Marshall D. Teech

**Marshall D. Teech** (マーシャル・D・ティーチ, *Māsharu D. Tīchi*), also better known by his moniker as "**Blackbeard**" (黒ひげ, *Kurohige*), is a fictional character and main antagonist of the *One Piece* series. He is the captain and admiral of the Blackbeard Pirates, one of the Four Emperors. After the timeskip, Teech becomes part of the Worst Generation and the only person in history known to have the powers of two Devil Fruits.

While he started out his pirate career as a member of the Roger Pirates, he sent Sylvester Clown, also known as "**Joker**" (ジョーカー, *Jōkā*), as a member of the Whitebeard Pirates' 2nd division, but defected after murdering a fellow crew member, Thatch, the 4th division commander, to obtain a Devil Fruit, the Dark-Dark Fruit, for Teech.

Prior to the two-year timeskip, The Straw Hat Pirates first encounter Blackbeard at Mock Town when he hears that the Sky Islands exist and boasts how the pirate's dreams will never cease. He then tries to capture Luffy for the bounty on his head at Mock Town for his plans, but is driven out.

Later, Blackbeard was made and briefly held the position of one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea after a brutal fight, defeating and capturing Joker's pursuer: Ace at Thriller Bark, and then handing him over to the Navy, before resigning upon returning from Impel Down with Level Six prisoners.

"*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.*"

—Marshall D. Teech, his message to the world.

## Appearance & Biography

*Voice Actor*: Not Known (English), Akio Ōtsuka (Japanese), Not Known (Brazilian), Not Known (Chinese), Not Known (Dutch), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (French), Not Known (German), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Hebrew), Not Known (Hungarian), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (Norwegian), Not Known (Polish), Not Known (Romanian), Not Known (Russian), Not Known (Poland), Not Known (Portuguese), Not Known (Serbian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (Swedish), Not Known (Thai), Not Known (Brazilian Portuguese), Not Known (European Spanish), Not Known (European Portuguese), Not Known (Latin American Spanish), Not Known (Latin Spanish)

### Biography

Captain of the Blackbeard Pirates. Also known as "Blackbeard". Once in the Seven Warlords of the Sea.

He is now one of the Four Emperors.

With the power of the Logia Devil Fruit, Dark-Dark Fruit, he can create, control, manipulate, and change his body to darkness. He can also use gravity to pull everything to him and into his dark control. He gave Shanks the 3 scars he carries on his left eye, and Rex the X shaped scar he carries on his chest.

### Appearance

#### The Young Past Days

When Teech was younger, he was shown wearing a baseball cap with a rolled up long sleeve shirt and dark shorts. He is also wearing black curled tip shoes.

20 years ago, while he was a member of the Roger Pirates, Teech's black beard was small and less scruffier than it is today, he wored 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.

#### Pre-Timeskip

Blackbeard is a middle-aged looking 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 amount of body hair on the chest and torso. Long, thick, woolly, curly black hair falls down the back of his neck, underneath his old bandana, and a longer and scruffier black beard (hence his epithet) grows around his jawline. He is extremely tall, being exactly twice Luffy's (pre-timeskip) height.

Blackbeard wears an open buttoned red shirt with rolled up sleeves, a large black, yellow and gold captain's coat on his shoulders like a cape, 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 black bandana, 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). He sometimes also has three flintlocks and a flask tied to his sash around his waist.

#### Post-Timeskip

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

* Hair Color: Black
* Skin Color: Brown
* Eye Color: Black
* Age: 38 (debut), 40 (after timeskip)
* Birthday: August 3rd
* Height: 344 cm (11'3½")
* Weight: Not Known

## Personality

"*This "new era" they talk about is a load of crap. The age where pirates dream is over!? Eh!? Hey! Zehahahaha! THE DREAMS OF PIRATES... WILL NEVER END! AM I RIGHT?*"

—Blackbeard's opinion on the "New Era" that Bellamy and Sirkees boast about.
In Japanese version, most 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.

Blackbeard's personality seems to be a strange mix of courage and insanity, 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 Seven Warlords 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. He is also exceedingly power-hungry and greedy, aiming to become the next King of the Pirates.

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. Though he betrayed the Roger 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 Navy for a battleship big enough to hold all of them comfortably for the sake of one crew member, San Juan 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 Spirit 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 King of the Pirates. Despite that, there is so far, one great contrast between him and Luffy: primarily, Blackbeard was willing to betray his own friends for power. Just before his death, Whitebeard noted that Teech was not the one Roger had been waiting for and dismissed Teech as being incapable of continuing his own captain's legacy.

