most definitely didn't get up.

Burgess beat the crap out of a guy who challenged him to a fight. Considering that prior to the fight someoe had yelled out "MURDERER", that means that Burgess definitely killed that man. He also didn't get up.

Akojii turned Saulo into a Ice statue. He sure as hell didn't get up

You get my point?

THESE AREN'T EXAMPLES!!

These people are just nobodies, the only person who isn't one is saulo but that was a flashback. Strong characters don't die from single bullet attacks, they need to be pummelled by someone stronger than themselves.

If we went by your logic everyone would be dead since each character has received some sort of fatal wound.

No it wouldn't since Luffy would have no way to actually harm those two and those guys could easily kill Luffy (Smoker could strangle Luffy and Akojii could freeze Luffy and then smash him with a bat).

Seriously if Akojii could kill a freaking GIANT then I don't see why he couldn't kill some rubber guy with a strawhat.

You know when it comes down to it luffy will beat them, he's the main character he has to win.

And if being the Pirate king makes you invincible then how did Gold Roger die?

I wasn't trying to stress the pirate king part, this part is more important "He will have to beat everyone in his way" aokiji marine= in his way and smoker comandore= in his way.

Actually there would be a 3 Great Powers as the stronger member of all 3 groups probably would have methods to defeat Logias.

If Mihawk can cut through elements then why couldn't Sengoku or Whitebeard?

So? That still makes them 2nd rate since there are guys out there who can beat them. The guys who beat them are the strongest.

Considering how The BB Pirates outnumber Ace and are probably as strong as him when it comes to physical combat then no Ace wouldn't win.

We'll never know, this is just your guess.

If he can hit a group of MOVING Seagull that were extremely far then he's probably a better Sniper than Ussop.

If Ussop such a amazing Sniper then why doesn't he actually snipe you know snipe?

Ussop is the second weakest Strawhat,deal with it.

Ussop doesn't deserve to beat Van Auger.

Van Auger is to badass to lose to a loser like Ussop.

I don't really care, usopp has nothing to do with what we are discussing. I was just commenting on the fact you seem to think because someone can shot far it makes his bullets faster or stronger.

There's a big difference between some random marine shooting Ace and Van Auger, possibly the best sniper in the world shooting Ace.

Still doesn't make the bullets faster.

And if bullets don't bother Zoro than why did he need Luffy's help to escape from that firing squad?

Maybe because that was at the beginning of the series?

Zoro got sliced by mihawk one of the most powerful characters and survived and in the kaku fight he was showered with rankyaku's (which are far more powerful than bullets). So your opinion is flawed, the only way it wouldn't be is if someone was unable to move and then shot straight in the head. But they still probably wouldn't die according to oda's physics, strong characters can't die like that.

No because Ace wouldn't see the bullet coming. Which in case you forgotten is the whole point of sniping

If ace had time to activate his powers when auger shot him out of nowhere, he'd easily notice and move from a bullet heading towards him. That happens with Strong characters and if this isn't the first manga you've read you'll know this.

So what would that make Zoro?

MAIN CHARACTER

Your saying it's okay for Zoro, a swordsman with no where near experience as Mihawk and probably Laffite to be almost as strong as Shanks and close to Whitebeard but it's not okay for Lafitte?

Zoro ain't there yet and laffite isn't a main character

Not to mention if my theory is correct and Lafitte has both super speed and invisibility and knows more powerful versions of Roushiki techniques than I think he would deserve to be close to (keyword being close) Mihawk and Zoro because of how potentially overpowered he is.

By the time zoro reaches him his demon ki will be incredibly powerful, so roushiki moves will be nothing compared to that.

Lafitte managed to sneak into The World Government headquarters and none of the people there including Mihawk noticed he was there. Not only that but he managed to get all the way to Barano Island in a short amount of time.

Everyone in that room is too busy thinking about what the other is going to do, since they're all powerful foes. But if he attacked they'd notice, these are 2 sets of the most powerful characters in the series.

So why can't Lafitte be 20x times stronger than he is now?

Because he isn't a main character

That doesn't matter as The Blackbeard Pirates are probably also going to improve. Not to mention gain new crew members.

When are you going to realize that the world doesn't revolve around the Strawhats? This isn't freaking DBZ where Goku is automatically stronger than all his opponents.

Goku was surpassed many times and at the end of the series gohan was the strongest. So you're wrong there adn your also forgetting what series inspired Oda.

