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, until he killed fourth division commander Thatch for the Yami Yami no Mi. He became a Shichibukai member by capturing Ace and handing him over to the Marines. He is one of the many pirates in the Grand Line aiming to become the Pirate King.

Appearance
Blackbeard is a middle-aged man with a massive build, several broken or missing teeth, a pronounced crooked nose and a very large and hairy chest and torso. long-thick curly black falls down the back of his neck, underneath a dark-red bandana, and a small scruffy black beard (hence his nickname) grows around his jawline. Before he became a Shichibukai he wore 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. He is one of the few characters in the series that fit best the pirate stereotype.

He is first mentioned by Dalton of Big-Horn Moutain Village, as a captain of a 5-man pirate crew with a black beard. He is thought to be a bad man as he destroyed the country 3 months prior to Luffy's arrival.

At his first appearance in Mock Town, Teach wears only a plain white shirt with the buttons open, along with the traditional sash that most pirates wear as the belt of his pants, regular shoes, and a bandanna.

During his raid of Banaro Island, he has added a large blue 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 ,on both of 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 bottle tied up on his sash around his waist. Whether they are for decoration or for battle is yet unknown.

Personality
Blackbeard is a very immoral man, who believes heavily in fate and dreams, much like Luffy. In fact, his immorality makes him believe that there is neither inherit "good" nor "evil" in the world. Like many people who carry the initial D, he is a strong and fierce fighter, seemingly unafraid of anything, including death. He appears to have a happy-go-lucky, carefree attitude.

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 leaving the crew. During his raid on Impel Down, he stated that his plans have flaws, indicating that he cannot make exactly perfect plans, but is willing to admit his own faults.

Despite his cruel and immoral nature, Blackbeard has shown to care for his crew mates, even to the point of shielding them from Ace's attacks (despite the fact his Devil Fruit power actually intensifies his body's damage). Despite the fact that he defected from his Whitebeard Division, Blackbeard appears to still retain some respect for his former commander Portgas D. Ace to some degree, having attempted to recruit him prior to their duel in Banaro, as well as frequently referring to him as his commander.

Also, despite his encouragement of pursing dreams, he seems to enjoy mocking others, such as Hannyabal's notion of justice, and Luffy about Ace's impending execution.

He believes that the days of Whitebeard are over and is aiming to become Pirate King like Luffy. He also has an eye for talent and knew Luffy's potential was worth more than the 30,000,000 bounty Luffy had at the time of their first meeting.

Blackbeard shows many traits similar to Luffy; such as having a voracious appetite, huge ambitions, a carefree attitude and being captain of a small but powerful crew. He also believes that all men should chase their dreams.

While Blackbeard has great endurance to physical attacks, he tends to scream out in pain regardless, such as being burned by Ace and poisoned by Magellan.

Powers and abilities
Blackbeard has proven to be an extremely strong pirate. He possesses incredible natural strength, evident of his massive build, and similar endurance as he shrugged off one of Ace's attacks. He once fought Red-Haired Shanks and gave 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.

Whitebeard... I have... gone through many battles and suffered various wounds. But what aches now is this one...!!! This is not a wound from the adventure. Nor did I get it from "Hawkeye"... Your man "Blackbeard" Teach, was the one who inflicted this wound...!! And it is not like I was careless or anything.

— Shanks's explanation to Whitebeard on how he got the scars on his left eye

One of the most impressive feats he committed is that he defeated 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. He also seems to have some knowledge of Haki (commenting that Luffy's spirit has improved).

However Blackbeard has shown the habit of conversing with his opponents, leaving his guard down. This often gives a ridiculous impression of himself.

Devil Fruit


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.

However, Blackbeard states that the risk this presents is well worth the advantages the fruit bestows upon him. The second, and 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.

Blood and Murder
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.

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.

Blackbeard then assembled the Blackbeard Pirates, which composed of Lafitte the navigator, a former policeman from the West Blue, 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 Night
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.

In recent chapters, it has been 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.

Hell Fortress Break-in
Apparently, he has answered to the call of Shichibukai to battle Whitebeard and is joining the war, 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 Shiryuu, whom Blackbeard initially misidentifies as Magellan. He later inexplicably arrives at Level 4, where he and his crew take down both the Bazooka soldiers 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, though both of them are stopped by Jinbei before anyone of them could get the chance to kill one another, 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, since a panic within Impel Down prior to him and his crew's arrival was exactly what they need, 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.

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

Battles

 * Marshall D. Teach Vs. Shanks (details unknown, yet left Shanks with his scar)
 * Marshall D. Teach Vs. Thatch
 * Marshall D. Teach Vs. Dalton and Drum Kingdom
 * Marshall D. Teach Vs. Portgas D. Ace
 * Marshall D. Teach and Blackbeard Pirates Vs. Impel Down Guards (Level 1)
 * Marshall D. Teach Vs. Luffy (interrupted by Jinbei)
 * Marshall D. Teach and Blackbeard Pirates Vs. Magellan

Manga/Anime 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).

Trivia

 * Blackbeard carries the initial D in his name. He was the fourth character to be mentioned with this. However, at the time, he was known as Blackbeard. He was therefore the fifth character to carrying the D. to be named.
 * While Blackbeard's age is not specified, Ace (who is 20) stated that Blackbeard has lived twice as long as him meaning that he is somewhere in his forties.
 * Many of One Piece's characters are given an distinct laugh. Blackbeard follows this tradition by starting his laughs with "Ze" (i.e Zehahahahahaha!)
 * Unlike the other Shichibukai, Blackbeard does not possess an animal theme, he has no former bounty, the only one carrying the middle initial D and the only Logia fruit user. (Crocodile is a Logia fruit user too, but he is no longer a Shichibukai)