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 Roger's ship just to get his hands on the Devil Fruit he wanted, before he met back up with Joker, who gave him that very fruit after killing Thatch and leaving Whitebeard's crew. His nihilistic tendencies are in line with the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit he possesses, which is said to reduce everything to "nothingness". 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 Portgaz 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, with his crew's help finished off his crewmate's 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 Shiryu gave him and his crew the antidote. His overconfidence also made him believe that he could do a trade with the Navy 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 logic and caution, as he refused to fight his former friend and his crew, as well as Admiral Akainu when he was aboard the Marine battleship that they wanted.

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.

## Relationships

### Friends/Allies

* Blackbeard Pirates
	+ Van Ogre
	+ G. Zass Burgess
	+ Doc Q
	+ Raffit
	+ Stronger
	+ Shiryu
	+ San Juan Wolf
	+ Vasco Shot
	+ Catarina Devon
	+ Avalo Pizarro

### Neutral

* Roger Pirates
	+ Gol D. Roger
* Crocodile
* Bartholomew Kuma

### Enemies

* Red-Haired Pirates
	+ Shanks
* Whitebeard Pirates
	+ Whitebeard
	+ Portgaz D. Ace
* Straw Hat Pirates
	+ Monkey D. Luffy
	+ Jimbei
* World Government
* Bonney Pirates
	+ Jewelry Bonney

## Powers and Abilities

Teach is an immensely powerful pirate even for a (former) member of the Roger Pirates and Warlord. Right after Roger's death, Teech once fought his old crewmates, Monkey D. Rex and Shanks and gave scars on Shanks' left eye and on Rex's chest, although the Four Emperors' strength at the time is unknown; however, it is noted that this was during the time Shanks had both his arms, before losing his left arm to save Luffy, along with how Shanks admitted the injury didn't occur because of carelessness. After the Battle of Navyford, Blackbeard proved to the Five Elder Stars that he had a one-step lead to usurp the empty Emperor position that Whitebeard once held, which eventually came to fruition.

One of the more impressive feats he has committed was defeating two commanders of the Whitebeard Pirates; Portgaz D. Ace, and later during the Payback War, Marco. After the time-skip, he and his crew fought against the Revolutionary Army and destroyed their base. It is also stated that they briefly fought against CP-0. Ace once stated that Blackbeard could have been a commander when he was recommended for the position, proven that his strength was equivalent with any of the other commanders, which is extremely notable, as he had not yet eaten a Devil Fruit.

### Physical Abilities

Teech has an immense amount of superhuman endurance, as demonstrated when he took a point-blank quake bubble attack from Whitebeard, and while being pinned to the ground by the former's feet on his hands, to his head and neck without losing consciousness, an incredible feat especially since his Devil Fruit makes him more vulnerable to receive even more damage. Prior to the above he took a hit from Whitebeard (albeit an indirect hit) and was more annoyed than actually injured anyway. He has also taken a direct slash from Whitebeard's bisento without suffering any lasting damage and was able to shrug off a kick to his head from Supernova Jewelry Bonney.

During his fight with Ace at Thriller Bark, he was pierced in the chest by two fire spears, but after putting out the flames, he was able to shake off the impact of the attack. Another indication of his sheer endurance is that he took a point-blank Gear Second attack from an enraged Luffy, and was hit by Sengoku in his Daibutsu form only to come out with minor injuries both times.

Teech also possesses tremendous physical strength even for his comparable size, which is demonstrated when he seriously injures Luffy and Ace, both who are exceptionally strong and powerful in just one hit, sending them both crashing back with incredible force and distance. In the anime, he was shown to be able to knock back and injure Whitebeard with a few punches, a feat that shocked the other members of the Whitebeard Pirates. He was able to stop an enraged Whitebeard's quake attack with his own physical strength and with the help of his Black Vortex technique.