You can't deny that other characters improve either.

So why can't Laffite be close to Zoro and Mihawk by the end of the series?

Why can't cabaji be close to mihawk too!! He's been travelling the grandline he's getting stronger!!

Oda can't go round making everyone as strong or near mihawk, it waters down the achievement.

@Ubiq:

That's not necessarily a strength issue though so much as it was a physical impossibility for them to beat Ace because of the Mera Mera Fruit. Anybody besides a Logia (and Luffy) has a bullet in their brain, throat, heart, stomach, and kidneys before being hit by an entire wooden building before they even realize what happened. I doubt that most people would fare that well against that sort of stacked deck.

It still proves they aren't of high enough level, since higher level characters like whitebeard can obviously beat logia's. Being the boss of one show's this and being stronger than aokiji show's this too.

Also higher level characters would dodge the bullets since they don't travel faster than any other bullet. I see what your saying though and it should be right, but in OP things don't seem to work like that.

If they did, killing people like whitebeard, doflamingo, mihawk and shanks would be a walk in the park

[sadrhg]

Daz Bones is actually made of what amounts to magic steel; beyond that, his arms and legs are going to be quite a bit thicker than your average sword.

True but why couldn't Lafitte's cane be the same.

Any sword that fits into Lafitte's cane is going to be very thin; if it isn't one of the Saijou-Oo-Wazamono or at least a Oo-Wazamono, then it couldn't be very sturdy as a result.

Well that's based on the assumption that Lafitte's cane has a sword inside it and said cane isn't the sword itself.

Wasn't Lafitte a former Policeman? So wouldn't Lafitte be given a decent sword?

Hell Lafitte doesn't to be given a high quality sword. He could have stolen one before he was exiled.

Nero never fought Zoro, besides, he didn't use a sword. Kaku did, but he largely avoided letting Zoro hit his swords with any special technique. Baskerville blocked him, but there's a fair chance that he has a Meitou anyway considering his status.

True Kaku did avoid getting attacked but then in that case why couldn't Lafitte?

Well, yeah. On the other hand, his first inclination doesn't seem to be to attack like most swordsman we see.

Yes but has Lafitte been given the chance to attack yet?

He doesn't seem repulsed by women, but we haven't seen him interact with any of them yet.

You never know….

Ultimately, Burgess is Nami's evil counterpart. I tend to think that Teach will add a cook somewhere along the line that will have a personality opposite that of Sanji. Perhaps Nami and Sanji will switch out.

Do the Blackbeards need a cook though couldn't they steal any food they need?

His fighting skills or his skills nagivation wise?

The latter I can fairly safe categorize as at least competent as you can't sail the Grand Line without a good navigator. He's probably a great deal more than competent simply because of what he has to work with, but his methods are nowhere near as refined as Nami's are.

As far as his fighting skills go, he's an unarmed melee fighter. As such, I tend to think he'll fight Sanji.

I never said he was a bad navigator. I figure he is a decent navigator because of the whole raft thing.

And that's my point! I believe Burgess would fight Sanji simply because he is the only Strawhat that actually fights without some sort of weapon or tool or with a Devil Fruit.

Probably not, but needing something and wanting something are two different things. If Luffy wants ten people, then he'll get ten people.

Considering how much like Teach is like Luffy when it comes to basic personality, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he didn't decide to get ten people in his crew as well.

Yeah but would it be necessary from a plot perceptive?

And I think Oda would have a fairly hard time having 10 crewmembers as from what I can tell it is difficult to have so many characters in a series and still keep them in active roles.

I mean watch DBZ pretty much any character that wasn't a Saiyan pretty much fell by the wayside and didn't do anything aside from state exposition.

Same here; it's just a question of what.

It's probably significant that Stronger shrugged off Hiken as easily as the rest of the crew did.

Indeed it is significant. I'd say Quelch has pills for Stronger.

Check the chapter again; it looks like a hilt at one end and the shape seems to indicate something that's wrapped up.

I read the chapter and I don't think it's a weapon. Also who says it has to be a weapon? Why couldn't it be a bunch of magic pills or something?

I really don't think of them as being cheap to be honest; they usually have clearly defined weaknesses and are extremely rare.

In that case what would be wrong with a camouflage fruit? I mean I doubt Oda would make it that anyone who uses that fruit would be invincible . I'm sure he would give it a weakness.

