Whitebeard

ℹ️️**Notice**This character is a crossover character and is therefore not canon in Glad you Came

**Edward Newgate**, more commonly known as **"Whitebeard"**, was the captain of the Whitebeard Pirates and was widely known as the **"Strongest Man in the World"** and, after Gol D. Roger's death, the **"Man Closest to One Piece"**.

## Statistics

### Debut:

Chapter 159; Episode 95 (silhouette);[3]Chapter 234; Episode 151 (full)[1]

### Epithet:

"Whitebeard" (白ひげ, Shirohige?, "White Beard" in the edited dub);"The Strongest Man in the World" (世界最強の男, Sekai Saikyō no Otoko?)"The Man Closest to One Piece" (ひとつなぎの大秘宝ワンピースに最も近い男, Wan Pīsu ni Mottomo Chikai Otoko?)

### Japanese VA:

Kinryū Arimoto;Ryūzaburō Ōtomo (Episode 962-)

## Devil Fruit

### Type:

Paramecia

Before forming his own crew, Newgate was an orphan hailing from the island of Sphinx. During his tenure as a pirate, he was a known member of the legendary Rocks Pirates and later in life became part of the Four Emperors that rule over the New World, before his death in the Summit War of Marineford.

In his prime, Whitebeard was a rival to Gol D. Roger, and following Roger's death, was widely recognized as the strongest man in the world, a fact complimented by having the highest active bounty whilst alive, and the second highest bounty of any pirate in history.

He was an ally of Monkey D. Luffy and a central figure overall during the Marineford Arc.

## Personality

Edward Newgate was a cheerful and carefree person during his younger years, prior to commanding his own ship and becoming known as Whitebeard. Due to being an orphan who grew up in poverty, Newgate had a strong desire for a family, which he saw as the greatest treasure one could have. He was not ashamed of this wish, which was considered strange and humorous among his pirate peers.

His reign on the sea, reputation, and foreboding power made him seemingly overconfident and fearless. In initial appearances, he seemed unable to see any cause for alarm on any decision he made and refused all advice given to him, such as his nurse telling him not to drink heavily or Shanks warning him of Blackbeard. However, he was much more thoughtful than he initially appeared to be. Actions that initially seemed to be the result of thoughtless, headstrong bravado actually had strong reasons behind them; his loud declaration that Fish-Man Island belonged to him freed the island from all pirates and slavery, and his insistence that Blackbeard be punished was merely a cover for Ace, who had set out after him against Whitebeard's wishes.

Though he may seem to have an overgrown ego, Whitebeard knew deep down that he was nothing but a single man and was fully aware of his own mortality. He knew that the youth were the keys to the future, and that their lives were far more important than his own. Because of this, he was not afraid of sacrificing himself for the safety of those he considered his children. Like Gol D. Roger, Whitebeard believed that a child should not be responsible for their parents' sins. Yet another belief he held is that any path a man wished to follow in life was fine by him, as long as they did not regret it.

Despite his fierce reputation, Whitebeard was a compassionate man, having adopted countless people of different backgrounds into his crew as his foster children, such as Squard, whose life was devastated by Roger killing his crew, or Teach, who requested to join his crew due to being homeless. Marco stated that the main reason the Whitebeard Pirates held such strong loyalty to their captain was due to Newgate's paternal-like attitude, deeply caring for them like a father. Contrary to the tyrannical Kaidou and Charlotte Linlin, Whitebeard used his power and influence as one of the Four Emperors for humanitarian purposes. He liberated and protected Fish-Man Island from slavery, an act which touched the hearts of the normally human-distrusting citizens of Ryugu Kingdom and invested the majority of his riches to support his homeland of Sphinx, an once poor, lawless island. Whitebeard was understanding and forgiving of his subordinates, going to great lengths to rescue any who were in great danger, no matter the cost. Whitebeard was naturally protective of his family and did not tolerate the idea of letting a crewmate join someone else's crew, especially a rival one. In fact, the notion of separating himself from just one of them and for a short time infuriated him. Even if he did accept doing so, it was reluctantly and while showing much annoyance.

