Blackbeard discussion thread [Manga]

[Dio23]

Originally Posted by Blackbeard D. Kuma

Blackbeard has proven himself to being an extremely formidable pirate. Let us examine all of his factors and feats that help to substantiate this claim.

1) Blackbeard is so powerful that he and his four other crewmates completely destroyed Drum Kingdom all by themselves, an act so threatening that it forced all of the country’s inhabitants and King Wapol to flee out of pure fear.

2) Blackbeard murdered the 4th divison commander of Whitebeard's crew in order to obtain the Yami Yami no Mi (Darkness Fruit). Now, we don't know yet exactly how he did it and whether or not Oda is going to further elaborate on that incident. However, this was the 4th division commander we are talking about here, a pirate who was strong enough to claim the title of division commander on a Yonkou's crew. Blackbeard killing this commander is an action that certainly merits his strength and is not a task that any ordinary pirate can pull off.

3) Blackbeard's crewmates have shown impressive feats of power and ability so far. Van Auger shot a flock of seagulls from an island so far away that the strawhats could not even it see from their position. Jesus Burgess picked up a whole hotel with minimal effort, jumped high up into the air, and then quickly threw it at Ace. Doc Q, in spite of languishing all the time, has shown that he can be really dangerous. When he met Luffy in Jaya Island, one bite out of his explosive apples could have killed Luffy. Raffite managed to sneak into the World Government headquarters all by himself and he was completely undetected by three shichibukai members and Sengoku the Buddha. What makes this feat even more impressive is the fact that he wears tap dancing shoes, making his movements all the more prone to making noise. Considering that Blackbeard is the captain of his crew, a position usually given to the strongest member, that says something about him.

4) Blackbeard shoved Sarquiss's face into the ground and instantly KO'd him. Sarquiss was a pirate worth 38 million berries and it only took one hit from Blackbeard to put him out of commission. This showed a brief glimpse of his physical prowess.

5) Blackbeard scarred Shanks, who is one of the Four Emperors, before he ate the Yami Yami no Mi. Shanks also said that he wasn't careless and he clearly takes him very seriously.

6) The Yami Yami no Mi that Blackbeard has consumed has nearly given him godlike abilities in the One Piece world. He can compress all matter around him with his dark gravity, suck in anything with his dark vortex, and he can nullify any devil fruit power by means of physical contact. In his encounter with Ace, Ace used his Hiken on Blackbeard and his crew and they all merely shrugged off the attack. Furthermore, it only took one punch from Blackbeard to nearly break Ace's neck.

All of the above feats of strength and ability clearly exemplify Blackbeard as a worthy candidate of being one of the strongest characters in the series.

Blackbeard has proven himself to being an extremely formidable pirate. Let us examine all of his factors and feats that help to substantiate this claim.

1) Blackbeard is so powerful that he and his four other crewmates completely destroyed Drum Kingdom all by themselves, an act so threatening that it forced all of the country’s inhabitants and King Wapol to flee out of pure fear.

2) Blackbeard murdered the 4th divison commander of Whitebeard's crew in order to obtain the Yami Yami no Mi (Darkness Fruit). Now, we don't know yet exactly how he did it and whether or not Oda is going to further elaborate on that incident. However, this was the 4th division commander we are talking about here, a pirate who was strong enough to claim the title of division commander on a Yonkou's crew. Blackbeard killing this commander is an action that certainly merits his strength and is not a task that any ordinary pirate can pull off.

3) Blackbeard's crewmates have shown impressive feats of power and ability so far. Van Auger shot a flock of seagulls from an island so far away that the strawhats could not even it see from their position. Jesus Burgess picked up a whole hotel with minimal effort, jumped high up into the air, and then quickly threw it at Ace. Doc Q, in spite of languishing all the time, has shown that he can be really dangerous. When he met Luffy in Jaya Island, one bite out of his explosive apples could have killed Luffy. Raffite managed to sneak into the World Government headquarters all by himself and he was completely undetected by three shichibukai members and Sengoku the Buddha. What makes this feat even more impressive is the fact that he wears tap dancing shoes, making his movements all the more prone to making noise. Considering that Blackbeard is the captain of his crew, a position usually given to the strongest member, that says something about him.

4) Blackbeard shoved Sarquiss's face into the ground and instantly KO'd him. Sarquiss was a pirate worth 38 million berries and it only took one hit from Blackbeard to put him out of commission. This showed a brief glimpse of his physical prowess.