I tend to think that DoFlamingo will go after Luffy in the long run simply because the whole Mocktown incident would have diminished his mark. Now, I can see him carving his way through an Admiral or two in the long run when he finally decides to make his move.

I figured Teach would confront Doflamingo due to the whole not believing in dreams thing.

I don't like the idea of The Strawhats fighting every single Warlord, Vice Admiral, Admiral and Yonku.

Sure, but Whitebeard alone has plenty of people to go around. According to OP: Yellow, there are sixteen corps. That's at least two for each member of Teach's crew.

Yes but are they strong enough?

This especially applies to Lafitte.

Yeah, I was just being facetious. As far as we know, Burgess just pummels people with his fists, though he probably has a wide repertoire of wrestling holds and moves when he needs them.

Well from what I can tell most of the time Sanji just pummels people with his kicks. But Sanji has shown he can do more than just that. Why couldn't Burgess be the same?.

[Angel emfrbl]

People are giving BB's crew too much credit. As I stated, BB told his crew to hold back since they weren't on Ace's level… What does that mean?

It means all but BB are not up to the standard of Mr. WB 2nd Division commander. So in other words, BB's crew has a long way to go before any of them could take him on. A couple of shots from Auger? So what, Ace just snuffed them off because of his Logia powers.

On one hand, they must be strong for a powerful guy lke BB to choose so he must see a heap load of potental in them like Luffy sees in his crew. I wouldn't like to judge them against Luffy's crew yet. Since Usopp was amazed at Auger's shooting skills, Auger at least can best Usopp whoose greatest effort so far is shooting from a tall building. We can say that perhaps the rest of BB's crew is at that level...

... Which could led one to think that any SH taking them on one-on-one is a mistake right now. Whose knows by the time the two crews meet up, things could be different.

[Impel Down]

Yeah, Van Auge sniped from ANOTHER ISLAND, Usopp sniped from a skyscraper onto people below. As far as we can see, he's better-ish. Although, we really can't gauge Jesus Burgess's and Doc Q's strength so far, except that they pulled huge paddles on BB's shitty raft boat.

[Rai]

Personaly I'd think the matchup for Burgass is Franky. It just fits so hard in.
And Sanji's up for Lafitt [sp?], since he always gets gay people [no offense, any gay here].

But people, if so much quotes PLEASE put them in [spoiler*] [with no *], so other people can skip them.

[SuperStar]

@onemoment:

Well, I think there have been strong hints that Roger was stronger then Whitebeard. After all, having the ability to fight "evenly" doesn't make clear who won. Roger at the end of his life was smiling, had no obvious signs of injury, and made a declaration that changed an era. That man, despite his capture, never lost his cool. Also, he's the man who sailed to Raftel and captured One Piece, becoming the Pirate King.

Meanwhile, Whitebeard is old, injured and wearing an IV. He's constantly frowning, and acts like a dick to everyone he meets. He's arrogant to no end, refusing to recognise anyone as a threat to him–despite the fact that he's clearly been hurt before. Also, he never sailed to Raftel, never claimed One Piece, and never became Pirate King. He's just "close" to it. Even so many years later Whitebeard is unable to go to Raftel. Who's the real winner here? Roger seems to hold so much over Whitebeard's head. There's even hints that someone else may yet surpass Whitebeard. And hints are all we have to go on now.

I see Roger and Whitebeard as having more of a "Goku/Vegeta" relationship. Both were strong fighters, but I would guess that Whitebeard was always a little bit behind.

Gold Roger may have been the strongest guy around because of his success, for the simple fact that Whitebeard was able to match Roger so many times shows how great Whitebeard is.

Whitebeard acts arrogant because of who he is and what he has done, Oda did give this man the "World's strongest" for a reason. I just don't see how many people here can say that Blackbeard is going to kill Whitebeard escpecially when we have yet to see Whitebeard's might.

[Angel emfrbl]

No WB doesn't act that way because of his strength, he acts that way because he was based on a RL character from a pub Oda went into often. XD

[GoustiFruit]

@Rai:

Personaly I'd think the matchup for Burgass is Franky. It just fits so hard in.
And Sanji's up for Lafitt [sp?], since he always gets gay people [no offense, any gay here].

