Edward Newgate

Overview
Whitebeard was one of the most powerful and influential pirates of his generation. He garnered the title "Strongest Man in the World" before even the late Pirate King Gol D. Roger's death and was one of the world's few to ever match Roger in one-on-one combat.

After Roger's death, Whitebeard became one of the Four Emperors, the four most formidable pirates ruling the latter half of the Grand Line and the biggest pirate threats to the World Government. Prior to his own passing, Whitebeard held not only the highest bounty among those four, but the second highest in recorded history, at over 5 billion (only behind Roger's own).

Whitebeard's reputation alone made his simple declaration of Fish-Man Island being his territory enough to keep slave traders and pirates from attacking the island further, making Whitebeard himself far more effective than the treaty signed with the World Government 200 years before his death. People from every ocean were aware of the Emperor's power and seemingly believed that he could end the world if he so wished. Even the generally overconfident Buggy did not dare hurt Ace, out of fear of Whitebeard's power.

Whitebeard was the captain of the Whitebeard Pirates, directly controlling an enormous pirate fleet of 1,600 pirates divided into 16 divisions, each one being led by an incredibly powerful division commander. A testament to his power is the fact that the Seven Warlords of the Sea and World Government used virtually all their power to fight him and his crew. The powers of Whitebeard were so vast that few would dare to challenge him, making Ace, Crocodile, Aokiji, Kizaru, Akainu, Blackbeard, Kaido, and Luffy a few very brave and powerful people. In the past, Ace tried to kill Whitebeard over a hundred times, with each attempt resulting in subsequent failure and injury; Whitebeard's retaliation was so effortless that he was able to counterattack even while sleeping.

After Akainu killed Ace, Whitebeard brutally injured the Admiral, who was practically helpless in response to Whitebeard's power. He was able to defeat Akainu with a mere two attacks despite the Emperor being on the brink of death due to his illness and severely injured state at the time. Another example of his power was his "fight" with Shanks. When their weapons clashed, the heavens split in two.

Physical Abilities
Even in death, his body did not fall. His figure, taking down enemies while losing half of his head, was truly monstrous. The total number of sword wounds he received in this battle was 267. He was shot by 152 bullets and was hit by 46 cannonballs. And despite all this, his proud back, over the course of his entire life as a pirate, never received a single scar from running away!



Whitebeard was given the title of the "strongest man in the world" for his physical power, which is far superior to even a giant. During the Marineford War, Whitebeard completely overpowered vast numbers of strong Marine officers and giants with tremendous physical might, such as Vice Admiral Ronse, with only one hand and supplemented by his Devil Fruit powers. Whitebeard blocked a two-handed downward swing from the giant Vice Admiral John Giant with only one hand on his naginata, extinguished the flames of one of Akainu's molten rocks with just a single breath, and prevented a massive paddle ship from advancing using only one hand. He could jump to great heights to attack large opponents, such as John Giant.

Despite his gigantic size, Whitebeard could move at considerable speeds, having appeared behind Akainu to attack him in a matter of seconds, with the latter (who was on his way to kill Luffy) only realizing it once his soldiers yelled at him to watch out.

Whitebeard appeared to have debilitating health problems, possibly stemming from his advanced age and excessive drinking. When not in battle, he was always surrounded by nurses, used oxygen tubes, and was hooked up to intravenous tubes and life support systems; despite this, he used to literally drink sake by the barrel. However, Marco noted that Whitebeard's health had gotten worse, and he no longer possessed the reflexes to avoid Squard's surprise attack, which was, in the past, something easy for him to achieve. Even with his health issues, Whitebeard was still considered the world's most dangerous and powerful pirate, which raises the question of how powerful he must have been in his prime.

Whitebeard's physical resistance and pain tolerance were tremendous: he was able to keep fighting despite the number of life-threatening injuries he sustained, which included part of his head being burned off. This also proves that Whitebeard possessed enormous amounts of stamina and endurance; no matter how much damage he took throughout the battle, Whitebeard continued to press forward and fight, only stopping once almost all of the Blackbeard Pirates collectively shot and brutally stabbed him to death at point-blank range. It was shown that even in his old age, in a heavily wounded state and without access to his Devil Fruit and Haki powers, he could near-effortlessly take down a Warlord of the Sea, as demonstrated in his fight against Blackbeard.

During the War at Marineford, Whitebeard sustained 267 sword wounds, 152 gunshot wounds, and 46 wounds from cannonballs, and got a portion of his head blasted off, resulting in 465 injuries in total. In addition, he received one of Kizaru's laser beams and two of Akainu's magma blasts. Whitebeard also received a brutal assault from the Blackbeard Pirates. However, even after taking so much damage in his already weakened state, he died standing, an impressive feat when compared to other characters. Even Teach was shocked by Whitebeard's tenacity.

Tactical Skills
Besides his formidable power, Whitebeard was a brilliant leader and an incredibly skilled military strategist: a match for former Fleet Admiral Sengoku, one renowned as "The Resourceful General" for his famed acumen on the field of battle. The Emperor's tactical prowess was demonstrated when he saw through Sengoku's deliberate leak of information regarding a change of schedule for Ace's execution, and when he foresaw the Pacifista's arrival at Marineford and scattered the pirates so that they would not be routed by the cyborgs.