Whitebeard was very careful about choosing a person to be included in his crew, depending on their personality and nature. This cautiousness mainly stemmed from his time as a member of the Rocks Pirates, as the violent and poor relationship among the members of that crew left a negative impact on Whitebeard. For this reason, Whitebeard was fully against letting someone like Kozuki Oden join his crew, since the Samurai was rebellious by nature. Still, Whitebeard showed enough open-mindedness to give Oden a chance to prove himself in a challenge and eventually allowed the Kuri daimyo to be part of his crew after the latter prioritized the life of an innocent woman over the challenge itself.

A distinguishing feature of Whitebeard's nature was his high moral standards: he never forgave the death of a crewmate by another and believed that a man could not live without some form of honor code. When confronted by Blackbeard, he intended to avenge Thatch, despite being close to death at the time. However, he was willing to go against his personal code under certain circumstances, if he felt the risk would not be worth the safety of his crew.

Whitebeard seemed to enjoy talking about the past; when Shanks visited his ship, the first thing Newgate did was recollect his memories from the last twenty-two years, particularly those involving old rivals like Roger, Garp and Sengoku. People that were children at that time were still viewed as children in Whitebeard's eyes, no matter how powerful they had grown since. Despite fond memories of his time as a pirate captain, Whitebeard was not proud of his former association with the Rocks Pirates due to the lack of camaraderie among members, thus he rarely referred to those times unless in a negative tone.

Regardless of his poor health at the time, Whitebeard liked drinking, to the point that bringing and sharing a drink with him (preferably of high quality and very expensive) was viewed as enough of a respectful gesture to engage a conversation. This was seen in his encounters with Shanks, Gol D. Roger, and Shiki; still, this did not guarantee complete cooperation from him, judging from the nature of these conversations.

Like other characters in One Piece, he had a unique laugh, which was "Gu ra ra ra ra". Like Perona, his laugh is similar to the name of his Devil Fruit, the Gura Gura no Mi. However, in the anime (before the Marineford Arc) and Gigant Battle, his laugh was changed to a regular "Ha ha ha ha ha". In the American Shonen Jump, his laugh is changed to "Gu ha ha ha ha".

## Relationships

### Crew

Whitebeard considered every single member of his crew, as well as his subordinate crews, his "sons". His strong love for his crew and subordinate crews traced all the way back to before he even had a crew, when he stated that the one thing, he wanted more than anything was a family.

Any crewmember from Whitebeard's crew who killed another crewmember were to be hunted down by the commander of that former crew member's division. Whitebeard's strong stand against crewmate killing was based on his fatherly stance over every member of his crew; as a result of this treatment, the whole crew affectionately referred to him as "Pops" or "Old Man" (オヤジ, *Oyaji*?, an informal variation of "father"). However, Whitebeard did not force commanders to hunt down wayward crew members if he had an uneasy feeling about the situation; in the case of Blackbeard, Whitebeard tried to make an exception and stop Ace from hunting him down, but Ace did so anyway for the sake of Whitebeard's honor.

This was not blind loyalty, as Whitebeard was willing to go to war with the World Government to save Ace. In addition, Whitebeard took full responsibility for the actions of his crew and kept a stern outward appearance for non-crew members, falsely claiming to outsiders that he ordered Ace to hunt down Blackbeard. Whitebeard also treated all of his "sons" and "daughters" equally and claimed to Squard that Ace was no different than any other, despite being Roger's son. In battle, while this unshakable bond between him and his crew stood, Whitebeard's subordinates knew better than to get in the way of their captain.

#### Marco

Out of everybody within his crew, Marco was perhaps the closest person Whitebeard had to a right-hand man. During the initial stages of the Marineford War, Marco stood right by Whitebeard's side, informing him of battlefield intel, protecting him from long-range assaults, listening to his comments and orders, and was also the only one to rush to Whitebeard's aid after the latter got stabbed by Squard, showing little tolerance to the perpetrator for harming his captain. Later, Marco attempted to assist his captain in fighting Blackbeard, but was ultimately ordered to stand down. After Whitebeard's death, Marco was moved to tears, much like the rest of his crewmates, and made sure to carry out his captain's final order to escort Luffy to safety. Marco was also the one who instigated the Payback War against Blackbeard, gathering the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates to hunt down the crew's traitor and main responsible for Whitebeard and Ace's deaths, but failed to accomplish his revenge.

