This theory will be specifically be talking about Blackbeard and about what his position is in relation to the rest of those with the Will of the D.

Blackbeard throughout the story has been the ultimate contradiction and the exception to every rule. His logia devil fruit for some reason doesn’t give him intangibility and he has been able to extract devil fruits from dead bodies and eat multiple devil fruits. And the exceptions also apply to his status in the Will of the D., Blackbeard shares a lot of the same traits as others with the Will of the D. like a belief in fate and inexplicable inhuman durability but he is also unique cowardly, while the others with the Will of the D. have been brave in the face of death and openly accepted it with a smile, Blackbeard shows genuine fear of death and will try to avoid it at any cost. As a coward, Blackbeard also is the only one with the Will of the D. that seems to be an actual villain/evil person in the entire story and I think there is a specific reason for that.

Many people believe that people with the Will of the D. are descendants of the people from the Ancient Kingdom before/during the Void Century. There are many reasons for this assumption including how they are described as the natural enemy of the Celestial Dragons who descend from the 20 kings that allied to form the World Government and overthrew the Ancient Kingdom. The Will of the D. has been carried on over the generations with the same ideals that the Ancient Kingdom had and the way that Whitebeard described it in his dying speech it seems that specific people’s wills are passed down and inherited by others almost like a system of reincarnation.

Refer to this page as it is the basis of almost everything I say and the words here are mentioned alot.

Whitebeard seems to be clearly talking about the Will of the D. as the previous page was also specifically referencing it. Whitebeard talks about the Will of the D. being continually passed down time and time again and that eventually we will finally hear about those who came to fight for this world which I believe has a double meaning, one being the people who will fight the final war in the present to overthrow the World Government and also the people of the Ancient Kingdom in the past who fought what would become the World Government but failed. Whitebeard talks about Roger’s will being inherited and Oda shows a panel of Luffy obviously suggesting that Luffy has Roger’s will, and also Whitebeard says that Blackbeard is not one of the men that Roger waits for, probably meaning that among the Will of the D., Blackbeard does not have Roger’s will.

So if Luffy has Roger’s will then whose will does Blackbeard have? While I don’t think we will be introduced to a character in Roger’s era that Blackbeard follows after, there is somebody in the past whose will he has inherited. I believe that Luffy/Roger’s Will has also been inherited from Joy Boy, the man who made a promise to Fishman Island is believed by some in theories to be the King of the Ancient Kingdom. Blackbeard has the inherited the will of a man yet to be introduced but we will learn about in an eventual Void Century flashback, this man is a member of the Ancient Kingdom who used to be a close friend/relative of Joy Boy. When Luffy and Blackbeard first met they had a friendly fight over their similar personalities such as love of certain foods, being reckless and carefree and having great dreams and ambitions. Just like with Luffy and Blackbeard, the early days between Joy Boy and this man might have been friendly but eventually everything goes wrong and we see who this man truly is. This man was a unique case and in the end when the war broke out between the Ancient Kingdom and the future World Government, this man eventually betrayed his own people and sided with the World Government bringing about the downfall of the Ancient Kingdom.

There is a recurring consistent theme with Blackbeard about betrayal, he betrayed his own crew many times over by first killing Thatch to take the Yami Yami no mi and then betraying them again by capturing Ace and eventually killing his captain Whitebeard. Blackbeard also betrayed the Government/Marines by abusing his Shichibukai status to invade Impel Down and Marineford. Clearly this is a man without much true loyalty and very importantly seems to be very opportunistic as Blackbeard was willing to wait 20 years in Whitebeard’s crew just to find the Yami Yami no mi and bides his time slowly gaining power and taking positions such as Shichibukai and Yonko that are only steps on the way to eventually becoming Pirate King. The same man whose will that Blackbeard has inherited, who we will call the Traitor, had the same mindset and thus while the war was going on he believed that the future World Government was winning and the Traitor wanted to be on the victorious side so he deserted his own people and turned against them. His reasons for becoming a traitor was both because of ambition and opportunity, as he would gain power from being on the winning side, as well as pure fear that his side would lose and that he would be killed by the enemy thus showing the same fear of death that Blackbeard does.