5) Blackbeard scarred Shanks, who is one of the Four Emperors, before he ate the Yami Yami no Mi. Shanks also said that he wasn't careless and he clearly takes him very seriously.

6) The Yami Yami no Mi that Blackbeard has consumed has nearly given him godlike abilities in the One Piece world. He can compress all matter around him with his dark gravity, suck in anything with his dark vortex, and he can nullify any devil fruit power by means of physical contact. In his encounter with Ace, Ace used his Hiken on Blackbeard and his crew and they all merely shrugged off the attack. Furthermore, it only took one punch from Blackbeard to nearly break Ace's neck.

All of the above feats of strength and ability clearly exemplify Blackbeard as a worthy candidate of being one of the strongest characters in the series.

Alright let's get this started ok

your first point was a very valid point we do not know when egzactly he did destroy drum island and if he had the fruit or not at the time (most likely did though) but then again destroying drum island is not such a great acomplishment if you think about it. the strongest person at the time on drum island was king wapol and well we all saw how good he was. i also think that many other pirates could have destroyed that island aswell for one i think ace or any logia user could have taken that island out by themselves.

on to the second fact
i even admit myself that yes this was a great acomplishment but it does not specify how he killed the 4th devision captain for all we know it could have been while he was sleeping knowing blackbeard and all.so i guesse we need to know more about this to really know.

on the third fact
can't really say much, they do posses massive power probably the second best crew ive seen so far.(well i like shanks' crew beter don't know anything about them though)

fourth fact
black beard shoving Sarquiss' face into the ground and knocking him out was nothing after i saw luffy punch bellamy's temple in with one punch know that's impressize haha.

fifth fact
nothing to say facts are straight forward.

sixth fact
i do agree with this but i also have to disagree because at the end of the fight with ace black beard was egzausted and it looked like to me that he had to go all out against ace know that might not mean much because ace is very powerfull but at the same time that does mean that even though he can hurt logia users at the same time he does take physical damage so if your quick and smart enough and land enough hits you can possibly beat him. but then again no one besides his crew mates and ace know his ability so no one will know how to react against it.

these are some facts that i would just like to post that say black beard is impressize but not unbeatable

[james0246]

Originally Posted by Blackbeard D. Kuma

The problem here is that Enel cannot attack at a distance forever. If Blackbeard uses his gravity vortex, Enel will be sucked in and he will have to contend with Blackbeard at close range. This will be a completely undesirable situation for Enel, for as we both have agreed, Blackbeard will take him out in one hit when this happens. Also, about Blackbeard not being fast on his feet, do we really know this? He chose to stay stationary throughout the entire fight just to demonstrate what his abilities were like. We haven't seen what he fights like when he goes on the offensive. You have to remember that Blackbeard was prepared to take the risk of still being vulnerable to damage before he consumed his darkness fruit. This must mean that he is very confident in his physical abilities and that he had already taken into account the possibility of having to fight logia users on his pirate expeditions. If he wasn't able to withstand the powerful effects of logias, he would not have eaten the darkness fruit.

LOL, I guess I was basing this on his...large stature . He seems to be built more like a tank than a...helicoptor? no that's not right, how about a Hover ship . He can take massive damage and stay standing. His constitution is amazing, as is, presumably, his stamina . His black hole technique is powerful, there is no doubt about that, but as long as Enel doesn't charge right into the attack, and keeps his distance, I think Enel could weather the attack.

No matter what, it would be close, and as always fun.

[Blackbeard D. Kuma]

Originally Posted by Dio23

Alright let's get this started ok

your first point was a very valid point we do not know when egzactly he did destroy drum island and if he had the fruit or not at the time (most likely did though) but then again destroying drum island is not such a great acomplishment if you think about it. the strongest person at the time on drum island was king wapol and well we all saw how good he was. i also think that many other pirates could have destroyed that island aswell for one i think ace or any logia user could have taken that island out by themselves.

on to the second fact
i even admit myself that yes this was a great acomplishment but it does not specify how he killed the 4th devision captain for all we know it could have been while he was sleeping knowing blackbeard and all.so i guesse we need to know more about this to really know.

on the third fact
can't really say much, they do posses massive power probably the second best crew ive seen so far.(well i like shanks' crew beter don't know anything about them though)

fourth fact
black beard shoving Sarquiss' face into the ground and knocking him out was nothing after i saw luffy punch bellamy's temple in with one punch know that's impressize haha.

