Jesus Burgess

Jesus Burgess, better known as the "Champion", is the helmsman and one of the Ten Titanic Captains of the Blackbeard Pirates, as the captain of the First Ship.

Due to his actions and role, he is a minor antagonist in the Jaya Arc, a supporting antagonist in the Impel Down, Marineford, and Dressrosa Arcs and a major antagonist in the Final Saga.

Appearance
Jesus Burgess is an unusually large, tall, broad, broad-chested, broad shouldered, tan-skinned, muscular man, with a broad upper body and a thin lower body in comparison. He has curly violet hair reaching down to his shoulders and always wears a dark brown mask with orange decorations on it, which covers the upper part of his face but reveals his eyes and his nose. He appears to be based on Luchador wrestlers based on his name and the face mask of Mexican 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 it's just there for his wrestler appearance.

After the timeskip, Burgess has grown a beard and become even more muscular. His hair has also turned a lighter shade than what it was two years ago. While at the 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 pauldron, 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 light green paper bag mask which has eyeholes in it and the name "Store" which is colored aqua-blue and Happy written in black upside-down on the forehead.

His regular outfit after the timeskip is mostly the same as two years ago. However, he now wears a vertically striped black and white sleeveless shirt that has the same orange symbol as his luchador mask, and he now wears a pair of brown gloves. In Dressrosa, he also carries a green bag which has swirly patterns on it.

During the Egghead Arc, he now wears metal plating over the right side of his skull and jaw likely due to the injuries he received fighting Sabo. He also wears his original outfit and reduced his beard to a chin curtain for the metal plating on his face.

Personality
Burgess is brutish and ogre-like, and 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 especially enjoys strong opponents, as shown when he found out that Monkey D. Luffy was fighting at the Corrida Colosseum. Despite, or perhaps because of his profound love for combat, Burgess also appears to be a sore loser, unable to accept defeat even when he is critically injured. He is also willing to use whatever dirty and underhanded tactics he can should he or his allies be unable to win in a fair fight, as evidenced by how he joined the rest of the Blackbeard Pirates in their nine-on-one assault against Whitebeard or tried to goad Sabo into approaching him by taunting him about Ace's last request and him not being there to save his brother so he could stab the revolutionary with a hidden knife.

He has a much more serious nature than his captain, as he scolded Blackbeard for laughing when they lost the Straw Hat Pirates. However, he seems to have become quite laid-back after the time-skip shown when meeting Monkey D. Luffy in the Corrida Colosseum hallways and letting his captain talk to him.

Late into the Dressrosa Arc, Burgess also displayed a ruthless opportunistic mindset, willing to take advantage of Luffy's weakened state to kill him and take his Devil Fruit, despite the fact that Luffy was the country's best chance at saving them from the oppressive Doflamingo. This is further shown when he tried to kill Sabo just to get his hands on the Mera Mera no Mi when he interfered in his attempts to kill Luffy, believing that it was his right to have the fruit.

He is also very determined and stubborn as he ignored his injured state and infiltrated Sabo's ship and so he could find the Revolutionary Army's headquarters and managed to stay hidden for days before informing his comrades.

After Blackbeard had become an Emperor and began going by the new title of "Admiral Teach", Burgess repeatedly forgets to address Blackbeard by this moniker and habitually calls him "Captain Teach", prompting Laffitte to remind him several times in the past not to do this.

According to himself, he is attached to the crew's raft.

Burgess' signature laugh is "Wiiihahaha!"

Marshall D. Teach
Burgess is extremely loyal to his captain, Blackbeard but has gotten impatient with his casual approach. When Ace attacked Blackbeard, Burgess jumped to his defense until Blackbeard ordered him not to fight the Whitebeard Pirate commander. He also cheered on his captain for successfully stealing the Gura Gura no Mi.

Blackbeard also trusted Burgess as he sent him to Dressrosa to acquire Ace's Devil Fruit, the Mera Mera no Mi. Even though Laffitte reminded Burgess that Blackbeard is called Admiral Teach, he still addressed him captain.