Yes, moreover Laffite seems to play a similar role in BB's crew that Sanji's sometime playing with the strawhats: spying / working in the shadow… (Mr prince :-D )

[Emilio]

Yes, moreover Laffite seems to play a similar role in BB's crew that Sanji's sometime playing with the strawhats: spying / working in the shadow… (Mr prince :-D )

Yeah, that's why we'll have a Sanji VS Lafitte !

Do you eventually think Buggy's crew could join Blackbeard's ?…

[freedom]

@SuperStar:

Gold Roger may have been the strongest guy around because of his success, for the simple fact that Whitebeard was able to match Roger so many times shows how great Whitebeard is.

Whitebeard acts arrogant because of who he is and what he has done, Oda did give this man the "World's strongest" for a reason. I just don't see how many people here can say that Blackbeard is going to kill Whitebeard escpecially when we have yet to see Whitebeard's might.

It's simple. There's no point in WB winning a battle against Luffy or BB.
WB has the title as world's strongest to establish a marker for either protagonist or antagonist. With WB's defeat, this marker is reached and overcome. It doesn't matter who it is. right now BB is the favorite for the job. Oda can introduce someone else later, or use another character already established to deliver the blow.

no one is saying WB is weak and useless. he's definitely the guy who matched Gold Roger and since he's the living equal to Roger, his defeat means a great deal in the story. that's why it will happen.

[AD-HD Pirate]

Right at the point Freedom.
And whoever kills him will have to use all his powers. IT WILL BE one hell of a match.

[SuperStar]

@freedom:

It's simple. There's no point in WB winning a battle against Luffy or BB.WB has the title as world's strongest to establish a marker for either protagonist or antagonist. With WB's defeat, this marker is reached and overcome. It doesn't matter who it is. right now BB is the favorite for the job. Oda can introduce someone else later, or use another character already established to deliver the blow.

To tell you the truth this isn't really saying much, cause right now a very important character in Red-Haired Shanks is fighting Whitebeard. Is he going to deliver the final blow and become the strongest? taking away from Blackbeard and Luffy's so called spotlight?

no one is saying WB is weak and useless. he's definitely the guy who matched Gold Roger and since he's the living equal to Roger, his defeat means a great deal in the story. that's why it will happen.

We shall see if WB gets defeated, we really don't know that.

[freedom]

@SuperStar:

To tell you the truth this isn't really saying much, cause right now a very important character in Red-Haired Shanks is fighting Whitebeard. Is he going to deliver the final blow and become the strongest? taking away from Blackbeard and Luffy's so called spotlight?

you really think that fight is such a serious one?
even though, we were told it isn't a serious one…

We shall see if WB gets defeated, we really don't know that.

just like we didn't know if Ace would be defeated. ok, i'll wait on the story to get there.

[SuperStar]

@freedom:

you really think that fight is such a serious one?
even though, we were told it isn't a serious one…

just like we didn't know if Ace would be defeated. ok, i'll wait on the story to get there.

Whitebeard and Red-Hair's fight is not serious? Do you have the manga RAWs for that?

Ace's situation was different, Red-Hair basically told the audience that Blackbeard was stronger than Ace. Thus Ace's defeat was expected.

[AD-HD Pirate]

Whitebeard and Red-Hair's fight is not serious? Do you have the manga RAWs for that?

Read this:

Roo: There they go!
Is it war?!

Yasopp: Nah, Cap'n said he wasn't gonna…

Pirate: What the hell is Red-Hair doing to Dad...?!!

Marco: Hold your horses. He ain't THAT stupid!!

Joz: But it seems their talks have broken down.
Look at the sky.

They simply are too smart to fight with each others.

[ONEinchPUNCH]

If the sky is split in a fight I'd say it's pretty serious, that is unless there's a phrase saying it wasn't serious.

[AD-HD Pirate]

If the sky is split in a fight I'd say it's pretty serious, that is unless there's a phrase saying it wasn't serious.

Read the quote.

16 characters

[ONEinchPUNCH]

@AD-HD:

Read the quote.

16 characters

I did and it doesn't say it wasn't serious

[AD-HD Pirate]

I did and it doesn't say it wasn't serious

Oh c'mon. Use your brains.
It clearly said that they are not going to fight with each others.

[ONEinchPUNCH]

@AD-HD:

Oh c'mon. Use your brains.
It clearly said that they are not going to fight with each others.

It looks like they weren't meant to fight each other, but shanks seems to have changed his mind. Remember whitebeard doesn't know if shanks is trying or not so he will be using his strength in that fight.