Marshall D. Teach

"ZEHAHAHAHAHAHA"

- Blackbeards unique laugh "Got your attention now. This is a wake up call to all the boring peace lovers, the half ass pirates, the fat headed fools, and the World Government. We all must answer to the hand of fate. Fate has chosen me to conquer the world."

- Blackbeard's message to the world.

Marshall D. Teach (more commonly known as Blackbeard) is the primary antagonist of the anime and manga series, One Piece. Blackbeard was the cause of the Summit War and has become so powerful that he is now a Yonko. He is also the leader of the Blackbeard Pirates and a former Shichibukai.

Personality
"This "new era" they talk about is a load of shit. The age where pirates dream is over!? Eh!? Oi! Zehahahaha! PEOPLE'S DREAMS... DON'T EVER END! AM I RIGHT?"

- Blackbeard's opinion on the "New Era" that Bellamy and Sarkies boast about.

☀Many of One Piece's characters are given a distinct laugh. Blackbeard follows this tradition by starting his laughs with "Ze" (i.e. Zehahahahahaha!). This laugh is not present in the English Dub until the Banaro Incident.Blackbeard's personality seems to be a strange mix of courage and cowardice, high intellectual capacity and stupidity. While at times his character looks strong and fearsome, in others he will seem weak and ridiculous. He is apparently very deceptive, joining the Shichibukai in an elaborate and convoluted fashion for the sole reason of gaining access to Impel Down in order to find new crew mates and later resigning from it in front of the fleet admiral himself saying that he does not need it anymore.[16] He is also exceedingly power-hungry and greedy, aiming to become the next Pirate King.His hunger for power lead him to fashion a very cruel way of recruiting only the best prisoners in Impel Down as comrades: he ordered them to murder each other, and would only take the strongest ones who survive.[17] Though he betrayed the Whitebeard Pirates, Teach takes comradeship with the crew he formed to a high level, made evident when he was willing to make a trade with the Marines for a battleship big enough to hold all of them comfortably for the sake of one crew member, Sanjuan Wolf. Despite his obvious malevolent nature, he is also genuinely compassionate, caring, sympathetic and empathetic towards his crew's well-being and is willing to take assaults intended for his crew. He also has an extreme thirst for adventure, regularly traveling from place to place. However, he tends to play it by ear. Blackbeard, like others who carry the Will of the D., has a strong belief in fate and the dreams of men, but unlike the others, is the only one who truly seems to take it to heart. He shares several attributes with Luffy, including having a voracious appetite, carefree attitude, competitive and reckless nature, persevering even if there may be grave consequences, and huge ambitions to follow his dream of finding One Piece and become the new Pirate King. Despite that, there is also a great contrast between him and Luffy: primarily, Blackbeard fears death whereas other D. carriers embrace it if it comes, and was willing to betray his own friends for power. Just before his death, Whitebeard noted that Teach was not the one Roger had been waiting for and dismissed Teach as being incapable of continuing Roger's legacy.[18]

Perhaps because of his strong belief in fate, Blackbeard is highly amoral. He believes that there is no inherent "good" nor "evil" in the world, jeeringly mocking anyone who expresses such belief. He is also patient and conniving, having spent decades on Whitebeard's ship just to get his hands on the Devil Fruit he wanted, before killing Thatch and leaving the crew. His nihilistic tendencies are in line with the power of the Yami Yami no Mi he possesses, which is said to reduce everything to "nothingness".[19] During his raid on Impel Down, he stated that his plans have not gone exactly as expected, but is willing to take these surprises in stride. He handed Portgas D. Ace to the World Government and finally killed his captain Whitebeard. Despite this, he still displayed respect for his superiors during the events, referring to Ace as his commander, and said that he aspired to be like Whitebeard. He showed his ruthlessness when he killed Thatch, and with his crew's help finished off his former captain, Whitebeard.

Blackbeard is often very calm, composed, relaxed, easygoing, cheerful, and free-spirited, but he can be surprised and startled, such as when Coby told everybody present to stop the war, or when Whitebeard had held him by the throat. He is very politely sarcastic and mocking towards those around him, such as when he taunted Luffy, about Ace's inevitable execution, or when he mocked Whitebeard for his age.

