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One Piece manga has lately been at its peak, and things are heating up on the Egghead Island. With Kuma now making a surprise entry, trying to save his only daughter, Bonny, nobody knows what Oda has planned for the upcoming chapters. The same can be said for the fate of Saturn, who is about to face the fury of an angry father.
However, a crucial character has remained silent during these developments, and nobody knows its whereabouts. That character is Blackbeard, one of the main antagonists in this series. It was confirmed in chapter 1079 that the Blackbeard pirates are headed towards Egghead Island, but no whereabouts of them have been revealed after that.
Naturally, fans have been wondering if this villain has some sneaky plans again, similar to what he did during the Paramount War, by stealing Whitebeard's devil fruit when he was the weakest. Many are also speculating if he will play a pivotal role in the ongoing Saturn saga.
Note: This article contains potential spoilers from the One Piece manga series.
One Piece: The appearance of Blackbeard during the Saturn saga makes sense in many ways
Blackbeard's interest in Seraphim models
In episode 1087 of One Piece, fans saw Blackbeard fight the Seraphim model S-Hawk (Mihawk). The fight did not go on for long, but the critical point of this fight was the reaction of Blackbeard after witnessing the physical traits of a Seraphim.
In fact, he was intrigued by how the World Government designed a new model of Pacifista, but this time, with the traits of Lunarians.
In the SBS section of volume 82 of One Piece, Oda confirmed the hobbies of the Worst Generation of Pirates. In this SBS, Blackbeard's hobbies are described as "gambling and historical research."
Lunarians are a significant part of the history of the world of One Piece, so Blackbeard going out of his way to travel to Egghead makes sense (as Vegapunk designed these monster robots).
Saint Saturn as a valuable hostage
Furthermore, in chapter 1080, Blackbeard's future ambitions are revealed—he wants to build a pirate country of his own. Obviously, the World Government would never allow a criminal kingdom to exist in broad daylight, so he took Koby hostage.
Garp arrived to save him but lost to Aokiji. As fans may have noted, as a hostage, Garp is even worse than Koby because he refused the orders of the higher-ups to come and save Koby, so the World Government won't pay much heed to saving him. Thus, now, Blackbeard has to think of a better way to convince the World Government (or the Five Elders) to allow him to build his empire.
Currently, Saint Saturn has been driven to a corner by Kuma. This also means that he has many blindspots, so it wouldn't be surprising to see Blackbeard make a surprise entry and take Saturn hostage. This would force the World Government to agree to his terms, as one of the Five Elders is of the utmost priority.
As ridiculous as it may sound, Blackbeard can do so because his devil fruit has still not been explored as much. He also has a notorious history of stealing Whitebeard's devil fruit during the Paramount War, when he was injured and weak. So, this would be a "Blackbeard move" if he manages to pull it off.
Geko Moria's possible return
In chapter 925 of One Piece, Gecko Moria arrives at Beehive Island (where Blackbeard is staying) to rescue his crewmate, Absalom, whom Blackbeard Pirates abducted. Unfortunately, Absalom had already been killed, and Blackbeard took this opportunity to offer Moria a place in his pirate crew.
As a prideful pirate, Gecko Moria declined his offer and was imprisoned without further information being revealed. In chapter 1077, Vegapunk Shaka (Punk- 01) is confirmed dead after Vegapunk York betrays everyone. Vegapunk Shaka was the variant that knew everything about the Ohara Incident after he secretly visited Elbaf Island and memorized everything that was left behind.
As discussed in the first point, Blackbeard loves gambling and studying history. With Shaka now dead, Blackbeard needs a devil fruit user who can reanimate him so that the secrets of the Void Century can be revealed to him. That devil fruit user is the Shadow-Shadow Fruit, which is currently in possession of Gecko Moria.
The Shadow-Shadow Fruit allows its user to control shadows and use other people's shadows to zombify a dead person. With Gecko Moria's current miserable condition, it wouldn't be surprising to see him arrive at Egghead Island as one of the Blackbeard Pirates.
Final thoughts
For the first time, it feels like One Piece has actually entered its final saga because now, mysteries are being revealed. With Kizaru now supposedly changing sides and Kuma about to undertake his revenge on Saint Saturn, the tensions are high as the Egghead Island Arc might be reaching its climax.
Be sure to stay updated with all of One Piece, as 2024 is about to be an exciting year for fans!
