This article contains spoilers from One Piece's Elbaf Arc.

One Piece’s Final Saga has set up quite a lot of exciting events for the fans to follow, all of which eventually lead to the Final Island, Laugh Tale. As fans know already, the Final Island and the One Piece are going to be the most significant part of this segment of the story, which is precisely why those on the quest for the One Piece are especially important in this part of the story.

One Piece Rocks D Xebec Bounty
One Piece: Rocks D. Xebec's Bounty Was Huge, But Oda Has Revealed A Bigger Bounty Already

Rocks D. Xebec is a legendary pirate with an insane bounty. This other One Piece pirate has a bigger bounty.

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Oda has made it quite clear that Luffy is one step away from becoming the Pirate King, evident from the fact that he has three of the four Road Poneglyphs. However, he has many rivals who are quite close to attaining the treasure as well. In fact, Oda has already revealed Luffy's biggest rival when it comes to the One Piece.

Luffy Is One Of The Four Emperors Of the Sea

  • Luffy Has Come Far In His Adventure
  • He Is The Closest To The One Piece

When it comes to the One Piece, fans know very well that there are only a handful of individuals who can rival Luffy to claim it. This might have sounded preposterous a few years ago, but now, it is the reality, especially after Luffy took down Kaido. To get to the Final Island and claim the One Piece, one needs four Road Poneglyphs, and Luffy has already acquired three of them. He got his first Road Poneglyph on Zou, where the Minks handed it to him on a silver platter. Meanwhile, for the second Road Poneglyph, he had to work incredibly hard after infiltrating Totland. His third Poneglyph was the most difficult to acquire as it required him to take down Kaido, something he successfully managed.

I'm Luffy, the man who will become the Pirate King! — Luffy

One Piece_ The Yonko Vs Admiral Debate Is Over, And Oda Just Revealed Who Is Stronger (1) (1)
One Piece: The Yonko Vs Admiral Debate Is Over, And Oda Just Revealed Who Is Stronger

Both the Yonko and Admirals are strong, but one group is far superior in One Piece.

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Right now, Luffy is one step away from claiming greatness, and that's what makes his journey so impressive. But, Luffy isn't the only man close to the One Piece. There are others out there who want this treasure and have made significant advancements in that regard.

Blackbeard Is Luffy's Greatest Rival Right Now

Blackbeard Is Gunning For Glory In His Own Way

While Luffy has many rivals, especially in the Worst Generation, the biggest rival that he has currently is none other than the Yonko Blackbeard. Just like Luffy, he was a part of the Worst Generation, and is now one of the Four Emperors of the Sea. Blackbeard is extremely powerful and there is no denying that. In terms of hunger, he aims even beyond One Piece as he wants to be the King of the World. But, to do all that, he needs Road Poneglyphs, and it seems he's acquired them.

Our desire? The world! — The Blackbeard Pirates in Egghead

He has the Road Poneglyph from Wano, and that's thanks to Trafalgar Law. He should also have the Zou Poneglyph, given that Law saw it and likely took a copy, just like the Straw Hats. When Kuzan went to Whole Cake Island in Big Mom's absence, he kidnapped Pudding, but it is also likely that he stole the Road Poneglyph that Big Mom had. This means that he's on equal footing with Luffy.

Blackbeard Vs Luffy is inevitable and Oda has been setting him up to be one of One Piece's Final villains, and at the same time, Luffy's greatest and most formidable rival.

One Piece Chapter 1155 will be out this week. As usual, One Piece is going to drop on Sunday. In Japan, One Piece drops at 12AM JST on Monday. However, the vast majority of international readers will see the chapter available on July 20. The official release date of One Piece Chapter 1155 is July 20, 2025. Fans can read the chapter for free on Manga Plus.

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Release Date
October 20, 1999
Network
Fuji TV
Directors
Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Maeya, Yûji Endô, Nozomu Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou
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  • Cast Placeholder Image
    Mayumi Tanaka
    Monkey D. Luffy (voice)
  • Cast Placeholder Image
    Kazuya Nakai
    Roronoa Zoro (voice)

WHERE TO WATCH

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Studio
Toei Animation
Creator
Eiichiro Oda
Streaming Service(s)
Crunchyroll, Netflix, Hulu, Pluto TV