Blackbeard

Biodata

Power Progression

Appearance

Blackbeard has a huge, disproportionate build, with a broad, muscular upper body and short, thin legs. His initial appearance is rough and shabby; after his territorial expansion, he adopts an extravagant outfit worth tens of millions of Beli 562 736.

• Face and hair: Dark skin, missing teeth, messy hair, and small, sly eyes 562 567.
• Chest: Dense black chest hair, usually exposed by his half-open shirt 562 567.
• Early clothing: Worn headscarf, white shirt, and black coat 562.
• Jewelry: Two necklaces, bracelets, and a different jeweled ring on each finger; later wears costly diamond rings and a splendid cloak 562 736.
• Belt: Carries three pistols on his left side and a bottle of strong rum on his right 562.

Personality

Blackbeard combines enormous ambition with patience and calculated deception. For years, he hides behind an honest, dependable persona aboard Whitebeard’s ship. He conceals his acquisition of the Magma-Magma Fruit and waits for an opportunity to obtain the Dark-Dark Fruit before leaving the crew 619 680.

He willingly retreats or accepts humiliation when survival demands it. On Drum Island, he threatens villagers to interrupt Ye Chen’s pursuit; later, he lets Bellamy strike him with a bottle rather than retaliating. Kuro identifies this willingness to swallow insults as a sign of a dangerous enemy 568 569 574.

His loyalty is subordinate to his ambitions. He murders Thatch for a Devil Fruit and regards companions as tools to discard once they cease to be useful. Strength governs his recruitment, although he later gives command positions to established followers because he trusts them more than newer recruits 627 634 736.

Blackbeard is also sexually predatory. He demands that Momousagi become his woman and later sexually assaults Lola after she rejects his marriage proposal. His attachment to Luo Lin gives her considerable influence over his plans 659 917.

After obtaining two Devil Fruits, he becomes openly arrogant and convinced that he can rule the world. Defeats by Ye Chen repeatedly expose the gap between that confidence and his actual position, fueling an increasingly bitter desire for revenge 664 815 879.

Abilities & Skills

Physical Combat and Steel Claws

Blackbeard is already a formidable combatant before acquiring either Devil Fruit 568 610.

• Blocks Ye Chen’s Haki-coated kick with crossed Steel Claws and withstands a follow-up attack from Lucci 567.
• Exchanges wounds with Ye Chen during their sword-and-claw duel, initially fighting him evenly 568.
• Destroys a Pacifista prototype with a single strike across its neck and subdues Sentomaru within a few moves 610.
• Is identified as the man responsible for the three scars on Red-Haired’s face 610.
• Struggles against Ye Chen’s unpredictable footwork in wooded terrain; smashing the trees creates fallen obstacles that hinder him further 568.

Magma-Magma Fruit

The Logia Magma-Magma Fruit allows Blackbeard to transform his body into magma and unleash intensely destructive attacks 634 661.

• Body transformation: Turns his entire body—or selected parts—into magma. Luffy burns his hands when striking him without Haki 634 661.
• Hell Hound: A magma punch that blasts craters into the ground and melts surrounding material 634.
• Great Eruption: Produces enormous magma fists capable of destroying ships and clashing with Whitebeard’s attacks 650 688 813.
• Dog Biting Crimson Lotus: Described as his strongest attack during his final battle with Big Mom 970.
• Underground movement and construction: Creates a cavern beneath a battlefield to harvest powers without interruption and attacks Lightman from below 872 873.
• Awakening: Converts surrounding ground into magma, engulfing people, buildings, trees, and rocks 969.
• Limits: Haki-coated weapons can injure him, and sufficiently powerful Haki can stop his magma punches 659 661.

Dark-Dark Fruit

Blackbeard’s darkness draws targets toward him and suppresses Devil Fruit powers 634 661.

• Black Vortex: Pulls enemies into his grasp; he uses it against Luffy, Ye Chen, Whitebeard’s followers, and Pekoms 634 661 736 969.
• Dark Pressure Points: Releases darkness that wraps around Ye Chen and pulls him close 881.
• Power nullification: Suppresses an ability user’s Devil Fruit power while Blackbeard holds them 634 661.
• Battlefield collection: Uses darkness to remove corpses before extracting their powers underground 872 873.
• Drawback: The fruit causes him to suffer twice the damage or pain when struck, producing conspicuous reactions even when he can continue fighting 634 873.
• Limit against non-fruit techniques: Does not prevent Ye Chen from using swordsmanship, Golden Bell Shield, Iron Head Skill, or other martial arts 661 881 882.