### Master Tactician

Blackbeard has shown himself to be an expert planner and a master at orchestrating manipulative schemes provided he has a sufficiently advanced period of time to prepare: he waited two decades aboard the "Oro Jackson" with the Roger Pirates and even integrated with the crew dynamic, solely to increase his opportunities of obtaining the Dark-Dark Fruit (he also recruited future members of his personal crew during this timeline, indicating great charisma and leadership skills even as a regular crew mate). He also went for the capture of Monkey D. Luffy in order to guarantee an offer for the vacant position of the Seven Warlords of the Sea by the World Government, which in turn was simply sought for the free access across the Gates of Justice into the notoriously impenetrable Impel Down to recruit extremely powerful "Level Six" prisoners to strengthen his crew. This scheme completely deceived both Sengoku and Tsuru the two strategic masterminds of the Navy with Sengoku realizing Teech's true intentions only after the Blackbeard Pirates appeared in Navyford. He also already made plans to steal the Tremor-Tremor Fruit. Instead of taking Whitebeard head on to steal his Devil Fruit, Teech effectively manipulated Whitebeard and the entire military force of the Navy including the Admirals Sakazuki and Borsalino into fighting each other during the former's attempt to rescue Ace. Eventually, Whitebeard became fatally injured and weakened enough for Teach and his crew to brutally overpower and ultimately killed Whitebeard to steal the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, becoming the first person to wield two Devil Fruit powers. When confronted by Rex, Shanks and their respected crews, Blackbeard instead had his crew retreat as he deemed that it was not the right time to fight them, which showed a great sense of caution and pure logic.

Following his victory over the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates, Teech used his previous knowledge of the latter's territory to conquer most of it, becoming one of the Four Emperors.

However, for all his combat prowess and intellect, Blackbeard has a ridiculous habit of concentrating too much on conversations with his opponents while fighting them, letting his guard down in the process, a weakness he has demonstrated in his battles against Whitebeard, Luffy, Ace, and Magellan. This usually results in him suffering some critical injuries. In fact, if not for Shiryu's help, Teech's entire crew would have died from Magellan's Poison Devil Fruit ability.

### Devil Fruits

Blackbeard has become the first and, so far, only known user to date capable to wield the powers of two Devil Fruits at the same time. Through unknown means, he acquired the extremely destructive powers of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit from the dead body of Whitebeard and is now able to create earthquakes like Joker's old captain. Marco speculated that this was possible due to an unstated peculiarity unique to Blackbeard himself, having to do with an "atypical body structure" of some sort. He also pointed out that the other Whitebeard Pirates should be aware of this fact. Teech also appears to be knowledgeable enough to know how to use the Tremor-Tremor Fruit powers straight away after extracting it.

With the power of darkness (Dark-Dark Fruit), which "reduces anything to nothingness", and the power of quakes (Tremor-Tremor Fruit), which "brings destruction to everything", Blackbeard claims himself to be truly invincible and the strongest of them all. During the two years, the Blackbeard Pirates went on to hunt down powerful Devil Fruit users to kill them and absorb their abilities, thus Teech (and possibly his comrades) has likely added more abilities to his arsenal.

#### Dark-Dark Fruit

*Main article:* *Dark-Dark Fruit*
The **Dark-Dark Fruit** (ヤミヤミの実, *Yami Yami no Mi*; literally meaning "Fruit of the Darkness-Darkness") the Logia-class Devil Fruit, which was stolen by Joker and eaten by Teech, allows him to create, control, become the element of darkness and manipulate gravity, shown as an ebbing shroud of darkness, shown to possess a strong gravitational pull, thus making him a **Darkness Human** (闇人間, *Yami Ningen*). Teech also demonstrates that the "darkness" is a void which devours anything, able to pull in (much in the manner of an actual black hole), and crush his surrounding environment into a pile of rubble. Due to the Dark-Dark Fruit's gravitational ability, Blackbeard does have a certain but strong disadvantage; while using his "absorbtion" or gravitational abilities, he becomes temporarily unable to disperse to non-solid and let attacks simply pass through him, drawing the attacks faster towards himself instead, meaning he takes equivalent or more damage than a normal human would.

However, Blackbeard states that the deficiency this presents is well worth the advantages the fruit bestows upon him, such as the ability to "absorb" certain projectiles and then hurl them back at his foes using moves like "Liberation". The second, and the most frightening power of the fruit is to nullify other Devil Fruit abilities through physical contact, allowing Teech to physically hit Ace, whose body was composed of intangible flames, and injure Luffy, whose body was made of rubber. Teech states that this is because the Dark-Dark Fruit truly holds the power of the devil. As such, Blackbeard's style revolves around getting close to his enemy and grabbing them, canceling out any defensive abilities they have, forcing their own natural resilience to take Blackbeard's massive strength.

