Marshall D. Teach

Marshall D. Teach, commonly referred to as Blackbeard, is the Admiral of the Blackbeard Pirates and one of the Yonko who rule over the second half of the Grand Line, the New World. He was once a member of the Whitebeard Pirates' second division until he murdered Fourth Division commander, Thatch for the Yami Yami no Mi, and defected from the crew. He briefly held the position of Shichibukai after handing Ace over to the Marines before resigning upon returning from Impel Down with prisoners from Level Six. Blackbeard is a middle-aged looking man with a massive build (his body is round with relatively thin limbs), a big mouth with several broken or missing teeth (though sometimes he does have a full set; whether this is an inconsistency error made by Oda or part of the story is unknown), 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). 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 captian's coat like a cape. He also has three flintlocks and a flask tied to his sash around his waist. 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. He also wears a new hat with his Jolly Roger embroidered on it.

When the Whitebeard Pirates started protecting Fishman Island, he is seen with metal claws on his left hand. He was seen using a flintlock pistol when dealing the deathblow to Whitebeard along with the other Blackbeard Pirates, and also has three pistols tied in his sash. His accuracy with them is not completely shown, as he was only seen emptying his ammunition into Whitebeard at point-blank range. On Jaya, he first hinted at his use of Haki to measure Luffy's Haki. He used it again in a similiar cirumstance 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. When the Whitebeard Pirates started protecting Fishman Island, he is seen with metal claws on his left hand. He was seen using a flintlock pistol when dealing the deathblow to Whitebeard along with the other Blackbeard Pirates, and also has three pistols tied in his sash. His accuracy with them is not completely shown, as he was only seen emptying his ammunition into Whitebeard at point-blank range. With the newly acquired powers of the Gura Gura no Mi, which is said to be the strongest Paramecia-class Devil Fruit, Blackbeard can create shock waves by shattering the air itself, creating devastating earthquakes that can destroy the Marineford main building itself. 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, though it can be assumed that he used the power of the Yami Yami no Mi in some way to acquire this power. 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. Teach was creating random earthquakes to test his acquired power in Marineford. He also sent a giant tsunami towards Sabaody Archipelago without even realizing it.