As a testament to Whitebeard and Marco's closeness, the latter was aware of the former's childhood circumstances as an orphan of Sphinx, which led to Whitebeard's career of piracy. Since his old captain had spent much of his fortune aiding his struggling homeland, Marco found himself with the duty of protecting the one thing that still remained from Whitebeard's past, becoming a local doctor who took care of the health of the locals. Marco teared up when he told Nekomamushi about Whitebeard's love for the land he had been born into, knowing that it was the reason his captain was so stingy with money.

#### Portgas D. Ace

Whitebeard first became aware of Portgas D. Ace while the latter was still a rookie, being curious and impressed by the rapid growth and progress of the youngster's career as a pirate captain.

After easily defeating him, Whitebeard eventually revealed himself to be a magnanimous man to Ace and his crew, giving him the chance to join his family as his son. Initially, Ace refused this offer and attempted to kill Whitebeard nearly a hundred times, only to fail at each one. As he further bonded with Whitebeard's crewmates, who already treated him as family, Ace eventually grew to respect Whitebeard so much that he viewed him as a proper father figure, due to his hatred of his actual father, Gol D. Roger. Ace claimed to Sengoku that he believed Whitebeard would become Pirate King.

As Ace's respect for Whitebeard grew, so did his honor as one of the Whitebeard Pirates. Because of this, he was one of the most outraged members regarding Thatch's murder, viewing such a thing as an unforgivable offense to Whitebeard's ideals. Although Whitebeard advised him not to venture into the hunt for Teach, Ace left without permission and, in the end, Whitebeard took responsibility for Ace's mistakes without hesitation by going to Marineford to save him from execution. After Ace was freed from the execution platform, Whitebeard asked him if he had been a good father to him and felt satisfied once Ace stated that he was a good father. Ace's death was enough to make Whitebeard stop holding back the full destructiveness of his Devil Fruit, with him targeting Ace's killer, Akainu, almost immediately after.

#### Izou

Initially, Izou had a hostile relationship with Whitebeard, which stemmed from the painful and humiliating treatment Izou's master, Oden, was receiving as part of the challenge Whitebeard had given the daimyo in order to join his crew. Izou stated that he would make Whitebeard pay for putting his master through so much trouble. This hostility dissipated a bit when Oden was formally inducted into the Whitebeard Pirates, with Izou sticking around for Oden's sake.

Izou eventually grew fond of his new group and became a full-fledged member, preferring to stay with the Whitebeard Pirates when Oden decided to join the Roger Pirates. He was eventually promoted to commander of the sixteenth division of the crew, showing that he had earned Whitebeard's respect as a leader and fighter.

### Subordinate Crews

Aside from their own 1600-member crew, the Whitebeard Pirates had many subordinate crews working in the New World. Each one of the pirate captains was an infamous pirate who had made a name for him or herself in the New World. There seemed to be at least 43 crews underneath Whitebeard. Whitebeard treated all of his long-time subordinate crews just like his own crew, as though they were his own sons, though some of them were originally from the main crew before becoming captains of their own crews. They all seemed to know Ace, at least, and were willing to help Whitebeard's cause when Ace was about to be executed at Marineford; however, they were not aware that Ace was Roger's son until around the time Ace died. These New World subordinate crews included "Bohemian Knight" Doma, "Thunder Lord" McGuy, the Decalvan Brothers, "Great Whirlpool Spider" Squard, Little Oars Jr., and the "Ice Witch" Whitey Bay.

### Friends and Allies

#### Jinbe

Because of his role as a protector of Fish-Man Island, Whitebeard was considered a hero by many Fish-Men, in particular Jinbe of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. Jinbe had expressed many times that he owed a great deal of gratitude to the Emperor and refused to participate in the war against Whitebeard, even if it meant losing his Warlord of the Sea title and being imprisoned in Impel Down. When Jinbe arrived at Marineford with the other escapees from Impel Down, the first thing he did was announce his formal resignation from the Warlords to Sengoku.

