Characters / One Piece: Blackbeard Pirates

All spoilers regarding the Super Rookies era are unmarked. New World spoilers are unmarked in character descriptions, and examples relating to the New World era can be spoiler-tagged if deemed necessary.

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Main Character Index > Four Emperors > Whitebeard Pirates | Animal Kingdom Pirates (Kaido | Lead Performers) | Big Mom Pirates (Big Mom | Sweet 3 Generals | Charlotte Pudding) | Blackbeard Pirates

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Blackbeard Pirates

The small yet mighty pirate crew led by the evil pirate Marshall D. Teach, aka Blackbeard, and one of the main antagonist groups in the series. Despite their small size, they're powerful enough to take on a whole kingdom, like the Drum Kingdom (now known as the Sakura Kingdom). First introduced in Jaya, they later reappear on Banaro Island where they capture Ace. After the events of Impel Down, several legendary criminals strengthen the crew. Blackbeard's initial crew members are Van Augur the marksman, Jesus Burgess the helmsman, Doc Q the doctor and his horse Stronger, and Lafitte the navigator. Following the crew's breakout from Impel Down, they recruit Shiryu the swordsman, Catarina Devon, Avalo Pizarro, Vasco Shot, and San Juan Wolf, all former Level Six prisoners and highly feared individuals.

After the Time Skip, Blackbeard has replaced Whitebeard as one of the Four Emperors as confirmed in Chapter 650. He has expanded his crew greatly, to the extent that it is divided into ten divisions, each led by one of his Ten Titanic Captains. They have also established a headquarters on Fullalead, a pirate island community similar to Jaya, where Blackbeard lures powerful pirates with the intent of recruiting them or killing them and stealing their powers should they refuse.

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In General

• Ambition Is Evil: The Blackbeard Pirates are many, many things, but complacent is not one of them. Each of them has their eyes on the sky, and there is nothing they won't stoop to in order to get there.
• Badass Crew: Half of its members are criminals so dangerous and infamous that they have been put in Level 6 of Impel Down, and this is before it gets so big to have entire divisions. During the Time Skip, they even defeat Whitebeard's former crew, enforcing how strong they are to the rest of the world, and have recruited a former Admiral into their ranks.
• Chekhov's Gun: Their island of Fullalead is first mentioned by Robin all the way back during Long Ring Long Land.
• Chekhov's Gunman: When the Straw Hats reach the Drum Kingdom, it's explained to them that the kingdom has been recently attacked by a group led by a certain Blackbeard. The Straw Hats will meet this group much later in Jaya. Over the course of the story Blackbeard and his pirates become more important until they become one of the four most dangerous crews in the world and a candidate for the main group of villains of the story.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: The Blackbeard Pirates are the Evil Counterpart of the Straw Hat Pirates. Just as the Straw Hats frequently receive defeats but manage to scrape by and achieve victory through grit and sheer luck, so too do the Blackbeard Pirates. That is to say, the Blackbeard Pirates are villains who are written as though they were underdog protagonists.
  • Magellan pretty much wipes the floor with them when they break into Impel Down. Though supposedly they defeat him offscreen while trying to get back out.
  • Boa Hancock is able to turn all the crew Teach brought to capture her into stone and would have let them like that if Rayleigh didn't force a truce between Teach and Hancock.
  • Pretty much all of them sans Blackbeard get taken out by Kuzan when they meet him. Luckily for them, Teach is charismatic enough to not only convince Kuzan to unfreeze them, but to actually join their crew.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Indeed, while they have skills when they are introduced they're relative unknowns and don't even have a proper pirate ship (just a raft tied together with heavy logs and a sail). But after Blackbeard manages to pull off his gambit and kill Whitebeard, they're taken seriously as a threat and after the time skip, are now even The Dreaded since Blackbeard is now a Pirate Emperor.
• Gang of Hats: Despite being a manga about piracy, most pirate crews in One Piece are not at all like the pop culture image of pirates (The Big Mom Pirates for example are an Alice themed totalitarian government that runs on the souls of its inhabitants). The Blackbeard Pirates, on the other hand, stand out for having a distinct "pirate" theme, which reflects in both their appearance and in their actions.
• Not-So-Safe Harbor: Fullalead is a pirate's paradise. In other words, it's a lawless island of bloodthirsty scalawags
• Opportunistic Bastard: Much like their captain, the Blackbeard Pirates lay low until a good opportunity arrives, at which point they lunge onto it and refuse to let go. For instance, in the Marineford War they wait until Whitebeard is at death's door at which point they swoop in and take his life (And his Devil Fruit along with it). Post-timeskip, they don't immediately get directly involved in the plot, until the events of the Wano arc leaves the world vulnerable enough for them to strike.
• Quantity vs. Quality: Blackbeard only lets the best of the best join his crew. Even among the terribly strong Impel Down's Level 6 criminals, he lets them fight to the death for freedom to recruit only the four last standing ones.^note Though there are others who have survived and escaped, and Blackbeard's raft only having room for four more people factors into his decision. He also says that Jewelry Bonney is too weak for his crew, but offers to let her tag along as his "woman". After Blackbeard becomes an emperor, it seems the crew has gotten many more members, as it's now composed of multiple divisions.
• Rape, Pillage, and Burn: Pirates in One Piece come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, but the Blackbeard Pirates stand out for being like actual pirates—a bunch of murdering, greedy, vicious, lecherous, enslaving thugs.
• Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Their home island, Fullalead, has open slave markets.
• Underestimating Badassery: During the battle at Fullalead, most of the Blackbeard Pirates all jeeringly and unrelentingly mock Koby when he stands against Pizzaro as none of them think for a moment he's capable of doing anything against the other Pirate. When Koby shows he's more than capable of stopping him in his tracks, the jeering compleatly stops and changes to incredulous horror. Even his fellow Marines (outside of Garp and Helmeppo) are completely flabbergasted about how powerful Koby truly is.
• Take Over the World: When St. Saturn, one of the Five Elders, asks Devon and Auger what the Blackbeard Pirates are ultimately after, the latter responds succinctly with "The World".
• Villain No Longer Idle: After the timeskip, they pretty much lay low as far as the plot is concerned, only sporadically popping up here and there to make their presence known. This changes after the Wano arc, where the breakup of the Warlord system and Big Mom's and Kaido's defeats leave the world vulnerable for the Blackbeard Pirates to swoop in and reap the spoils.
• We Have Reserves: In chapter 904, after the Whole Cake Island Arc, Belo Betty tells Peachbeard that Blackbeard doesn't care about the well-being of his subordinate crews. Given the fatalist belief of the crew and the size of their crew being large enough to require multiple divisions, the loss of a small subordinate crew is likely affordable to them.

Leadership

Marshall D. Teach — "Blackbeard"

Marshall D. Teach — "Blackbeard"

Voiced by: Akio Ōtsuka, Fukushi Ochiai [young] (Japanese); Cole Brown [2007-2016], Chris Rager [2019-present], Tyson Rinehart [young] (English), Rubén Trujillo (Jaya Arc, Netflix LatAm), Carlos Segundo (epi. 235, Netflix LatAm)

Age: 38 (Pre-Timeskip), 40 (Post-Timeskip)

Debut: Chapter 223 (Manga), Episode 146 (Anime)

Devil Fruits: Dark-Dark Fruit, Tremor-Tremor Fruit

^{Click here to see his Post-Time Skip appearance}

"The new age they spoke of is rubbish! The age of pirate dreams is over?! People's dreams don't ever end!! Ain't that right?!"

—Chapter 225

An ambitious former member of the Whitebeard Pirates, previously under the second division led by Portgas D. Ace, whose fate seems intertwined with Luffy's. After becoming Captain, then Commodore of the Blackbeard Pirates, he becomes one of the Four Emperors, boasting one of the highest bounties and strongest pirate crews in the world. He has eaten the Dark-Dark Fruit (Yami Yami no Mi), a Logia which affords him the power of darkness. Like others with the initial "D." in their names, he's destined to change the world as he sees fit.

Beginning as a no-name pirate who made an impact on Luffy in Jaya, Marshall D. "Blackbeard" Teach's relevance to the story and the One Piece world takes a dramatic turn when he defeats Ace and turns him over to the Marines, securing a position as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. However, his newfound status is merely a means to an end, as he enters Impel Down during the Paramount War and recruits some high-bounty pirates into his crew, then heads to Marineford during the climax of the Paramount War, and with his crew finishes off a weakened Whitebeard, somehow taking his Tremor-Tremor Fruit (Gura Gura no Mi) power for his own before departing after Shanks' arrival. Two years later, it's revealed that he defeated the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates and took over most of Whitebeard's territory, forcing the World Government to designate Blackbeard one of the Four Emperors in response, effectively taking over Whitebeard's vacant spot. He and his crew search for high level Devil Fruit users to kill so they can steal their powers.

After the timeskip, Blackbeard doesn't make his first real appearance until Chapter 925, after Wano's first act. Additionally, his henchmen, old and new, regularly appear to wreck havoc on anyone they cross paths with.

He's notable for becoming a Warlord with a former bounty of 0, having been almost completely unknown beforehand. However, after becoming an Emperor, he's revealed to have racked up a bounty of 2,247,600,000 berries, the lowest bounty of the Four Emperors. At some point in-between the fall of Kaido and Big Mom, and Luffy and Buggy filling their vacancies, his bounty had increased to 3,996,000,000 berries, making him the second-highest.

