Jesus Burgess

Jesus Burgess, nicknamed "Champion", is the helmsman and captain of the first ship of the Blackbeard Pirates. He often proclaims himself a champion and challenges random people to battle him to prove that he is stronger.

Appearance
Jesus Burgess is a big, muscular man, with a broad upperbody and a thin lowerbody in comparison. He has curly light violet hair reaching down to his shoulders, and always wears a dark brown mask, with orange decorations on it, covering the upper part of his face, but revealing his eyes and his nose. He appears to be based on Mexican wrestlers, as both his name and face mask are Spanish in origin.

He wears a sleeveless black shirt and a pair of white pants with ruffles coming from the base then reaching up to his knees; he also wears black bands tied around both elbows. Burgess also appears to be always wearing a championship belt, a belt which wrestlers only obtain from winning many matches or to show that they are extremely skilled in wrestling. It is unknown if Burgess obtained this belt from his mastery in wrestling or if its just there for his wrestler appearance.

Burgess has grown a beard after the time skip and has become even more muscular. While at Corrida Colosseum, Burgess dons the traditional gladiator attire of sandals and a loincloth, as well as his trademark belt. In addition, his right arm is armored, with his shoulder being covered by a plate shoulder guard, all held in place by a harness across his chest. He also wears a pair of black gloves. When he first entered the colosseum as Mr. Store, he was wearing a paper bag mask which has eyeholes in it and the name "Store" written sideways on the forehead.

Personality
Burgess is brutish and ogre-like, though is also very loud and overbearing. He seems to be overconfident, as he climbed buildings and challenged random people in Jaya, proclaiming himself as the Champion. He also appears to have an intense love of combat, wanting to test his skills out on anyone he finds.

He has a much more serious nature than his captain, as he scolded Blackbeard for laughing when they lost the Straw Hat Pirates.

According to himself, he is attached to his raft.

Burgess' signature laugh is "Wiiihahaha!"

Abilities and Powers
Burgess possesses incredible physical strength, showcased when he ripped an entire hotel off its foundation and threw it at Ace across a great distance while jumping high to reach his target. He managed to defeat every challenger he fought in Mock Town with ease and won the A Block of the Corrida Colosseum battle royale "within seconds" all without getting so much as a scratch on him.

During the battle of Marineford, he was seen using two pistols against Whitebeard. He possesses incredible endurance as demonstrated when he took a direct hit from Fleet Admiral Sengoku's shockwave in his Buddha form but not suffering much damage.

Past
Some time after joining Blackbeard's crew, Burgess and the entire crew attacked Drum Island and forced the cowardly King Wapol to flee.

Jaya Arc
He was first seen bending over a defeated man complaining about his strength. Another man then noted it and asked if he knew that he had defeated a man from Roshio's crew. Later, after Luffy had taken one of Doc Q's apples, he was seen standing on top of a building yelling out for decent challenge.

After Bellamy was defeated by Luffy he met up with his crew and asked about Laffitte and why he wasn't there. When their raft was destroyed by the Knock Up Stream he complained about his captain's easy going attitude towards their failure.

Incident on Banaro Island
After Ace and Van Augur attacked one another, Burgess was quick to throw a building at Ace that was easily destroyed. Later he was struck by Ace's Hiken and he and the other Blackbeard Pirates retired to a much safer location; comically pulling the very sick Doc Q, along with his horse. Once out of the way, Burgess and the rest of the crew witnessed the fight between his captain and Ace.

Impel Down Arc
Burgess arrived at Impel Down unexpectedly with the rest of the Blackbeard Pirates.

After exchanging some words with Impel Down's mass breakout army, Burgess and the rest of the crew are caught and poisoned by Magellan's Hydra technique. Later, the whole crew is saved by an antidote from former Chief Guard Shiliew, who accepts Blackbeard's offer and joins their crew.

Marineford Arc
Burgess is seen along with the other members of the Blackbeard Pirates near the execution platform where they were watching the events unfold on the battlefield. He joined his crew in killing Whitebeard, using a pair of pistols to shoot the Yonko.

After Whitebeard dies, Burgess assists his crewmates in covering Whitebeard with a black cloth and guards Blackbeard as he starts a demonstration of his powers. Burgess and the other Blackbeard Pirates are then attacked by a shockwave created by Fleet Admiral Sengoku in his Buddha form. After his captain destroys more of Marineford, he tells Blackbeard if he goes too far they would lose their footing. In the anime, he jumps into the fight to attack Sengoku while he was distracted but was struck down by Vice Admiral Garp. When Red Hair and his crew arrive on the scene the Blackbeard Pirates retreated.

Post-War Arc
The crew makes their move in the New World, taking out Jewelry Bonney in the process. The crew is seen bickering amongst each other, Burgess saying that people can get attached to material things. Blackbeard Pirates' raft was brought close to the point of destruction, due to Sanjuan Wolf's size, and they seemingly got in contact with the Marines, to trade Jewelry Bonney for a battleship. Van Augur alerts the crew that the battleship has arrived, but not for trade because Akainu is on board. Knowing that the deal will not happen, the Blackbeard Pirates flee, leaving Bonney behind to be arrested.

During the Timeskip
Sometime during the two-year timeskip, the Blackbeard Pirates used their captain's knowledge of Whitebeard's former territory to conquer it. Now that Blackbeard has become a Yonko, the Blackbeard Pirates are hunting down powerful Devil Fruit users in order to absorb their abilities. He eventually gained command of the Blackbeard Pirates' first ship, and apparently became infamous himself.

Dressrosa Arc
Burgess entered the monthly Corrida Colosseum tournament as "Mr. Store" to compete for the Mera Mera no Mi and was assigned to block A. It did not take him long to defeat all of his opponents and he was declared the winner of the Block A battle royale. He then removed the paper bag mask he was wearing and revealed his identity, shocking the spectators and the other fighters.

During the fight between Luffy (as Lucy) and Chinjao, Burgess goes to the observation deck and comments that Block C has gotten interesting. He then wonders who Lucy is. After witnessing his victory in his group's battle royale, Burgess realizes that the man is in fact Luffy and gets excited.

After Block C ended, Burgess speaks to Blackbeard via Den Den Mushi. Teach was discussing the possibility of recruiting Kuzan to join their crew, but Burgess stated that the former admiral cannot be trusted. When Luffy stopped by, Burgess handed the Den Den Mushi to him, allowing him to speak to Blackbeard. When Luffy declared that he would not allow the Blackbeard Pirates to get Ace's power, Burgess merely laughed.

Major Battles

 * Jesus Burgess and Van Augur vs. Portgas D. Ace
 * Blackbeard Pirates vs. Magellan
 * Blackbeard Pirates vs. Edward Newgate
 * Blackbeard Pirates vs. Fleet Admiral Sengoku
 * Blackbeard Pirates vs. Bonney Pirates
 * Jesus Burgess vs. Corrida Colosseum Group A

Filler Battles

 * Jesus Burgess vs. Monkey D. Garp

Translation and Dub Issues
On the original TV Broadcast of the FUNimation dub, Burgess' name was changed to "G. Zess", keeping the phonetic pronunciation, but changing the actual spelling.

Upon the release of FUNimation's "Season Three First Voyage" DVD set featuring Burgess for the first time, it was confirmed in the Japanese version subtitles and "Sign and title" subtitles for the dub that on the uncut DVDs, his name has been restored to "Jesus Burgess".

Trivia

 * His name is the same as that of the real life pirate, Samuel Burgess.
 * His birthday is on Christmas Day, a reference to his first name, "Jesus".

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