He is also overconfident, and while very powerful, tends to converse and/or taunt his opponents in the middle of battle. He has done this in every battle he has been shown in, and as a result, he always suffers a heavy, painful attack while his guard is down. Such as when he taunted Whitebeard about not being able to use his powers, and nearly got cleaved in half with Whitebeard's bisento or when he boasted in front of Magellan and was nearly drowned by the Hydra attack, only surviving because Shiliew gave him and his crew the antidote. His overconfidence also made him believe that he could do a trade with the Marines despite having betrayed them already, which once again proved a mistake. Since having acquired two Devil Fruit powers, he has developed a severe superiority complex, believing himself to be truly invincible and the strongest of them all, while revealing his goal of world domination. Despite his arrogance, Blackbeard does show a sense of caution, as he refused to fight Shanks and his crew,[20] as well as Admiral Akainu when he was aboard the Marine battleship that they wanted.[21]

Blackbeard is a very patient and careful pirate, as stated by Shanks. Unlike other powerful pirates, he never gained renown and remained concealed, and only makes his moves when he sees an opportunity for power.

Appearance
Blackbeard is a man with a massive build, as his body is round with relatively thin limbs. He has a big mouth with several broken or missing teeth (though sometimes he does have a full set, which is an inconsistency error made by Oda), a pronounced crooked nose and a very large and hairy chest and torso. Long, thick, woolly black hair falls down the back of his neck, underneath a black bandana, and a small scruffy black beard (hence his epithet) grows around his jawline. As the series progresses, his beard becomes longer and scruffier. He is extremely tall, being exactly twice Luffy's (pre-timeskip) height.

At his first appearance in Mock Town, Teach wore an open buttoned white shirt with rolled up sleeves, green trousers with black line patterns, a yellow sash around his waist and classic black swashbuckler boots complete with large bronze buckles.

During his raid on Banaro Island, he had added a large black and gold captain's coat over his attire, along with white beads on each wrist as bracelets and rings with gemstones on all of the fingers of both his hands (similar to his predecessor, Crocodile).[11]

At the Shichibukai meeting at the Marine Headquarters, he added a pair of necklaces of red as well as golden-yellow and blue beads to his dark orange sash and a traditional black tricorne hat over his grey bandana, as well as switching to a red shirt, while wearing his captain's coat like a cape.[12] He also has three flintlocks and a flask tied to his sash around his waist.[13]

In the Volume 63 SBS Oda drew the Shichibukai as children. Teach is shown wearing a baseball cap with a rolled up long sleeve shirt and green shorts. He is also wearing black curled tip shoes, and unlike his usual cheerful expression, is crying for an unknown reason.

After the time skip, Teach has grown a long beard that he has split into multiple sections, very much like his real life basis.[14] He also wears a new hat with his Jolly Roger embroidered on it.[15]

Riding with Whitebeard
Though details unclear at this point, his childhood seemed depressing as in a sketch depicting him as a child in an SBS, Blackbeard is shown crying in the dark under a crescent moon.

Blackbeard aspires to become the Pirate King. In order to do this, he wanted the Yami Yami no Mi. At no older than 16, he joined the Whitebeard Pirates to search for it, thinking that he would have the best chance of obtaining the fruit that way. He would then serve under Whitebeard for at least 20 years before his betrayal.[5]22 years ago, after Shiki escaped Impel Down, Blackbeard at age 18 was present amongst Marco, Jozu, Vista, Blenheim, and Haruta while the Flying Pirate spoke to Whitebeard about his plan.[38]

Blood and Betrayal
More than two years before the current storyline, Blackbeard and Shanks fought in a battle. During the battle, Blackbeard gave Shanks the three scars by his eyes.[22] Blackbeard eventually became a member of the second division and encouraged Ace to seek the commander position, refusing it himself on the basis that he didn't "have that kind of ambition".[39]