Over the years, Jinbe's respect for Whitebeard had grown to the point where he was ready to declare himself as an adversary to anyone or anything with ill intent upon the Emperor's life, which is why he immediately engaged in battle against Ace on their first encounter, since Ace was out to assassinate Whitebeard at that time.

#### Monkey D. Luffy

Whitebeard seemed to have some form of respect for Luffy after hearing about him from both Ace and Shanks; Ace had shown excitement that Luffy was on the Grand Line, and Shanks had stated that he had given up his arm on a "bet on the New Age", referring to Luffy. After showing his fierce tenacity, Luffy had managed to gain Whitebeard's respect. Whitebeard went as far as assigning his top commander, Marco, to act as Luffy's bodyguard during the war and "would not have forgiven him" if Luffy had died.

As the war went on, his respect for Luffy increased after witnessing Luffy's true potential, and Whitebeard decided to command all his forces to fully support Luffy with all their might, a decision which even surprised his own men. This also marks the first time that Whitebeard called him by his name, Straw Hat Luffy, instead of "brat", proving that Whitebeard came to acknowledge him and his strength through the course of the war. Luffy respected Whitebeard as well, believing that anyone whom Ace admires cannot be a bad person, and was willing to intercept an attack from Crocodile aimed at Whitebeard's life before he even met him in person.

Before the end of his life, in his final words to Blackbeard and Sengoku, it is implied that he believes Luffy is the person Gol D. Roger has been waiting for and that he will be the one to find One Piece.

#### Neptune

Whitebeard was an old friend of King Neptune. Their friendship stemmed from when they first drank together, and Whitebeard protected Fish-Man Island from slavery due to this friendship. Though it is unknown how they became friends, it is known that they had been friends for quite some time, as Neptune helped Whitebeard out a lot during his younger days.

#### Seia

Whitebeard was impressed by Luffy's performance and sheer determination to save his allies and went so far as to order his entire crew to follow his lead and became a close ally.

### Protectorates

Before his demise, Whitebeard had a number of locations under his protection. Most of them seemed to be within the brink of pirate raids, and it was only by being "owned" under his name that they were kept stable and safe, thereby earning the Emperor the gratitude of the citizens; consequentially, these territories immediately became vulnerable after his death. At least one other Emperor, Big Mom, placed Fish-Man Island under her protection while Foodvalten fell to Brownbeard. The status of Whitebeard's other former territories is currently unknown, but Blackbeard appears to have taken over most of them during his ascent to Four Emperors status, as he has over two decades of experience with the Whitebeard Pirates and thus knows which islands they were protecting.

Among Whitebeard's known territories, his own homeland of Sphinx was the most important to him. Due to the high costs of the World Nobles' heavenly tribute being impossible for a poverty-stricken place like Sphinx to afford, the island suffered from constant pirate and slaver attacks without government protection. A young, orphaned Newgate had to grow under those oppressive conditions, leading to his life as pirate, although he never valued treasure as much as the idea of family. As such, Whitebeard dedicated a majority of his riches for humanitarian aid towards Sphinx, having built a peaceful village for the locals to live in.

### Enemies

#### Gol D. Roger

Despite having been rivals with Gol D. Roger, Whitebeard held great respect for him. They seemingly had multiple duels upon their lives, with one instance in particular leading to a friendly gift exchange between their crewmembers after three days of endless battling. During this occasion, Whitebeard and Roger held a casual conversation with Kozuki Oden joining in, showing both captains were comfortable with each other's presence. However, Whitebeard did not like Roger's attempt to "borrow" Oden as a crewmate for the Roger Pirates and was further angered when Oden did show interest in switching crews.

Not long before his death, Roger met with Whitebeard on an island to have what seemed to be an entirely cordial drinking session, with Roger even offering to give the location of Laugh Tale to Whitebeard, and when Whitebeard asked Roger about the Will of D., Roger willingly told him about it. Upon learning that Ace was his rival's son, Whitebeard did not see his bloodline as an inconvenience, and even tried to inspire Ace to respect Roger as his father.