Blackbeard must, however, physically touch his enemy to cancel out their powers. This puts him at a huge disadvantage against enemies he cannot reach out and grab, even more so when the enemy can hurt him at a distance. However, this weakness can be rectified somewhat by his signature technique "Black Vortex", which utilizes his suction powers to drag his opponents towards him. This technique opens up another weakness since right after he uses it he is left open for an attack at close range.

##### Techniques

The named techniques that are used by Blackbeard that involve the Devil Fruit are as follows:

* **Black Hole** (ブラック･ホール, *Burakku Hōru*): Blackbeard spreads his darkness over a large area and, much like an actual black hole, swallows up anything he chooses. When swallowed, the person or object is subjected to a large amount of gravity and crushed, such as an entire castle and forests of Thriller Bark. This technique was first seen as it was demonstrated in front of Trace.

* **Liberation** (リベレイション, *Ribereishon*): Used following **Black Hole**, Blackbeard expels all of the destroyed remains of what his darkness had swallowed up at once. This is especially good at demonstrating his power. This was first seen being demonstrated before Ace. In the anime, Teech foreshadowed that this attack can possibly be used to launch cannon balls and swords like projectiles.

* **Black Vortex** (くろうず, *Kurōzu*; literally meaning "Dark Water"; phonetically read as "Black Spiral"): Extending one arm towards his opponent, Blackbeard activates the gravity power of his darkness to pull them into his grasp. Blackbeard can then attack them with his massive strength. This move is particularly useful when used in conjunction with the fruit's power-nullifying abilities, since the target could easily avoid it by fighting at a distance from Blackbeard, as Ace attempted. This was first seen being used on Ace in order to grab him. However, this technique has also proven to be a great weakness, as most opponents he draws near him have attacked him while at close range, such as Ace launching two fiery spears into Blackbeard's chest, or Whitebeard slamming his bisento into Blackbeard's shoulder. The name of the attack is also a pun on the English word "close", and it can also mean "black vinegar", a vinegar commonly used in Chinese cooking.

* **Black World** (ブラック･ワールド, *Burakku Wārudo*): Blackbeard covers the area surrounding his opponent in darkness, blocking their vision. This attack was shown and named in *Fairy One Piece Tail: Pirate Wizard*.

* **Black Opening** (闇開, *Yamiagari*; literally meaning "Dark Opening"): Similar to a unique combination of **Black Hole** and **Liberation**, Blackbeard draws surrounding enemies into a pool of darkness in front of him before ejecting them, causing heavy damage in the process. The attack first appeared in *One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2*, and is also in *One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3*.

* **Dark Matter** (ダーク・マター, *Dāku Matā*): Blackbeard creates a big ball of darkness and throws it at his opponent. This attack was shown and named in *One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2*, and is also in *One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3*. This attack is very similar to the unnamed one Teech used against Ace's Flame Emperor at the end of their battle.

#### Tremor-Tremor Fruit

*Main article:* *Tremor-Tremor Fruit*
The **Tremor-Tremor Fruit** (グラグラの実, *Gura Gura no Mi*; literally meaning "Fruit of the Tremor-Tremor") the most strongest Paramythia-class Devil Fruit, which was taken from Whitebeard by Teech through means unknown, create shock waves by shattering the air itself, creating devastating earthquakes that can destroy the Navyford main building itself, which thus making him the new "**Tremor Human**" (震動人間, *Shindō Ningen*). He can also focus his quake powers into a "quake bubble" on his fist, greatly increasing the damage in a single punch. He acquired this fruit after wrapping a black tarp over himself and Whitebeard. The process of how he got it is still unknown.

The nature of Devil Fruits is to pass into a nearby fruit and become edible once again when the user dies, but this process is still not fully explored, and somehow he was able to stop this from happening. Being able to contain two powers at once is entirely unexplained.

Teach acknowledged that he still does not have full control of his new destructive power though, so he does not have as much skill as Whitebeard with the abilities involved. This was, perhaps, first demonstrated when he chose not to directly confront Akainu, despite having two Devil Fruit powers at his disposal, whereas Whitebeard himself confronted the admiral directly. This strongly insinuates a difference between the skills of both Blackbeard and Whitebeard at wielding the fruit's powers initially.

However, it should be mentioned that Blackbeard, who has a much more careless and vicious personality than Whitebeard, can be considered as a far greater threat to the world than Whitebeard himself. A perfect example of this is when Marshall D. Teech was creating random earthquakes to test his acquired power in Navyford. He also sent a giant tsunami towards Sabaody Archipelago without even realizing it.