Kuzan
Though Blackbeard was willing to recruit Kuzan, Burgess was not so quick to trust him due to him being a former Marine admiral.

Monkey D. Luffy
As one of the members of the Blackbeard Pirates, Burgess is Luffy's enemy. At Dressrosa, Burgess was amused after discovering that Luffy was competing for the Mera Mera no Mi and when Luffy declared that he would not let him have Ace's power. He later attempted to kill him for the Gomu Gomu no Mi only to be stopped by Sabo.

Sabo
As Luffy's sworn brother, Sabo is an enemy to Burgess. At the Corrida Colosseum, Burgess fought Sabo for the Mera Mera no Mi and was displeased when the latter ate the fruit. During the Birdcage game, Sabo stopped Burgess from killing Luffy and told him that he was Luffy's brother as well as Ace's. Burgess was amused but tried to ignore Sabo though after Sabo revealed he ate the Mera Mera no Mi, he decided to go after him.

After defeating Burgess, Sabo was just going to walk away but Burgess spoke ill of Ace, in an attempt to kill Sabo. A furious Sabo evaded his attack and injured him further, by severely burning him.

Burgess managed to survive and stowaway on board a ship that took him to the Revolutionary Army's base at Baltigo. When informing his comrades of his location, Burgess is shown to detest Sabo as he insulted him and told the rest of Blackbeard Pirates to attack Baltigo, forcing the revolutionaries to relocate their base of operations.

Trafalgar D. Water Law
After Big Mom and Kaidou's downfalls, Jesus became enemies with Trafalgar D. Water Law when he accompanied Teach to steal Law's Road Poneglyph copies. Jesus along with the Blackbears Pirates managed to defeat the Heart Pirates but Law has escaped with Bepo.

Abilities and Powers
As the helmsman of the Blackbeard Pirates and one of its founding members, Burgess is an extremely powerful pirate. After the time-skip, he has become the captain of the first ship of the Blackbeard Pirates, and is also, according to Gatz, one of the Ten Titanic Captains that personally guard the Emperor, Blackbeard. He defeated every challenger he fought in Mock Town with ease and, after the time-skip, won the A Block of the Corrida Colosseum battle royale within seconds, all without a single injury. His mere presence at the Corrida Colosseum was enough to terrify all the nearby gladiators, mighty warriors in their own right.

Based off of his attempt on Luffy's life for the Gomu Gomu no Mi and his conversation with Sabo, he knows of a method of stealing Devil Fruit abilities from others.

Physical Abilities
Burgess has tremendous physical strength. He easily ripped an entire building off its foundations and threw it at Ace across a great distance, while carrying it in the air. In the Corrida Colosseum, he completely overpowered all of his opponents in A Block (including a giant in the anime) by himself single-handedly within seconds. Burgess's strength also extends to his extremely sturdy legs as he jumped down from Dressrosa's immensely high royal palace to the country's street level without a scratch, allowing him to make it to Luffy's location in a very short amount of time, a feat that greatly shocked Koala. In terms of hand-to-hand combat, Burgess is also an immensely powerful and skilled wrestler. His wrestling attacks such as elbow strikes and lariats can generate massive, air pressure-based shockwaves that can demolish buildings with great ease.

Burgess also possesses massive endurance and durability, as seen (pre time-skip) when he took a direct hit from a Gura Gura no Mi strike from former Emperor Edward Newgate, as well as Fleet Admiral Sengoku's shockwave in his Buddha form without suffering much damage. In Dressrosa, Burgess took Sabo's Kaen Ryuou at point blank range, which blasted him with enough firepower to smash him through several buildings, and recovered enough to quickly resume the battle. After being defeated by Sabo in a heavily injured state, Burgess survived being brutally burned by Sabo's Hiken after his failed attempt to steal the Mera Mera no Mi. Despite suffering this much damage, Burgess could stow himself away on a ship of the Revolutionary Army travelling to Baltigo for an extended period of time without any medical treatment, allowing him to contact Laffitte to inform him of his location in Baltigo while still on the verge of death, showing considerable stealth and infiltration skills as well.