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• Almighty Janitor:
  • Teach was in the service of Whitebeard for over 22 years, and was offered the spot of 2nd Division commander when it was vacant, due to his strength, durability, and knowledge of Haki, but he declined, saying he had no such ambitions, giving his support to Ace. Long story short, he lied... or perhaps rather, his ambitions went far above being under an Emperor.
  • In addition, he becomes a Warlord with a former bounty of 0, being an absolute unknown before then. This changes when his post-timeskip status comes with a staggering bounty of 2,247,600,000, which is easily the biggest jump in bounty in the series, the first bounty revealed that crosses into 2 billion, and the first Emperor to have their bounty revealed, showing that Blackbeard has become not just a credible threat with ease, but one whom everyone worth their salt is now aware of.
• Ambiguously Brown: His skin is darker than most of the characters, and according to Oda his nationality in the real world would be Somalia.
• Ambiguously Human: The story hints that Teach is not a normal human, even by the more expansive standards of the show. For one he can tank hits pretty easily, even with the drawback of the Dark-Dark Fruit sucking projectiles at him. He'll cringe at the pain but be no worse for wear if allowed to recover (see his fight with Ace, Luffy in Impel Down, and against Whitebeard at Marineford). He manages to recover from extreme poison in less than an hour after being given an antidote when it took Luffy a full day and some special hormones to do so (though Luffy fought off the poison while Teach has it cured). During the Oden flashback, it's noted by Shanks and Buggy that Teach has apparently never slept a day in his life. However the greatest evidence of this is the fact that his body can somehow absorb more than one Devil Fruit, a feat thought impossible without dying. Marco himself even notes that Teach's unusual body makes it possible for him to do many things thought impossible. There is also the time in Mock Town where Luffy and Zoro say Blackbeard is not a "him" but a "them", a statement that remains ambiguous. This becomes even more hinted as of Egghead where both Devon and Saturn confirm that Blackbeard has a "special lineage" that only few know about.
• And Now You Must Marry Me: Blackbeard would normally have just turned Bonney over to the Navy, saying she's too weak to be part of his crew but that she can still escape with her life if she accepts to become his wife. Expectedly, she answers with a kick to his face. Blackbeard being presumably unaware of Bonney's actual age.
• Angry, Angry Hippos: He happens to look like a hippo, being fat with missing teeth, and despite his silly appearance and demeanor, Blackbeard is one of the world's most dangerous pirates.
• Animal Motifs: Not particularly obvious as such (was approved by the creator) but an edition of the Warlords figures came with animal themes. What was Blackbeard?... A hippo. Though initially seeming a little goofy this is in fact a very apt choice as hippos are known for deceptive appearances being described as truly unpredictable and one of, if not THE most dangerous animals in the world. This also is somewhat accurate around his sheer size and his ability to appear both harmless, stupid, clever, and terrifying (not to mention his stout body and broken and missing teeth making him look like a hippo in a way).
• Arch-Enemy:
  • Out of all the villains in the series, Teach is the most prominent one to Luffy, who holds him chiefly responsible for the capture of Ace and his later death, despite Blackbeard not being directly involved in the latter. Said feeling is mutual, given in their first conversation since then in Dressrosa, Blackbeard is unsettlingly delighted that Luffy is back in the game for the One Piece, and the two share a similar philosophy that is contrasted by their opposite personalities.
  • He is also one to the Whitebeard Pirates. He committed an unforgiveable act of murdering a crew member by killing Thatch to get his hands on the Dark-Dark fruit. He would then capture Ace and hand him over to the World Government, kickstarting the Paramount War. He and his crew then kill Whitebeard and steal his Devil Fruit powers.
• Arc Words: At the conclusion of his duel with Ace on Banaro Island, which is where Blackbeard reveals the true extent of his powers and ambitions, Blackbeard says this: "The sun or the darkness — there will only be one winner!" following the theme of "Dawn of the World" that is very persistent in the series, particularly in the last arcs, and a foreshadowing to Teach's conflict with Luffy.
• Awesome, but Impractical: He begins his assault on Law’s ship in Chapter 1063 by riding atop Stronger along with Doc Q, cackling like a madman and abusing his Quake-Quake fruit powers. It makes for an audacious image, but Stronger isn’t very fast, so he’s pretty much a sitting duck for the Heart Pirates’ Anti-Air attacks. Van Auger even rebukes him for this and tacitly points out that he could’ve just teleported him directly to Law with his new Devil Fruit powers.
• Bad Boss: During his fight with Hancock, Hancock forces Blackbeard into a dilemma where killing her results in him losing all his crewmates there, as the effects of Hancock's petrifying effects uniquely don't dissipate upon her death unlike most Devil Fruit powers. However, he also realizes that if he lets Hancock go to make good on her end, she can just petrify him along with them and he'd be helpless to prevent it. He decides the smarter option is to let his crew bite the bullet rather than take the chance.
• Badass Boast: After he and his crew kill Whitebeard and he takes Whitebeard's powerful Devil Fruit as his own, Blackbeard boastfully proclaims that it is time for his reign to begin.
  Blackbeard: "THIS IS MY ERA!"
• Bait the Dog: Initially the story introduces him as a nameless pirate who seems nice to Luffy and his crew in spite of the differences he and Luffy have, even encouraging Luffy to follow his dreams as a pirate. However, later on, the arc reveals him to be Blackbeard, the same pirate who attacked Drum Kingdom, and after learning Luffy's new bounty he immediately tries to capture him.
• Batman Gambit: Successfully playing off of Whitebeard's familial protectiveness of his 'children'? Using the war to infiltrate Impel Down and double his crew size knowing the whole world's attention would be on Marineford? Certainly qualifies.
• Beard of Evil: He finally gets a nefarious-looking black beard after the Time Skip. It's even tied up in singular strands like his real-life namesake.
• Benevolent Boss: As a dark reflection of Luffy's affection for his crew, Teach is very compassionate and caring for those in his core crew, earning Undying Loyalty from most of them. However, it's stated that while he's not exactly a Bad Boss to crews allied with him, he does not care for them at all. Also, in situations where he could very likely end up dying or meeting a similar fate, Blackbeard won't hesitate to sacrifice even his Titanic Captains to ensure his own safety. It comes with his and his crew belief in fate, either they party together or do each other like dogs is predestined so no reason to think too much about it.
• Big Bad Ensemble: Once he becomes an Emperor after killing Whitebeard himself, Teach ties with Imu as a candidate for the primary antagonist of the series. Whereas Imu covers the more Ancient Conspiracy angle of the series' Myth Arc and the true power behind the World Government, Blackbeard is a more personal antagonist for Luffy and is his opposite in nearly every way.
• Big Eater: He debuts in a seemingly throwaway scene in which he attempts to match Luffy pound for pound in food. They just happen to have opposite tastes.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: His first encounter with Luffy, Zoro, and Nami has Teach agree with them that the era of dreams in piracy is still worth living towards and gives a speech that embodies one of the series' main themes of dreams, while his interactions, aside of arguing with Luffy over food, are exclusively benevolent. At the end of the Jaya arc, he's revealed to be Blackbeard, the one who pillaged the former Drum Kingdom and whom Ace is hunting, as well as an associate of Doc Q., Jesus Burgess and Van Augur, who have shown a much more malicious side. Not much after, Blackbeard is revealed to be a hedonistic murderer who has aims to take over the world and become Pirate King.
• Blessed with Suck:
  • His Dark-Dark powers have some drawbacks. It's unique among the Logias in that it doesn't make him immune to physical strikes (he, in fact, speculates that it might even make them hurt more) and projectiles are slightly drawn to him. In fact, the only way he can protect himself with his power is if he sees the attack coming first and then absorbs it with his darkness powers. This wouldn't be much of a drawback if he was a more serious fighter but he often lets down his guard and will even talk to his opponents in the middle of a fight leaving himself open to attack.
  • When Teach's inability to sleep is discussed by a young Shanks and Buggy, Shanks is envious that Teach can live twice as much as other people, but Buggy argues having such a monstrous attribute can't be that simple. Also, the first glimpse of a young Teach readers had, in supplementary material, was him crying on his lonesome at night...
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Blackbeard will step on anyone to achieve his goals, and appears incapable of understanding the concept of "grudges" (to the point that he doesn't seem to hold any grudges himself). For example, when Ace confronts him about killing Thatch, he pretty much brushes off the issue and invites Ace to join his crew, despite it being painfully obvious that Ace has come for vengeance.
• Boisterous Bruiser: He's big, cheerful, idealistic, Faux Affably Evil, cares for the well-being of his men, is a Big Eater matching Luffy, and loves a good fight. If anything, what makes his actions unnerving is that he doesn't seem to have an "off" switch for his friendliness, as seen when he cheerfully addresses Ace and tries to recruit him while planning to murder Luffy.
• Born Lucky: Although he is much smarter than he looks, the success of his many extravagant plans have been helped by many external factors, of which Blackbeard has taken full advantage. The first step in his plan to gain the Warlord position is by killing Luffy and gaining the Government's approval, but Ace happens to be tailing Teach at the time, saving him the trouble of hunting down anyone and having a prize so valuable that it would skyrocket his notoriety immediately. Not only does capturing Ace give him the position, but it also places Whitebeard in a compromising position which would not have happened if it had been Luffy instead. The second phase of his plan, breaking into Impel Down and finding recruits, mostly works because Luffy is already wreaking havoc. Even still, his crew is easily put down by Magellan alone, and Teach and his crew are only saved from death from Shiryu, who is free due to Luffy's presence. Finally, he arrives in Marineford at a time when Whitebeard and the Marines are at their weakest, allowing him to kill Whitebeard and steal his Devil Fruit. As Shiryu gripes, Teach has no regard for contingencies and plans on the seat of his pants, but somehow, destiny has continuously chosen to favor him.
• Bullying a Dragon: In spite of Whitebeard being far more powerful, Blackbeard mocks Whitebeard to his face, insulting his inability to save Ace and the fact that his Devil Fruit is useless against Blackbeard's own. Whitebeard responds by feinting to stab him with his bisento and then using a quake attack to Blackbeard's face. Were it not for his crew backing him up and the events of Marineford prior significantly weakening Whitebeard, Blackbeard would very likely have been killed.
• Cain and Abel: As the Whitebeard Pirates consider each other their captain's adopted children and call him "father", Teach killing Thatch for his Devil Fruit makes him the Cain to the latter's Abel.
• Captain Colorbeard: While his name is Marshall D. Teach, he's more commonly referred to as Blackbeard, just like his namesake, the most famous example of all the different colorbeards.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Teach knows he is a piece of shit to his core and has no problem with it. In his mind, everything that happens was destined to happen anyway, so there's no reason to get hung up on those he tramples over.
• Carpet of Virility: A Type 2 example — he's an obese man with a hairy chest. Also, he's evil.
• Chekhov's Gunman: You know that bar patron who eats cherry pies, and tells Luffy to follow his dreams? He's that guy who laid waste to the Drum Kingdom and scared King Wapol away. He's also the guy who Ace is after, and murdered Thatch — one of the world's strongest man's top commanders: You know, Blackbeard. Even one of the early databooks calls him "Cherry Pie Man".
• The Chessmaster: One particularly adept at Xanatos Speed Chess; he's likely on par with Crocodile's cunning. His plan to become the Pirate King includes throwing his former commander to the World Government to detract attention away from himself. Using that feat in order to become a Warlord of the Sea to gain access to Impel Down. Relying on the whole world being too focused on the Marines' war against Whitebeard (over the aforementioned commander) to notice him breaking into Impel Down and recruiting the worst criminals held there into his crew. Finally, showing up in the middle of said war to kill Whitebeard and steal his Devil Fruit power.
• Chewing the Scenery: Whenever he makes a big speech, all of the attention is gathered around him. In his debut scene, Blackbeard makes a speech about how pirates' dreams never end and the direction remains concentrated on him, to the point that the scenery disappears when Blackbeard utters the final words.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Did this to every superior he encountered in his pirate career. Second Commander Ace and Captain Whitebeard of the Whitebeard Pirates (it's even implied that he did this literally to Thatch in the anime), and the World Government as he renounced his Warlord title, after freeing several Level 6 Impel Down prisoners. Although, it seems one of his new crewmembers may have this.
• Combat Pragmatism: Like a classic pirate Blackbeard isn't an honorable fighter and rarely engages in a fight he is not sure he can win, either running when his luck is turning or asking his men for help blasting his opponent.
• Combo Platter Powers: Not only is he Made of Iron and capable of wielding the anti-gravity powers of the Dark-Dark Fruit, but he can also absorb other Devil Fruit Powers. He uses this particular ability to access the powers of the late Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
• Crazy Enough to Work: His overarching plan to confront Whitebeard, and steal his Devil Fruit power to conquer his territory is grand, ambitious and truly bold. He first tries to become a Warlord by capturing Luffy — who has just beaten a Warlord. This becomes crazier when he decides that turning in Ace is better — a trusted commander of the fleet of the strongest pirate alive who is fiercely protective of his "children", and the son of the late Pirate King. Given that Teach at this time has no bounty, and is traveling on a mast strung together by rope; this plan seems completely idiotic. But he catches Ace and gets a Warlord position from it. Yet, he still needs strong crewmembers to overthrow Whitebeard — So his plan is to actually use his newly acquired position to break into Impel Down: the world's worst prison, which is likely to be heavily fortified in anticipation of Ace's public execution. Since Luffy already did most of the chaos, it works, and they even together bring down Whitebeard and take over his Emperor title.
• Cultured Badass: The SBS for Volume 82 mentions that Blackbeard enjoys reading history, and it shows with the great knowledge he has over the One Piece world which, combined with the power of his two Devil Fruits, makes him one of the most dangerous men for the World Government.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • In spite of all the power he wields and the threat level that he poses, he still loses badly to Whitebeard with very little effort on Whitebeard's part (a Whitebeard that is about one step away from death, to boot) and his crew needs to step in at the last minute to save Blackbeard.
  • Blackbeards easily defeats Boa Hancock when he uses his powers on her. Were it not for Rayleigh showing up, she would have been killed.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: For being one of the major antagonists of the series, Blackbeard suffers his fair share of injuries and defeats. His first "fight" with Magellan lasts a single page as Magellan poisons him into submission almost instantly. However, he keeps getting back up, learns from his mistakes, and will retreat or regroup to find some way to triumph or just win somewhere else.
• Damage-Sponge Boss: Considering how his Devil Fruit actually draws attacks towards him and after he's taken direct hits from Whitebeard of all people he still can stand and fight without much trouble, it speaks volumes about his levels of endurance. Then again, he needs it with a Devil Fruit like that.
• Dark and Troubled Past: In spite of every trait described about him making him a completely immoral and ruthless man this drawing by Oda for an idea of what the Warlords were like as children◊ implies that he's not as simply evil as we thought him to be. And out of all of them, he's the only one looking miserable, meaning he must've suffered a great deal before he became the way he is now. When joins the Whitebeard Pirates as a child, Oden mentions he's an orphan.
• Dark Is Evil: Blackbeard is a contender as the main villain of the series, his color palette is mostly black, and has eaten the Dark Dark Fruit, making him closely associated with dark colors. Blackbeard himself goes out of his way to claim his darkness powers are the evilest of all Devil Fruits. Considering he can completely nullify other Devil Fruit powers, there might be more to this claim than it being a simple boast.
• Death Glare: Surprisingly for Teach, he pulls off a murderously angry death glare on Sarquiss when the latter harasses and threatens him for no reason.
• Declining Promotion: Despite being as strong as one of Whitebeard's commanders, Blackbeard turns down the opportunity to become one, saying that "he didn't have that ambition". In truth, he did it to remain an unknown among Whitebeard's crew until he was ready to take the world by storm.
• Determinator: While he might flee when a situation gets too dicey, Blackbeard will never give up on his broader ambitions no matter how horrifically injured he gets.
• Dirty Coward: Surprisingly, despite carrying the initial D. which indicates he should be the sort of person who laughs at the face of death, he instead faces death with cowardice. When Whitebeard is about to kill him, he has the audacity to cry about Whitebeard killing his own son despite Teach mocking him earlier about Teach's responsibility in the deaths of two of his subordinates. His whimpering and cowering before Whitebeard is enough to make the latter dub him "not a true carrier of the Will of D". Rayleigh is even able to use this against him when Blackbeard is about to kill Hancock, letting his Haki and reputation scare off Blackbeard even though Rayleigh himself is sure that if they had actually fought Blackbeard would probably win.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Blackbeard possesses the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, stolen directly from Whitebeard, and can make earthquakes and destroy or change entire landscapes. Just by laughing, he can shake the entire island he stands on.
• Dressed to Plunder: He's one of the characters who best represents the stereotype of the pirate: it helps that he's based off of the real-life Blackbeard. His ugly face is like the "brute" type of pirate and he wears a bandana since the beginning. While he mostly averts it in his first appearance, following his joining of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, he starts wearing a trenchcoat and a bicorn hat over his bandana, which become even more luxurious after he becomes an Emperor.
• Drunk on the Dark Side: He's always been a Large Ham, but when he gets the powers of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit he goes full-blast into this trope.
• Establishing Character Moment: Before we ever learn his name, Teach is met in a bar acting just like Luffy in their reactions to the pie and drinks in said bar. The chief difference is their opinion on what's good and bad are opposite, a subtle hint that Blackbeard is one of Luffy's Evil Counterparts.
• Evil Counterpart:
  • Teach shares a lot of similarities with Luffy but their moralities are completely opposite. He's introduced as someone who has similar dreams and ambitions to Luffy, as well as the same Big Eater nature (though with completely different tastes in food). Then it turns out he takes things a bit further and will actually betray his True Companions (the Whitebeard Pirates) and kill them to fulfill his ambitions. He even subtly points this out when he and Luffy meet again in Impel Down and hints that they've got a lot in common. Also, Luffy is a Magnetic Hero; Blackbeard acquires subordinates via cage matches. Luffy gets serious in a fight and smiles at death; Blackbeard grins evilly in battle and screams hysterically at the prospect of dying. The fruits Luffy and Blackbeard ate to gain their powers, the Gum-Gum fruit and the Dark-Dark Fruit respectively look extremely similar at a first glance, with both of them being purple in color and having a similar shape. Luffy never interferes in another's fight (or asks for assistance); Blackbeard has his crew finish his dirty work for him. It helps that (most of) his crew mimics Luffy's as well, with Van Augur as the counterpart to Usopp, Shiryu to Zoro, etc.
  • His name and appearance also parallel his former captain Whitebeard. This is best seen in his first full appearance post-timeskip, which has him framed similarly to how Whitebeard was framed in his first appearance. This, along with his usurping of Whitebeard's position, territories, and powers, cements Blackbeard as the evil version of Whitebeard.
• Evil Laugh: "Zehahahah" is pretty much the most common thing to come out of this guy's mouth, almost to the point of a Verbal Tic.
• Evil Overlord: When he becomes one of the Four Emperors, he gains the territory, manpower and plain power leftover by Whitebeard to make him into a powerful, evil ruler.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Courtesy of Akio Ōtsuka, he has a rich, booming voice befitting of a pirate. Same with his English voice, courtesy of Cole Brown, though was a little less deep and more guttural, but very pirate-like which fits the theme of his character.
• Exact Words: When Ace asks him why he turned down the offer to become one of Whitebeard's commanders, he explains he didn't have the ambition to be one. While it seemed that he meant that he preferred to remain a laid-back, unmotivated pirate, in truth, he meant he had much grander ambitions than being a mere commander for Whitebeard.
• Face Death with Dignity: He mocks the idea of fearing death, positing that life and death are decided by fate. This seemingly puts him in line with other known bearers of the Will of D., who do not fear death and face it with a smile. This is subverted however in Marineford, where he screams and begs for his life when Whitebeard has him at his mercy and is visibly shaken (literally) after his attack.
• The Fatalist: This is his crew's central motif and belief. He also believes that fate plays heavily to his plans — see Xanatos Speed Chess below.
• Fat Bastard: He has a noticeable gut, and is very much an asshole. For bonus points, Whitebeard flat-out calls him this trope verbatim in the Funimation dub, with the most scathing voice possible.
• Faux Affably Evil: He'll appear friendly at first, but then he could quickly switch to mocking and killing people in a heartbeat. All while still wearing the same smile.
• Feel No Pain: Inverted, as his Devil Fruit amplifies the pain he recieves, as a drawback. Fortunately for him, he's also Made of Iron, so even if he's writhing in agony, he won't take long to get back up.
• Foil: Teach and Luffy are both powerful pirates with the same goal, but they are complete opposite to each other in more ways than one:
  • Teach is a big, overweight Gonk. Luffy is a short and leanly muscular Keet.
  • Teach, for all his bravado, is a Dirty Coward deep down while Luffy isn't afraid of death. Also while Luffy is perfectly willing to fight extremely powerful opponents head on, Teach picks his fights carefully only confronting enemies who can beat him like Whitebeard when they are already extremely weakened and quickly flees when faced with foes who he's not certain he can defeat like Shanks or Rayleigh.
  • Their Devil Fruit powers also notably contrast each other. Teach's Dark-Dark Fruit is a Logia without the Nigh-Invulnerability that normally comes with this type of DF and its abilities possibly make Teach even more vulnerable to physical damage. Luffy's Gum-Gum Fruit (Gomu Gomu no mi) on the other hand gives him resistance to physical (specifically blunt) damage, something rather rare for a Paramecia type. Teach's powers also work mostly by attraction and by manipulating his surroundings or his opponents' bodies, while Luffy's powers work by expansion and by changing his own body. The true name of Luffy's Gum-Gum Fruit is the Human-Human Fruit, Model: Nika, a Mythical Zoan that turns the user into an incarnation of the Sun God Nika. Teach on the other hand wields a darkness logia.
  • Luffy states early in the series he wishes to have a crew of ten while Blackbeard ends up the same number of senior officers.
  • Teach is a Manipulative Bastard that makes long and careful plans. Luffy is a Nice Guy, a terrible liar, and rarely plans the actions he does.
  • Teach's rise to power is quiet, staying below the radar for years without receiving a bounty, before finally instantly emerging to the world by defeating Whitebeard and claiming his title as Emperor. Luffy's reputation is monitored as he quickly rose the ranks in infamy with ever-increasingly large incidents and earns the title of Emperor by defeating Kaido in a one-on-one fight.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Ace makes a comment about Teach living "twice the life of people". In Oden's flashback, Shanks makes this same remark when Buggy tells him Teach supposedly hasn't ever slept since he was born.
  • During his duel with Ace, when the later creates a giant fireball, Teach comments "The sun or the darkness, there can only be one winner!". This is a nod to his future fight with Luffy who, instead of darkness, is often compared to the one who brings the world to a new dawn.
• Friendly Enemy: For the most part, anyway. He had nothing but encouragement and praise for Ace and, later, Luffy and Whitebeard. It's definitely one-sided, though, as all of them utterly despise him. On the other hand, he brutally dismissed Hannyabal's belief in the pursuit of justice while beating him down.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: From a Giant Mook with no bounty to Warlord of the Sea to an Emperor. It's practically an invoked trope by him; he let everyone think of him as a nobody in a deliberate ploy to make sure no one knew how ambitious his plans were until it was too late, even turning down a promotion as a commander under Whitebeard because secretly, his goal was much, much higher.
• Gambit Roulette: A lot of his ultimate plan to become an Emperor relies on taking advantage of chance and luck as much as it does long-term strategic planning. The fact he's incredibly lucky to have it fall into place like it does is lampshaded several times by himself, although it's partly due to Blackbeard rearranging steps of the plan on the fly and strong belief in destiny.
  • The start of the scheme relies on finding a single particular Devil Fruit when finding any Devil Fruit is extremely difficult, so he joined Whitebeard's crew because he reasoned traveling under an Emperor was his best chance of doing so. It took many years at sea, but eventually he did find it (even if he had to kill a fellow crew member to get his hands on it).
  • He needs to be made a Warlord to gain access to Impel Down, even though all the Warlord positions are full at the time the story began and he's a nobody with no known reputation the government has never recognized before, which is unheard of for a Warlord. Luffy defeating Crocodile fulfills both steps of this initial plan, as it vacates a Warlord position and makes Luffy a desirable target. Teach intends to capture Luffy and hand him over to the Marines to become a Warlord, but Ace takes his place after he comes after Blackbeard for killing a crewmate, which ends up working out just as well, if not better, because it inevitably draws Whitebeard himself into the fray, giving Blackbeard an opportunity to kill him while he's weak and take his Devil Fruit power.
  • He needs to break into the lowest level of Impel Down, the most fortified prison in the world, unimpeded and Luffy's simultaneous break-in makes that so much easier for him because security is too busy dealing with Luffy to be dealing with him too. This ends up doubly so when Blackbeard and his crew encounter Magellan, who incapacitates them with a massive dose of poison. Blackbeard would've been finished right then and there if not for Shiryu, who had just been released from his cell, providing the antidote and joining his crew. Blackbeard believes it must be fate on their side after that one.
• Gave Up Too Soon: He has Hancock in the palm of his hands ready to kill her and take her powers at the cost of several of his crew members, but once Rayleigh shows up to resolve the matter, he leaves unwilling to take on a legend like him. Turns out Rayleigh was just betting on his reputation alone, that had Blackbeard not retreated, Rayleigh acknowledges Blackbeard would have probably defeated him.
• Genius Bruiser: Doesn't seem like it at first, but he is a rather cunning planner. So much so that he's able to manipulate the World Government, and use them to find new crewmates.
• The Ghost: Despite Teach's importance to the story, after the Time Skip, there are numerous signs of his influence, but the only appearance he makes is a brief cameo reacting to Luffy being declared an Emperor, until his proper appearance after Wano's act 1, where he plans to get in action.
• Gonk: Blackbeard is designed to be very ugly, in contrast to the more good-looking Luffy, and has a long, pointy nose and lacks a few teeth.
• Gravity Master: One of the central powers of the Dark-Dark Fruit is his ability to manipulate gravity. A favorite tactic is to draw in his opponents close to neutralize their powers and wail on them. However, because of his increased personal gravity, projectiles are slightly drawn to him and physical blows hit harder as a result of the gravitational pull bringing stuff towards him.
• Gun Nut: Despite his Devil Fruit powers and incredible fighting prowess, Teach often wears a sash with multiple flintlocks tied to his waist, in line with his stereotypical pirate's look. While he's rarely seen using them as Teach fights mainly with his Dark-Dark Fruit power, they come in hand when Whitebeard corners him and he fatally unloads his pistols into him as a last resort.
• Hated by All: His despicable, selfish actions have more than earned the ire of characters who are varying degrees of being either a Hero Antagonist, The Hero, or one of the Big Good characters. Specifically, Sengoku finds him and his actions utterly vile; Ace is hunting him because he murdered Thatch for a purely selfish reason; Luffy and Whitebeard despise him for being the root cause of Ace's execution, while Marco hates him for both Whitebeard and Ace dying. Shanks isn't a fan either as a rival Emperor and the fact that he used deception to kill Whitebeard and Ace, not to mention gave him his scar. Post-timeskip, Rayleigh also outright tells him that he hates him for his viciousness. Bear in mind that all of the above characters are generally magnanimous to at least a certain degree (especially Rayleigh and Marco), so the fact that Teach got on their bad sides says a lot. He's no more loved by villains; Kaido and Big Mom don't appreciate having him as a rival for the Pirate King's throne, Akainu despises him for being a pirate and for betraying the Navy after having agreed to serve its interests, even the more morally questionable members of the Worst Generation think he's a monster, and Imu hates him for being the inheritor of the will of Rocks D. Xebec. He is only popular with his crew made of depraved and cruel pirates and even they admit they are using him for their own goals.
• The Heavy: Teach is the closest Main Villain One Piece has due to its extensive use of Arc Villains. It's his actions that trigger the Marineford war, Ace and Whitebeard's deaths, the New Age of Piracy, and Luffy's decision to wait two years before entering the New World. Even after that, he's rapidly amassing power in the New World and has even come into conflict with Luffy's other brother due to Burgess's actions. Following the abolition of the Warlord system, he personally leads an attack on Amazon Lily to steal Boa Hancock's Devil Fruit powers, and after he fails, he captures Koby instead. During the Egghead arc, Blackbeard confronts the Heart Pirates, and deals them a crushing defeat. Overall, Teach's presence has had more impact on the overall direction of the story than any other villain.
• Hero Killer: Directly responsible for killing Thatch and Whitebeard by his own hand, and indirectly responsible for Ace's death at Akainu's hands.
• Hidden Agenda Villain: Teach's goal is to become the King of the Pirates like most pirates but his plan is not just "finding the One Piece" and remains pretty ambiguous, getting revealed in bits and pieces:
  • Teach had his eyes set on the Dark-Dark Fruit and didn't make a single move until he found it. He also plans to steal Whitebeard's Devil Fruit to use alongside his own.
  • One of the only clear parts of his plan is becoming a Warlord, which he does and uses his newly acquired status to go to Impel Down and recruit powerful fighters for his crew.
  • His ascension to Emperor consists of claiming Whitebeard's old territories and hunting down Devil Fruit users with powers that catch his attention to steal them for his own crew to use.
  • He decided to use Koby as a bargaining chip with the World Government so they make his island a legitimate kingdom under his rule. It is unclear if it's part of his plan or just something he added out of opportunity.
• Hidden Depths: From the first moment he's introduced, and before his name is revealed, there's clearly something more to him than he appears at a glance. It's even more so when we learn that he gave Shanks (who had both arms then) a scar in a direct confrontation. And that was before Blackbeard had his Devil Fruit abilities. He may seem friendly, but he's almost never what he appears to be. SBS 82 reveals that one of his hobbies is historical research... That alone leaves much to question considering the "Void Century". One massive one is the revelation of the name of the Blackbeards' ship; The Sabre of Xebec, named after the legendary Rocks D. Xebec himself. Given how he is practically forgotten by all but the old guard, that leaves massive questions on what Blackbeard knows about him and his connection with him, especially since they share a massive interest in historical research...
• I Have You Now, My Pretty: He does this to Jewelry Bonney after he defeats her crew and captures her. Her response? A kick to the face, after which he expresses that's a very unladylike thing to do.
• Image Song: Got his own in Nippon Judan! 47 Cruise in the form of "NOW MY HANDS GET!!!!".
• Instant Expert: Mere seconds after he steals Whitebeard's quake powers, he shows incredible proficiency with it and is even confident enough that he could take on Sengoku and the rest of the Marines and sink Marineford to the bottom of the sea.
• Irony:
  • The man who so passionately espouses dreams of the idealistic kind has never had one in the somniative sense.
  • In his first introduction of the powers of the Dark-Dark Fruit, he boasts about being the bane of arrogant Devil Fruit users as one of his powers is to negate any devil fruit powers of his opponents as long as he can touch them and proves this point by beating Ace. During the end stages of the Paramount War, Whitebeard nearly beats him to death because of his arrogance about his Devil Fruit powers.
• It's All About Me: To him, it doesn't matter how many died in the Paramount War, or from the various problems afterwards, like a release of who knows how many evil Pirates from Level Six or the surge in new Pirates, all directly or indirectly from his own actions. As long as he becomes Pirate King, it's all good.
• Jerkass: Downplayed. His amoral and seemingly friendly demeanor makes him hardly meanspirited in attitude, but he enjoys teasing his foes on their greatest misfortunes.
• Just Between You and Me: Inverted. He doesn't tell you phases of his plans until after they've played out. This is confirmed when fellow schemer and predecessor Crocodile asks him why he would throw away his Warlord title so soon, only for him to reply it's none of his business. He would later reveal that the only reason he had the title in the first place is to break into Impel Down and take the world's worst criminals as his crewmembers, while his former captain prepares for battle with his former allies.
• Klingon Promotion: He became one of the Four Emperors by killing his predecessor Whitebeard. As we see further, it's not the murder of Whitebeard that cemented his seat, it was rather his conquering of Whitebeard's protectorates and staunchly defeating his former crew brutally, that gave him an official seat among the Four Emperors.
• Knight of Cerebus: The tone of the story tends to get more dramatic and dangerous whenever he gets involved, case in point being he essentially set off the events of Marineford single-handedly.
• Know When to Fold 'Em:
  • Even after getting Whitebeard's powers, Blackbeard realizes it wouldn't do much against Shanks, not to mention Sengoku, the rest of the Warlords, the Admirals, and the rest of Whitebeard's crew. So he withdraws from Marineford after getting what he wanted.
  • When he attempts to make a prisoner trade with the World Government, after he notices that they sent Akainu, he immediately calls it off and runs.
  • Despite having Hancock in the palm of his hands ready for the kill, once Rayleigh shows up intending to fight, Blackbeard decides to leave. Subverted once Rayleigh mentions that he would've probably lost to Blackbeard. The bluff worked because Blackbeard himself wasn't sure if he'd win, and isn't a fan of getting into fair fights.
• Large and in Charge: Averted. Although he is over 3 meters tall, he's one of the few captains of the series to not be the biggest member of his crew. Some crewmembers are even taller than him, especially Vasco Shot and the gigantic San Juan Wolf, who has also eaten a Devil Fruit that amplifies his size.
• Large Ham: When he can get time to tell someone of his thoughts and plans, he explodes with it and steals the entire scene.
• Light/Darkness Juxtaposition: With the reveal of that Luffy's Devil Fruit is actually a Zoan fruit that allows him to transform into an incarnation of the sun god, Nika, it puts him in contrast with Teach's Dark-Dark fruit, further heightening their contrast with one another.
• Made of Iron: He is very capable of taking huge amounts of damage. This comes in handy given that his Devil Fruit passively makes anything slightly drawn toward him because of its gravitational properties. However, even he has his limits as he and his crew are nearly killed by Magellan's poison.
• Manipulative Bastard: Blackbeard is incredibly skilled at manipulating people, such as being often talking to his enemies in a calm and friendly manner to get their guard down before he attacks. And he has been in wait during the whole Paramount War, only revealing himself once both sides are very much weakened so he can steal Whitebeard's devil fruit.
• Man of Kryptonite: Unlike seastone or a body of standing water, which make Devil Fruit users lose conscious control of their Devil Fruit abilities, but doesn't affect their passive Devil Fruit abilities (for example, Luffy's body still having the constitution of rubber even when he's neck-deep in water), Teach can turn off the Devil Fruit abilities of his adversaries entirely, as if they never had them at all. However, he has to do that on contact and it doesn't weaken the affected, as seen when Whitebeard grabs Teach and tries to smash his head in with his full strength and Devil Fruit power.
• Mighty Glacier: Insanely durable and strong, powerful enough to send Ace flying with a punch. He has also never been seen to actively dodge attacks, a fact made worse by his fruit's powers, thus qualifying for this trope. This is not as troublesome for him though, thanks to his ability to pull enemy combatants to him.
• Mirror Character: Seems to think he and Luffy are on a similar level with their powerful ambitions and huge dreams. Luffy seems to agree since he's very disturbed by Blackbeard's Black-and-Gray Morality and the implications it presents.