One day, Thatch, commander of the Whitebeard Pirates' fourth division, found a Devil Fruit. Recognizing it as the Yami Yami no Mi, the very reason he joined the Whitebeard Pirates for, Blackbeard killed Thatch to get the fruit and fled.[5] For killing a crewmate and betraying his "father", Second Division Commander Portgas D. Ace went after Blackbeard to kill him, despite Whitebeard's reluctance to send Ace to his possible doom.[39] The time Ace began to chase Blackbeard was around some time after Luffy left Arlong Park since in a flashback, Ace was showing Whitebeard Luffy's first bounty and being proud of it. By this point, however, Blackbeard had already gained a crew and began his own open acts of piracy.

Blackbeard then assembled the Blackbeard Pirates, composed of Laffitte, a former policeman from the West Blue and the crew's navigator, Van Augur the sniper, Jesus Burgess the helmsman, Doc Q the doctor, and Stronger, Doc Q's horse. Some time after, his pirate crew pillaged the Drum Kingdom,[1] causing its king, Wapol, to flee and ironically liberating Drum Kingdom from Wapol's tyranny.[40]

Drum Island Arc
The Blackbeard Pirates then invaded Drum Kingdom, Chopper's home town. This caused the kingdoms tyrant to cowardly run away.

Jaya Arc
Luffy meets Blackbeard in a bar and they both complain about the cherry pies and the taste of things at the bar. Blackbeard asks Luffy if he's a pirate and what his bounty is. He is shocked to learn about Luffy's bounty. They both prepare to start a fight but Terry gives Blackbeard his cherry pies before their fight can start. Blackbeard then leaves the bar.

After Luffy and Zoro's fight with Bellamy, Blackbeard tells Nami that Skypeia exists and then gives a about how peoples dreams never end and the new age is trash. Luffy hears this and, despite being injured, gets back up and faces Blackbeard. Blackbeard wishes Luffy good luck on his trip to Sky Island before leaving.

After seeing how high Luffy and Zoro's bounties rised, he planned to capture them. Blackbeard confronts the Strawhats and shows Zoro and Luffy their new bounty. Before Blackbeard could capture them, his ship was destroyed by the Strawhats knock-up steam.

Post-Enies Lobby Arc
Blackbeard is next seen reading a newspaper about Enies Lobby and how Luffy's bounty will rise up. Blackbeards crew then decides that they would try to kill Luffy. Before they can go, Ace confronts Blackbeard and Blackbeard tells Ace what their going to do, and that he should join them. Ace refuses and two of Blackbeards men attack Ace. Ace easily counters the attacks and Blackbeard is infuriated at his two members because he thought that they were out of Aces leauge, and that they should just back off. Ace then attacked Blackbeard and burned him but Blackbeard survived the attack. Blackbeared then told Ace why he joined Whitebeard and why he killed Thatch. Blackbeards then explained to Ace what his devil fruit powers do. Blackbeard then creates a giant blackholes and destroys the city their fighting in. Ace then shot an explosion attack at Blackbeard which caught him on fire on rolling in pain. Blackbeard got up and Ace's flames were absorbed by the darkness. Blackbeard then sucked in Ace with his gravitation attack and punched Ace in the stomach which sent him flying. Blackbeard and Ace then began to battle while the townsfolk watch in horror. Ace fell onto the ground where Blackbeard offered him one more chance to join his crew. Ace denied and attacked Blackbeard once more. Blackbeard ended up countering this attack and defeating Ace.

Amazon Lily Arc
Blackbeard turned Ace into the World Government and doing so, became a Shichibukai. This act triggered a war in which Blackbeard said he would join.