fifth fact
nothing to say facts are straight forward.

sixth fact
i do agree with this but i also have to disagree because at the end of the fight with ace black beard was egzausted and it looked like to me that he had to go all out against ace know that might not mean much because ace is very powerfull but at the same time that does mean that even though he can hurt logia users at the same time he does take physical damage so if your quick and smart enough and land enough hits you can possibly beat him. but then again no one besides his crew mates and ace know his ability so no one will know how to react against it.

these are some facts that i would just like to post that say black beard is impressize but not unbeatable

Regarding your response to my first point, Blackbeard did have his devil fruit when he destroyed Drum Kingdom. This is true because when the strawhats met up with Dalton in Drum Island, he told them that 2 to 3 months before their arrival, Drum Island was destroyed by a group of 5 pirates (the Blackbeard pirates). Obviously at this point in time, Ace is hunting for Blackbeard after the crime he committed on Whitebeard's crew. The fact that Blackbeard is with his own crew implies that he has left Whitebeard's crew at this point, and hence has acquired the darkness fruit. I do agree with you that Blackbeard destroying Drum Island is not such an impressive feat, for as you said any other powerful pirate could most likely do the same thing. However, the point of knowing that Blackbeard's crew alone destroyed a whole country was just for the purpose of hyping him up. We can both agree on this right?

Regarding your response to my second point, I absolutely agree with you. We really don't know how Blackbeard killed the 4th division commander, as I mentioned in my point, but this fact was also probably made known to us for the simple reason of hyping up Blackbeard.

Regarding your response to my third point, we really don't know which pirate has the strongest crew. I think we can agree that Blackbeard's crew is one of the strongest. Even though Shanks and Whitebeard have really large crews, let's be realistic here. Most of the pirates on their crews are just low level goons that are probably on the level of the average marine soldier. Remember when Shanks stepped on board Whitebeard's ship? He made so many of Whitebeard's pirates pass out by his mere presence. The only noteworthy members on Whitebeard's crew are probably the division commanders and that's it. Same thing for Shanks' crew. Ben Beckman, Lucky Roux, Yassop, and Rockstar probably make up most of the strong pirates on Shanks' crew.

Regarding your response to my fourth point, yeah Blackbeard shoving Sarquiss' face into the ground was not that impressive considering Bellamy and his crew were all talk. But still, it was for the purpose of building up Blackbeard's character again by showing that he doesn't let any trash talkers tell him what to do. No ordinary pirate can pull off what Blackbeard did to Sarquiss in one hit. The point of that scene was to show that Blackbeard is only interested in catching bigger fish, such as pirates with a bounty of 100 million or more. It showed the difference between the big leagues and the trash talkers.

Regarding your response to my sixth point, only in the anime they made Blackbeard look exhausted near the end of the battle. In the manga he looks perfectly fine. I have to disagree with you that he had to go all out against Ace. It was foreshadowed by Shanks that Ace was not ready to confront Blackbeard yet, and he was definitely right. Ace is just not in his league. If Blackbeard really wanted to he could've killed Ace right in the beginning of their fight, but he chose to demonstrate how his power works so that he could explain it to us readers. If you notice carefully in that fight, Blackbeard didn't even go on the offense against Ace. He never even moved from his standing position, for he just let his gravity vortex do the work for him by pulling Ace in and hitting him. He was holding back because even near the end of the fight he still asked Ace to join his crew. Obviously Blackbeard wanted to keep Ace in a stable enough condition to join his crew, but then when Ace declined his offer he decided to put Ace in his place. This fight was not meant to be Blackbeard's serious fight in the series. It was just meant to give us a sample of what Blackbeard is capable of. He has yet to pull all of the tricks out of his sleeve.

[Dio23]

lol then with what your saying he could simply beat everyone or anyone ???

[Blackbeard D. Kuma]

Originally Posted by Dio23

lol then with what your saying he could simply beat everyone or anyone ???

When did I ever say that he could beat everyone? The point that I am trying to get across is that he is one of the strongest characters shown so far in the story. Everything I have stated is nothing but the truth.

[Dio23]

true but i dont see how any one in onepiece is going to be able to beat him with such a cheap fruit even though most likely luffy's going to, i don't see how he will be able to.
quick question if you hurt blackbeard enough he could still die right the pain that he takes when
getting hit is totalled on his body right?