• Mysterious Middle Initial: The D in his name comes from "The Will of D", a mysterious legacy that connects Blackbeard and a few other notable individuals to the World Government and the Celestial Dragons. Considering his actions, Blackbeard is going the route of Rocks D. Xebec in contrast to Luffy's Gol D. Roger.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Someone who shares a name with the infamous Real Life pirate who may very well be the first name that comes to mind when the word is mentioned should've been a clue to his danger.
• Necessary Drawback: His gravity powers can suck in Devil Fruit powers and drag opponents closer to him. They also subtly attract projectiles toward his body, making him reliant on his own toughness.
• Neck Lift: Blackbeard lifts Boa Hancock by the neck at the end of their fight on Amazon Lily, and is about to kill her but Rayleigh shows up just in time.
• Never My Fault: Teach's own form of the Will of D. involves subscribing to the idea of fate, that what will be will be, and was always meant to be so. In other words, in his eyes, every atrocity he commits in his quest for power simply is a work of fate, and there's no point in holding it against him in that it was "supposed to" happen.
• Nigh-Invulnerability: Subverted. Despite the Dark-Dark Fruit being a Logia-type, which had thus far featured this trope as a standard feature of its power sets, its abilities actually make Teach more vulnerable to physical damage than normal. Of course, being an incredibly powerful individual as he is, he's still not easy to put down, despite this handicap.
• Ninja Looting: His standard MO, which is fitting since his main power is to draw everything into him. Why bother doing all sorts of hard work when you can let others do it for you then swoop in afterward to take the fruits of their labor? He's done this so many times that everything he now has was stolen from someone else.
  • He joined the Whitebeard Pirates hoping they would find the Dark-Dark Fruit for him, then murdered Thatch to take the Fruit for himself. Post time-skip, he reuses this plan by finding Devil Fruit users to steal their powers.
  • He decides to capture a big-name pirate then hand them over to the Marines to boost his own reputation, rather than going committing many crimes in hopes of being noticed by the Marines and getting a high bounty. He targets Luffy at first but later settles on Ace.
  • Instead of taking on Whitebeard and his crew himself, he lets them fight the Marines in a battle to the death, only stepping in once both sides are exhausted. In the aftermath of Whitebeard's death, he uses his knowledge from when he was a member to take over Whitebeard's territories.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: During the Paramount War, Blackbeard challenges Whitebeard when the latter is on the verge of death, however, after some struggles, Whitebeards overcomes Blackbeard's Devil Fruit abulity and beats him up with Quake Punches. Blackbeard would've died if his crew hadn't stepped in.
• Nothing Personal: Teach says he had nothing against Thatch, but killing him was just the only way to get his Devil Fruit.^note The Whitebeard Pirates have a strict "finders keepers" rule for Devil Fruits. But since Thatch specifically chose not to eat it, and actually liked Teach, he might have just given it to Teach if he asked. But he also might have said no, and Teach wasn't going to risk that. And Thatch would've been more on guard against being backstabbed if he knew Teach wanted to take the fruit from him. This is also his general attitude about Ace, Luffy, Whitebeard, and anyone else he screws over. While he does turn Ace into the World Government, that was only because Ace refused his offer to join his crew and attacked him, and he originally intended to capture Luffy and turn him instead, simply because of his bounty. Otherwise, he encourages Luffy to follow his dreams and even wished him luck in rescuing Ace. As far as Whitebeard, he even admits that he admired him, it's just that he feels Whitebeard's time is over. Whitebeard and Ace however see the murder of Thatch as a ''very'' personal insult.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: As a member of the Whitebeard Pirates, this guy took on Shanks and gave him three scars, and that was before he has eaten the Dark-Dark Fruit. After his betrayal, he defeats Ace, one of Whitebeard's division leaders, with little effort. Then, through a combination of strength and shrewd planning, he assembled a crew from Impel Down, the most dangerous prison in the world, culminating in killing Whitebeard and stealing his Devil Fruit power! (Did we mention that he's the only one known to combine two Devil Fruit powers and survive?) Put simply, there's a damn good reason he was able to replace Whitebeard as one of the Four Emperors. And this came from a guy who claimed that he didn't have that much ambition.
• Obviously Evil: Blackbeard is a big, fat, ugly guy missing some teeth and a nose that looks like it's been broken a few times. Even when he was serving with Whitebeard's crew, he looked noticeably out of place compared to the other pirates onboard.
• Offhand Backhand: Demonstrates on Amazon Lily that he really doesn't need to bother with anyone not worth his time, regardless of the numbers they bring upon him, as a quick offhand Quake Punch will scatter them with no expended energy and no issue further.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Most of Blackbeard's victories happen off panel or offscreen but the implication is generally that his secret is doing something with the Dark-Dark Fruit to turn the tide of the battle. If the fight with Ace is anything to go by, he often wins through attrition by tiring the other guy out.
• Oh, Crap!: He breaks out in cold sweat twice on Amazon Lily. First when he realizes the child he's fighting is a Pacifista (and a Lunarian to boot). Second when Rayleigh shows up to stop him.
• Opportunistic Bastard: Goes after Boa Hancock to kill her and take her Love Love Fruit powers once her Warlord status is gone.
• Orcus on His Throne: After the timeskip, he's been steadily amassing influence and power in a fairly subdued manner whilst the Marines, members of the Seven Warlords, and two of his fellow Emperors become embroiled in conflicts that severely compromise their standings on the world stage. It's only after most of his enemies have either been eliminated or become too embroiled in wider global conflict to properly deal with his armada that he properly takes action, and quickly shows just why he's part of the Big Bad Ensemble.
• Perpetual Smiler: He's rarely seen without a smile on his face. The anime has him frown a bit when he and Luffy are arguing about having opposite tastes in food, and he momentarily loses his smile when he's terrified by the prospect of Whitebeard beating him to death (and Akainu coming after him on a warship), but otherwise, he's always smiling, even when clearly shouldn't be. As a child, however, he was more of a Perpetual Frowner.
• Person of Mass Destruction: His darkness powers can engulf half an island by himself, and now he's stolen Whitebeard's power to create earthquakes and tsunamis.
• Power Nullifier: His power allows him to cancel the abilities of other Devil Fruit users while he remains in contact with them. Unfortunately, as Whitebeard is all too happy to teach him, this does nothing to reduce the power of an unaided physical attack.
• Power of the Void: The Darkness can absorb anything into it, literally erasing it from our world. Of course, he can also expel it.
• Power Parasite: In the final stages of the Battle of Marineford, Blackbeard steals Whitebeard's Devil Fruit. Post-timeskip he goes after even more.
• Rags to Royalty: As much as "royalty" as being one of the Four Emperors goes, anyway; a drawing of him as a kid shows he used to be a sad street brat in his childhood and it's later revealed that he joined the Whitebeards at that age. He is now living the high-life as a powerful imperial pirate. It's later revealed that at least one of his plans is to make this literal, by extorting the World Government into recognizing him as a legitimate king.
• Rousing Speech: To the Straw Hats on their first meeting. He compliments them on sticking up to their beliefs and assures them that some fights aren't worth it with fools like Bellamy. It's enough to leave Luffy speechless.
• Rule of Symbolism: His first name (Teach) comes from the last name for the Real Life version (Teach). Whitebeard's last name (Edward) was also the Real Life Blackbeard's first name. Thatch was an alias used by the real Blackbeard sometimes. By killing them both, stealing the Devil Fruit found by Thatch, and absorbing Whitebeard's powers, Blackbeard has truly become... Blackbeard.
• Sadistic Choice: Not he himself, but by Hancock, when he attacks Amazon Lily to kill her and seize her power, as she petrifies his entire crew, including two of his Titanic Captains, and makes clear that even if he gives her power to someone else, it can't be undone unless she consciously reverses it. However, Teach also realizes that if he decides to gamble with her making good on her word, she could just petrify him instead the second he lets her go. Ultimately, he decides it's safest just to kill her and take her power like he'd planned.
• Seadog Beard: True to his epithet, he has a black beard which gets longer in every appearance, reflecting his current status and power. In his first appearance, when he's still a nobody, he has barely a Perma-Stubble, then, after he becomes a Warlord, he has a short black beard. After the two-year time-skip, during which he has become one of the Four Emperors, he has a long braided beard, just like the real-life Blackbeard.
• Shadow Archetype: Like Luffy, Teach is a friendly, personable pirate who dreams of becoming King of the Pirates. But Blackbeard represents what Luffy could be if he prioritized that dream above everything else.
• Shockwave Clap: The Quake Punch at a longer distance.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: His outfit gets fancier after he becomes a Warlord and once again after he captures Ace, to show that he's moving up in the world. Once he becomes an Emperor, Teach has changed his outfit into the one fitting for a stereotypical pirate captain.
• The Sleepless: According to Buggy, it was rumored that Teach has never gone to sleep once since he was born. Given the real-life consequences of not sleeping, his behavior and characteristics now make even more sense...
• Sphere of Power: After stealing Whitebeard's Devil Fruit, he can also use the Quake Bubble now too.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Subverted. In an SBS, Oda draws a sketch of his mother and two younger sisters (who have yet to be shown in the series proper). While his mother slightly resembles him with his broad face and shaggy hair, his sisters look cute and delicate and are said to be well-mannered, something that cannot be said for Teach. Ace is shown floored by the disparity.
• Story-Breaker Power: He has Dark powers which turns him into a Man of Kryptonite, even if it comes with certain drawbacks. Problem is, he then somehow managed to violate the established convention of having only 1 power per person and took Whitebeard's Quake powers as his own, a Story-Breaker Power in its own right.
• Stout Strength: Teach is a broad, squad-bodied man with the apparent agility befitting of it. He is also, however, unbelievably strong. Shanks states verbatim that, when he fought him in the past, the battle that gave him his scars, Shanks was not being careless, and when Teach went up against Ace, a single well-placed blow nearly broke Ace's neck. This is the same Ace who we learn fought Yamato to a near-standstill, who could go head to head with his father Kaido. Even before he made a name for himself, Blackbeard was already capable of serious harm to some of the biggest players on the world stage.
• Superpower Lottery: Blackbeards first Devil Fruit the Dark-Dark fruit allows him to nullify all other Devil Fruit powers in addition it can also pull people and objects in like a black hole and absorb them if he choses. His second fruit the Tremor-Tremor fruit is probably the most destructive in the series as it allows him to create earthquakes and tsunamis at will which can devastate entire armies and destroy whole islands. If that wasn't enough Teach also has sufficient strength and endurance to hold his own in fights with people like Ace and Shanks.
• Take Over the World: It's implied that rather than becoming Pirate King or amassing power, Blackbeard's true goal is world domination. Confirmed in chapter 1107, during the Egghead Arc, when Van Augur and Catarina answer Saturn's question of what the Blackbeard Pirates are really after by simply saying 'the world.'
• They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: One of the things that allowed him to slip under the radar despite being part of the Whitebeard Pirates for close to 20 years is that, in appearance and demeanor, Blackbeard seems no different from any run of the mill thug. This obscures just what a dangerous, cunning, and ambitious man he really is.
• Took a Level in Badass: Teach's journey as a pirate mirrors Luffy's, with the two of them growing in both strength and prestige in the same span of time. Within a year since his ascension to an Emperor, Blackbeard's strength has increased to the point that he defeats Boa Hancock and Trafalgar Law, respectively one of the Warlords of the Sea and the man who helped defeat Big Mom. Rayleigh, the right hand of the Pirate King himself admits Teach has gotten so strong that even he would be no match for him at his age.
• Übermensch: He rejects the increasing Pirate beliefs of not believing in the future, seeks to bring a New Age, is a firm believer in personal strength and morals (primarily dreams, in his case), is very charismatic, and incredibly good at shaping the world to his will.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Teach is described as an ungrateful man by Marco. Considering he spent decades on Whitebeard's crew only to exploit them, this is spot on.
• Underestimating Badassery:
  • The most exposure Teach allowed himself at the beginning of his pirate career was simply being part of the Whitebeard Pirates, using them in his lifelong search for the Dark-Dark Fruit. Multiple times he was offered the spot of Second Commander, only to turn it down every time, determined to keep himself off the radar and, in turn, even as this incredible danger lurked in the world's shadows, his bounty remains non-existant until he makes his big play — and by the time he's ready, it's already far too late for anyone to stop him.
  • Inverted when he first meets Luffy, stunned when the latter claimed to have a 30,000,000 berry bounty... because Teach thought it was not high enough, as he elaborates after seeing his 100,000,000 bounty.
  • He waits for the time the Marines are too preoccupied to stop his assault on Impel Down, but he still underestimates how much of a danger Warden Magellan could be all by himself. Magellan just one-shots Teach and his crew on sight and leaves them writhing in pain.
  • His plan at Marineford is to kill Whitebeard himself, but he overestimates how much of a toll that Whitebeard's illness and fatigue had taken on him, something Whitebeard lampshades when he puts the screws to Teach and turns the tables on him in just a few maneuvers. If Blackbeard's crew hadn't jumped in at the last minute, Whitebeard would have killed him effortlessly.
  • Subverted when it came to Boa Hancock. Blackbeard himself admitted how powerful she was with her Devil Fruit power he was trying to get for himself. He resorted to a sneak attack on her when her guard was down and was even unsure if he would be able to nullify her powers again if he let go of her after capturing her.
• Unintentional Backup Plan: His initial plan is to capture Luffy to get a position as a Warlord, but the Straw Hats get shot up into the sky when he approaches them, and then an even bigger fish — Portgas D. Ace — comes right to his doorstep instead. Even better for him, both Luffy's Impel Down invasion and the Paramount War that directly ensue thanks to Ace's capture prove even better for his plans than what he originally had in mind (that is, to break into and out of Impel Down with new crewmates by himself and then attack Whitebeard on his own).
• Villain Has a Point:
  • When confronted by Ace about betraying the Whitebeard Pirates, Teach defends himself by saying that he had to stick to his plan to accomplish his goals. Blackbeard was very aware that he can't make his move against the extremely powerful forces in the world until he has a game-breaking power of his own. He bided his time in Whitebeard's crew for 20 years waiting for the day he'd get his hands on the Dark-Dark Fruit. It paid off too, as with a few years of acquiring that power, he went from a no-name pirate to an Emperor of the Sea with a bounty in the billions and no one able to stop him.
  • After the Whole Cake Island arc, he laughs at the idea of Luffy being the Fifth Emperor, saying that it is too soon for him to be called that. Luffy's first clash with Kaido has the latter defeating him in Gear 4 with one hit from his club. And that happened after Kaido shrugged off multiple hits from Luffy's most powerful techniques. He also ends up being correct on the "too soon" as by the end of the Wano Country arc Luffy successfully defeats Kaido with Gear 5/Human-Human Fruit: Model Nika to replace Kaido as an Emperor.
• Villain Respect: Part of Teach's Faux Affably Evil persona:
  • Teach's Establishing Character Moment features complimenting Luffy, Zoro, and Nami for how they handled Bellamy mocking them.
  • He isn't even angry when Boa Hancock petrifies Catarina Devon and Vasco Shot, instead commenting that she lives up to her title of Pirate Empress. Downplayed in that this isn't enough for him to change his mind on killing her.
  • Teach seems to have quite a high opinion of Koby. When Blackbeard :comes across the naval Captain while raiding Amazon Lily, Teach casually jokes with the Marine as if he's an old friend. It's not enough to stop Blackbeard from kidnapping Koby to use as a bargaining chip, but it's something.
• Villainous Rescue: Twice.
  • During the Impel Down arc, Luffy is having a tough time getting Hannyabal to stay down. Blackbeard then shows up and knocks him out in one shot.
  • He also pulls a spectacular one just as Whitebeard is going to town on the Marines after Ace's death. He even recruited several new crew members from Impel Down. His crew descends on Whitebeard and kills him.
  • He ends up saving Koby from nearly getting killed by Hancock as he uses his darkness powers to nullify her powers.
• We Can Rule Together:
  • When Ace shows up to punish him for murdering his crewmate, Blackbeard offers to let him join his crew. Ace already isn't going for it, but when Blackbeard mentions that his plan involves turning Luffy over to the government, Ace gets straight to the fighting.
  • In Chapter 925, Blackbeard makes the same offer to Moria, immediately after he just found out from Blackbeard's crew that they killed Absalom for his Clear-Clear Fruit ability.
• We Used to Be Friends: More like We Used To Be Friendly Acquaintances, but Blackbeard gave Luffy encouragement when he was at a low point that left an impact on him. They knew each other as unknowns, and Blackbeard seems enthused that they’re moving up in the world at the same time, too. For Luffy though, it just adds to the sense of It's Personal.
• Wolverine Claws: When he was a member of the Whitebeard Pirates, he used this kind of weapon. The Vivre Card Vol. 6 confirms that these claws are the cause of Shanks's eye scars.
• Wrong Context Magic: Both the Dark-Dark Fruit compared to other Logias, since it doesn't give the user intangibility, and his ability to possess multiple Devil Fruit powers, when it has previously been stated that someone would die if they were to eat a second Devil Fruit.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: He claims to be playing Speed Chess; in his own words, he has a plan, but circumstances keep changing and he's adapting the plan to fit the bumps along the way. For example, he wasn't going to bother following his original plan to bring in Luffy for a bounty until Ace caught up with him. Once the plan is fully laid out, it looks a lot more like a roulette with all of the things that went his way since then being probably just luck, and his fortunes may change in the future. Considering that he needed the Warlord position to break into Impel Down and release the Level 6 prisoners eventually, he had probably been planning to confront Whitebeard at some point anyway. Realizing that Ace is hounding him made things go even faster and everything fell into place easier.
• You Will Not Evade Me: His power covers the domain of Gravity Master, but his Kurouzu move is this, where he pulls his target into melee range. The worst part is there's no known way to defend against it, and once you're in contact, your power's gone and he can counter with his powerful melee attacks. You can counter while getting pulled, but good luck doing enough damage to fell a Mighty Glacier like him unless your name is Whitebeard.

