#yonkoanswers

[yonkokraven]

What's an alternate universe look like where Blackbeard found his devilfruit first, and Whitebeard's crew had no issues with him taking it, as is the rule for their boat? The story kicks off because he betrays the crew, but in a world where he didn't do that, how do his plans change?

There's something vital about Teach's mindset: his plans aren't 100% certain. He knows he leaves things to chance, and we saw it in Impel Down when he faced Magellan. He's even surprised to be alive when Shiryu saves him.

If he had gotten the fruit, he wouldn't have hesitated to leave, and in fact, he would have had plenty of time to gather followers across the seas. From what we've seen, Whitebeard let his children form their own crews (e.g., White Bay).

Their priorities were going to be the same. Let's review some events in the story:

-Being a Shichibukai: To achieve this, he primarily wanted to deliver a pirate worth around 100 million Beli to the Navy. After Skypea, he had his eye on Luffy. If it weren't for Ace not being there, Luffy would surely have been captured by Teach on Water Seven (of course, depending on whether Garp arrived before or after him). The Marineford War would have passed. Garp didn't intervene to get Ace out, and he won't do it with Luffy, because Luffy would react the same way: he chose that path.

-Marineford: Ace obviously shares brain cells with Luffy, because he would definitely break down the main door of Impel Down to go and get him. Blackbeard and Ace would meet, but thanks to another character, Ace doesn't confront him and they leave. And well, now MARINEFORD, you have the Navy waiting for the Revolutionary Army, but not only them show... but Whitebeard's crew too.

Why? Well, because narratively it makes sense. Ace already showed everyone who his little brother is, and he immediately went to find Luffy in the damn Impel Down. Sengoku knows who Dragon is, so does everyone in the government high command, and that's why Luffy is bait.

The battle ends with Whitebeard's life anyway. The revolutionaries take Luffy out, and Ace, well, you can choose whether he lives or dies. I already made another post answering more or less how it changes if he lives.

So as you can see, many of the paths (if we put them in perspective on the goals Teach showed in the story) result in Teach becoming emperor.

So yes, no matter who found the fruit first, Teach was likely someone inevitable.

[yonkokraven]

If Ace had survived and vowed to become Pirate King to honor White Beard's memory, how much of a threat to Luffy's ambitions to become Pirate King would he be by now? People like Kidd are jokes compared to Ace. Ace had the blood, the backstory, the power. The effortless charisma. The ridiculously strong allies like Marco and Yamato. He's a true contender and the narrative takes him very seriously.

I love this question, especially everything that attributes to the possibility of keeping Ace present in the story.

First and foremost, if Ace were to start competing to be Pirate King, he wouldn't do it for the title. Rather, as you said, he would have to honor Whitebeard's memory and perhaps assume the position of "The Strongest Man in the World." In addition to all of this, his main goal will always be to defeat Teach.

Now, how does his relationship with Luffy fit into this? Ace and Luffy would go all out against each other, but not to the point of killing the other. Each has their own reasons for this: Luffy wants to prove his strength to Ace, and Ace would want to constantly verify that Luffy has the strength to continue on this path. Canonically, Ace isn't interested in being Pirate King, but making a name for himself requires facing those vying for the title, so it's not a bad idea to visualize two or three fights between Luffy and Ace at different points:

-The first: Ace has to leave Rukushina/Amazon Lily after seeing that Luffy is stable. Luffy wants to accompany him or doesn't want Ace to leave. But this results in Ace having to show him the power differences he will encounter in the New World.

-The second: In the Wano arc, Ace would be a central figure. As soon as he heard from the news and through Marco and Nekomamushi what Luffy was planning to do, he immediately left with Whitebeard's fleet for Wano. The confrontation would be brief, but it would be enough for Ace to notice that Luffy has become stronger, however, he and the other more experienced pirates know that it's not enough to face Kaido. Whitebeard's fleet battles Big Mom's ship at Wano Waterfall, while on Onigashima Ace, Izou, and Marco are constantly at the center of the battle, Ace can face Big Mom (either alone or with Torao and Kid).

-The third: At some point, the last Poneglyph will be the epicenter of the ultimate battle between the pirates of this era, so this would be the moment where both give their all against each other.

Although of course, there are many variants, especially the order in which each character falls between Luffy and Ace's objectives, but I definitely think Ace would have been a constant wake-up call for Luffy, and definetly the story would be different (Dressrosa, for Example)

[yonkokraven]

What do you think a universe where Shanks decided to take Luffy with him into the Red Haired Pirates looks like? He sees Luffy ate the fruit, and he gets annoyed and says he's going to earn that fruit. The whole incident with the mountain bandits passes because Luffy is on Shanks' boat at the time, being trained by the monkey. Presumably in canon, Shanks wanted Luffy to grow outside of his influence, but in this world, Shanks is directly molding Luffy's potential.

Ignoring the enormous amount of divergences and consequences that Luffy's leaving as a child would have for the East Blue, including the fact that Luffy would never meet Ace and Sabo, I'll put it simply: Luffy would be a damn beast from his first month on Shanks' crew.

Without Shanks's support, we've already seen what he achieved: he developed G2 as a counter technique to CP9's techniques in a matter of hours! Furthermore, his regular arsenal of techniques is surprisingly varied due to the fact that he perfected it over years of training in a jungle with Ace.

What makes the difference here is that Shanks knows about Gomu Gomu. He knows its full capabilities, even though he can't trigger its awakening. However, he can give Luffy the tools to expand that arsenal using the knowledge at his fingertips. He has great fighters of the seas under his command and complete knowledge of every type of Haki.

Luffy, at the very least, has a basic grasp of all three forms of Haki by the time he sets sail, and he wouldn't shed a single drop of sweat until he reaches Water 7, where CP9 gives him a bit of a fight. Then, let's say that by chance we reach the timeskip: Luffy trains with Rayleigh for two years, but doesn't train the Gears (since it's simply not necessary). Again, Luffy goes through entire arcs without difficulty, and only in Whole Cake Island does he start to get serious.

Although I have to clarify: Luffy definitely wouldn't have the same crew even if Shanks left him in the East Blue at the beginning of his journey and he wouldn't be so carefree in certain aspects either, we're talking about a Luffy who grew up in the New World after all.