Ask John: Is Blackbeard Lufy’s Rival?

Question:
I’ve been reading One Piece for quite sometime now and I’ve noticed that the main protagonist, Luffy, does not have a solid rival in the series. There have been several shonen manga that have established an ongoing antagonistic relationship between the principle protagonist and another main character who shares some aspect of the protagonist’s life and opposing views to the protagonist’s. Some examples include Son Goku and Vegeta (Dragonball Z), Naruto and Sasuke (Naruto), Ichigo and Renji (Bleach), and so on. It may because the One Piece manga constantly changes locations with each new story arc leading Luffy and the Straw Hat crew to fight new enemies. Although with the recent events caused by the character Blackbeard (Marshall D. Teach) leading Luffy and others to invade Marine Headquarters, plus sharing the same traits and ambitions as Luffy, yet having different moral values from him. One could contest that Blackbeard is Luffy’s rival, but what is your opinion on this issue.

Answer:
I’ve been watching the One Piece TV anime series since its premiere in 1999. With the exception of the first several episodes of the “Skypia” story arc, I’ve watched all of the 400+ TV episodes. However, I’ve never diligently followed the original manga. In the anime adaptation, so far, Blackbeard has had a pivotal role but very small appearance, and he’s had no direct relationship with series protagonist Lufy D. Monkey. While it’s true that a consistent antagonist or a character foil to the protagonist is common among shounen adventure stories, such a character isn’t always present or necessary. Blackbeard’s goals and personality in One Piece may compliment Lufy’s, but I’m hesitant to call him a proper rival character, at least, right now.

Certainly, shounen adventure series frequently include rival characters. Bleach and Naruto both introduce their foil characters relatively early. Fist of the North Star and Dragon Ball both take a while before introducing their rival characters. Kenshiro first opposed Shin, then his adopted brother Jagi before finding an adversary relationship with his elder brother Raoh that carries on throughout the remainder of the lengthy series. Dragon Ball doesn’t introduce Son Goku’s rival until the mid-point of the lengthy story. Throughout his childhood, Goku does not have a constant rival. Vegeta isn’t introduced as Goku’s foil until well after the story has shifted into the “Z warrior” phase, after Goku has grown up, married, and fathered a son. One Piece may eventually be revealed as following the path of Dragon Ball – not introducing Lufy’s consistent rival until after the mid-point of the story. (Evil pirate Buggy has opposed Lufy from the very beginning of the One Piece story, but I think it’s safe to say that Buggy is not an evenly matched rival to Lufy.)

However, shounen adventure stories including Yu Yu Hakusho, Hunter x Hunter, and St. Seiya arguably don’t have consistent and widely recognized rival characters for their protagonists. Kuwabara isn’t a consistently antagonistic foil to Yu Yu Hakusho’s Yusuke Urameshi. Hunter x Hunters’s Hisoka doesn’t serve as a rival to Gon beyond the storyline he appears in, and his goals are different than those of Gon. So he doesn’t play quite position into the same role that characters like Sasuke, Vegeta, Raoh, and Renji do. These examples, I think, establish that shounen adventure stories don’t always include a definitive, consistent rival character. Furthermore, established rival characters including Sasuke, Vegeta, Raoh, and Renji are ones whose personalities and goals make them beloved and respected. In fact, in recent years Raoh has arguably become far more popular than Fist of the North Star protagonist Kenshiro. Based on his singular appearance in the One Piece TV anime so far, I can’t envision Blackbeard developing the same respect and fan appreciation.

I don’t know what One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda plans to do with the forthcoming One Piece story, so I don’t know if Blackbeard will eventually develop into a consistent rival for Lufy. However, knowing that it’s possible for a story like One Piece to develop and even conclude without ever introducing a consistent rival character, and judging by Blackbeard’s appearance in the anime so far, I’m inclined to think of him as another in a long line of transitory opponents and antagonists, similar to past One Piece characters including Arlong, Crocodile, Eneru, and Rob Lucci.