The Ten Titanic Captains

General

The ten leaders of each of Blackbeard's divisions after he becomes an Emperor of the Sea and his most powerful subordinates. Four of the captains (and the pet horse of one of the captains) are the original members of the crew besides Blackbeard and five are former Level 6 prisoners from Impel Down.

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• All There in the Manual: Quite a bit of information on the crew was first provided in the Vivre Card data-card collection, but wouldn't be stated in the manga until years later.
• Because Destiny Says So: They're all a bunch of fatalists and believe that their actions are already written, making a nice contrast with the Screw Destiny attitude of the Straw Hats.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: During the Egghead arc, Catarina Devon and Van Augur come face-to-face with Saint Saturn. Both of them casually disrespect the Elder as Devon taps his leg (presumably to take on his appearance) and warps away with Augur, visibly pissing off Saturn even more than he already was.
• The Dreaded: All of the new recruits from Impel Down are infamous for having committed atrocious crimes and considered among the most dangerous people of the world. After the Time Skip, all of the crew becomes one of the most feared of the wolrd after Blackbeard becomes an Emperor.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Their silhouettes from Dalton's memory are different from their debut; among other things, two characters have bicone hats rather than just Augur, there appears to be a swordsman in the crew and Blackbeard has a captain's hat before he gets one in canon.
• Establishing Character Moment: Part of the Jaya Arc serves to establish all the original five members of the crew, specifically their different abilities and their fatalist attitude.
• Enlightened Self-Interest: Unlike The Straw Hats who are a Family of Choice that deeply care for each other, the Blackbeard Pirates are purely in it for themselves and wouldn't hesitate to backstab each other if it suited their ends. While none of them are particularly loyal to Teach as a person, they all recognize that he's a man who is going to change the world, and so seek to ride his wave for their own benefit. This is also what Blackbeard uses to convince Kuzan to join him.
• Everyone Is a Super: Invoked. At the end of the Fish-man Island arc, Jimbei tells Luffy the Blackbeard pirates actively hunt for powerful Devil Fruits to own. In Dressrosa, Burgess attempts to get the Flame-Flame Fruit and, after he loses to Sabo, desperately tries to kill a weakened Luffy to get the Gum-Gum Fruit. Law and the Hearts Pirates try to exploit this by trying to sink their ship and so guaranteeing the top command sink with that.
• Evil Counterpart: Nearly every member is a direct evil counterpart to one of the Straw Hat pirates. To make the contrast more apparent, they're all ugly while the Straw Hats are all good-looking.
• The Fatalist: Along with nihilism, the crew has a consistent belief that everything that happens is predetermined as the result of fate.
• The Ghost: While the identity of the first nine captains, the various members of the Blackbeard Pirates pre-Time Skip, is revealed thanks to supplementary materials, the identity of the Tenth Titanic Captain is left unknown until Chapter 1081.
• Gonk: Most of them are deliberately drawn to be ugly, in contrast to the Straw Hat Pirates, who are either pretty, cool, or cute. The only exceptions being Van Augur (who's simply average looking) and Lafitte (who's more creepy-looking than ugly). This is actually meant to be a character trait by Oda, who believes that real pirates should be rough and ugly-looking.
• Greater-Scope Villain: When the Straw Hats reach the Drum Kingdom, it's recently been invaded and pillaged by the Blackbeard Pirates, at the time still relatively unknown. This mean they are the catalysts of the situation at the beginning of the Drum Arc. However, they don't appear and interact with the Straw Hats until much later.
• Large and in Charge: All of them are in charge of a ship and they're all ridiculously tall people.
• Made of Iron: After Sengoku delivers a mighty shockwave to them in his Buddha form and sends them flying, all of them, including the frail-looking Doc Q and freakin' Stronger, get up almost immediately.
• Named After Somebody Famous: Many of the Titanic Captains are named after famous real-world pirates:
  • Jesus Burgess' name resembles that of Samuel Burgess.
  • Van Augur's name is based on John Auger.
  • For Avalo Pizarro, "Avalo" is similar to the Spanish surname Ávalos, such as the d'Avalos family of condottieri. Avalo also shares his name with the Pizarro brothers, four Spanish conquistadors.
  • Lafitte is named after Jean Lafitte.
  • Vasco Shot's name is similar to Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese explorer, and Vasco Núñez de Balboa, a Spanish explorer and conquistador.
• Nietzsche Wannabe: The recurrent mindset among the crew appears to be that of nihilist misanthropes, who engage in their morally abhorrent lifestyle due to embracing the inherent pointlessness of life.
• Psycho Rangers: The crew serves as evil counterpart to the Straw Hats. To wit, there are similarities between Luffy and Blackbeard (similar belief in dreams, the Will of D. and aspiring to become Pirate King), Zoro and Shiryu (both are master swordsmen who were released from imprisonment), Chopper and Doc Q (doctors), Usopp and Van Augur (snipers), and Nami and Lafitte (navigators).
• Simple, yet Awesome: Compared to the Devil Fruit users whose abilities in the latter part of the series tend to be either grand mythical Zoans, abstract Paramecias, or Logias of odd substances, the fruit abilities the Titanic captains gain are very simple Paramecias akin to Devil Fruit users of early One Piece.
• Superpower Lottery: Invoked. At the end of the Fishman Island Arc, Jimbei tells Luffy the Blackbeard Pirates are hunting powerful Devil Fruits to increase their powers to the top. Some of the powers that the Blackbeard Pirates attain during the Time Skip are indeed among the strongest, including the abilities of Invisibility, the ability to create diseases, Teleporation, Super-Strength, and Voluntary Shapeshifting.
• Took a Level in Badass: Many of the Titanic Captains acquire powerful Devil Fruits after the Time Skip. By the Egghead Arc, all ten of them are Devil Fruit users, as confirmed by Blackbeard himself in chapter 1064.
  • Shiryu gains Absalom's Clear-Clear Fruit after his death, which allows him to turn himself invisible.
  • Doc Q gains the Sick-Sick Fruit, which allows him to create his own illnesses and infect people with them. Likewise, his horse Stronger gains the Horse-Horse Fruit, Model: Pegasus, which grants him the ability to turn into a pegasus and fly with wings.
  • Van Augur gains the Warp-Warp Fruit, which allows him to teleport objects or people.
  • Jesus Burgess gets the Strong-Strong Fruit, which increases his already immense strength to the point where he can lift entire mountains.
  • Pizarro gains the Isle-Isle Fruit, which allows him to merge into an island.
• True Companions: Subverted. While the Blackbeard Pirates enjoy each other's company, all of them are up-front about the fact that they're pursuing their own agendas first and foremost, though Burgess and Latiffe are shown to be genuinely loyal to their captain.
• Un-person: The crimes of the Impel Down recruits were horrific enough for the World Government to store them in a secret level of the prison to be forgotten from history.
• Villains Out Shopping: During Kuzan's flashback, the Titanic Captains hit it off surprisingly well with the former admiral over a couple of drinks.

"Champion" Jesus Burgess

"Champion" Jesus Burgess

Voiced by: Tetsu Inada (JP), Phil Parsons (EN), Leornado García (Jaya Arc, Netflix LatAm), Alejandro Mayén (epi. 235, Netflix LatAm)

Age: 27 (Pre-Timeskip), 29 (Post-Timeskip)

Debut: Chapter 222 (Manga), Episode 146 (Anime)

Devil Fruit: Strong-Strong Fruit

One of the original five members of the Blackbeard Pirates and the helmsman of the crew, Burgess is a large, muscular man and a powerful hand-to-hand fighter with a love of combat. Burgess would become a member of the Ten Titanic Captains and the Captain of the Blackbeard Pirates' 1st Ship upon their ascension to Emperor-hood, and arrived at Dressrossa with the intention of winning the Flame-Flame Fruit for his crew in the Corrida Colosseum tournament.

Before the timeskip, his last known bounty is 20,000,000 berries.

After Dressrosa, he's given the Strong-Strong Fruit (Riki Riki no Mi), which boosts his already massive strength to monstrous levels.

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• Blood Knight: He loves fighting to the point he basically spends his free time in Jaya challenging anyone strong there to a fight. He also relishes the chance to fight Luffy in the Corrida Colosseum.
• Boisterous Bruiser: He's a very loud and cheerful brawler prone to flashy displays and poses.
• Boring, but Practical: His Devil Fruit ability is to make himself stronger. It's not a complex power but is a perfect fit for a brutish hand-to-hand fighter like Burgess.
• Brown Bag Mask: During his first match in the Corrida Colosseum tournament, Burgess wears a brown mask with "HAPPY STORE" written on it to disguise himself. He takes it off after the match ends.
• The Brute: He's physically the strongest of the Blackbeard Pirates and more dimwitted compared to the other members, though he's capable of cunning and deceptive feats of intelligence. With the Strong-Strong Fruit, this trait is enhanced.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Given his looks and his boisterous Blood Knight personality, one might mistake him for a simpleton. However, on more than one occasion he's shown to be quite canny, with the biggest example so far being sneaking aboard a Revolutionary Army ship and giving Blackbeard and his comrades a way to find the Revolutionary Army's home base.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: He throws buildings around like sandbags in his crew's battle with Ace and doesn't have a Devil Fruit power, only his natural strength. After the events of Dressrosa, he eats the Strong-Strong Fruit, augmenting his own power via the fruit's supernatural strength.
• Combat Pragmatism: In spite of his love for fighting, when the situation calls for it, Burgess is all too willing to put honor aside for the bigger picture. Examples include his use of guns when the Blackbeard Pirates kill Whitebeard, when he watches and waits during Luffy and Doflamingo's fight for Luffy to be left vulnerable before leaping out and trying to kill him, and, as mentioned below, using Sabo's guilt over Ace's death to try to get him to act irrationally and leave an opening for him to attack with a dagger.
• Cool Mask: He wears a particularly badass-looking luchador-esque mask, hinting at his hand-to-hand fighting style and love of combat. After receiving facial burns in his fight with Sabo, half of his face is additionally bound in metal plating.
• Determinator: Despite Sabo utterly destroying him after their battle (a bone is sticking out of one of his legs!), he still manages to board Sabo's ship and reach the Revolutionary's headquarters in Baltigo, where he manages to remain hidden and conscious for ten days.
• Dumb Muscle: He's very strong, as he can lift and throw buildings and he stomps all the other gladiators of the Block A of the Corrida Colosseum tournament quickly, but being smart is not among his qualities, although he's quite pragmatic.
• Establishing Character Moment: In his first appearance he stands on top of a house shouting and looks for a fight.
• Evil Counterpart: His position as helmsman and attribute as a powerful hand to hand fighter puts him as an evil foil to Jimbei, though his Boisterous Bruiser attitude more greatly echoes Franky.
• Hidden Depths: He may be a violent brute, but when Shiryu calls the crew out for traveling on a raft, he says the raft had sentimental value.
• In a Single Bound: He can leap down several hundred meters without difficulty.
• Kamehame Hadoken: A weird variant; Burgess has a technique called "Shockwave Elbow" where he fires a shockwave out of his elbow.
• Ki Manipulation: He's shown to have learned Armament Haki over the Time Skip, though his Haki still isn't as powerful as Sabo's which destroys his armor.
• Line-of-Sight Name: To enter the Dressrosa gladiatorial tournament, Burgess puts a paper bag on his head emblazoned with the words "HAPPY STORE." The name he enters into the tournament under: Mr. Store.
• Made of Iron: While his second battle with Sabo doesn't go too well for him, he takes a huge amount of punishment before going down. In the anime, he even shrugs off a direct hit from Garp.
• Nerves of Steel: In the anime, he faces down Garp and Sengoku without fear.
• One-Man Army: Burgess defeats all the other gladiators of Block A in the Corrida Colosseum in an instant. After revealing that he's the commander of an Emperor's division, this is expected.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: The only disguise that Burgess wears when fighting in the Corrida Colosseum tournament is a paper bag that he wears over his head. Remarkably, nobody at the Corrida Colosseum manages to recognize him based on his body structure until he reveals himself.
• Power Fist: An elbow variation. He wears armor on his right arm, which helps him make really strong attacks from his elbow. However, Sabo destroys it with ease.
• Razor Wind: His Galleon Lariat technique is a unique variant in that it's his forearm that causes a massive slice rather than a blade.
• Signature Laugh: "Wi-hahaha!"
• Slasher Smile: His default expression, particularly when he is about to enter combat, is that of a bloodthirsty smile that shows his eagerness to fight.
• Schmuck Bait: In Dressrosa, Burgess mocks Ace in front of Sabo to make him mad enough to get close while he prepares for a sneak attack to take his fruit. Unfortunately, Sabo is quick to react and Burgess eats a Fire Fist to the face.
• Super-Strength: Burgess is the physically strongest of the Titanic Captains, being strong enough to chuck buildings around on his own. He gets even stronger after acquiring the Strong-Strong Fruit, as he's able to lift and throw a mountain.
• Time-Passage Beard: He grows a long beard after the Time Skip, indicating that he's gotten older and more experienced.
• Top-Heavy Guy: He's so ripped that his legs look tiny in comparison and this difference in proportion gets even bigger after the Time Skip.
• Villainous Valor: He drags Doc Q and Stronger away from the battle between Ace and Blackbeard to save them from being caught in the crossfire, and he is fiercely loyal to Teach.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: He is topless in the Corrida Colosseum tournament.

