Marshall D. Teach

Marshall D. Teach, commonly referred to as Blackbeard, is the captain of the Blackbeard Pirates. He was formerly a member of the Whitebeard Pirates' second division led by Portgas D. Ace, up until he killed fourth division commander Thatch for the Yami Yami no Mi. He also briefly held the position of Shichibukai after handing Ace over to the Marines, but has since forfeited the title. He is one of the main antagonists of One Piece.

Appearance
Blackbeard is a middle-aged looking man with a massive build, several broken or missing teeth (though sometimes he does have a full set; whether this is an inconsistency error made by Oda, or is part of the story, is unknown), a pronounced crooked nose and a very large and hairy chest and torso. Long, thick, curly black hair falls down the back of his neck, underneath a black bandanna, and a small scruffy black beard (hence his nickname) grows around his jawline. As the series goes along, his beard becomes longer and scruffier. He is one of the few characters in the series that fit best what a stereotypical pirate should look like. He's extremely tall, being exactly twice Luffy's height.

At his first appearance in Mock Town, Teach wears an open buttoned white shirt with rolled up sleeves, green pants with black line patterns, a yellow sash around his waist and classical swashbuckler boots complete with large bronze buckle.

During his raid of Banaro Island, he has added a large black and gold Captain's jacket over his attire, along with beads on each wrist as bracelets and rings with gemstones on all of the fingers of both his hands (similar to his predecessor, Crocodile).

At the Shichibukai meeting at the Marine Headquarters, he added a necklace of beads to his sash and a traditional tricorn hat over his bandanna, as well as switching to a red shirt. He also has three flintlocks and a flask tied up on his sash around his waist.

Personality
"This "new era" they talk about is a load of shit. The age where pirates dream is over!? Eh!? Oi! Zehahahaha! THE DREAMS OF MEN... NEVER END! AM I RIGHT?" Blackbeard's personality seems to be a strange mix of courage and cowardice; strategy and inconsequence; intelligence and stupidity. While at times his character looks strong and fearsome, in others he will seem weak and ridiculous.

Blackbeard, like others who carry the "Will of D," seriously believes in fate and the dreams of men, but unlike the others is the only one who truly seems to take it to heart. He shares several attributes with Luffy including having a voracious appetite (his favorite food is pie), carefree attitude, very competitive, reckless, persevering and huge ambitions following his dream of finding One Piece and become a new Pirate King. Despite that, there is also a great contrast between him and Luffy. Just before his death, Whitebeard noted that Teach wasn't the one they had been waiting for and dismissed Teach as being incapable of continuing Roger's legacy.

He also has an eye for talent and knew Luffy's potential was worth more than the 30,000,000 bounty he thought Luffy had at on their first meeting.

Perhaps because of his strong belief in fate, Blackbeard is highly amoral. He believes that there is no inherent "good" nor "evil" in the world. He is also patient and conniving, having spent decades on Whitebeard's ship just to get his hands on the Devil Fruit he wanted, before killing Thatch and leaving the crew. During his raid on Impel Down, he stated that his plans have not gone exactly as expected, but is willing to take these surprises in stride. He later handed Portgas D. Ace to the World Government and finally killed his captain Whitebeard. Despite this, he still displayed respect for his superiors during the events, referring to Ace as his commander, and said that he aspired to be like Whitebeard.

Blackbeard is overconfident, and while powerful, tends to converse and/or taunt his opponents in the middle of battle. He's done this in every battle he's been shown in, and as a result, he always suffers a heavy, painful attack while his guard is down. Such as when he grabbed ahold of Whitebeard and taunted him about not being able to use his powers, and nearly got cleaved in half with Whitebeard's bisento.

Crew
In contrast to his obvious malevolent nature, Blackbeard does show genuine concern for his own crew, such as when he told his crew to stay away from Ace. He has even taken an attack meant for his crew, despite his Devil's Fruit's weakness of increasing incoming damage. However in true to his way of letting fate decide things, he will even endanger the lives of his crew with his Devil Fruit powers. Of particular note when he first gained the powers of the Gura Gura no Mi his efforts put their own lives at risk. They however are more than satisfied with things this way since all of them seem to believe in fate in some shape or form.