[james0246]

Originally Posted by Dio23

true but i dont see how any one in onepiece is going to be able to beat him with such a cheap fruit even though most likely luffy's going to, i don't see how he will be able to.

Presumably, a few of the characters we have meet so far have equal if not greater power than Blackbeard. Sengoku, Dragon, possibly the 5 Elder Stars, one or two of the remaining Shichibukai (we are still not sure who the last member is), Whitebeard and Shanks, and Aokiji are all potentially more powerful than Blackbeard. I had a post earlier in the discussion concerning the possible ways that Luffy could defeat Blackbeard (if your interested). Whatever may happen, it probably will not be for a while, so sit back and relax. (Luffy fighting and beating Jimbei could give the needed power-up to defeat Blackbeard).

Originally Posted by Dio23

quick question if you hurt blackbeard enough he could still die right the pain that he takes when
getting hit is totalled on his body right?

Blackbeard's logia powers leave him just as vulnerable to physical attacks as a normal human. It's just that he can seemingly take an awesome amount of damge before he falters or falls. Honestlt that is what makes him a true terror, not his fruit (even though it is ridiculously strong, against Logia especially), his sheer will power and physical prowess is quite possible the highest we have seen in the series so far. While Luffy can probably match Blackbeard's conviction, I don't know if he has advanced his body enough to match Blackbeard's.

[Blackbeard D. Kuma]

Originally Posted by Dio23

true but i dont see how any one in onepiece is going to be able to beat him with such a cheap fruit even though most likely luffy's going to, i don't see how he will be able to.

Oda will find a way for Luffy to defeat Blackbeard. He will beat him with his resolve alone, just like he has done with all of the past villains he has fought so far, and new additional power ups he will most likely get later on. Luffy still has a lot of time to develop and get far stronger than his present state. As someone else mentioned in this thread, the fact that Blackbeard can actually be hurt by any means is what will inevitably cause his downfall. Blackbeard is truly a destructive force, but he is not unbeatable.

Also, if you think about it, his darkness fruit really isn't that cheap. If Blackbeard, like other logia users, was able to actually become his element, nobody would be able to touch him. All attacks would pervade right through him and he would be ridiculously cheap if this was the case. I'm glad Oda gave his darkness fruit a fair drawback; it makes Blackbeard a reasonably fair opponent to contend with.

[chitgoks]

@Blackbeard D. Kuma : true.. if they made the darkness devil fruit the ultimate devil fruit, then that my friend.. is one piece

[Blackbeard D. Kuma]

Originally Posted by chitgoks

@Blackbeard D. Kuma : true.. if they made the darkness devil fruit the ultimate devil fruit, then that my friend.. is one piece

I would say that out of all the known devil fruits so far, the darkness fruit is the best overall. Sure Blackbeard is susceptible to physical damage but his darkness fruit can nullify the effects of any other devil fruit. It is a lethal weapon against any other devil fruit user. Imagine what he will do with its gravity power when he gets serious in a fight. Furthermore, Blackbeard also did research on the many existing devil fruits until he found the one that was truly meant for him. It must be a really special fruit if he spent many years on Whitebeard's crew looking for it.

[Blackbeard D. Kuma]

There is something strange that has always bothered me a little bit about Blackbeard's fight with Ace and I was wondering if anyone else caught it as well. In chapter 440 of the manga, on page 16 Blackbeard and his crew are hit by Ace's fire fist attack. After being hit by the attack, Blackbeard is the only crew member that is actually damaged and yet his crew mates appear to be perfectly fine. Normally, you would think that the captain of the crew would not be damaged at all considering he is the strongest out of the group. So, I guess what I am trying to ask here is, how come Blackbeard was the only one that got hurt by Ace's assault while his crew suffered no injuries? How is it that Blackbeard, the strongest member from his crew, got injured from Ace's attack while his weaker crew mates received no injuries whatsoever? Share your thoughts if you are interested.

[james0246]

Originally Posted by Blackbeard D. Kuma

There is something strange that has always bothered me a little bit about Blackbeard's fight with Ace and I was wondering if anyone else caught it as well. In chapter 440 of the manga, on page 16 Blackbeard and his crew are hit by Ace's fire fist attack. After being hit by the attack, Blackbeard is the only crew member that is actually damaged and yet his crew mates appear to be perfectly fine.

I always saw it as Blackbeard standing in front of his two crewmates (and horse), and taking the majority of the blast, consequently saving them.