#### =Techniques-

The named techniques that are used by Blackbeard that involve the Devil Fruit are as follows:

* **Seaquake** (海震, *Kaishin*; literally meaning "Seaquake"): Blackbeard literally "cracks" the air with a punch and sends devastating shock waves through the air in the direction it is facing. These shock waves can pass through and damage almost any substance, tearing it apart.

* **Oscillating Throw** (兜割, *Kabutowari*; literally meaning "Helmet Break"): Blackbeard focuses all of his great power to a single point, otherwise known as a hypocenter (given the appearance of a bubble of sorts), to make a concentrated, explosion-like attack.

* **The Man who Shakes the World** (島揺らし, *Shima Yurashi*; literally meaning "Island Shaking"): Blackbeard "grabs" an entire area, by grabbing and pulling on the air around him as if it were tangible, and rapidly shifting it. Using this, he was capable of tilting the entire island and the sea around it. This technique was capable of destroying buildings and throwing a giant off of his feet in the process.

### Haki

*Main article:* *Haki*
Teech has mentioned Haki on multiple occasions.

On Jaya, he first hinted at his use of Haki to measure Luffy's Haki. He used it again in a similar circumstance to measure the growth of Luffy's Haki during the *Impel Down Arc*, stating that Luffy's Haki had grown since they had last met.

### Weapons

When the Roger Pirates battled Shiki and his crew and Edd War, he is seen with metal claws on both of his hands. Seeing their shape, he most likely used them to give Shanks and Rex their scars.

He has three flintlock pistols tied in his sash, and was seen using them when dealing the deathblow to Whitebeard along with the other Blackbeard Pirates. His accuracy with them is not completely shown, as he was only seen emptying his ammunition into Whitebeard at point-blank range yet Whitebeard was still briefly alive.

## History

### Past

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.

At some point, He meet Sylvester Clown and began to form a close relationship with each other. Blackbeard aspires to become the King of the Pirates. In order to do this, he wanted the Dark-Dark Fruit. He and Sylvester spent 3 years, studying and memorizing the shapes and colors of all the Devil Fruits that was ever been discovered from an old encyclopedia book they found.

#### Riding with Roger

At no older than 16, he joined the Roger Pirates on the same day as Rex, Shanks and Buggy, while he sent Sylvester to the Whitebeard Pirates to search for it, thinking that one of those pirate crews would have been the best chance they had of obtaining the fruit that way. When they were not fighting, He and Rex constantly argued over everything imaginable (in the flashback in the manga and the anime alike, they argue over whether the North or South Pole is colder). Despite the difference between them, both pirates still stayed together for some strange reason while they were on board the ship.

Twenty-six years before the storyline, Roger was found to have a disease that was incurable. For the next three years, Roger explored the Grand Line. Before the Roger Pirates went into battle with the Gold Lion Pirates at Edd War, Buggy was the only one in the crew to suggest surrendering. It is unknown what Buggy did during that battle, but the Roger Pirates triumphed. After Roger became King of the Pirates, he ultimately disbanded his crew in secret a year before his death. One by one the crew disappeared.

#### Rivalry and Betrayal

A year later, Teech, Buggy, Rex, and Shanks, attended Roger's execution in Roguetown, and Shanks and Buggy wept at his captain's death while the reactions of Rex and Teech was unseen. After attending the execution, Teech began to showed his resentment towards Rex and began telling him about his plans that he was going to be the new King of the Pirates. Teech told his former friend and rival to kill him if he wanted to stop him or Teech would do as he pleased. Teech's arrogance lead both him and Rex into a fight (and Shanks hurrying in to aid Rex after hearing them fighting each other), leaving Teech injured and beaten, Rex with an "X" shaped scar on his chest, and Shanks with the 3 scars across his left eye.

One day, Sylvester came back to Teech one day and then gave him the Dark-Dark Fruit, the very reason the two joined two separate pirate crews for, giving Blackbeard the power to gain a crew of his own, begin his own open acts of piracy makes him ambitious dreams come true and recruited Sylvester a part of his crew with a nickname of his own "Joker".

Blackbeard and Joker then assembled the Blackbeard Pirates, composed of Raffit, a former policeman from the West Blue and the crew's navigator, Van Ogre the crew's sniper, G. Zass Burgess the helmsman, Doc Q the crew's doctor, and Stronger, Doc Q's horse. Some time after, his pirate crew pillaged the Drum Kingdom, causing its king, Wapol, to flee and ironically liberating Drum Kingdom from Wapol's tyranny.

