 I fought countless battles and received countless scars, but the only one that aches right now is this one. A man like that will never be satisfied and no one will be able to stop this error from spiraling into chaos. Shanks and Blackbeard, two of this generation's undisputedly most powerful pirates. But more importantly, two figures currently battling each other for the very fate of the world. Completely unnoticed by the world itself, mind you, which is much too busy focusing on the more obvious threats, the alliance of Kaido and Big Mom, the rise of the Revolutionary Army, and even the induction of the worst generation. But behind all of that lies a threat that puts all of them to shame. An incoming catastrophe of global proportions that only one lone figure could predict. A catastrophe that he has experienced firsthand in the past. An event untold to us that happened nonetheless. This is the story of Shanks versus Blackbeard. And this story commences as is customary at the beginning. The very first chapter of One Piece really, where we are introduced to a seemingly innocuous, jovial young man. This is where we first meet Shanks in a small bar in East Blue. A seemingly classical pirate he enjoys eating, he enjoys drinking, and most of all, he enjoys general shenanigans. In this chapter, Shanks serves as a mentor figure to a young Monkey D. Luffy who we see sitting beside him. And at this stage, none of us could have predicted just how important Shanks's life mission was. And I go to the trouble to point this out because skipping forward to chapter 223, we find ourselves in the grand line on a tiny island named Jaya. And here we are introduced to a seemingly innocuous jovial, not young, but also not old man. This is where we first meet Blackbeard, also in a bar and also alongside Luffy. And at this stage, none of us could have predicted just how terrifying Blackbeard's life mission was. Have you ever stopped and thought about that? These two characters have more or less the exact same introduction. Two very almost boringly normal humans just chilling in a bar with Luffy before promptly being revealed as being far more than they portrayed themselves as. However, this bar based introduction is but one of the many extraordinary parallels between Shanks and Blackbeard that tends to go completely unnoticed, which is an all too familiar theme in this conflict. To fully understand this dichotomy, we must step further back though. Notably, both Shanks and Blackbeard have been pirates ever since they were young children. In fact, it's been heavily hinted that Shanks was raised aboard a pirate ship and may not know any other way of life. To Shanks, the feeling of the bareboards of a ship bobbing up and down with the waves may very well be more natural than the sturdiness of solid ground. With Blackbeard, his exact origins are a bit more mysterious, but our earliest known sighting of him was not as a pirate, nor did it involve the seemingly happy-go-lucky childhood of Shanks. Instead, the earliest known image we have of Blackbeard is this one of him tucked in a ball and crying under a crescent moon, which should already ring some alarm bells to the more keen-eyed fans who may have noticed the importance of moon imagery within the series. We see the moon very seldomly, but it's almost like a character of its own, making its presence known in important and meaningful moments. However, at the age of 12, Blackbeard, then known as Marshall D. Teach, would eventually plead to join a pirate vessel. The ship of Edward Newgate, to be precise, a man better known as Whitebeard, and who would eventually go on to become known as the strongest man in the world. And Whitebeard took on Teach as a fully fledged son, along with everyone else who became a member of the Whitebeard Pirates. That was the dynamic of this crew. They were a family, and Teach was happy to play that role for quite some time, whilst his deeper darkness was brewing. In terms of shanks, he spent his childhood years aboard the ship of Goldie Roger, a fierce rival of Whitebeard, and a man who would go on to become known as the Pirate King. And whilst Roger was less of a fatherly figure, he would take shanks under his wing, forming a close bond, and even giving shanks his then trademark straw hat. After which point, I suppose, Roger switched to the more grandiose pirate headwear. Another pretty amazing parallel, though, isn't it? The fact that Shanks and Blackbeard were once members of arguably the two greatest rival pirate crews in history. Another narrative factor that really does place them on opposite ends of the spectrum of fate. But on their respective journeys, they both had the privilege of exploring the spectacle and wonder that is the Grand Line. And the first wonder they each encountered was the ability to subscribe to the Grand Line Review, which resulted in consistent injections of One Piece culture, administered straight into their YouTube feeds. A very handy device, and one that you should really equip yourselves with as well. Please do say hi in the comments below if you are a new member of the Grand Fleet. Welcome. But the Grand Line is the most dangerous stretch of water on this planet, famous for its gigantic monsters, both on land and at sea, its apocalyptic weather conditions, and for those who were