That being said, it is possible that the Yami Yami fruit makes the user far weaker to elemental attacks than previously though (part of the trade-off in regards to nulifying the opponents abilities would be an added weakness to the various Devil Fruit attacks).

That being said, I expect that the first answer is probably the more probable.

[mydecember]

Originally Posted by Blackbeard D. Kuma

I would say that out of all the known devil fruits so far, the darkness fruit is the best overall. Sure Blackbeard is susceptible to physical damage but his darkness fruit can nullify the effects of any other devil fruit. It is a lethal weapon against any other devil fruit user. Imagine what he will do with its gravity power when he gets serious in a fight. Furthermore, Blackbeard also did research on the many existing devil fruits until he found the one that was truly meant for him. It must be a really special fruit if he spent many years on Whitebeard's crew looking for it.

But for Luffy, even if he loss his rubber body ability, he still can do massive damage with his physical strength. It's just that he haven't fought Blackbeard yet at the moment, so it's hard to expect that But of course not in the near future...depends on Oda that is.

*Hello! this is my 1st post

[Blackbeard D. Kuma]

Originally Posted by mydecember

But for Luffy, even if he loss his rubber body ability, he still can do massive damage with his physical strength. It's just that he haven't fought Blackbeard yet at the moment, so it's hard to expect that But of course not in the near future...depends on Oda that is.

*Hello! this is my 1st post

You are absolutely right. Luffy's raw physical power can more than compensate for the loss of his devil fruit ability when it comes to close physical contact with Blackbeard. Luffy's physical strength is monstrous and it is only going to keep on escalating to higher levels as the story further progresses. I don't think he is ready to take on Blackbeard yet, but he still has lots of time to grow and develop. When the time comes for these two to engage in battle, we can look forward to quite possibly the best fight in the story. I know I can't wait to see it .

Welcome to the One Piece AnimeSuki forums my friend .

[Davitz]

i think one reason why luffy isnt ready to come up against blackbeard is because
luffy does not kno what ability blackbeards posseses and even if blackbeard started to use it i dont think he would be able to work it out as quick as ace and counter it
luffy isnt all that intelligent

[mydecember]

Originally Posted by Davitz

i think one reason why luffy isnt ready to come up against blackbeard is because
luffy does not kno what ability blackbeards posseses and even if blackbeard started to use it i dont think he would be able to work it out as quick as ace and counter it
luffy isnt all that intelligent

Maybe... but the thing is, Luffy definately can't use Gear Second or Gear Third when fighting Blackbeard (I dunno if someone had mentioned this earlier, I didn't go through this thread). I'm looking forward on what strategy will Oda give to Luffy to beat Blackbeard
Maybe Luffy will lose at the 1st round when fighting Blackbeard, and win at the 2nd round when Luffy came up with a strategy (similar with Croc's battle with Luffy).

[Blackbeard D. Kuma]

The fate of Blackbeard's crew has really got me contemplating as of late. I have always thought that they would be destined to fight against the strawhats later on in the story, but recent circumstances have somewhat implied that this may no longer happen.

Since the shichibukai are going to go to war against the Whitebeard pirates, in which I would assume that their crews (if they have one) would also participate, it would mean that Blackbeard's crew would end up battling Whitebeard's crewmates (most likely his division commanders considering how strong they are). We know that Blackbeard's crewmates are not cannon fodder in the least bit, so I can see them causing some big damage towards Whitebeard's division commanders. Now, hypothetically speaking, what if Whitebeard's division commanders do end up prevailing against Blackbeard's crew at the cost of some big losses on their side? Would Blackbeard's crewmates recuperate after their defeat in order to fight the strawhats another day, or would this be the end of their role in the story? I would find it very hard to believe that Blackbeard would treat his crewmates like expendable pawns as a means of exalting himself. Anyways, I would be really interested in hearing people's opinions on what the fate of Blackbeard's crew will be in the aftermath of shichbukai vs. Whitebeard pirates.

[holypanl]

Originally Posted by 000ace

he probably is goin to play alon g the lines as the real life blackbeard get famous but i doubt that he wants to be pirate king cause if he did he would of left the white beard piraes earlier!

Were you trying to sound intelligent or something? No, he would NOT have left earlier since he hadn't yet encountered the Yami Yami no Mi. Why does it feel like this topic is completely pointless? The mnnga clearly explains in chapter 440 that Teach stayed on the whitebeard Corps Ship because he felt he had a better chance of gaining the Yami Yami no Mi there. So, no he wouldn't have left earlier...duh...

