Marshall D. Teach, better known as Blackbeard, is one of the overarching major villains inOne Piece, and isteased to have a major role in the final saga. He was first mentioned as far back as the Drum Island Arc and progressively gaining power in each subsequent appearance.
Initially a traitor tothe powerful Whitebeard Pirates, Teach built up a small but skilled crew, used government connections as a Warlord to add even more threatening criminals to his team, and eventually assassinated Whitebeard, becoming an Emperor in his place. Despite being continually built up as a major enemy, there is still a lot fans still do not know about the character.
5How Can He Use Two Devil Fruits At Once?
Anyone Else Would Die If They Did
Teach was established as a Devil Fruit user who possessed the Logia-type Yami Yami no Mi. This Devil Fruit gave him the power of darkness, and nullified the Devil Fruit powers of his opponents. He betrayed his crew of over 25 years, the Whitebeard Pirates, in order to steal it, with it being the reason he sailed with them to begin with. However, this long-awaited Devil Fruit wasn’t the only one Blackbeard had his eyes on. At Marineford, after successfully coordinating a group assassination alongside eight of his crewmates, Teach took his former Captain’s body under a tarp, which he also hid himself under, and emerged with the powers of theGura Gura no Mi. This added the most powerful Paramecia attack to his arsenal; earthquakes.
Consuming a second Devil Fruit whilst already having eaten one is said to be fatal in all cases, which begs the question: Why can Blackbeard have two? Marco, a former crewmate of Teach, seems to have an answer. He identified the pirate’s atypical body as a possible reason, and also believed other members of the Whitebeard Pirates had knowledge of said body structure.
4How Can The Blackbeard Pirates Steal Devil Fruit Powers?
It Seems Totally Unnatural
Blackbeard’s theft of Whitebeard’s Devil Fruit was just the tip of the iceberg. Normally, Devil Fruits tend to reappear in nature once their users die. Devil Fruit users who have long since passed have been shown to have the same powers as those in the present day. However, in most of these cases, this form of inheritance is largely coincidental. How the Blackbeard Pirates go about gaining Devil Fruit powers is quite different.
In these cases, the coveted power is already consumed by another person, whom they then have to kill to gain the power in a more direct manner. They were said to be deliberately targeting Devil Fruit users, and Blackbeard himself went after those with powerful Devil Fruits, such as Law and Hancock. Shiryu notably came into possession of the Clear-Clear Fruit, which required killing Absalom, a Thriller Bark pirate and its previous user. The method by which this is done is largely unclear, having only been seen once onscreen and even then being obscured by a tarp. Since most, if not all, of the core crew membershave Devil Fruit powers now, it is unclear if they will continue to target Devil Fruit users as actively.
3What Is Blackbeard’s Connection To Xebec?
His Primary Ship Hints At Some Form of Acknowledgment
Rocks D. Xebecwas purportedly a powerful pirate whose name was almost completely lost to history due to the sadistic nature of his deeds. He became an expert on subjects the World Government hid and wished to become King of the World. It took the combined power of Monkey D. Garp and Gol D. Roger to defeat him. His crew consisted of various future heavyweights, including Kaido and Big Mom, among others. However, most of his former crewmates did not seem to be fond of him, or their time on his crew in general.
Marshall D. Teach’s primary pirate ship of choice, Saber of Xebec, seems to nod to the obscure pirate. The exact reasoning behind it is unclear. An SBS confirmed Teach enjoys researching history as a hobby, so it is possible this is how he came to know of Xebec. It is worth noting that a “xebec” was also a type of Mediterranean ship, notably utilized by pirates. However, specifically identifying the ship as a Saber of Xebec implies a connection to the pirate, who was seen wielding a single sword in flashbacks as his weapon of choice. It is also noteworthy that Xebec was the former captain of Whitebeard, Teach’s own former captain. How much of this is pure coincidence is, at this point, unclear. However, considering he fought with a former crewmate of Rocks to gain control over Hachinosu, the naming of the ship likely goes deeper than mere coincidence.
2What Really Happened At Rocky Port?
The Mid-Timeskip Incident is Connected to Many Characters
The Rocky Port Incident is an event that happened during the timeskip, and set the stage for how certain characters would be seen after it. Trafalgar D. Water Law is identified as the culprit. He also collected 100 Pirate Hearts during this time, a feat he used to become a Warlord before thePunk Hazard Arc. Koby is said to have protected citizens during this incident, and came to be known as a hero for his actions.
Teach used the incident to take over Hachinosu, the island that currently serves as his home base. He defeated Ochoku, a former crewmate of Rocks D. Xebec, in order to gain control. He further claims he had help from Koby, which was presumably inadvertent, while accomplishing this task. Despite this incident being deeply connected to the greater lore of various characters, exactly what happened during it is still unclear beyond these bits of information.
1What Is Blackbeard’s Heritage?
He Does Carry the Will of the D
Teach is identified as being of “a special bloodline.” This is noted in an exchange between both Jaygarcia Saturn, one of the Five Elders, and Catarina Devon, one of Blackbeard’s Ten Titanic Captains. The exact nature of this special bloodline is still very unclear. He is one of a growing handful of characters confirmed to possess the “D” initial, but it is unclear if this is specifically what the pair were referring to.
The “D”, while uncommon by the standards of the series, appears relatively more common than certain other quirks of Blackbeard’s. That said, the “D” is noted for being a marker of odd heritage, dating back to an enemy of the First Twenty Kingdoms, who created the World Government. It was then passed onto their heirs as well as those who made common cause with this figure, such as Nefertari D. Lili, whose descendants such as Cobra and Vivi carry it as part of their name in secret.
If his special bloodline is not connected to the “D”, then perhaps it has more to do with that aforementioned unusual body of his.
