u/Advanced-Judgment905

Every author has their own strengths and weaknesses. One of Oda’s greatest strengths is his ability to reframe a character or situation by providing the readers context via flashbacks. Currently, we are going through another a flashback centered around Brook and the kingdom of Esperia. Just recently, not more than 30 chapters ago, we received a flashback providing context around the God Valley, the Rocks pirates, and the death of Harald. That sequence alone tied together multiple threads, while raising new questions at the same time. All of this to say that flashbacks are Oda’s bread and butter.

When it comes to upcoming flashbacks that are highly anticipated, there is the Void Century flashback, as well as the backstories of Shanks and Black Beard. However, Oda has already done the groundwork for those sections, providing us context in such a way that we only need a few pieces to fill in the gaps. We know a lot about Shanks and Blackbeard through the God Valley flashback, as well as current day events.

Black Beard, born to Rocks and Eris, is a member of the Davy clan, and has plans to carry out the promise of Davy Jones. Part of his plans include targeting powerful Devil Fruits and gaining powerful allies to join his cause. He joined White Beard’s crew at a young age and stayed there for many years, until the time for him to make a move was right. There are still a few gaps: What happened to his mother after God Valley. When did he truly understand the weight of his bloodline? How much does he know about Imu and the void century? How does he know which fruits to obtain? How can his body handle multiple fruits? These are questions that a succinct flashback could answer without having to spend too much time.

We know Shanks was born to Garling and a woman on God Valley. He was taken unto Roger’s ship by accident, where he grew up and learned from Roger until his death. For a brief period he worked as a Holy Knight, and then created his own crew. How much does he know? (I really don’t care about Shanks let me be honest.)

Yet, there are still flashbacks that skipping over would leave the story not as whole as it could (should?) be. And that would be the stories of BBs crew. It is set up that the Straw Hat pirates and the Black Beard pirates will clash in the final war, and given that each matchup will get significant paneltime, it would be a wasted opportunity if Oda didn’t recontextualize each member of BBs crew by giving them notable flashbacks. (Especially those members who were not jailed in Impel Down and forced to fight their way out, particularly Van Augur, Aokiji, and Lafitte IMO.)

In Chapter 1081, Black Beard tells Aokiji that pirates only need an alignment of interests, which implies to me that the members of his crew are allied with him for their own motives, especially the non-jailed ones. Could it just be that they think he’s destined for the top and want to come along for the ride to share in that success? It’s a possibility, but the same could be said for Luffy’s crew, who both want to take their captain to the top, all while pursuing their own dreams. In my opinion, giving BBs crew flashbacks will add weight to their battles in the final war.

The problem with that, however, is that the pacing is almost certainly going to be terrible. Many readers are growing impatient of the flashback that we’re in right now. Cramming in a bunch of backstories when we’re at the climax of a war (and the climax of the series as a whole) would be a poor decision. It’s a difficult spot to be, where we both want the backstories, and the story might be better off without them.

What do you think? Should Oda include their backstories? If so, how should he handle that sequence?

(Spoilers for 1187) Usopp’s feat in Elbaf.

Does BB crew deserve backstories?