Attacks

 * Hado Elbow (波動エルボー): Burgess attacks with an elbow strike powerful enough to cause huge shock waves upon the impact. It was first seen during the finals of Corrida Colosseum against a Fighting Fish, sending it flying away, and at the same time a shock wave to the audience, causing massive destruction. In the anime, his arm vibrates while preparing for the attack and his elbow emits vibrational waves similar to those of Hasshoken techniques. In the VIZ manga and Funimation adaptations, this is called Shockwave Elbow.


 * Galleon Lariat (ラリアット): Burgess swings his arm at his opponent, resulting in a shockwave powerful enough to cut buildings several meters away completely in half. This was first used against Sabo.

Non-Canon Attacks

 * Champion Driver (チャンピオンドライバー): Burgess grabs the opponent and jumps. After several spins in the air, he executes a piledriver on him.

Devil Fruit


At some point after the Dressrosa Arc, Burgess ate the Riki Riki no Mi, a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit that grants him superhuman strength. This enhances Burgess' already immense strength to the point where he can casually lift a mountain over his head and throw it a far distance.

Busoshoku Haki
Burgess demonstrated the use of Busoshoku Haki when he hardened his elbow armor in an attempt to resist Sabo's Busoshoku Haki-infused attack in the Corrida Colosseum's final round. However, his Busoshoku Haki was inferior to Sabo's, as his elbow armor was shattered.

Kenbunshoku Haki
Burgess possesses the ability to use Kenbunshoku Haki.

Weapons


During the Summit War of Marineford, he was seen using two pistols against Whitebeard.

When Burgess tried to kill Luffy, he wielded a large dagger.

Past
Sometime 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's defeat at Luffy's hands, Burgess met up with his crew and asked about Laffitte and why he was not there. When their raft was destroyed by the Knock Up Stream he complained about his captain's easy-going attitude towards their failure.

Post-Enies Lobby Arc


After the incident at Enies Lobby, Burgess and the rest of the crew were looting Banaro Island when Portgas D. Ace appeared. Burgess threw a building at Ace, who incinerated it. After Blackbeard told them not to interfere, Ace hit them all with Hiken, so Burgess and the others ran while their captain and Ace battled.

Impel Down Arc
The Blackbeard Pirates sailed to Impel Down and passed through the Gates of Justice. They reached the prison as Monkey D. Luffy was rioting in Level 4. As they made their way through Level 1, they encountered former Head Jailer Shiryu, and then made their way down to Level 4, where they encountered the escaping prisoners.

Burgess stood by as Blackbeard and Luffy briefly fought. After exchanging words with the prisoners, the Blackbeard Pirates continued on their way to the lower levels and confronted Chief Warden Magellan, who poisoned them with his Hydra technique. Later, the whole crew was saved by an antidote from Shiryu, who accepted Blackbeard's offer and joined their crew.

When they reached Level 6, the Blackbeard Pirates had the prisoners fight to the death with the survivors joining the crew.

Burgess noticed there was one more person, Douglas Bullet, who survived the battle royale but Teach told Burgess to leave him alone, taking the others to the surface.

Marineford Arc


Burgess was 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. They came to Marineford because they had wanted to witness Ace's death. After Blackbeard had confronted Whitebeard, the Blackbeard Pirates struck down Whitebeard. After Whitebeard's death, Burgess assisted his crewmates in covering Whitebeard with a black cloth and guarded Blackbeard as he started to demonstrate his powers. Blackbeard later emerged and demonstrated the power of the Gura Gura no Mi. Sengoku in his Buddha form then attacked the Blackbeard Pirates, blasting them with shockwaves. While Blackbeard fought against Sengoku and Monkey D. Garp, Red-Haired Shanks arrived on the battlefield. The Blackbeard Pirates decided to leave rather than fight the Red Hair Pirates.