Impel Down Arc
Blackbeard and his crew break down into Impel down and arrive at Level 1. Blackbeard sees Shiliew and mistakes him for Magellan. Once he arrives at Level 4, him and his crew manage to take down both the Bazooka Unit and the Hannyabal. Jimbe sees Blackbeard and and and angerliy asks him what hes doing in Impel Down. Luffy recognizes Blackbeard and calls him out. Blackbeard then begins to taunt Luffy about Ace's execution. Luffy is infuriated by this and attacks Blackbeard. The two began to battle but it was shortly stopped by Jimbe, who managed to calm Luffy down. Blackbeard admitted that he was impresed with Luffy's strength and when Magellan came, Blackbeard allowed Luffy to proceed. Jimbe then asks Blackbeard why he started a riot in Impel Down, to which Blackbeard said that it was apart of his plan. Blackbeared and his crew then encountered Magellan who shot them with his Hydra attack and left. Blackbeard and his crew would have died from the poisen if not for Shiliew, who gave them the antidote. Blackbeard then invitdd Shiliew to be apart of his crew, to which Shiliew accepted. Blackbeard and his crew made it down to level 6 where he told the prisoners that they could be free if they joined his crew. However, in order to see who was the strongest out of the prisoners, Blackbeard had them all fight eachother. As a result, Blackbeard got four prisoners to join his crew. Blackbeard and the rest of his crew then headed out for Marineford.

Marineford Arc
Blackbeard and his crew made it to Marineford, where Blackbeard told Sengoku that he no longer needed his position as Shichibukai. After that, he confronted Whitebeard and they engaged in a battle. Whitebeard managed to overpower Blackbeard and just before he was going to finish him off, Blackbeard ordered his crew to shoot down Whitebeard. Doing so resulted in Whitebeards death, Blackbeard has his crew place a black tarp on his former dead Captain which he soon enters promising to give them a good show. Blackbeard then emerged from the tarp where he revealed that through unknown means he stole Whitebeard's devil fruit ability and has now managed to control two devil fruit abilities at once being the first person said to do so.

He tested Whitebeard's former power out on some marines and was satisfied with his power proclaiming himself as the Strongest Man in the World. He then told everyone gathered that this was now his era. After seeing the marines were to scared of him now, Blackbeard then threaten to sink Marineford which resulted in Sengoku attacking him for stating such a reckless desire. While the two clash, Jesus Burgess tries to help Blackbeard, only to be stopped by Garp. Blackbeard then began taunting Garp and Sengoku saying he'll end their end age just like he did Whitebeard. However, Coby then shouted for both marines and pirates to stop and began to give his speech to Akainu and the marines calling their fighting at this point irrelevant which even shocked Blackbeard. An annoyed Akainu tries to kill Coby, but is stopped by Shanks, who then challenges Blackbeard. Blackbeard briefly taunts Shanks about the scar he left on his face but turns down the offer by saying that his crew was not ready for fighting Shanks yet. With that he leaves, gloating at his achievements in the war.

Post-War Arc
Blackbeard captured Jewlery Bonney and her crew and said he would let her go only if she became his women. She denied the offer and kicked Blackbeard in the face. Blackbeard then asks his comrad if any marine ships were open for them to steal. His comrad saw one but thought it was a bad idea to try and steal that ship because Akainu was on it. Once Blackbeard hears about this, he and his crew run off, leaving Jewlery Bonney behind to be arrested.

During the Time-skip
A year later, a group of Whitebeard pirates started up a crew lead by Marco which was built for the sole purpose of taking down Blackbeard and avenging his death. Blackbeard and his crew faced off against Marco and his crew in what is now known as the "Payback War". Blackbeard ended up winning the war and because of this, Blackbeard was officaly decklared a Yonko and the replacment for Whitebeard.

Dressrosa Arc
Luffy overheard Jesus Burgess on the snail phone, talking to Blackbeard about Kuzan. Once Jesus noticed Luffy, he told this to Blackbeard who was amused and spoke to Luffy. Blackbeard aware of Luffy's reason for joining the competition started taunting Luffy about how Jesus would win the competition and how it would be like having Ace on their team as he previously turned down his offer. Luffy told Blackbeard that hes the last person he wants with Ace's power, to which Blackbeard responded by laughing in anticipation and the phone call ended.

Toto Land Arc
Blackbeard and his crew then destroy Balgito (The Revolutionary army's headquarters). Before Cipher Pol and the Marines arrived. When they did arrive, Blackbeard chased Cipher Pol before giving up and fleeing along with his crew.