Shiryu "of the Rain"

Shiryu "of the Rain"

Voiced by: Takayuki Sugo (JP), Matt Thurston (EN)

Age: 42 (Pre-Timeskip), 44 (Post-Timeskip)

Debut: Chapter 538 (Manga), Episode 440 (Anime)

Devil Fruit: Clear-Clear Fruit

"It's obvious what the future holds for me here. I've been waiting to meet someone like you!"

—Chapter 549

Shiryu was once the Head Jailer of Impel Down. A skilled swordsman, he wields a nodachi named Raiu. He was stripped of his rank, was sentenced to execution, and was placed in Level 6 of Impel Down. Magellan, desperate for help, temporarily releases Shiryu to crush the riot. Instead, Shiryu attacks the workers and cuts off communications. Shiryu saves the Blackbeard Pirates from Magellan's poison and promptly joins the team, eventually becoming the Titanic Captain of the Blackbeard Pirates' 2nd ship.

He possesses the powers of the Clear-Clear Fruit (Suke Suke no Mi), having stolen it from Absalom after killing him, allowing him to turn himself or anything he touches invisible.

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• Ax-Crazy: He's very much prone to murderous violence and, during his time as Head Jailer, he killed prisoners for his own pleasure. For this reason, even if he's weaker, Shiryu was more feared than Magellan. However, his murderous habits led to him being imprisoned as well.
• BFS: His sword Raiu is a type used to kill cavalry, but he wields it like a normal sword. Of course, he's much, much taller and larger than normal humans, so for him, it probably is a normal sword. It's one of the Famous Swords (Meito), the legendary swords.
• Cape Wings: Subverted. He is seen sporting devil wings when confronting Magellan, but they are not present afterward as they are part of his Impel Down's uniform.
• Chekhov's Gunman: He's mentioned several times in the Impel Down Arc as the psychotic former Head Jailer imprisoned on Level 6 before he's freed by Blackbeard and joins his crew, becoming one of its most prominent members.
• Cigar Chomper: He's never seen without a cigar.
• Combat Pragmatist: Surprising absolutely no one considering his disposition, ever since he gained the power of the Clear-Clear Fruit he often attacks his enemies while using the full advantage of his fruit. This is first seen when he attacks Moria and later on Garp's attack on Hachinosu.
• Covert Pervert: According to Oda, he uses his Clear-Clear Fruit powers to spy on women in the bath.
• The Dragon: Since his joining with the Blackbeard Pirates, Shiryu is presented as a prominent member and foil standing next to Blackbeard himself. The color page spread of chapter 1031 seemingly cements his role as right-hand man, where Shiryu is depicted alongside other prominent right-hand men characters^note Zoro, Bepo, Rayleigh, Beckman, King, Katakuri, Killer, Marco and Sabo. According to Oda, he drew the respective second strongest members of each group.
• Empowered Badass Normal: Shiryu is powerful enough to be Head Jailer of the world's most important prison, to the point of being considered equal with Magellan, even before nabbing himself the Clear-Clear Fruit.
• Establishing Character Moment: He cuts down all of his old coworkers as "thanks" for freeing him before siding with Blackbeard, which says everything that needed to be said about his selfishness and relentlessly violent nature.
• Evil Counterpart: To Zoro. Note his swordsmanship, being put on death row prior to joining Blackbeard, and calling Blackbeard out after Magellan's crushing attack. The fact that he used to be a jailer nicely parallels Zoro's past as a pirate hunter, too, as does the fact that both their stated reasons for becoming pirates was the fact that their only other option was death. Finally, like Zoro, he has Sanji's eternal enmity for eating the Clear-Clear Fruit.
• Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: Shiryu delivers a sarcastic Bond One-Liner after killing the guards who released him.
• Evil Sounds Deep: His voice is deeper than Magellan's, and he soon defects to the Blackbeard Pirates where he functions as a No-Nonsense Nemesis and has one of the deepest voices in the crew.
• Exactly What I Aimed At: Played with. During the raid at Fullalead, Shiryu attacks Koby, but Garp jump between them and take the hit. Shiryu then explains that he was hoping for exactly this to happen.
• Expy: With his big chin and black military uniform, he bears a resemblance to actor Kyusaku Shimada's portrayal of Yasunori Kato. His status as a Master Swordsman on top of that makes him a possible expy of Washizaki of Riki-Oh, who is similarly an expy of Kato.
• Face–Heel Turn: Played with. He used to work for the World Government, which is quite corrupt, as the Head Jailer of Impel Down. But after being imprisoned for his cruelty and given a death sentence, he defects and joins Blackbeard. Still, his personality doesn't change at all.
• The Fatalist: Seems to be a reason for joining Blackbeard.
• Foreshadowing: A very subtle example from Expanded Universe material. In Ace's novel, Thatch jokingly brings up the Clear-Clear Fruit during a discussion about Devil Fruit, to which Teach says he'd like it. Sure enough, the power ends up in the hands of the Blackbeard Pirates after they kill Absalom.
• From Bad to Worse: What's worse than an ultra-violent, mass-murdering, openly treacherous psychopath? An invisible ultra-violent, mass-murdering, openly treacherous psychopath. The Clear-Clear Fruit was the absolute last thing that Shiryu needed.
• Godzilla Threshold: The only reason why Magellan orders him to be released is because Magellan cannot handle Impel Down's prison riot, especially when Blackbeard and his crew suddenly arrive. It backfires.
• Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: He smokes a large cigar almost all the time, which denotes his villainy compared to the more protagonistic characters using cigarettes.
• Inconsistent Spelling: The manga flip-flops on his naming as he's called "Shiliew" in previous chapters but "Shiryu" in chapter 925.
• Invisibility: Chapter 925 reveals that he is the new user of the Clear-Clear Fruit, having killed Absalom off-screen.
• Lantern Jaw of Justice: Well, he once believed in Justice before being imprisoned. See Gag Nose for his massive features.
• Large and in Charge: He's not as tall as Magellan, but he's still much bigger than normal people. He was also formally the Head Jailer of Impel Down before being imprisoned for his cruelty.
• Lawman Gone Bad: Shiryu was a former head jailer who got locked up for torturing and killing prisoners for fun. When Magellan asks him for help in dealing with Blackbeard during the riot, Magellan makes it clear that he's only postponing his inevitable execution and won't receive anymore chances. This gives Shiryu no further incentive to continue working for the World Government and defects to the Blackbeard Pirates as his only other option was death.
• Laser-Guided Karma: He killed prisoners for fun, claiming them to be "just trash". Then, he gets arrested and sent to Level Six where the worst criminals are kept.
• Made of Iron: Considering that Garp basically nuked a whole island with his Haki, is able to casually toss San Juan Wolf outside Hachinosu and later casually throw punches with a former Admiral, the fact that his only reaction to being hit by a full-powered throw that buries him on the ground is a smug chuckle speaks volumes about how hardy Shiryu is.
• Master Swordsman: He's an extremely skilled swordsman, killing several Impel Down officers in a split second.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: A downplayed case, but still present. Upon Magellan freeing him to deal with Blackbeard, he tries to gain sympathy from Magellan by explaining how horrible his imprisonment was, then cautiously asks him if he will be a free man after he fulfills his job. Magellan coldly responds that he will only postpone his death sentence and won't receive any more chances. After that response, it's unsurprising Shiryu would join Blackbeard, lampshading his only other option was death.
• Only Sane Man: Shiryu has the least amount of eccentricities among the Blackbeard Pirates and thinks further ahead than his newfound comrades, even chastising them for impatiently wanting to engage in drinking and buying new clothes after the battle for Marineford and for their lack of preparedness for the New World.
• Perpetual Smiler: Shiryu is always seen with a relaxed smile.
• Personality Powers: His newly acquired Devil Fruit power, the Clear-Clear Fruit, which makes him invisible, is very suited for the quietest member of the group who can literally stab people in the back.
• Putting on the Reich: Like all who work at Impel Down. His uniform seems to look more like the SS, which fits his personality.
• Psycho for Hire: It's implied that he took the job as Head Jailer of Impel Down to torture and kill prisoners.
• Samurai: After cutting down the guards that free him, he says "Kiri-sute gomen" ("authorization to cut and leave [the body of the victim]") as a Bond One-Liner, referring to the samurai's right to kill commoners for perceived affronts.
• Smoking Is Cool: When Impel Down's guards release him from jail, the first thing he asks for is a lighter so he can smoke his cigar.
• Spanner in the Works: As noted by Ivankov, the events of the Impel Down arc would have gone very different without Shiriyu. He would've foiled Luffy's break-in much sooner and him being released is the only reason the Blackbeard pirates survive their encounter with Magellan.
• Still Wearing the Old Colors: Two years after escaping Impel Down and defecting from the World Government, Shiryu still wears his jailer outfit, although he has replaced the Impel Down emblems with skulls.
• The Stoic: Compared to the other members of the Blackbeard Pirates, Shiryu is always stern and serious, and he doesn't seem to enjoy parties like the rest of them.

Van Augur "the Supersonic"

"Supersonic" Van Augur

Voiced by: Masaya Takatsuka (JP), Barry Yandell (EN), Eduardo Ramírez (Jaya Arc, Netflix LatAm), Alberto Bernal (epi. 235, Netflix LatAm)

Age: 25 (Pre-Timeskip), 27 (Post-Timeskip)

Debut: Chapter 222 (Manga), Episode 146 (Anime)

Devil Fruit: Warp-Warp Fruit

One of the original five members of the Blackbeard Pirates and the group's marksman, Van Augur is a masterful sharpshooter who lives up to his role and epithet, sniping with his large ornate rifle Senriku. Augur is typically reserved and stoic and defers to his Captain. After the Time Skip, he becomes one of the Ten Titanic Captains and the captain of the Third Ship.

Over the Time Skip, he acquires the Warp-Warp Fruit (Wapu Wapu no Mi), allowing him to teleport himself and others at will.

Before the Time Skip, his last known bounty is 64,000,000 berries.

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• Adaptation Expansion: His and Kuzan's raid on Cacao Island is elaborated on in the anime, with Van Augur casually dispatching Cracker's Biscuit Soldiers with a bullet each, displaying his great lethality.
• Badass Boast: In chapter 1107, in the Egghead Arc, when Saint Saturn asks Van Augur what the Blackbeard Pirates are after when they appear before him during his fight with Luffy, he gives a simple and badass answer.
  Augur: The World.
• BFG: Van Augur has a very big, long rifle named Senriku.
• Bad People Abuse Animals: His very first appearance has him shooting seagulls For the Evulz.
• Beard of Evil: Sports a goatee after the timeskip, which adds points to his villainous design.
• Boring, but Practical: While a rifle isn't a flashy weapon it's very effective in Van Augur's hands, since getting shot by a powerful rifle from faraway by an unerring marksman is hard to counter unless someone has a Logia ability or a very strong Observation Haki.
• Cold Sniper: He's calm, stern, and deeply believes in fate. He's also a very capable sniper, able to shoot down seagulls from miles away.
• Dull Surprise: The typical expression of Van Augur is that of stoicism except for a tiny instance of a Slasher Smile while fighting Ace.
• Establishing Character Moment: Van Augur is introduced sniping seagulls too far away to be seen by the naked eye and letting those who survive his shots live on as he believes this is the path fate has chosen for them.
• Evil Counterpart: He seems to be being set up as one for Usopp as the sniper of their respective crews. His stoicism and belief in fate contrasts against Usopp's cowardice and his personal dream of being a great warrior of the sea.
• The Fatalist: He chalks up the result of his sniping to fate in Jaya.
• Homage: Van Augur is way too similar to Adolphus from The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Van Augur can snipe down seagulls when they're not even in sight and can easily tell if the shot is immediately fatal or not. In the anime during his crew's invasion of Impel Down, he's able to shoot down the barrels of the prison guards' guns to destroy them.
• Inconsistent Spelling: "Van Augur" is how his name is spelled in the original manga, while the Viz and edited Funimation versions use "Van Ogre" and the uncut Funimation release uses "Van Auger". The Viz translation later uses the "Van Augur" spelling.
• Quick Draw: His ability to fire his gun quickly is considerably impressive since he does this with a long bulky rifle. He shoots Ace in the forehead and heart the moment he turns down Blackbeard's offer to join their crew, although as the latter is a Logia user it has no effect. In the anime, it's shown when invading Impel Down he could also shoot through the bullets shot off by some of the prison guards to destroy their guns.
• Slasher Smile: The only time he ever changes his stoic demeanor is when he gives Ace a devilish smile during their fight.
• The Stoic: He's the quietest and least emotive member of the original Blackbeard Pirates. He shows only a hint of a smile once when fighting Ace.
• Super-Speed: He displays his fast speed when dodging Ace's attacks.
• Villainous Valour: He genuinely praises and admires Ace's ability to continue fighting Blackbeard even with the latter's ability to nullify his Devil Fruit.
• Villain Teleportation: Van Augur gets the power of the Warp-Warp Fruit sometime during the Time Skip, allowing him to teleport Burgess to a nearby island. Per his own words, he isn't too used to it yet, meaning he need multiple teleportations to leave an island as big as Egghead.
• Weapon Across the Shoulder: He's usually seen holding his rifle across his shoulder, presumably due to its size.

"Corrupt King" Avalo Pizarro

"Corrupt King" Avalo Pizarro

Voiced by: Kazunari Tanaka (JP), Greg Silva (EN)

Age: 40 (Pre-Timeskip), 42 (Pre-Timeskip)

Debut: Chapter 575 (Manga), Episode 484 (Anime)

Devil Fruit: Isle-Isle Fruit

One of the criminals sentenced to Level 6 of Impel Down, Pizarro was a king of a country in the North Blue but was overthrown by his subjects due to his corruption. He's the most cheerful of the Blackbeard Pirates and desires to become the leader despite none of the crew wanting to be his subordinates. He becomes a member of Blackbeard's crew after winning a fight to the death between Level 6's prisoners along with three other prisoners. After the Time Skip, he still seems to be loyal to Blackbeard as the Titanic Captain of his fourth ship.

Over the Time Skip, he acquires the Isle-Isle Fruit (Shima Shima no Mi), which gives him the ability to merge with an island's environment and manipulate it at will.

