Laffitte

Laffitte (ラフィット) is the navigator of the Blackbeard Pirates.

Appearance
Laffitte is incredibly pale and sickly looking, and tap dances while he walks because of his shoes (though his black tap dancing shoes don't seem to affect his stealthiness). He is also very tall, as much so as the majority of his crewmates, and slim. He wears an off-white collared long-sleeve shirt patterned with yellow crosses and navy jumper pants. His most distinguishing accessories are his classic black top hat and red wooden cane, besides which he also wears a pair of gold hoop earrings. His lips are abnormally dark red.

Personality
He lived in West Blue and worked as a peacekeeper, but was exiled because he was excessively cruel and violent. In contradiction to his past, Laffitte 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, whistling as he ran away with the rest of the crew to a safe watching distance. Like the rest of the Blackbeard Pirates, Laffitte is a heavy believer of luck, fate, and dreams.

Navigational Skills
As a navigator, Laffitte 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. Interestingly enough, despite his occupation, he is not seen wearing a Log Pose, which is essential for navigating in the Grand Line.

Devil Fruit
Laffitte appears to possess a Devil Fruit that allows him to obtain wings and fly. As of yet, the fruit's name, type, limitations, and weaknesses (aside from the standard Devil Fruit weaknesses) are unknown.

Weapons
Laffitte carries a cane that he spins to accompany his tap-dancing from time to time; it is yet unknown if it can be used as a weapon. During Whitebeard's murder, Laffitte was using a pistol against the great pirate. He was also seen holding it while keeping Marine soldiers away from Blackbeard.

Miscellaneous Skills
Aside from his navigation, Laffitte possesses several other abilities.

As a former peacekeeper, Laffitte had authority and power over citizens. However, due to his cruelty, he lost this authority when he was exiled. He infiltrated Mariejois and bypassed detection from several high ranking Marines and Shichibukai while wearing tap shoes (anime-only feature), until he intentionally made his presence noticed. Laffitte also possesses the power of hypnosis.

Laffitte has been shown to possess a large amount of endurance by being able to continue fighting even after taking one of Fleet Admiral Sengoku's palm blasts with the rest of the Blackbeard Pirates.

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. He was eventually incited into the Blackbeard Pirates as the navigator. Some time after joining Blackbeard's crew, Laffitte and the entire crew attacked Drum Island forcing the cowardly King Wapol to flee.

Jaya Arc
He first appears when he makes his presence known in the middle of a meeting between the Shichibukai and high-ranking Marine officials at Mariejois, after having successfully made his way unnoticed and uninvited to a high-story window (made even more impressive by the fact that he was wearing tap shoes). He politely requests to take part in the meeting, which is being held to determine a new Shichibukai to fill the position that was previously Crocodile's, in order to nominate his captain, Marshall D. Teach, otherwise known as Blackbeard.

Post-Enies Lobby Arc
He is next seen looting a town his crew had just ransacked on Banaro Island, where Ace finally catches up to Blackbeard, three days before the Straw Hats' new bounties are released following the Enies Lobby incident. Mainly, he acts as a bystander, doing nothing to try to hinder Ace as the Whitebeard Second Division Commander attacks, unlike his fellow crewmates Van Augur and Jesus Burgess.

Impel Down Arc
While Luffy is rioting on Level 4, on his way back out of Impel Down to continue to pursue Ace to Marineford, Laffitte arrives at Impel Down alongside his captain and crew. They force their way into the great prison with obvious hostility.

After exchanging words with Impel Down's mass breakout army, Laffitte and the rest of the crew are 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
Laffitte is spotted along with the other members of the Blackbeard Pirates, new and old, on the execution platform where they arrived to watch the events unfold on the battlefield. Blackbeard, who apparently brought his crew back to Marineford so that he could witness Whitebeard's death, exclaims that he is happy to have arrived in time to do so. He revealed to Sengoku that before the Blackbeard Pirates left for Impel Down, he hypnotized the Marines in the control room to open the Gates of Justice for any ship that approaches, which helped Luffy and his fellow Impel Down escapees arrive to Marineford in the first place. He then joins his crew in striking down Whitebeard with a pistol.

After Whitebeard dies, Laffitte, seen holding a pistol, assists his crewmates in covering Whitebeard with a black cloth and guards Blackbeard as he starts to demonstrate his powers. He warns the marines that there is no entry.

Laffitte and the other Blackbeard Pirates are later attacked by a shockwave created by Sengoku in his Buddha form. Moments after Blackbeard fought against Sengoku and Monkey D. Garp, Red-Haired Shanks arrives on the battlefield. He along with the other Blackbeard pirates leave, instead of fighting the Red Haired Pirates.

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. Pizarro tries to declare himself the captain, but Laffitte threatens to kill him and reminds him that they are the "Blackbeard Pirates". 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 battle ship. Van Augur alerts Teach that the battle ship has arrived, but not for trade because Akainu is on board. Knowing that the deal won't happen, the Blackbeard Pirates flee, leaving Bonney and her crew behind to be arrested.

Translation and Dub Issues
In the edited for TV FUNimation dub, his name is pronounced with an "R" as "Raffit". On the uncut DVDs however, his name is pronounced with an "L" and is spelled "Lafitte" in the subs.

Trivia

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


 * He and Shiliew are both former World Government affiliates who were stripped of their positions and punished for abuse of privileges (an excessively violent policeman who was exiled and a murderous Impel Down Chief Guard who was given a death sentence, respectively).
 * His wide open eyes and ability to move silently are similar to owls, as well as his wings and overall face. He shares this theme with Fukurou.
 * He and Stronger are the only members of the Blackbeard Pirates without an epithet.
 * His outfit (especially when first introduced) is almost identical to that of David Bowie in his famous "Diamond Dog" photoshoot.
 * 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 appearance is also similar to that of Monkey, the front-man of the popular punk band The Adicts.
 * In the anime, he was first depicted as a average-size man, smaller than the rest of his crew. This mistake was not corrected during the battle between Blackbeard and Ace in Banaro Island, even when it was clear in the manga that he was as tall as his nakama. Only in the invasion of Impel Down his size was accurately depicted in the anime.

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