User blog comment:Pauldin91/About Momonosuke.../@comment-95.145.59.83-20161217140943/@comment-25400375-20161217165245

Naturally, it's just speculation, but since Teach is now a Don/Commodore/Admiral/whatever and three of his crew mates have been shown as Captains under his command, it's quite possible that the rest of his pre-time skip crew mates are also Captains. Since the crew consisted of ten people and a horse who's most likely not a Homie or a Mink, it would make sense for a new Blackbeard Pirate to show up to make the "Nine Titanic Captains" a ten person group. Introducing new people might be something of a hassle, and I don't seem to recall when Kuzan aligned with Teach, so he's the likely suspect, in my opinion. Most likely for cover up reasons, of course.