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• 0% Approval Rating: According to the Vivre Card he was once the king of a country in North Blue. However, he was such a corrupt and twisted ruler that he was overthrown by his people.
• Animal Motifs: Avalo Pizarro has some cats motif, as demonstrated by his habit of saying "nya", bushy hairstyle resembling a lion mane and general feline appearance like his narrow irises and his whiskers-like mustache.
• Cool Crown: After the Time Skip, he wears an elaborate crown, a reference to his epithet and his former title as king of an island in the North Blue.
• Genius Loci: His Isle-Isle Fruit allows him to merge into an island and manipulate it like it was his own body. He mostly uses it to merge with the Blackbeard Pirates' island base, making the island look alive.
• Giant Hands of Doom: With his Devil Fruit powers, Avalo Pizarro can create multiple gigantic hands, each able to crush an entire ship.
• Institutional Apparel: Averted. Despite being among the Level 6 prisoners that joins Blackbeard's crew from Impel Down, he's doesn't wear the striped prisoner outfit.
• Insult Backfire: In his anime-exclusive exchange after Bonney rejects Teach's offer to join their crew as his "woman" with a kick to the face:
  Teach: Women ought to have more decency! This lousy crew is indecent enough to begin with!
  Pizarro: That's nice of you to say, Captain! *laughs*
• Perpetual Smiler: He usually smiles in what borders on a Cheshire Cat Grin with all his similarities to a cat, although he lacks some teeth.
• Pragmatic Villainy: While merged with Pirate Island, he uses his Devil Fruit for surveillance and reports any disturbances to the other crew members when he could just as easily deal with the situation himself. He refrains from such because such actions would wreck the town and thus anger Blackbeard.
• Serial Escalation: Pizarro's Isle-Isle fruit is more-or-less a superior version of Pica's Stone-Stone Fruit. Pizarro can do everything that Pica can do and then some. Conversely, though, he can experience pain or discomfort from damage inflicted to the landscape, which Pica can not.
• Synchronization: When merged with an island, Pizzaro is able to feel everything that happens to it, making it one of the Fruit's most glaring weaknesses. His superior sensory abilities means that he also feels pain when the landmass he fuses with is attacked, as seen when both Garp and later Koby deal substantial blows to the fused Pizarro by attacking the stone construct created from Fullalead that the pirate is controlling at the moment.
• The Starscream: Played with. He asks Blackbeard if he can be the captain, although he might not be serious, but has never shown any actual intention of usurping him. Besides, the other crewmates have made clear that they would remain loyal to Teach.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Pizarro either lacks the practice or restraints to use his Devil Fruit in a controlled manner. During the jailbreak on Fullalead he has to wait for the escapees and marines to be sailing away before attacking them, since Blackbeard will be upset if he destroys the town or the port with his power. When he goes on the offensive however only something powerful enough to change the landscape is going to stop him.
• Verbal Tic: He usually ends his sentences with "Nya", the Japanese onomatopoeia for a cat's meows.
• Vocal Dissonance: For such a big dude, he's got a pretty light voice like a cat.

"Demon Sheriff" Lafitte

"Demon Sheriff" Lafitte

Voiced by: Taiki Matsuno (JP), Christopher Bevins (EN), Javier Olguín (Netflix LatAm)

Age: 39 (Pre-Timeskip), 41 (Post-Timeskip)

Debut: Chapter 234 (Manga), Episode 151 (Anime)

"We are called the Blackbeard Pirates. Please remember that."

One of the original 5 Blackbeard Pirates. The crew's staff officer, Lafitte is also the navigator, a master infiltrator, and one of the more enigmatic members. A man resembling a mime, he seems to possess powers of hypnosis and has wings that make him capable of flight just like a Skypeian. He used to be a sheriff in the West Blue before being exiled for his brutality and cruelty. He is the man responsible for sneaking into the high-security Marijoa and recommends Blackbeard as the next Warlord. He's also the one who hypnotizes the guards to allow for their infiltration into Impel Down. After the Time Skip, he becomes the Titanic Captain of the crew's fifth ship.

Before the Time Skip, his last known bounty was 42,200,000 berries.

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• Affably Evil: He's calm and mostly polite, but he was also fired from his job as a policeman for viciously beating suspects and civilians and is a member of the highly destructive Blackbeard Pirates.
• Agent Peacock: He's very camp compared to the rest of the Blackbeard Pirates, though that's not a reason to underestimate him considering his original position as the crew's staff officer.
• Cane Fu: Wields a long cane that, like Nami's, one would assume factors into his combat ability.
• Charm Person: Lafitte is capable of hypnotizing people, which he uses to allow the Blackbeard Pirates to infiltrate Impel Down.
• Character Catchphrase: His more repeated line is: "We are called the Blackbeard Pirates. Please remember that." This is first used to inform Sengoku they are going to be highly significant in the future and next to warn Avalo Pizzaro not to overstep his bounds.
• Cloudcuckoolander: When Blackbeard and Ace threaten to bring island-wrecking carnage on each other, the other Blackbeard Pirates scramble for their lives, meanwhile, Lafitte is just strolling away.
• Dirty Cop: Lafitte was a policeman in West Blue until he was thrown off the force for his brutality and sadism.
• Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: Suggests stealing Aokiji's Devil Fruit to Teach. While Aokiji is within earshot. Aokiji isn't amused, and Teach has to apologize on behalf of his crew, lest a bloodbath ensues.
• The Dragon: He's confirmed to be Blackbeard's Staff Officer in the Vivre Card databook. Lafitte is the man Blackbeard appoints with the most important and dangerous tasks and the one who threatens to kill anyone in the crew who would challenge Teach's authority.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: His looks are based off a Bifauxnen musician. In other words, he's a guy that looks like a girl that looks like a guy that looks like a girl.
• Establishing Character Moment: Lafitte first appears during a meeting to determine a new member for the Seven Warlords uninvited, sneaking past the security of Marijoa and remaining unnoticed by either the Fleet Admiral or the three Warlords there until he reveals himself.
• Evil Counterpart: Lafitte has a few elements that connects him with Nami as the navigator of their respective crews. Like Nami, he is one of the most intelligent members of the crew and is a sneaky individual, although in Lafitte's case it's in infiltration instead of thievery. Additionally, Lafitte is a former sheriff who was exiled for his brutality. Nami, by contrast, is a thief who was victimized by corrupt authorities like himself.
• Fur and Loathing: After the Time Skip, he's added a cape to his attire, collared with fur.
• Good Wings, Evil Wings: Inverted. Despite having angelic wings, he is a core member of the core antagonist pirate crew in the series.
• Insistent Terminology: After the Time Skip, he insists that Burgess refers to Blackbeard as "admiral" instead of as "captain".
• Lean and Mean: Like the other members of Blackbeard Pirates, Lafitte is a very large person, but he stands out from the others with his very thin stature. He's still infamous for his brutality.
• Noiseless Walker: He's incredibly stealthy despite wearing tapping shoes, best shown when he infiltrates the capital of the World Government in the middle of a meeting and wasn't noticed until he decided to speak despite the Fleet Admiral and three Warlords taking attendance.
• Police Brutality: Originally he was a police officer somewhere in the West Blue, but his career ended in a scandal when it was revealed that he engaged heavily in violence and cruelty.
• Sissy Villain: His mannerisms and appearance, which includes makeup, compared to the rest of his crew comes off as effeminate and he's a notorious criminal who abused of his power when he was a police officer.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: In contrast to the rougher voices of his crewmates, Lafitte's voice is quite soft and isn't very deep. One of the first things we learn about him is his Police Brutality that got him fired from his job.
• Stealth Expert: He's able to sneak into Marijoa, the capital of the World Government, and infiltrate one of its meetings without being detected until he decides to reveal himself. Even more impressively, attending that meeting is the Fleet Admiral Sengoku and three Warlords and with most of the meeting's attendees having Observation Haki. And he manages to do this while wearing tap dance shoes!
• Undying Loyalty: His catchphrase makes his loyalty to Blackbeard and Blackbeard alone explicit. He threatens to kill Avalo Pizzaro when he jokingly suggests usurping Blackbeard. Keep in mind Avalo is one of the most feared Level 6 criminals in history.
• Winged Humanoid: Downplayed. He can turn his arms into giant bird-like wings to fly.
• Your Size May Vary: He's often drawn much smaller than the others due to how thin he is compared to them despite being just as large as them.

"Crescent Moon Hunter" Catarina Devon

"Crescent Moon Hunter" Catarina Devon

Voiced by: Kimiko Saito (JP), Natalie Hoover (EN)

Age: 34 (Pre-Timeskip), 36 (Post-Timeskip)

Debut: Chapter 575 (Manga), Episode 484 (Anime)

Devil Fruit: Dog-Dog Fruit, Model: Nine-Tailed Fox

^{Click here to see her Post-Time Skip appearance}

The most dangerous female pirate ever to be imprisoned in Impel Down, Devon is infamous for hunting and decapitating beautiful women to add their heads to her collection in her twisted pursuit of beauty. She has a sense of fashion, as she dislikes her prisoner outfit. She joins Blackbeard's crew after she emerges as one of the four victors of a duel to the death amongst the Level 6 prisoners that Bleackbeard frees, and after the Time Skip, she has become the Titanic Captain of his sixth ship.

She has eaten the Dog-Dog Fruit (Inu Inu no Mi), Model: Nine-Tailed Fox, a Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit that allows her to transform into a nine-tailed fox, granting her the abilities of the legendary beast, one of which is shapeshifting.

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• Asian Fox Spirit: She has eaten a Mythical Zoan fruit that allows her to turn into a nine-tailed fox spirit and take the appearance of other people. Chapter 1107 implies she can transform into anyone she wants, but like with the Clone Clone Fruit, she has to touch whoever she wants to become first.
• Ax-Crazy: Unlike Shiryu, who at least limited most of his carnage to condemned prisoners, Catarina is a serial killer who slaughters innocent women and collects their heads .
• Badass Cape: Catarina wears a bright pink cape on her prison uniform as she has a sense of fashion.
• Butter Face: Catarina Devon has a wonderful body, with an especially large bust, but is coupled with a hideous face with a long nose. Despite this, she has many women who fawn and cheer for her at Pirate Island.
• Classy Cravat: She wears a huge dark cravat after the Time Skip.
• Creepy Souvenir: She collects the severed heads of beautiful women who catches her attention, and she's collected enough of them to the point of being locked up in Impel Down's darkest level to be forgotten. She admits she very much wants Hancock's head as a souvenir when she kills her.
• Dark Action Girl: Catarina Devon is the crew's only female member, and she was imprisoned in Level 6, reserved only to the most dangerous pirates.
• Dead Person Impersonation: She uses her Devil Fruit powers to briefly impersonate Absalom to play a cruel trick on Moria, making him believe his crewmate is alive while he's been killed for his devil fruit.
• Deadpan Snarker: She tells the Marines that she "likes them too" upon being recognized.
• Dressed to Plunder: Her outfit after the timeskip is that of a traditional pirate captain.
• Even the Girls Want Her: Against all odds, her appearance before Moria on Beehive island is welcomed by a cheer from a group of women, with the anime adding plenty of hearts.
• The Fashionista: Despite being a pirate, Catarina has a sense of fashion, as she wears a cape and pink pants to make her prisoner uniform more fashionable and complains that she wants to get rid of her uniform as quickly as possible. After the Time Skip, she sports a new classy pirate look.
• Faux Affably Evil: She comes as a bit flirty at points, such as when she teases the Marines when she appears at Marineford. She's also a psychotic Serial Killer who gets some sick pleasure out of murdering women and collecting their severed heads.
• Gag Nose: Just to make her even uglier, Catarina has a long witchlike nose.
• Institutional Apparel: Like the other Level 6 escapees, she wears her prison uniform at Marineforod, although with some changes. She doesn't like it and asks when she can steal some new clothes. In her first post-Time Skip appearance, she has some new clothes.
• Kavorka Man: Rare Female Example. Despite her hideous face, Katarina has a lot of female suitors.
• Kick the Dog: Devon takes on the appearance of Absalom when Moria appears at Fullalead for no reason other than to make the reveal of Absalom's death all the more painful for the former warlord. She then mockingly tells Moria that he should be pleased that she and Shiryu murdered Absalom due to his "liking" corpses.
• Multi-Melee Master: During her introduction, she uses a spear to finish off Whitebeard with the rest of the crew, then post timeskip she's ready to take on Moria with a cutlass. That being said, according to the Vivre Card her main weapon is a whip.
• Off with His Head!: She's infamous for decapitating beautiful women and adding their heads to her collection.
• Of Corsets Sexy: Her pirate outfit has a corset that highlight her hourglass figure, although Catarina is far from sexy.
• Pirate Girl: Catarina Devon's appearance after the Time Skip is like that of a stereotypical pirate, fitting for the crew's "classic pirate image.
• Psycho Lesbian: Devon has a disturbing pastime of collecting the heads of beautiful women, but she also seems to enjoy the company of pretty ladies, as seen by her fawning fangirls on Fullalead. When she joins her captain in a raid on Amazon Lily, Boa Hancock's ability petrifies her along with Vasco Shot and most of the men present.
• Red Baron: Her title is "Crescent Moon Hunter" due to killing beautiful women for their heads.
• Signature Laugh: Her laugh is a lady-like "Murunfuffuffu!"
• The Smurfette Principle: Catarina Devon is the only female member of Blackbeard's Titanic Captains. She's also the only (known) female prisoner in Impel Down (though only in the manga as there is another female prisoner seen in the anime).
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Having eaten the Dog-Dog Fruit, Model: Nine-Tailed Fox, she can transform into other people, and impersonates the dead Absalom to taunt Moria.
• Younger Than They Look: Her face and wrinkles would easily make it look like she's very old, yet she's only 34/36 years old

"Great Battleship" San Juan Wolf

"Great Battleship" San Juan Wolf

Voiced by: Kenichi Ono (JP), Jason Bunch (EN)

Age: 97 (Pre-Timeskip), 99 (Post-Timeskip)

Debut: Chapter 575 (Manga), Episode 484 (Anime)

Devil Fruit: Huge-Huge Fruit

A member of the giant race, and one of the infamous criminals sentenced to Level 6 of Impel Down. He has eaten the Huge-Huge Fruit (Deka Deka no Mi), which lets him grow even bigger than other giants. Despite his absurd size, he's very shy, to the point of being embarrassed when the Marines notice him hidden behind Marineford's base, and he has a mind like a child's. After being one of the four victors of a duel to the death between the Level 6 prisoners that Blackbeard frees, he becomes a member of the Blackbeard Pirates, later becoming the Titanic Captain of the crew's seventh ship.