able to combat both of those, a never-ending supply of powerful opponents, each vying for supremacy of the territory. It was a pirate's paradise that neither Shanks nor Teach had any business being involved in. Both of these children were in way over their heads, but under the umbrella of Roger and Whitebeard respectively, they both experienced the journey of a lifetime, forming plenty of bonds along the way as well. Shanks, very notably, was not the only child who bought his vessel, so he had something of a brother and a young boy born for the purpose of comic relief named Buggy. Aboard the Whitebeard pirates, Teach formed similarly yet distinctly hollow bonds. In fact, some of the highest praise anyone can really give Teach is for his sheer acting prowess. He was genuinely able to convince his compatriots that he was just another adventure-seeking pirate who enjoyed the occasional cherry pie. But when you're in quite literally the most dangerous place in the world, life is certainly not all that easy, with Shanks and Blackbeard facing an untold number of challenges throughout their days. Shanks, for example, was present and participating in the Battle of Edwar, where Golden Lion Shiki summoned a fleet of 50 ships simply to bring Roger down, unsuccessfully, by the way. But by far the greatest test was still to come as one day on a small, unnamed island, the Roger pirates would come into direct conflict with the Whitebeard pirates. And it would be here that Shanks and Teach first bore witness to the sheer power of this legendary age, as both captains and crews fought for three days and nights before ultimately landing at a stalemate. Which is the story as it goes to most people. However, there was another much darker narrative brewing underneath this conflict because this is where Shanks and Teach would meet for the very first time. And rather interestingly, it wasn't Shanks who first noticed something sinister about this young Blackbeard. Instead, it would be Buggy. After the battle, Buggy had heard a rumor that Teach had not slept for the entirety of the three days and nights and that allegedly, Teach had never slept in his entire life. And whilst Buggy did view this as quite a worrying enigma, Shanks' initial response was far more innocent, stating that Teach's life must have been twice as fun as a result of that. But Buggy insisted that Teach was in fact some sort of monster, which would spark the beginning of Shanks' interest in Teach. Because despite the fact that now both members of the Whitebeard and Roger Pirates were aware of some of Teach's more, how shall we say, strange tendencies, they all very much overlooked it. A mistake that would eventually come back to haunt them as well as threaten the stability of the planet as we know it. But Shanks would keep a close eye on Teach wherever possible, going on to discover a highly malevolent nature within him. But what's worse is that Teach also had the power behind him to back this up. As a member of the Whitebeard Pirates, he was no doubt strong, but Teach kept his true strength completely shrouded. Although Shanks would receive a taste of this power on one occasion, where Teach managed to outmatch him and delivered Shanks' now trademark triple slash gar. After this point, Shanks immediately understood the true threat that was rising within Teach. And what's worse is that there would likely be no one capable of stopping him. It was around this time that a world-changing event took place. Shanks' captain and mentor, Goldie Roger, having become the Pirate King and with very little time left to live, decided to turn himself into the Marines, with Roger's execution being publicly scheduled to be held in his birthplace of lockdown. And whilst the world would generally hold this day up as a celebration of ridding themselves of one of the greatest criminals to have ever existed, this would be Shanks' darkest hour. His captain had been killed, his crew disbanded, and even Buggy refused to join Shanks on his journey. But the first time in his life, Shanks was truly alone, left with nothing but the knowledge of the incoming storm of Teach, which would begin rumbling in the not too distant future, as the day would swiftly arrive where Teach betrayed the Whitebeard Pirates. After having sailed with this crew for well over two decades, Teach, without hesitation, decided to murder a fellow crew member in order to acquire a devil fruit that they had found. This was known as the yami yami nomi, a logia type fruit that allows its user to conjure, manipulate, and become darkness. This was the item that Teach had been seeking throughout his entire time with Whitebeard's crew and what he had been waiting two decades in the shadows to attain. And after having consumed it, he promptly fled and took on the new name of Blackbeard. Whitebeard at this point was elderly and his health was rapidly failing. But another of his crew, Port Gastease, set out to pursue Blackbeard to punish him for the unthinkable crime of killing a son of Whitebeard, an endeavor that would also sadly fail, leading to the defeat of Ace at the hands of Blackbeard. And furthermore, after handing Ace over to the Marines, it would provoke an entire war between the world government and the Whitebeard Pirates, all of which was very much according to Blackbeard's