Luffy and Blackbeard's first meeting in One Piece is the key to understanding the Void Century war

Modified May 25, 2024 01:30 GMT

One Piece and how Luffy and Blackbeard's first meeting could signal the future of the series (Image via Toei Animation).

One Piece fans are known for coming up with a lot of theories involving the series and the most recent one is centered around how Luffy and Blackbeard's ideologies could be key to understanding the nature of the Void Century war. As most fans of the series know by now, there was an event that took place during the Void Century that most people in the World Government are hiding - this theory states that it could be the concept of adventure vs. domination in the shape of the protagonist and the villain.

The theory goes even further by using the age of discovery in real life, when European nations sailed to the new world, as a reference to what author Eiichiro Oda is doing in One Piece. Many believe that Luffy and Blackbeard represent the two sides of what exploration can be.

This could further explain what happened to the civilizations that existed prior to the World Government and even how the Fishman race was subdued by them.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the series. Any opinion expressed here belongs to the author and not Sportskeeda as a whole.

Explaining how Luffy and Blackbeard represent the Void Century war in the current One Piece series

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This theory suggests that Oda is taking inspiration from the age of discovery in real-life history, which took place from the 15th century to the 17th and heavily focused on Spanish pirates going to the place that is now known as America and the Portuguese ones heading to present-day Japan.

The latter resulted in 200 years of isolation for Japan because of the warfare with the Portuguese, also known as Tokugawa Shogunate, which was the inspiration for the land of Wano.

That time period saw a lot of warfare and violence between the invaders and the people who already lived on those lands, which is why the theory points out that this is probably what happened in the Void Century as the army that would form the World Government conquered and destroyed a lot of islands and territories. It also points out that Joy Boy was the first adventurer, but failed to protect people, which is why his message to Poseidon on Fishman Island is seen as an apology.

Therefore, the theory suggests that Luffy, who is already confirmed as the new Joy Boy, is the symbol of traveling the seas simply for the sheer joy of it, while Blackbeard represents chaos and conquest. This could set up their conflict as the modern-day representation of the Void Century war.

More on Blackbeard and his role with Luffy

Blackbeard in the anime (Image via Toei Animation).

Blackbeard has long been teased as the final villain of One Piece as his journey throughout the series mirrors Luffy's, and they are both direct opposites to one another. They both want to be the Pirate King and have gathered a group of friends to their groups, although in Blackbeard's case, they are criminals of the highest order.

Therefore, the fact that they could represent the ideologies that cemented the Void Century war would make a lot of sense when considering how Blackbeard has destroyed places during his adventure in the sea, which is a direct contrast to Luffy.

Final thoughts

This One Piece theory serves as a fitting explanation of what could have happened during the Void Century and also serves as another insight into Oda's influences from real-life events. However, as per usual, this is just a theory and there is no way to confirm that it is going to be true.

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Edited by Upasya Bhowal