However, in regards to his old crew the Whitebeard Pirates, of which he was a member of, none of them can forgive or forget the things he has done to them. Whitebeard himself dismissed Blackbeard as one of his sons before his end and the whole crew witnessed the death of their captain at Teach's hands. Along with Teach mocking about Thatch and Ace's deaths, it only angered them further. He had, however, previously been on good terms with them, having spent a few decades on their ship, even turning down the chance to be a commander amongst the crew. He also genuinely respected Whitebeard for his power, but did mock his old age.

Enemies
Originally having given Luffy sound advice on being a pirate, this later becomes anger and despair as Teach was the one who put Ace on his path towards death. Luffy himself almost forgot his original mission to save Ace, resuming it only through Jinbei's intervention. The pair are considered enemies and with Ace's death taken into account, there is no certainty on how their next encounter will go. Luffy however, is hardly likely to forget what Teach has done. Despite this, Teach still seems to hold a good deal of respect for being a fellow "dreamer" and aspiring to find One Piece and become the Pirate King.

Shanks also has a watchful eye out for Teach. Although exact events are unknown, Shanks previously admitted to Whitebeard that his facial scar came from a direct attack from Teach, and in their most current encounter, it is shown to twinge at Teach's very presence. Even at Marineford, Shanks addresses Teach in a terse manner, and he only seems to regard Teach as a significant threat compared to the Marines or New World & Whitebeard pirate alliances. Teach was initially surprised at being called out by Shanks, but having already proclaimed "His" era's beginning, unveiling the new members of his crew, and demonstrating command over two Devil Fruits, Teach said he had achieved his goal for the time being, and turned down the chance to fight despite the unique advantage.

Teach has also made enemies of the Marines, having exploited his Shichibukai status solely to gain access to Impel Down, and then tossing it aside when he got what he wanted. The Marines hold themselves accountable for not only the potential power he wields, but also for the number of dangerous criminals he freed from Impel Down. It could also be presumed that Teach has dealt a powerful blow to the already weakened Chief Warden Magellan of Impel Down, either in liberating the Level 6 Prisoners, or in another direct conflict. Either way, Magellan was reported having suffered near-fatal injuries, but Magellan claimed that worse was done to his pride.

Abilities and Powers
At some point in his life, Teach once fought Red-Haired Shanks and caused him the scars on his left eye, noteworthy as he had not eaten his Devil Fruit yet and Shanks claimed the fight was not a sneak attack. Having wounded a member of the Yonkou, without gaining any Devil Fruit abilities prior to that point speaks volumes of just how powerful Blackbeard is. This however, may not be as impressive as it sounds because Shanks might not have been as incredibly strong as he is now.

One of the more impressive feats he has committed was defeating two commanders of the Whitebeard Pirates; Portgas D. Ace and Thatch, when few other people would even dare touch a member of the Whitebeard Pirates for fear of incurring their Captain's wrath.

Another indication of his strength is stated in the conversation between Shanks and Newgate. Shanks claimed that Blackbeard did not want to make himself known to the world yet, which is why he didn't become a commander. With that said, his strength is easily on par with any of the other commanders.

Teach, besides possessing both the Yami Yami No Mi and Gura Gura no Mi, also has incredible physical strength and endurance. This endurance is demonstrated during his taking of a point-blank quake bubble attack from Whitebeard himself, and not losing consciousness, especially since his Devil Fruit causes him to receive even more damage (compared to the giant Vice Admiral Ronse, whose head had nearly been shattered after suffering a similar attack). His physical strength is also demonstrated when he seriously injures both Luffy and Ace in just one hit. Teach also appears to be knowledgeable enough to how to use the Gura Gura no Mi powers straight away after extracting it.