Originally Posted by Snubben_Pierre

YAAAAAY!!! I came up with a genious theory.. ehhhh everybody see that!! GENIOUS THEORY! =D haha ^^,

I think this is called an 'off-topic post'. You know, those are illegal...

Either way: About Teach: He's probably the most pathetic logia there is. Maybe...

The nullification is kinda cool but it's a close range thing. If he gets close to a sound-minded fruit user like that, he's just gonna get punched real hard.

I mean, take Luffy. Can you imagine Luffy getting confused and helpless when he's standing RIGHT IN FRONT of the ENEMY and all he ever uses, anyway, are his fists...

Nope. I can't. In fact, he'd be glad if Teach does that gravity-Nullification thing on him...probably one-hit-KO him like he did to Binami...

EDIT--------------------------------

Hey, just re-read the Chapters with Blackbeard's fight, and it occurs to me that he really is powerful... *shudder*

But what I really can't understand is how the darkness prevents him form turning into his element... Although he would have been completely undefeatable had it not been for that... But really:

Why exactly can't he turn into his element?

Another thing to note...

At the end of Chpater 441, The Dialogue box in Page 19 in the last frame states that this fight was the 'trigger' for the greate event to come...

I believe this supports the theory that Luffy and Crew are gonna end up being Transported into Impel Down... And Ace will be saved. Maybe in this week's chapter, Zoro really was transported to Impel down by Kuma...maybe...aaaaaaaarg...

[Strmwng]

Blackbeard getting damaged by Ace's attack when his crew seemed to be unharmed, after taking a second look, seems to just add a lil humour. The big bad Blackbeard rolling on the ground complaining about being hot after a fire attack. A bit like Luffy's "mystery mountain" and "mystery cave" jokes.

It could be possible for Blackbeard not to be on the front line of the Shichbukai vs Whitebeard Pirates fight. How about Blackbeard protecting Ace from a rescue attempt which might involve some of Whitebeards strongest in a 5 man crew perhaps and maybe (huge maybe) Whitebeard leading the attempt. Not hugely likely but still would make for an awesome fight Old pirate rescuing the next generation of pirate and then say Blackbeard defeating Whitebeard. New beating old. Raleigh falling to Kizaru to save Luffy (may or may not happen). Just a thought again i say not very likely but id enjoying reading it.

[james0246]

Originally Posted by Blackbeard D. Kuma

The fate of Blackbeard's crew has really got me contemplating as of late. I have always thought that they would be destined to fight against the strawhats later on in the story, but recent circumstances have somewhat implied that this may no longer happen.

Since the shichibukai are going to go to war against the Whitebeard pirates, in which I would assume that their crews (if they have one) would also participate, it would mean that Blackbeard's crew would end up battling Whitebeard's crewmates (most likely his division commanders considering how strong they are). We know that Blackbeard's crewmates are not cannon fodder in the least bit, so I can see them causing some big damage towards Whitebeard's division commanders. Now, hypothetically speaking, what if Whitebeard's division commanders do end up prevailing against Blackbeard's crew at the cost of some big losses on their side? Would Blackbeard's crewmates recuperate after their defeat in order to fight the strawhats another day, or would this be the end of their role in the story? I would find it very hard to believe that Blackbeard would treat his crewmates like expendable pawns as a means of exalting himself. Anyways, I would be really interested in hearing people's opinions on what the fate of Blackbeard's crew will be in the aftermath of shichbukai vs. Whitebeard pirates.

This is a hard question, specifically since we have no real idea of either crew’s real strength. We can't just judge everything off of Ace, since it is possible that he was the strongest of the Whitebeard subordinates, nor can we use the Blackbeard/Ace fight (and Ace nearly destroying half of Blackbeard's crew) as a means of qualifying Blackbeard's crew's strength.

In the end, I expect if we ever see a fight with Blackbeard's crew it will be similar to a fight that the Strawhats would go through. Specifically, the Blackbeard crew will struggle, but eventually prevail, but a great deal of emphasis will be placed on the crew needing to level up if they wish to fight future battles. (In a previous conversation, I brought up the notion that Blackbeard and Luffy will go through similar trials and tribulations in their quest for One Piece and the title of Pirate King, so I imagine that both will struggle in their upcoming fights (then again, Luffy is already struggling in his current fights) and learn from their mistakes.)