Post-War Arc


The Blackbeard Pirates made their move in the New World, taking out Jewelry Bonney in the process. The crew was bickering amongst each other on a fiery island. The 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. On look out, Van Augur alerted Teach that the battleship had arrived, but not for a trade, because Akainu was on board. Knowing that the deal would not happen, the Blackbeard Pirates fled, leaving Bonney and her crew behind to be arrested.

During the Timeskip
One year after the war at Marineford, the Blackbeard Pirates fought against the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates and ultimately won.

The Blackbeard Pirates used Teach's knowledge of Whitebeard's former territory to conquer nearly all of it. Now that Blackbeard had become an Emperor, the Blackbeard Pirates began hunting down powerful Devil Fruit users in order to absorb their abilities. At some point, the Blackbeard Pirates expanded, and Burgess became one of the Ten Titanic Captains, leading the first ship of the fleet.



By chance, the Blackbeard Pirates encountered Kuzan on a certain island, and after a brief skirmish they all started drinking, laughing, and having a good time right before Blackbeard managed to recruit the former Marine Admiral into the crew.

After Trafalgar Law caused what is now known as the Rocky Port Incident the Blackbeard Pirates made the island Hachinosu their base of operations.

Dressrosa Arc


Burgess entered the monthly Corrida Colosseum tournament as "Mr. Store" to compete for the Mera Mera no Mi and was assigned to A Block. It did not take him long to defeat all of his opponents and he was declared the winner of the A Block 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 went to the observation deck and commented that Block C had gotten interesting. He then wondered who Lucy was. After witnessing Lucy's victory, Burgess realized that the man was in fact Luffy and got excited.

After Block C ended, Burgess spoke 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 could not 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.



After Rebecca had won Block D, Burgess looked forward for the finals. He later entered the arena alongside Lucy (now Sabo), Bartolomeo, Rebecca, and Diamante. After Diamante explained the rules of this round, a five-person battle royale commenced. A fighting fish attacked Burgess, but he easily repelled it and sent it flying towards the audience. He later clashed against Lucy, who managed to break the armor around his right arm. Despite that setback, Burgess continued to engage Lucy in heated combat, causing more damage to the colosseum in the process.

During the time the toys in the audience transformed back into their original forms, Burgess was surprised when Lucy demolished the entire arena with his bare hands. After Lucy had acquired the power of the Mera Mera no Mi and destroyed the arena, Burgess fell into the underground trade port. Burgess then noticed that Lucy was not Luffy and was frustrated that he lost the Devil Fruit.



On top of the royal palace during the final battle between Luffy and Doflamingo, Burgess watched as the events unfolded while wondering what to do next. After Luffy's Gear 4 wore off, Burgess took an opportunity to attempt to kill Luffy for the Gomu Gomu no Mi. He jumped down from the palace and pursued him. Before he could strike Luffy, Sabo intercepted him.



Sabo then informed him of his relationship to Luffy and Burgess realized that Sabo was the Lucy who fought in the colosseum final after Sabo revealed he ate the Mera Mera no Mi. With Sabo standing in his way, Burgess decided to take his Devil Fruit power and the two subsequently clashed. Despite his efforts, Burgess was eventually defeated by Sabo. As the revolutionary was leaving, Burgess asked him if he was going to kill him. Sabo replied that there was no point in doing so. However, Burgess goaded Sabo into staying by telling him what Ace said when he was captured. Burgess mocked the latter for choosing such pathetic words causing Sabo to become angered and grab Burgess' head as the latter continued to spew insults. Burgess then drew a concealed dagger, preparing to kill Sabo for his Devil Fruit. Sabo reprimanded Burgess for his words as Burgess mocked Sabo for not being there to save his brother and attempted to kill him. However, having heard enough, Sabo attacked Burgess with point blank Fire Fist, both burning and sending the screaming Burgess flying.