Teach has more than proven that he is one of the strongest characters in the entire One Piece series, possessing the extremely powerful and dangerous Yami Yami no Mi and Gura Gura no Mi Devil Fruits, as well as his immense physical strength and endurance. He was able to bring Luffy and Ace to the point of defeat in just one single punch. Now that he posseses Gura Gura No Mi's quake charging powers, it is undoubtlful that his punches are even stronger and lethal.

However, Blackbeard has a ridiculous habit of conversing with his opponents, leaving his guard down. Teach has demonstrated this failing in his fights against Whitebeard, Luffy, Ace and Magellan.

Devil Fruits
Blackbeard has become the first and only character to wield the powers of two Devil Fruits at the same time. Acquired through the use of his Yami Yami no Mi which is able to take in Devil Fruit entities and he acquired the extremely destructive powers of the Gura Gura no Mi from the dead body of Whitebeard and is now able to create earthquakes like his old captain. Marco speculated that this was possible due to an unstated peculiarity unique to Blackbeard himself, consisting in an "atypical body structure" of some sort, also pointing out that the other Whitebeard pirates should be aware of this fact.

With the power of darkness, which "returns everything to nothing", and the power of earthquake, which "destroys all", Blackbeard claims himself to be truly invincible and the strongest.

Yami Yami no Mi
Blackbeard has eaten the Devil Fruit Yami Yami no Mi. With it, he can manipulate gravity, shown as an ebbing shroud of darkness. Teach demonstrates that the "darkness" is a void which devours anything, able to pull in (much in the manner of a black hole) and crush his surrounding environment into a pile of rubble. Due to the Yami Yami no Mi's gravitational ability, Blackbeard, unlike every other Logia user, cannot let attacks simply pass through him, meaning he takes damage like any human would but two times more powerful. He compensates for this one major flaw with his massive strength and endurance. Whitebeard himself noted that Blackbeard's power's weakness is its weak defense.

However, Blackbeard states that the risk this presents is well worth the advantages the fruit bestows upon him, such as the ability to 'absorb' certain projectiles and then hurl them back at his foes using moves like 'Liberation'. The second, and the most frightening power of the fruit is to nullify other Devil Fruit abilities through physical contact, allowing Teach to physically hit Ace, whose body was composed of intangible flames, and injure Luffy, whose body was made of rubber. Teach states that this is because the Yami Yami no Mi truly holds the power of the devil. As such, Blackbeard's style seems to get close to his enemy and grab them, canceling out any defensive abilities they have, forcing their own natural resilience to take Blackbeard's massive strength. However, as Blackbeard must literally and physically touch his enemy to cancel out their powers, which puts him at a huge disadvantage against enemies he can not reach out and grab, and even more so when the enemy can hurt him at a distance, such as the transformed giant Sengoku whose shockwaves from his blows alone are damaging. This can be rectified somewhat by his signature technique "Kurouzu", which utilizes his suction powers to drag his opponents towards him.

Gura Gura no Mi
With the newly acquired powers of the Gura Gura no Mi, Blackbeard can create powerful earthquakes by shattering the air itself, creating shock waves that can destroy the Marineford main building itself. He can also focus his quake powers into a "quake bubble" on his fist, greatly increasing the damage in a single punch. He acquired the Gura Gura no Mi after wrapping a black tarp over himself and Whitebeard. The process of how he got it is still unknown.

Teach acknowledged that he still doesn't have full control of his new destructive power though, so he doesn't have as much skill as Whitebeard with the abilities involved.

However, it should be mentioned that Blackbeard, who has a much more careless and vicious personality than Whitebeard, can be considered as a greater threat to the world than Whitebeard. A perfect example of this is when Teach was creating random earthquakes to test his newfound power in Marineford. He also sent a large tsunami towards Saboady Archipelago without even realizing it.

Past History
Blackbeard aspires to become the Pirate King. In order to do this, he wanted the Yami Yami no Mi. He joined the Whitebeard Pirates several decades ago to search for it, thinking that it would have the best chance of obtaining it. 20 years ago, after Shiki escaped Impel Down, Blackbeard was present amongst Marco, Vista and Jozu while the flying pirate spoke to Whitebeard about his plan.