plans. But stepping back in time a bit with no one else left to carry on his captain's legacy, immediately after Roger's execution, Shanks set about to form his own crew. And in the Sea of East Blue, he would find a fair few key allies, one of which being Yasop, better known as the father of Usopp, and Ben Beckman, who had become the first mate of the crew, which would go on to be dubbed as the Red Hair Pirates. And several more key members would be recruited, such as Lucky Rue, before they landed in the iconic Fuchsia village in East Blue. Here, as we know, Shanks met a young Monkey D. Luffy and seeing the determination of Roger within the boy, Shanks would not only sacrifice one of his arms to save Luffy, but also leave him with Roger's straw hat, making Luffy promise to return it to him when he became a great pirate. Now having sensed a small ray of hope for the future, the stark reality of now would continue to dwell on Shanks. And so his crew left Fuchsia village to continue their mission, which would eventually bear fruit as six years later, Shanks would officially become recognized as an emperor of the sea. Four years following that is when the incident aboard Whitebeard ship would occur and after conducting the brutal murder, Blackbeard quickly set about to gather his own crew, which he did rather successfully. A band of like-minded, terrifyingly powerful and sickeningly brutal beings who would form the core of the Blackbeard pirates. But having achieved the power and status of an emperor, Shanks would waste no opportunity to put his agenda of stopping Blackbeard into action. And in the sephirth, he even made a point to visit Roger's old rival, Whitebeard, who in this day and age was also recognized as an emperor of the sea. However, although they shared equal status, Whitebeard very much saw Shanks as the young apprentice pirate that he once knew. It would be here that Shanks issued Whitebeard with a dire warning regarding Blackbeard and one that would ultimately be ignored as Blackbeard generally seems to have a bit of a talent of doing. But whether it was sheer arrogance, foolishness or simple skepticism, it became clear to Shanks that Whitebeard, the strongest man in the world would not be in a position to prevent the encroaching darkness of Blackbeard. And to this end, Shanks even stated that if Whitebeard did not listen, then no one would be able to stop this era from spiraling into chaos. A statement that would go on to prove true not too long afterwards as the Whitebeard pirates declared war on the world government in order to rescue Ace. This would be a conflict that quite literally shook the world. The outcome of which could very well have seen the end of established global society should Whitebeard prevail. But as stated previously, this was all according to Blackbeard's plans. Behind the curtain, this enormous war was simply a mechanism designed to weaken and kill Whitebeard so that Blackbeard could acquire his devil fruit. The Gorogoronomy, widely known as the most destructive paramecia type fruit in existence. And this plan worked shockingly well with Blackbeard and his crew arriving on the battlefield at the last second to take Whitebeard's life and then take his ability. Thus making Blackbeard the first person in this entire series capable of wielding two devil fruit powers simultaneously. And also for the very first time in his life, the world was forced to pay attention to the suddening colossal threat that was Blackbeard. And while Shanks did move to prevent the war before it began, he was intercepted by another emperor and arrived only after the deaths of both Whitebeard and Ace. But his presence put an unequivocal full stop to the war as neither the battle-wearing Marines nor the unprepared Blackbeard were game enough to face the full force of the red-hair pirates. In fact, in Blackbeard's own words, I'll pass, I got what I wanted. This is not yet the time for me to fight you. Showing us all for the first time that not only had Shanks been monitoring Blackbeard but Blackbeard had also kept a very keen eye on Shanks and had even factored him into whatever his grand plan would end up being, an event which still has yet to play out. But following the war, Blackbeard would expeditiously rise in notoriety, defeating the remnants of the Whitebeard pirates and acquiring their territory to secure his position as a new emperor of the sea. And that really did put an end to the era of legends with both the Roger pirates and the Whitebeard pirates effectively eradicated. However, what remained in their place were now the students of these two legends. One who had taken on board everything that Roger was and who was determined to continue his captain's legacy. The other who had spit on everything that Whitebeard was and who had actively done everything he could to destroy his captain's legacy. There is no doubt that these two will come into conflict once more as one of the most powerful yet subtle meta-narratives of One Piece is continuously unearthed. Shanks versus Blackbeard, the greatest story never told. And if you'd like to explore Blackbeard in a bit more depth or as much depth as we can master then please do check out this playlist of the essentials of Blackbeard. Very interesting, man, monster thing. So I look forward to seeing you there.