## Synopsis

### *One Piece*

#### Before the Timeskip

##### Sky Island Saga

###### Jaya Arc

After Luffy defeated Crocodile in Alabasta, Laffitte nominated Blackbeard to become one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea to take Crocodile's place. The World Government declined as Blackbeard did not have any reputation.

In a bar, Luffy and Blackbeard sit next to each other and both suddenly made a remark about the cherry pie being served to them. Noticing that both their remarks oppose one another, Luffy and Blackbeard decided not to mind each other and just drink some soda. After drinking the soda, they both once again made opposing remarks. Really noticing each other this time around, both of them were starting to get mad at the other's preference. The two then decided to have some food for take out, with Luffy ordering pieces of meat and Teech ordering cherry pies. However, upon learning the number of food that the other was ordering, the two started competing about who can order more. At this moment, Luffy and Blackbeard decided to fight each other over the meaningless argument. Not wanting any trouble in his tavern, Terry gave Teech his pies and requested his departure. As Blackbeard was leaving the tavern, Bellamy entered much to the other customers' surprise.

After Luffy and Zolo took a beating by Bellamy, Blackbeard told Nami that Skypiea exists. He then asked why Nami was sad when there was nothing to be sad about since Luffy and Zolo won that fight. Blackbeard said that the "new age" they talk of was nonsense and laughed that the age in which pirates dream will never end. While he went on with his speech, everyone wondered what he was yelling so loudly for. Blackbeard said that some battles are pointless and laughs. He later left and wished the Straw Hats good luck on their trip to Sky Island. Blackbeard then laughed, saying that his rum tasted good.

After learning his identity, Blackbeard planned to capture Luffy, who had a 100,000,000 berry bounty on his head as well as Zolo, who had a 60,000,000 berry bounty. While the Straw Hats were preparing to ride the Knock-up Stream, he approached the crew on his raft-esque ship and showed the new bounties. Before he could capture Luffy and Zolo, his ship was destroyed when the Knock Up Stream shot the Straw Hats into the sky.

##### Water 7 Saga

###### Post-Enies Lobby Arc

Blackbeard and his crew were seen again on Banaro Island. After pillaging a town, Blackbeard read a newspaper about the Enies Lobby incident and remarked that Luffy's bounty will surely rise.

##### Thriller Bark Saga

###### Thriller Bark Arc

Just when they were about to engage all witnesses on Thriller Bark, including the Straw Hat Pirates and take an unconscious Luffy, Ace appeared and challenged them.

Blackbeard called him commander, but Ace told him to save it. Blackbeard continued to act friendly, saying it had been a long time since they have seen each other, but Ace reminded him that he killed one of his comrades and doing so is unforgivable. Blackbeard then offered Ace to join his crew, saying they would be invincible if he joined. He then went on to say that the reign of Whitebeard will soon end and their first step was Monkey D. Luffy. He suggested Ace to come with him to kill Luffy, but Ace said that Luffy is his brother and outright refused to join his crew.

Van Ogre attempted to shoot Ace who retaliated with Higan and shot fire bullets rapidly at Van Ogre. G. Zass Burgess tossed an entire house at Ace, but it was easily burned by a Fire Pillar. Blackbeard yelled at Ogre and Burgess, telling them that Ace was way out of their league and that they should fall back. Suddenly, Ace used Fire Fist to burn Blackbeard. Blackbeard managed to survive the attack and got back up. Joker defended his captain, admitting that he killed Thatch as he had the Devil Fruit that Blackbeard had been searching for. He recognized the fruit Thatch was holding since he had researched for three years the size and shape of the fruit. He revealed that he was sent by Teech to spent decades on Whitebeard's ship, because they knew one of them would had a better chance of finding the fruit. Joker waited there for so long until it finally came to him in his commander's hands. Blackbeard said that getting the Devil Fruit was his fate, and with it, he will be the greatest. His hand began to dissolve into darkness as he said that even for a Logia, this fruit is very special. His whole body began to radiate in a black glow as he said that he is "darkness".