Blood and Murder
He served under Whitebeard's command for at least 20 years before his betrayal.

More than ten years before the current storyline, Blackbeard and Shanks fought in a battle. During the battle, Blackbeard gave Shanks his three scars by his eyes. Blackbeard eventually became a member of the second division and encouraged Ace to seek the commander position, refusing it himself.

One day, Thatch, commander of Whitebeard Pirates' fourth division, found a Devil Fruit. Recognizing it as the Yami Yami no Mi, Blackbeard killed Thatch to get the fruit and fled. For killing a comrade and betraying his "father," second division commander Portgas D. Ace went after Blackbeard to kill him, despite Whitebeard's reluctance to send Ace to his possible doom. The time Ace began to chase Blackbeard was around some time after Luffy left Arlong Park since in a flashback, Ace was showing Whitebeard Luffy's first bounty and being proud of it. By this point, however, Blackbeard had already gained a crew and begun open acts of piracy.

Blackbeard then assembled the Blackbeard Pirates, composed of Lafitte, a former policeman from the West Blue and the crew navigator, Van Auger the sniper, Jesus Burgess the helmsman, Doc Q the doctor, and Stronger, Doc Q's horse. Some time after, his pirate crew pillaged the Drum Kingdom, leaving its king, Wapol, to flee (ironically freeing Drum Kingdom from Wapol's tyranny.)

Chasing a Dreamer
After Luffy defeated Crocodile in Arabasta, Lafitte nominated Blackbeard to become one of the Shichibukai to take Crocodile's place, the World Government declined, as Blackbeard did not have a reputation.

Blackbeard happened to be in Jaya, at the same time Luffy was. Both Luffy and Blackbeard seemed to strike up a rivalry when they nearly got into a fight over how they like or dislike one of the island tavern's food. After learning his identity, Blackbeard planned to capture Luffy, who had a 100,000,000 bounty on his head and Zoro who had a 60,000,000 bounty. Before that however, he'd given Luffy a friendly speech about how pirates will never stop dreaming, after Luffy had been ridiculed by the Bellamy Pirates for being a "dreamer". He tried to capture Luffy and Zoro, but his raft-esque ship was destroyed when the Knock Up Stream shot the Straw Hats into the sky.

The Sun vs. the Darkness
Blackbeard and his crew are seen again on Banaro Island. Having killed, knocked out or chased away all the inhabitants, Blackbeard reads from a newspaper about the Enies Lobby incident, and remarks that Luffy's bounty will surely rise. Before they can leave to chase him, however, Ace appears and challenges them.

Blackbeard tries to recruit Ace to the Blackbeard Pirates, but is refused, and a great battle ensues that destroys most of the island. Blackbeard reveals his Devil Fruit power at last, and that he killed Thatch to get it. Eventually both clashed with a huge ball of their respective element. Blackbeard won the struggle, handed Ace over to the World Government, and was rewarded for his efforts by becoming a Shichibukai.

It is later revealed that Ace has been sentenced to public execution, which would lead to a war between the World Government and the Whitebeard Pirates. To stop the Whitebeard from saving Ace, all of the Shichibukai have been assigned to battle the Whitebeard Pirates alongside the Marines.

Hell Fortress Break-in
Apparently, he had answered to the call of Shichibukai to battle Whitebeard and was joining the war, and is later shown dining with the other Shichibukai, except for Jinbei and Boa Hancock. However, he has instead taken his entire crew to Impel Down and commenced an attack on the jailers. He excuses himself by stating that he is on "their" side. On his way through Level 1, the Crimson Hell, he encounters Shiryū, whom Blackbeard initially misidentifies as Magellan. He later inexplicably arrives at Level 4, where he and his crew take down both the Bazooka Unit and Hannyabal. Jinbei shows anger towards Blackbeard, while Luffy realizes that the man at Jaya who had told him to never stop dreaming is the same one responsible for his brother's imprisonment.