Zou Arc


After his defeat at the hands of Sabo, a heavily injured Burgess secretly boarded a ship that took him to Baltigo. On the verge of death, he lost consciousness and was unable to tell his crewmates he had left Dressrosa, who came looking for him. After regaining consciousness, he later contacted Shiryu and Laffitte and confirmed the island as the Revolutionary Army's main headquarters, where Dragon and Sabo were currently residing, an island hidden from the world that neither he nor the world knew about. Burgess asked for the crew to come find him and also bring Doc Q to treat his injuries, as he was on the verge of death. He then told them to inform Teach and get the entire crew to attack the island, who would be able to reach him using his Vivre Card. The Blackbeard Pirates later attacked Baltigo, destroying the island by the time the Marines and Cipher Pol arrived, but the Revolutionary Army was able to escape. However, the Blackbeard Pirates fled after briefly clashing with Cipher Pol.

One Piece: Stampede
Burgess attended the Pirates Festival on Delta Island.

Egghead Arc
At some point after leaving Baltigo, Burgess acquired the power of the Riki Riki no Mi as well as metal plating around the right side of his face to cover the damage he received from Sabo.

Burgess, Van Augur, Doc Q, and Stronger joined Teach in ambushing the Heart Pirates near Winner Island for their Road Poneglyph copies. Completely jubilant over the might his new abilities gave him, Burgess threw a mountain at the Heart Pirates after being teleported to the island by Augur. The Blackbeard Pirates later stood triumphantly over the battered Heart Pirates after defeating them. As Teach was contemplating on what to do with Law's Ope Ope no Mi, the crew was unexpectedly assaulted by Bepo, who transformed into his Sulong form without a full moon courtesy of a drug developed by Chopper. Bepo slammed the Blackbeard Pirates into a rock before escaping with Law.

Major Battles

 * Jesus Burgess and Van Augur vs. Portgas D. Ace
 * Blackbeard Pirates vs. Magellan (unseen)
 * Blackbeard Pirates vs. Edward Newgate
 * Blackbeard Pirates vs. Fleet Admiral Sengoku
 * Blackbeard Pirates vs. Bonney Pirates
 * Blackbeard Pirates vs. Whitebeard Pirates (under Marco, unseen)
 * Jesus Burgess vs. Corrida Colosseum Group A
 * Corrida Colosseum Finale
 * Jesus Burgess vs. Fighting Fish
 * Jesus Burgess vs. Lucy
 * Jesus Burgess vs. Sabo
 * Blackbeard Pirates vs. Revolutionary Army (unseen)
 * Blackbeard Pirates vs. Cipher Pol (unseen)
 * Blackbeard Pirates vs. Heart Pirates

Filler Battles

 * Jesus Burgess vs. Monkey D. Garp

Translation and Dub Issues
On the original TV Broadcast of the Funimation dub and the English version of One Piece: Pirates Carnival, Burgess' name was changed to "G. Zass", 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".

Playable Appearances

 * One Py Berry Match
 * One Piece: Super Grand Battle! X
 * One Piece: Burning Blood
 * One Piece Treasure Cruise
 * One Piece Bon! Bon! Journey!!
 * One Piece Bounty Rush

Enemy Appearances

 * One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3
 * One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4
 * One Piece Odyssey

Support Appearances

 * One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3
 * One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4
 * One Piece: Great Pirate Colosseum

Trivia

 * Burgess' name may be based on that of the real-life pirates, Samuel Burgess and Josiah Burgess.
 * Burgess's surname, Jesus, is based on Jesus Christ. This is supported by the pronunciation of his surname and the fact that his birthday is December 25, the day on which Christmas Day is observed to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ.
 * When Burgess's face is shown to be unmasked for the first time, it is not seen in full view. This references the Luchador culture, where it is considered shameful for a masked wrestler to be unmasked, causing the loss of their character identity/alter ego in the ring and their exposure of their true identity.
 * Burgess has the lowest bounty of the original five Blackbeard Pirates at 20,000,000.
 * Burgess' favorite food is protein.
 * Curiously, in One Piece Blue: Grand Data File, that covers the East Blue Saga to the middle of the Jaya Arc, Burgess is referred to as "Fighting Champion" (格闘チャンピオン).
 * Both of Burgess' Japanese and English voice actors are the current voices of Nappa from the Dragon Ball series.

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