In the same speech that Whitebeard states that Blackbeard is not one of the men that Roger waits for, he also mentions “those who came to fight for this world”. Blackbeard is not one of the men that Roger waits for because Roger has inherited Joy Boy’s will while Blackbeard has inherited the will of the Traitor who is Joy Boy’s nemesis as he ruined everything that Joy Boy worked for and is not included in the list of “those who came to fight for this world”. As the Traitor was a coward, he was not brave enough to fight and die smiling like the rest of the Ancient Kingdom who we knew eventually lost and were destroyed.

But what does this mean for the current story? Well obviously this would work to set the tone for the eventual Luffy vs. Blackbeard fight. We know there is already some history and hatred over the death of Ace, but that isn’t the only thing that will define what this fight is about. There is a reason that Oda introduced Blackbeard in his first appearance meeting Luffy instead of just being a random pirate that captured Ace, Oda has already established clear similarities and differences between the 2. A flashback revealing the old history between Joy Boy and the Traitor will provide more context to their personality and ideological differences even if the 2 characters themselves in the present are completely unaware of it.

But more then just a Luffy vs. Blackbeard fight I believe that Blackbeard may already be repeating history and following the Will of the Traitor. Blackbeard doesn’t seem to know that much about the Will of the D. and wouldn’t be aware about whose will he has inherited so in the present he may actually think he is following in the foot steps of Roger. Blackbeard looks kind of old but he only just turned 40 after the timeskip meaning that during Roger’s golden years before his death, Blackbeard was only a pre teen/early teen so still young and impressionable. Blackbeard has one of the most interesting drawings as a child that Oda drew as he is seen crying, probably hinting at some form of bad childhood. Maybe Roger’s freedom as the Pirate King was an outlet of inspiration for him? As Blackbeard desires to become Pirate King we know at least that he desires the same freedom that the position might hold and thus might admire Roger as the former Pirate King. Blackbeard at least seems surprised, asking “WHAT!?”, when Whitebeard suggests that Blackbeard is not one of the men that Roger waits for. But of course Blackbeard is not following Roger’s path and if you buy some of the earlier parts of the theory about the idea of the Traitor, Blackbeard is actually following the will of the Traitor by siding with the World Government.

We know that Blackbeard wants to become Pirate King more then anyone besides Luffy as he is his main rival for that title. But unlike Luffy and the others with Will of the D. he doesn’t have the same morals and wouldn’t have a problem doing certain things to reach his goal. Blackbeard is inherently ambitious and opportunistic, so if somebody offered him a clear advantage to reach his goal of becoming Pirate King then he would take it. But why would the World Government ever support a pirate especially one that wants to become Pirate King? Because they want a puppet to end the Great Age of Pirates. Roger’s death drove the World Government crazy as he talked about his treasure “One Piece” that inspired a whole new generation of pirates to search for it and become the next Pirate King. We have seen that the World Government has tried their best to subdue this Great Age by creating the Shichibukai system to intimidate weaker pirates and fight/keep balance with the Yonko.

But times are changing as the Worst Generation that Blackbeard is a part of, is working to disrupt the balance and the World Government must inevitably see that eventually things will collapse. But if the World Government has remained in power for so long surely they must have contingency plans to prevent this? That plan is Blackbeard. Knowing that things will collapse in one way or another, the Gorosei the heads of the World Government make a plan in secret to prop up one specific pirate to become the next Pirate King. He will fight and take down some of the other strong pirates like Yonko and the next generation will not be as crazy as their is no more One Piece to be found and 1 Pirate King would still be alive actively remaining in power and intimidating any potential pirates. Any atrocities committed in his name would not matter as the World Government has been known to be willing to play the long game and let innocent people die/kill them themselves and this time it would work perfectly as the new Pirate King’s actions would only make the Marines/World Government look better for opposing him.

Some people would say this wouldn’t fit Blackbeard as he does genuinely want to be free like the rest of those with the Will of the D., but under this system he would be free. The World Government would let him have free reign and do what he wants, occasionally sending some Marines to chase after him fully knowing that Blackbeard can easily kill them. They both get what they want, Blackbeard achieves his dream of becoming Pirate King and the Gorosei never lose any true power while the only losers are other pirates and the moral people of the world. In the end it comes full circle, with Blackbeard whether knowingly or unknowingly has inherited the will of the Traitor and repeats his predecessor’s betrayal by siding with the World Government for his own gain.

*Theory by Nicobade

No other series I’ve seen allows you to instantly recognise and remember such an insanely huge amount of personalities. Their visage is only the first part of that, too. Their behaviours, ways of speaking, etc, all differ in recognisable ways… Oda Rulez