Blackbeard taunts Luffy about Ace's oncoming execution, provoking his wrath. Though Blackbeard tells Luffy to praise his good luck (as Blackbeard would surely have killed Luffy instead of just defeating Ace, had Ace let Blackbeard off the hook), Luffy angrily attacks the Shichibukai in Gear Second with Gomu Gomu no Jet Pistol, and though both of them are stopped by Jinbei before they could hurt each other seriously, Blackbeard even notes Luffy's Haki has improved and admits he had underestimated Luffy's strength. When Magellan shows up, Blackbeard lets Luffy and the rest proceed to Level 3, even receiving a comment from Jinbei that Blackbeard's assault on the Great Gaol proved instrumental for the breakout, to which Blackbeard then replied that he's also grateful for them, since a panic within Impel Down prior to him and his crew's arrival was exactly what they needed, right before stating that his crew and him will "shake the whole world to its core." However, Magellan quickly captures and poisons the entirety of the Blackbeard Pirates with his Hydra. Blackbeard stated that the pain was unbearable and screamed, as Magellan walked past them to pursue Luffy.

Blackbeard and his crew survived from Magellan's poison by receiving an antidote from Shiryū. Blackbeard then comments that Shiryuu would make a fine addition to his crew and invites Shiryū to join his crew again. Shiryū accepted, and states that he's been waiting for a man with such stature.

After recruiting Shiryū, Teach makes his way down to Level 6, where upon he invites anyone with the will to be free again to join his crew. However, there was one catch: the prisoners in their cells would have to kill each other in order to prove their strength to him, with only the sole survivors of each cage being allowed their freedom. It is unknown just how many prisoners died as the result, but Blackbeard got four more recruits: San Juan Wolf, Abalo Pizarro, Basco Shot and Catarina Devon. With that, the newly reinforced Blackbeard Pirates left the prison and headed for Marineford, either not knowing or not caring that some other Level 6 prisoners survived and slipped out of prison.

Invasion of Marineford
Blackbeard later appeared at Marineford, having sneaked in to see his former captain's death. Blackbeard is seen with 5 new additions to his crew: Basco Shot, Shiryū, Catarina Devon, San Juan Wolf and Abalo Pizarro. Blackbeard then tells Sengoku that the sole reason that he obtained the title of Shichibukai was to gain the means to break into Impel Down and gloats that he doesn't need that title anymore.

Acting as the vanguard of their attack, Blackbeard initiates his crew's assault by using his Devil Fruit powers to increase the gravity upon the ground from which Whitebeard stood, binding him in place, and then used Kurouzu to pull Whitebeard into his grasp to nullify the latter's Gura Gura no Mi powers. Unfortunately, this did not deter the Yonkou, who struck Teach down using his bisento, sending him to the ground. Whitebeard then proceeds to reprimand him that the Yami Yami no Mi power affords little defensive advantages and continues by placing a powerful grip around Teach's neck and sends a shockwave bubble at point-blank range upon his head, once again sending a massive tremor throughout Marineford. Having lost his composure, Blackbeard orders his men to fire everything they got upon his former Captain. Despite this, Whitebeard held his ground with his final words being that Blackbeard will not be among those whom Roger will await for in the afterlife. It was then that Blackbeard realized that Whitebeard departed while still standing, much to his shock.

Despite this shock, Blackbeard and his crew quickly covered Whitebeard's body with a black cloth of sorts, which Blackbeard entered as well for a short time. After that, he emerged from the cloth, before showing off not only the power of the Yami Yami no Mi, but also the Gura Gura no Mi, as he inexplicably managed to extract that power from Whitebeard's body. With a mighty laugh, Blackbeard proclaimed to everyone present and everyone watching these events, that from that moment on, this was his era. Overconfident with his newfound powers, he beginned to wonder if sinking down Marineford would have been a good start, only to be promptly sent flying, along with the rest of his crew, by an enormous shockwave delivered by Sengoku in his Buddha form. The Fleet Admiral warned him about his cockiness, and Teach replied that he was looking forward to see Sengoku protecting Marinford, prepared to continue the fight.