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• Accent Adaptation: He's got a southern drawl in the English dub.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: San Juan Wolf really earns his nickname Great Battleship, as he even towers over the already gigantic Oars. He's so big that the only place where he can hide is behind Marineford's base! This is due to having eaten a Devil Fruit, so much that he isn't in danger of drowning due to his sheer size.
• Foreshadowing: A very subtle one following the Marineford War. While sitting in the water, Wolf complains that he's exhausted. At first it seems like he was tired from walking from Marineford to the New World, but it's actually due to his Devil Fruit weakness.
• Institutional Apparel: After escaping from Impel Down, he wears a black and white striped prison suit. One has to wonder where they found a suit larger than a sailing ship's canvas.
• Irony: The raft only had room for four more people, hence why Blackbeard only recruited the four survivors in his battle royale. One of said survivors, Wolf, is a giant who does indeed break the raft by being too big.
• Lazy Bum: In spite of his enormous size, Wolf would rather just lay back and let others do the work. During Garp's raid on Fullalead, Wolf is seen sleeping during most of the attack and only gets active when Garp attacks him and throws him into the ocean.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: San Juan Wolf is a giant who can walk across the oceans without struggle but Garp, who's roughly the size of a normal human sends him flying into the ocean.
• Our Giants Are Bigger: Remember how big Oars is? San Juan Wolf towers over him. The guy is so huge that he is roughly the same size as the Marine headquarters' tallest building. In fact, he's introduced in the flesh hiding behind that building. Afterward, being too big for the Blackbeard's ship, he decides to stand in the Grand Line. Literally. He can walk on the bottom of the ocean and have his head still above water.
• Person of Mass Destruction: He can do much more damage than the other captains without even trying because of his sheer size. It's to the point the rest of the captains would rather let him sleep than engage enemies on their island.
• Psychopathic Manchild: He does not seem to have much of a grasp on reality, and when he strands himself in the sea because of his sheer size damaging Blackbeard's ship, he keeps complaining like a child.
• Shrinking Violet: When the Marines spot him, he feels embarrassed and remains "hidden" behind Marineford's base without taking part in the assault with his crewmates.
• Superpower Lottery: He has a Devil Fruit ability that allows him to increase his size. Combined with his already large size due to being a giant, he's able to grow so big that he makes even giants look like a gecko in comparison. What's truly significant about this power, however, is that it allows him to bypass the standard Devil Fruit weakness of the inability to swim since he can become huge enough to walk on the ocean floor with plenty of his body still above water. Because of this, he is not rendered immobile, allowing him to traverse the ocean waters freely without a ship, and he's more than huge enough that even the largest and most ferocious sea monsters would likely be little more than pests to him. However, being in water still saps him of his strength as he notes that he's exhausted walking from Marineford to the New World.
• Token Non-Human: Wolf is the only giant among the Titanic Captains, and the only non-human alongside Stronger.

"Heavy Drinker" Vasco Shot

"Heavy Drinker" Vasco Shot

Voiced by: Naoki Tatsuta (JP), Clint Ford (EN)

Age: 36 (Pre-Timeskip), 38 (Post-Timeskip)

Debut: Chapter 575 (Manga), Episode 484 (Anime)

Devil Fruit: Glug-Glug Fruit

One of the criminals given a life sentence in Level 6 of Impel Down. True to his name, Vasco Shot is often seen drinking from a gourd he always carries and appears to perpetually drunk. He joins Blackbeard's crew after he emerges as one of the four victors in a duel to the death amongst the Level 6 prisoners that Blackbeard frees, and he becomes the Titanic Captain of the crew's eighth ship.

Over the Time Skip, he acquires the Glug-Glug Fruit (Gabu Gabu no Mi), granting him some yet-unseen ability related to alcohol.

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• The Alcoholic: Vasco Shot has only been shown drunk so far, and even asks to invade a city when he's running out of booze. They don't call him the Heavy Drinker for nothing. Even the Devil Fruit he acquires is alcohol-themed!
• Axe-Crazy: Vasco Shot only speaks a handful of times, and each instance shows him to be completely depraved. From suggesting murdering everyone at Marineford to him implying that he wants to rape a captive to him laughing as he suggests burning down an entire town of their own men, it is very easy to see how this guy ended up in level 6 of Impel Down.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Vasco Shot looks like a goofy drinker but he is completely depraved to his core, with his silly appearance only serving to emphasize that.
• Booze Flamethrower: For his Drunken Spitfire attack, Shot slams back some booze, holds a lit match up to his mouth, and spits out the alcohol, igniting it.
• Dumb Muscle: He seems to be quite strong as he's second in size only to San Juan Wolf (who would put an actual giant to shame), but he doesn't look quite smart. The fact that he's constantly drunk doesn't help.
• Evil Counterpart: Implied to be an evil mirror of Brook. The two of them have a connection with drinking-Brook uses tea for relaxing where as Vasco Shot drinks booze for no reason other than to get piss-drunk. Vasco Shot is indicated to use his Devil Fruit as a source of fire in combat, in contrast to Brook's ice-based abilities. And while Brook is a Chivalrous Pervert, Vasco Shot is heavily implied to be anything but chivalrous in his perversions.
• Fat Bastard: Rather chubby, and is a complete asshole who has no problems with suggesting the rape of captives or targets he finds attractive.
• Fur and Loathing: Wears a black fur coat after the timeskip.
• Gag Nose: Vasco Shot has a huge nose beginning above his eyes.
• Guns Akimbo: Surprisingly for a drunk man, he uses two guns to aid the crew in killing Whitebeard.
• Happy Harlequin Hat: He wears a jester's hat, although his personality doesn't seem Harlequin-like at all.
• Institutional Apparel: After escaping from Impel Down, besides the gourd and the jester hat, he's seen wearing only the prisoner suit.
• Maniac Tongue: His tongue is always sticking out, giving him more of a drunk appearance.
• Meaningful Name: Of course, when your given name is "Shot", you are destined to be an alcoholic.
• Monster Clown: After the timeskip, Vasco Shot wears an argyle-pattern shirt, a feather coat, and what appears to be makeup, which along with the hat he wore already gives him a distinctly jester-like appearance. He also rarely ever loses the unsettling grin on his face and rarely talks about something that isn't incredibly brutal violence.
• Nothing Is Scarier: Unlike his fellow prisoners, relatively little information is given about Shot in the Vivre Card databook. What we do know though is that his crimes were apparently horrifying even by Level 6 standards.
• Psychotic Smirk: When Garp arrives on Fullalead to save Koby, Vasco Shot just stands there and grins as though it excites him.
• Pyromaniac: When Koby is set free from prison and rescues the Blackbeard Pirates' slaves, Vasco Shot's first suggestion is to set the whole town on fire.
• Playing with Fire: His Drunken Spitfire technique has him launch a stream of alcohol from his mouth that he sets alight to use like a flamethrower.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Vasco makes some incredibly unsavory implications about what the Blackbeard Pirates could do with Boa Hancock if they manage to defeat her and steal her power.
• Signature Laugh: His laugh is "Toputoputopu." It's one of the strangest ones in the series, too.
• Top-Heavy Guy: His legs are very short for his large torso.

"Grim Reaper" Doc Q

"Grim Reaper" Doc Q

Voiced by: Naoya Uchida (JP), Kenny Green (EN), Daniel Abundis (Jaya Arc, Netflix LatAm), Hugo Navarrete (epi. 235, Netflix LatAm)

Age: 26 (Pre-Timeskip), 28 (Post-Timeskip)

Debut: Chapter 223 (Manga), Episode 146 (Anime)

Devil Fruit: Sick-Sick Fruit

"The thing called fate... it's a measure of how much a person's existence is worth..."

One of the original 5 Blackbeard Pirates and the ship doctor, Doc Q is a Deadly Doctor who is constantly sickly and weak, just like his horse Stronger. Like most of the crew, he is a fatalist, believing that fate is the measure of a person's worth. After the Time Skip, he becomes one of the Ten Titanic Captains and the captain of the Ninth Ship.

Over the Time Skip, he acquires the Sick-Sick Fruit (Shiku Shiku no Mi) with which he can afflict enemies with a wide variety of diseases, conventional or not.

Before the Time Skip, his last known bounty was 72,000,000 berries.

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• Deadly Doctor: It's in his damn epithet. What other kind of doctor goes around giving out explosive apples and carries a scythe around anyway? He becomes even more deadly after he acquires the Sick-Sick Fruit, which allows him to inflict diseases on other people.
• Establishing Character Moment: Doc Q is first seen selling apples in Jaya, most of which are explosive, and he considers Luffy picking a non-explosive apple a sign that he is blessed by fate.
• Evil Counterpart: He's an evil version of Chopper, being the doctor of the crew and being tied to an animal (though Chopper is an animal while Doc Q just rides one), while having a completely opposite view of medicine. His severe illness also neatly mirrors Hiriluk, strengthening the connection, while his Devil Fruit ability is a very direct contrast to Chopper's dream. Chopper's goal is to become a doctor that can cure any illness whereas Doc Q weaponizes said illnesses.
• Evil Old Folks: Subverted, as while he is definitely as evil as the rest of the Blackbeard Pirates, the Vivre Card collection reveals that he is only 26 Pre-Timeskip. He just looks old because of his illness.
• The Fatalist: He believes fate to be the measure of a man's existence, which he uses to justify giving out apples, some being explosive and some being normal. When Luffy gets a good apple, he says fate has considered him worthy of survival.
• Gender Bender: Thanks to his feminization disease, Doc Q can force males to change into females.
• The Grim Reaper: He wields a Sinister Scythe, rides a pale (and sickly) horse, and his epithet in Japanese is 'Shinigami', the Japanese equivalent of the Grim Reaper.
• Incurable Cough of Death: He's had a chronic illness since birth, though it hasn't managed to kill him yet and he's still as deadly as the rest of his crew. Stronger, his horse, is just as sick as him.
• It Only Works Once: If someone overcomes a disease created by the Sick-Sick fruit, they become immune to that particular disease from then on and can even spread antibodies to those around them, immunizing them against the disease as well. Given the myriad of diseases that can possibly be created from the Sick-Sick Fruit, however, this isn’t that much of a problem.
• Made of Iron: While the other Blackbeard Pirates also survive Magellan's poison and get right back up after taking a shockwave attack from Sengoku in his Buddha form, Doc Q is especially notable since he's had a chronic illness since birth and yet doesn't appear any more inconvenienced than the rest of his crew.
• Mystical Plague: Doc Q ate the Sick-Sick Fruit, which allows him to create and spread diseases of which are of the more fantastical variety, like a virus that turns the infected into women.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: It should be noted that when the crew captures Jewelry Bonney (someone who worries friggin' Akainu), Blackbeard declares her as too weak for the crew and offers she'd be his woman instead. Bonney, mind you, is one of the Eleven Supernovas with a bounty of 140,000,000 berries. This means that Blackbeard considers Doc Q, a man who's suffered from a chronic illness since birth, more deadly than one of the eleven rookies the WG fears. As well, it is later revealed in a Vivre Card databook that Doc Q had the highest bounty of the original five members of the crew before the Time Skip.^note 72,000,000 berries.
• Odd Name Out: He's the only one of the original crew not named after a real pirate.
• One-Letter Name: It's unknown what the Q in his name stands for.
• Personality Power: Fittingly, a sickly and evil doctor ate a Devil Fruit that lets him create any kind of disease.
• Pet the Dog: In spite of his sinister demeanor, Doc Q loves his horse Stronger and treats him well.
• Plaguemaster: Doc Q's Sick-Sick Fruit lets him conjure and spread diseases among his enemies, and given this includes a disease that causes men to instantly transform into women, they don't seem bound by conventional disease concepts either.
• Sinister Scythe: He carries a large one around with him in a bag, showing that he is indeed capable of combat. It has two blades to boot.
• Slasher Smile: He packs one when he reveals some of the apples he is giving out are explosive.
• Tempting Apple: The basis of his 'giving out explosive apples' shtick is that puts some normal apples in them to see who is lucky and who's not. Luffy, of course, picks a normal one.
• Younger Than They Look: He is only 28 (26 before the Time Skip) but he can pass for a man in his fifties! This is because of his chronic illness that he's had since birth.

Stronger

Stronger

Debut: Chapter 223 (Manga), Episode 146 (Anime)

Devil Fruit: Horse-Horse Fruit, Model: Pegasus

Doc Q's pet horse. Despite his role to support his master, he's just as sick as Doc himself.

Over the Time Skip, he acquires the Horse-Horse Fruit, Model: Pegasus (Uma Uma no Mi: Model Pegasus), allowing him to turn into a Pegasus and fly.

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• Action Pet: Downplayed. Despite his own sickness, he's capable of running and supporting Doc Q in combat.
• Cool Horse: He's a sickly horse, but still powerful enough to be a member of the Blackbeard Pirates. He becomes even cooler after he becomes a pegasus and gains the ability to fly.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: During the fight with the Heart Pirates, Stronger gets non-lethally cut in two by Law.
• Ironic Name: He's not any "stronger" than his master, being just as sick as he is.
• Pegasus: His Devil Fruit turns him into a pegasus, giving him a pair of wings to fly.
• Team Pet: As the sole animal of the original Blackbeard Pirates and as Doc Q's animal companion, he serves as the crew's main pet.

Tenth Titanic Captain

See Kuzan's page here.

Subordinate Crews and Allies

Peachbeard

Peachbeard

Voiced by: Kotaro Nakamura (JP)

"I work for the operation of Blackbeard, emperor of the sea, and I've taken on the name of Peachbeard!! Remember my name!! Fear Blackbeard!!!"

—Chapter 904

Captain of the Peachbeard Pirates, a crew subordinate to the Blackbeard Pirates. He's seen pillaging a town for Blackbeard until the Revolutionary Commanders stop him.

He has a bounty of 52,000,000 berries.

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• Bait the Dog: When Moda explains that the townspeople are poor because they gather gold for an offering to the king and the Celestial Dragons (lest they are killed), Peachbeard appears visibly concerned. Then he slaps Moda and orders his men to look for that offering.
• Captain Colorbeard: Of all colors, he's named Peachbeard.
• Dressed to Plunder: His overall appearance is like that of a stereotypical pirate, with a large bicorn, a coat worn as a cape, long hair and a goatee. He makes his debut by plundering a town too.
• Hate Sink: He hides under Blackbeard's name to commit atrocious crimes, taunts a town that he plunders despite knowing they'll die if they don't give an offering to their king and the Celestial Dragons, and shows no positive qualities. This makes his defeat at the hands of the townspeople and the Revolutionaries all of the more satisfying.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: He presents himself as Peachbeard, claiming it's a name he received from Blackbeard, while his true name is never revealed.
• Red Baron: Blackbeard gave him the name of Peachbeard... although that's far from a scary name.
• Signature Laugh: His laugh is "Momohahaha", which is a pun on his name in Japanese, Momohige.
• Small Name, Big Ego: He uses the fame of the Blackbeard Pirates to plunder villages in their name. Not only does Blackbeard not care at all for him, but the townspeople with motivation from Belo Betty's Pump-Pump fruit easily overpower the Peachbeard Pirates. More humiliatingly, Moda, a young girl, defeats Peachbeard himself in a single hit.
• The Worf Effect: The main role of his crew is for the commanders of the Revolutionary Army to easily defeat them and show how strong they are.
• Would Hit a Girl: He slaps Moda, a young girl, after she begs for him not to steal her town's offering.

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