Laffitte

Lafitte (ラフィット, Rafitto) is the navigator of the Blackbeard pirates.

Appearance
Lafitte is incredibly pale and sickly looking, and tap dances while he walks (though his black tap dancing shoes don't seem to affect his stealthiness). He is also very tall, as much so as the rest of his crewmates, and slim. He wear an off-white collared longsleeve shirt patterned with yellow crosses and blue-black jumper pants. His most distinguishing accessories are his classic black tophat and wooden cane, besides which he also wears a pair of gold hoop earrings. His lips are an abnormally dark red - it is unknown if he artificially colors them.

Personality
During his tenure as a policeman, Lafitte was excessively cruel and violent, to the point of being exiled from West Blue.

In contradiction to his past, Lafitte now seems to be a calm and quiet individual. He has yet to show the cruelty of his past, and he apparently did not attempt to assist in fighting alongside his crew when Portgas D. Ace attacked.

Like the other members of the Blackbeard Pirates, Lafitte is a heavy believer of luck, fate, and dreams.

Abilities and Powers
As a former policeman, Lafitte had authority and power over citizens. However, due to his cruelty, he lost this authority when he was exiled.

As a navigator, Lafitte guides the rest of the Blackbeard pirates through the open seas. His level of navigational skills are as of yet unknown, though it is expected he is a reasonably good navigator to navigate through the Grand Line and the Calm Belt.

He infiltrated Mariejois and bypassed detection of several high ranking Marines and Shichibukai while wearing tap shoes, until he intentionally made his presence noticed. In the Anime, he is shown being able to travel incredible speed, rivaling CP9's Soru technique.

Later he is revealed to (apparently) possess some sort of Devil Fruit that allows him to transform his arms into wings and fly. At this point, it's unknown whether this is a Paramecia or Zoan type fruit. His Devil Fruit is one of the only five ever discovered that allows flight. Laffitte's is similar to Marco's in that he can transform parts of his body without changing the rest of his appearance (while Pell's Tori Tori no Mi, Model: Falcon gives him a human-beast form like other Zoan fruits), and in that the actual names of their respective Devil Fruits are unknown.

Past
He used to be a policeman in West Blue, but he became a pirate after being exiled from the police force and banned from the West Blue for being excessively violent and unnecessarily cruel.

Jaya Arc
In the current storyline, he first appeared when he joined, unannounced and uninvited, and not to mention for a while unnoticed, at the meeting of the Shichibukai to determine the replacement for Crocodile in order to recommend his captain.

Post-Enies Lobby Arc
He is seen again when Ace appears having finally caught up to Teach. Mainly, he acts as a bystander, doing nothing to try to hinder Ace's progress, unlike his fellow crewmates Van Auger and Jesus Burgess.

Impel Down Arc
While Luffy was rioting in Level 4, Lafitte arrived at Impel Down along with his captain and crew. They have shown obvious hostility and have forced their way into the great prison. Their objective in visiting the prison, uninvited, is unknown. Along with his crewmates and captain he appeared in front of Luffy and other rioters at level 4.

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

Current Events
Lafitte is spotted along with the other members of the Blackbeard Pirates on the execution platform where they were watching the events that unfold on the battlefield. Currently he and the others came to Marineford because they wanted to witness Whitebeard's death.

Trivia

 * His name may have been inspired by Jean Lafitte, a famous real-life pirate.


 * He and Shiryuu are both former World Government affiliates who were stripped of their positions and punished for abuse of privileges (excessively violent policeman exiled and murderous Impel Down Chief Guard given death sentence, respectively).
 * He, Stronger, and Catarina Devon are the only members of the Blackbeard Pirates without an epithet.
 * His appearance resembles a female Japanese singer called Iwatani Tokiko (岩谷時子). When singing her band (Pinky and the Killers)'s most famous song, Koi no Kisetsu (恋の季節), she used to dress up like a man, which may explain his somewhat-feminine appearance.
 * His Devil Fruit (if he in fact consumed one) is one of the five ever discovered that allow flight (as mentioned by Pell earlier in the series). Of these five, only two others, Marco's Mythical Zoan fruit (the name of which was never given) and Pell's Tori Tori no Mi, Model: Falcon, have been shown in the manga, while in Movie 10: Strong World, it was also revealed that Shiki, also known as the "Flying Pirate," consumed the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi, which can probably be counted as a fourth.