Then, Teach shakes the ground, and the ice around Marineford. He get warned by his crew mates after nearly destroying Marineford piece by piece, he taunts at Sengoku and Garp, stating he will end their age just like he ended Whitebeard's. He seemed to have been somewhat shocked by Coby's speech, and - upon Shanks's arrival - ultimately decides to leave Marineford, stating that he will fight the Red-Haired Pirates another day.

Major Battles

 * Marshall D. Teach vs. Shanks (details unknown, yet left Shanks with his scar)
 * Marshall D. Teach vs. Thatch
 * Marshall D. Teach and Blackbeard Pirates vs. Dalton and Drum Kingdom
 * Marshall D. Teach vs Sarquiss
 * Marshall D. Teach vs. Portgas D. Ace
 * Marshall D. Teach and Blackbeard Pirates vs. Impel Down Guards (Level 1)
 * Marshall D. Teach vs. Hannyabal and Bazooka Unit
 * Marshall D. Teach vs. Monkey D. Luffy (interrupted by Jinbei)
 * Marshall D. Teach and Blackbeard Pirates vs. Magellan
 * Marshall D. Teach vs. Edward Newgate
 * Marshall D. Teach and Blackbeard Pirates vs. Edward Newgate
 * Marshall D. Teach and Blackbeard Pirates vs. Fleet Admiral Sengoku
 * Marshall D. Teach vs. A Supernova (unseen, stated by the Gorousei in Chapter 594)

Anime and Manga Influences
Historically, Blackbeard was as fearsome a pirate as he is portrayed by Eiichiro Oda in One Piece. Blackbeard's pirate ship was discovered in North Carolina in 1996, and possibly influenced Oda when he began One Piece in 1997, evidenced by Oda's statements that Blackbeard was his favorite historical pirate.

Marshall D. Teach's name is partially taken from the real Blackbeard's supposed name, Edward Teach. His former captain, Whitebeard, received the real Blackbeard's first name (making him Edward Newgate), and even his first known victim name, former commander of Whitebeard pirates fourth's division Thatch, is actually one of the names commonly used for the real life pirate Blackbeard is named after. The real life Blackbeard had also surrendered himself in exchange for a pardon only to go back into pirating, a comparison can be drawn between this and Marshall D. Teach's joining of the Shichibukai (whose bounties are retracted) only to turn his back on the group afterwards.

Merchandise


As a prominent character, he has in the fan merchandise. Blackbeard has been featured with the Shichibukai in the series of One Piece Shichibukai Cellphone Strap and the One Piece Super Deformed Figures. He was also released along with Sir Crocodile in the One Piece Super Effect - Devil Fruit User series. He was recently released in the One Piece DX Figure models. He is set to be released in the One Piece World Collectable Figure series in July 2010 along with the rest of the Shichibukai. 

Translation and Dub Issues
Blackbeard's real name, "Marshall D. Teach", is spelled differently in some English versions. The Viz Manga, Edited FUNimation dub, and Simulcast subtitles spell his name as "Teech", going with a more phonic spelling. It should be noted that though it is spelled differently, it is still pronounced the exact same. Once FUNimation's DVD release reached the point of Blackbeard's introduction, it was confirmed to now be spelled as "Teach" in the subtitles and translation of his name title card.

Also, it should be noted that though his epithet, "Kurohige" is translated universally as "Blackbeard", a more accurate translation would be "Black Facial Hair" as the Japanese language uses the word "Hige" to refer to all facial hair, regardless of whether it is a full beard or just a mustache.

Trivia

 * Many of One Piece's characters are given a distinct laugh. Blackbeard follows this tradition by starting his laughs with "Ze" (i.e Zehahahahahaha!). This isn't present in the FUNimation dub.
 * Blackbeard's age is only 38 which proves that he was part of Whitebeard's crew since he was 16 or younger, proven by Whitebeard's flashback in chapter 576 when he casually mentions Teach to Gol D. Roger in their last meeting 22 years ago.
 * In the film Strong World, a man who looks just like Blackbeard is seen among the Shiki pirates.

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