Ace questioned Teech's Devil Fruit abilities, but Teech stated that his fruit, the Dark-Dark Fruit, is said to be the strongest of the Devil Fruits and that Ace cannot kill him. Meanwhile, rest of the Blackbeard Pirates were fleeing, saying that Teech was about to go wild. Blackbeard sent tendrils of darkness in every direction, enveloping the above surface of Thriller Bark. Teech explained that his darkness is infinite gravitation that sucks everything in including light. Ace commented that the darkness was not approaching him, but Teech stated that he was not attacking yet, but he was merely demonstrating. Suddenly, Teech activated his "Black Hole" and sucked all of the ships's center contents, including its castle and forests, into his darkness, making them disappear. Teach stated that the darkness will draw in any object and crush it and proceeded to tell Ace that he would show him Thriller Bark in its ruined form. Teech then used "Liberation" to send the ruined pieces of the area flying out into a ring around them. The Thriller Bark Victim's Association and the Straw Hat Pirates were stunned by the destruction of Thriller Bark, but Teech simply bragged about his ability.

However, he realized too late the small points of flame from Ace's "Firefly" which exploded, coating him in flames. While Teech rolled around in pain, Ace stated that he understood the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit, but said that if Teech was a logia, he should have been able to avoid his attack. The darkness quickly absorbed the flames, and Teech stood back up, saying that his fruit's ability can suck in everything, including punches, thunder, bullets, flame, and especially pain, meaning that he's unable to fend off attacks like other Logia temporarily. Disregarding this side-effect, Teech stated that there was one more thing he could do and proceeded to drag Ace towards him with gravitation. Seizing Ace's shoulder, Teech stated that Ace must have noticed the ability and punched Ace hard in the stomach.

Ace was sent flying as Teech commented on how long it must have been since Ace was last punched. Teech explained that he can suck in the "devil's power" so that while he is touching a Devil Fruit user, they cannot use their powers. Teech stated that he has gained a power that cannot be defended against for Devil Fruit users who overrate their abilities. Ace replied that he could only neutralize Devil Fruit powers as long he touched the user. Teech stated that Ace could not escape and dragged him forward with his gravity again. Ace launched two flaming spears that pierced and burned Teech's chest, but Teech landed a powerful slamming punch that nearly broke Ace's neck. Crossing his fingers, Ace fired a flaming cross, but Blackbeard merely grinned. Van Ogre commented that he had thought that a Devil Fruit user would be weak and powerless without his ability, but that Ace's basic fighting power was amazing and had earned him a spot as Whitebeard's division commander, which was another one of fate's crossroads. The civilians watched as their island was destroyed and Banana Rock fell, stating that no human could do this much damage and put their entire island at risk.

Ace fell as Blackbeard stated that nothing stands a chance in front of darkness. He then gave them an ultimatum: give him Luffy, and he would let them live and also offered Ace another opportunity to join his crew as it would be a waste of his strength if he were to die. They and Ace all refused, saying that if he gave in, there would be no point in living. Teech laughed, saying that survival is what matters in the world. Ace then gathered fire around him before forming it into a large flaming orb. Teech stated that only one of them could win while Ace declared his desire to make Whitebeard the king. Their attacks collided, engulfing a portion of the island (in the anime, the entire island was affected), but with no shown result. The only hint was Ace's trademark hat lying on the ground. This incident was described as the trigger for a later event coming soon.

##### Summit War Saga

###### Amazon Lily Arc

He answered the call of the Seven Warlords of the Sea to battle Whitebeard and was joining the war. He was later shown dining with the other Warlords, except for Jimbei and Boa Hancock.

###### Post-War Arc

Blackbeard made his move in the New World, defeating Jewelry Bonney in the process. At a burning island, the crew was seen bickering amongst each other. The Blackbeard Pirates' raft was brought close to the point of destruction due to San Juan Wolf's size, and they seemingly got in contact with the Marines to trade Bonney for a battleship. Teach said Bonney was too weak to survive in the New World. He offered her the chance to be his woman and let her stay, but she turned him down, kicking him in the head (due to only her hands being tied up). Van Augur alerted Teach that the battleship arrived, but not for trade because Akainu was on board. Knowing that the deal would not happen, the Blackbeard Pirates fled, leaving Bonney and her crew behind to be arrested.

#### During the Timeskip

One year after the war at Navyford, the Blackbeard Pirates fought against the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates and ultimately won.

Blackbeard used his knowledge of Whitebeard's former territory to conquer it and become one of the Four Emperors. During this time, Teech also expanded the crew into a fleet, and with it the hierarchy of the crew was also changed - promoting all of his crewmates to "captains" of their own respective ships, while Teech himself ascended to the newly-formed position of "admiral", giving him command over all the captains and their ships. The Blackbeard Pirates are currently in the process of hunting down powerful Devil Fruit users in order to absorb their abilities.