In addition, Whitebeard could easily adapt to rapidly-changing situations even in the heat of battle, as shown when he bypassed a siege wall impervious to his Devil Fruit powers by having Oars, who was in a near-death state, help carry the paddle ship into the Marineford plaza. Even when he was on the brink of death, Whitebeard quickly thought of a countermeasure against Teach's Devil Fruit power's nullification abilities by using his naginata to cut Teach down, taking him off guard for him to use his quake powers to injure him.

Devil Fruit


Whitebeard ate the Gura Gura no Mi, a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit that allowed him to cause quakes and generate powerful shockwaves. This power is considered to be the strongest Devil Fruit power within the Paramecia class. According to Sengoku, Whitebeard had the power to destroy the world.

He had the power to send incredibly powerful shockwaves through the air, creating cracks in the air itself in the process. These shockwaves possess devastating offensive might, being able to clash evenly with the Magu Magu no Mi, the Devil Fruit with the highest attack power out of all the Devil Fruits. He could use these shockwaves to quickly take down multiple enemies over a widespread area or take down a single target with terrifying effectiveness, even Giants. He could also use his shockwaves defensively, as their vast raw power could easily stop incoming attacks. He could also generate strong vibrations from his body that could easily shatter ice.



He could use his power to shake, rupture, and tilt the landscape itself. By striking at the general area with his quake powers, he could cause large earthquakes and, under the right circumstances, massive tsunamis. His quakes would cause serious damage and alterations to the surrounding landscape, destroying buildings, creating large crevices in the ground, and pushing up fragments of the ground into new rock formations. He could even "grab" the surrounding area itself and tilt it, described as making the entire sea tilt.

Whitebeard could use his power to enhance his physical attacks by surrounding his hands and feet with concentrated quake bubbles. These quake bubbles would release a small but powerful shockwave on impact, greatly increasing the destructive power of his melee attacks. He could also surround the blade of his polearm with a quake bubble, greatly increasing its destructive power as well.

Soon after Whitebeard's death, his power was stolen by Blackbeard through unknown means.

Weapons


Whitebeard wielded a gigantic naginata called Murakumogiri, one of the 12 Supreme Swords. He was immensely skilled with the blade even in old age. He could use Murakumogiri to fight off countless powerful Marines in Marineford, including Marine Admirals, and during his prime, he also clashed with Kozuki Oden who was one of the strongest samurais of Wano. When he was a child, he had a much smaller and less well crafted spear made up of a simple knife bound to a pole.

After Whitebeard's death, it became a marking for his burial site, with his coat, a bouquet of flowers, and the crew's flag hanging from it.

Haki
Whitebeard was one of the very small number of people in the world who could use all three types of Haki.

Haoshoku Haki
Whitebeard possessed a high level of Haoshoku Haki. During his initial encounter with Kozuki Oden 30 years ago, their sudden clash created a notable effect similar to lightning and released a large burst. His Haoshoku Haki was displayed to a far greater extent against his longtime rival, Gol D. Roger, as their clashing Haoshoku Haki cracked the air, creating an effect akin to lightning and generating a shock wave that blew back everything and everyone on and near the island. Most notably, he was one of a select few people powerful enough to "infuse" his weapon in Haoshoku Haki, which exponentially increased his attack power further. He was shown using Haoshoku infusement during his clash with Roger, with it being signified by a stream of dark energy rising up from Murakumogiri's blade.

During the Marineford War, he was on the verge of using it against some of the World Government's executioners to protect Portgas D. Ace but failed because of a sudden illness attack. He is capable of using this form of Haki in the video games One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2 and 3, as well as One Piece: Burning Blood.

Busoshoku Haki
Whitebeard possessed a tremendous mastery of Busoshoku Haki, which he could imbue his weapon Murakumogiri with. Two decades ago in his prime, he was shown clashing evenly with the samurai Kozuki Oden who was a powerful Busoshoku Haki user in his own right. Whitebeard could also utilize the advanced technique of projecting Haki out from his blade; this was shown during his fight with Roger where the duo's weapons met in a powerful clash without even making contact.

Due to his age and worsening health, it was not as powerful compared to his prime, but he could still negate the intangibility of Logia-based Devil Fruits. In the past, he was able to defeat Crocodile (though it is unknown if the former Warlord of the Sea had eaten his Devil Fruit by that point) and was able to defeat Ace more than one hundred times. During the Marineford War, Whitebeard successfully inflicted significant damage on Akainu where Marco, Vista, and Jinbe, who were highly skilled Busoshoku Haki users themselves, failed to do so.

Kenbunshoku Haki
Whitebeard was also masterful in using Kenbunshoku Haki. It was first shown 30 years prior after both he and the Whitebeard Pirates shipwrecked in Wano, as he could sense Oden coming from a vast distance towards them. He was even able to sense and counter Ace (when he was still new on the ship and was attempting to kill Newgate) while sleeping. In the bay of Marineford, he predicted Crocodile's sudden attack but did not move, knowing that Luffy would block it. However, due to both his age and worsening health, he failed to predict Squard's betrayal and thus got injured, something which, according to Marco, was totally unexpected from the Emperor.