Laffitte

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

Appearance
He is incredibly pale and sickly looking, and tap-dances while he walks. Nonetheless, he is very stealthy.

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.

He infiltrated Mariejois and bypassed detection of several high ranking Marines and Shichibukai while wearing tap shoes, until he intentionally made his presence noticed. Later he 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. However, given that he did not resemble any animal hybrid (i.e. Pell) it is most likely that it is Paramecia.

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.

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 is the only member of the Blackbeard Pirates without an epithet.