#### After the Timeskip

##### Dressrosa Saga

###### Dressrosa Arc

During the tournament for the Flame-Flame Fruit at Dressrosa, Teech was heard discussing the possibility of recruiting Kuzan to join their crew with G. Zass Burgess via Transponder Snail, to which Burgess asserted that the former admiral could not be trusted. When Burgess announced that Luffy had arrived, Blackbeard greeted the young pirate and voiced surprise that he was a combatant as well. Knowing why Luffy entered the tournament, Teech assured him that Burgess would be the combatant to obtain the Devil Fruit and that it would be the same as having Ace join his crew since the latter rejected his previous offer. Luffy then angrily stated that he would never allow him to steal Ace's power.

##### Four Emperor Saga

###### Zou Arc

The Blackbeard Pirates later attacked Baltigo, the Revolutionary Army's headquarters. Baltigo was destroyed by the time the Navy and Cipher Pol arrived but the revolutionary army was able to escape. However, Blackbeard and his crew fled after briefly clashing with Cipher Pol.

###### Reverie Arc

As the news of Luffy's exploits at Totto Land spread across the world, Teach read the newspaper and laughed while commenting that it was too soon for Luffy to be called an Emperor.

## Battles

### Canon

* Roger Pirates vs. Whitebeard Pirates (several times offscreen)
* Roger Pirates vs. Golden Lion Pirates (details unknown)
* Marshall D. Teech vs. Shanks (details unknown, yet left Shanks with his scar on his left eye)
* Marshall D. Teech vs. Monkey D. Rex (details unknown, yet left Rex with his scar on his chest)
* Blackbeard Pirates vs. Drum Kingdom (Won)
* Marshall D. Teech vs. Sirkees (Won)
* Marshall D. Teech vs. Portgaz D. Ace (Won)
* Blackbeard Pirates vs. Impel Down Guards (Level 1; Won)
* Marshall D. Teech vs. Hannyabal and Bazooka Unit (Won)
* Marshall D. Teech vs. Monkey D. Luffy (interrupted by Jimbei)
* Blackbeard Pirates vs. Magellan (Lost)
* Blackbeard Pirates vs. Magellan (second time, off screen)
* Marshall D. Teech vs. Edward Newgate (Lost)
* Blackbeard Pirates vs. Edward Newgate (Won)
* Blackbeard Pirates vs. Fleet Admiral Sengoku (Interrupted)
* Blackbeard Pirates vs. Bonney Pirates (Won)
* Blackbeard Pirates vs. Whitebeard Pirates (under Marco) (unseen, during timeskip)
* Blackbeard Pirates vs. Revolutionary Army (unseen)
* Blackbeard Pirates vs. Cipher Pol (unseen)

## Translation and Dub Issues

Also, it should be noted that though his epithet, "Kurohige" is translated universally as "Blackbeard", a more accurate translation would be "Black Facial Hair" as the Japanese language uses the word "Hige" to refer to all facial hair, regardless of whether it is a full beard or just a mustache.

## External links

* Marshall D. Teech *One Piece Encyclopedia*

## Notes & Trivia

* In the film *One Piece Film: Strong World*, a man who looks just like Blackbeard is seen among the Golden Lion Pirates, with the only visible difference being his teeth.
* In *Chapter 581*, when addressing the prisoners of level 6 of Impel Down, he is shown with a full mouth of teeth. This was likely a mistake on Oda's part.
* Blackbeard's favorite food is pie.
* Curiously, in *One Piece: Grand Data File*, that covers from the *East Blue Saga* to the middle of the *Jaya Arc*, Teech is not revealed as either Marshall D. Teech or Blackbeard, but as "Cherry Pie Man", a regular customer of the Mock Town Pub.
* Teech is the only known person to serve as both a Warlord and later a Emperor.
* He is the only known Emperor to once serve under another Emperor's crew.
* In the 5th fan poll, Teech ranked 67th.
* Blackbeard's hobbies are gambling and researching history.
* Blackbeard was indeed a real pirate who lived during the golden age of piracy. However, his real name was Edward Teach and not Marshall Teech. The first name was given to Edward Newgate.
* Blackbeard's original name was supposed to be, **Everything D. Teech** (ティーチ・D・エブリシング, *Eburishingu D. Tīchi*), may come from 17th-century English pirate Henry Every, famous for becoming the richest pirate in the world at the time and getting the highest bounty in history placed on his head.