Unusual Body and Devil Fruit Hunting

Blackbeard’s unusual body can hold two Devil Fruits. His early investigations on Drum Island reveal a method for hunting powers, with the Dark-Dark Fruit essential to controlling their transfer 618.

• Transfers Whitebeard’s Tremor-Tremor power into an apple beneath a prepared black cloth 696.
• Transfers Sengoku’s power into another apple after killing him 698.
• Harvests Devil Fruit powers from battlefield corpses at Pleasure Valley 872.
• Can obtain fruits for others even when he cannot consume another himself 696.

Haki

• Observation Haki: Detects Ace and his approaching forces during the attack on Storm Island 736.
• Conqueror’s Haki: Releases pressure strong enough to snap branches, flatten grass, and make nearby members of his own crew cough blood and collapse 882.

Endurance and Swimming

• Before eating a Devil Fruit, rows his damaged boat at least a dozen nautical miles during Ye Chen’s pursuit 569.
• Swims several hundred meters in one breath and hides deep underwater, motionless enough that Ye Chen’s Observation Haki cannot pinpoint him 569.
• Survives repeated chest and heart wounds long enough to continue fighting during the Whole Cake Island battle 958 969 970.
• Continues battling Big Mom for hours despite mortal injuries; his berserk state initially makes him stronger rather than weaker 970.
• Has a less resistant body than Kaido: Ye Chen can wound Blackbeard but initially fails to meaningfully damage Kaido 894.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Steel Claws — His principal weapons before acquiring Devil Fruit powers 562 568.
• Three pistols — Carried in his belt during his first Drum Island appearance 562.
• Rum — Carries a bottle at his waist and later drinks heavily after losses at Pleasure Valley 562 884.
• Black cloth and apples — Prepared tools for harvesting Devil Fruit powers from Whitebeard and Sengoku 696 698.
• Log-built vessels — Begins his independent voyage on a raft made from lashed logs; his distinctive log-built ship remains recognizable later 630 811.
• Fleet — Commands more than a dozen large ships during the attack on Storm Island 736.

Relationships

• Ye Chen — Principal rival. Their feud begins when Ye Chen intervenes for Zoro and Kuina. They briefly fight together at Sabaody, but Blackbeard’s betrayal and capture of Ace and Luffy renew their hostility. Ye Chen ultimately joins Law in delivering the fatal attack 567 569 654 811 970.
• Whitebeard — Former captain. Blackbeard exploits Whitebeard’s protection while concealing his ambitions, later kills him, harvests his power, and invades his territory 619 695 696 717.
• Thatch — Former crewmate whom Blackbeard murders to steal the Dark-Dark Fruit 627.
• Ace — Former division commander and pursuer. Blackbeard unsuccessfully invites him to join his crew, then defeats and delivers him to the Marines 634.
• Luffy — Chosen capture target because Blackbeard considers him less risky than Enel. His capture helps Blackbeard enter the Shichibukai 630 634.
• Zoro and Kuina — Their injuries at Blackbeard’s hands trigger his first major confrontation with Ye Chen. Ye Chen initially spares him partly to leave Zoro a future opponent 567 569.
• Kizaru — Former Marine who joins Blackbeard and becomes his vice captain. Both are forced to kneel and kowtow to Ye Chen 812 817 931.
• Luo Lin — Lover, adviser, and later Second Division commander. She encourages his marriage-alliance scheme against Big Mom 874 917 931.
• Lola — Rejects his proposal and is sexually assaulted by him. She resolves to seek revenge and later distracts him to enable Shiryu’s assassination attempt 917 958.
• Big Mom — Intended marriage ally and takeover target. The relationship ends in a devastating battle on Whole Cake Island 917 918 969 970.
• Shiryu of the Rain — Recruited from Impel Down and appointed First Division commander. Later betrays Blackbeard by stabbing him in the heart and joins the effort to stop his escape 663 736 958 968.
• Trafalgar Law — Opponent in the final battle. Repeatedly attacks Blackbeard’s heart and coordinates the finishing strike with Ye Chen 969 970.

Division Commanders

Blackbeard organizes his expanding crew into ten divisions modeled on Whitebeard’s organization. The later roster’s listed commanders and vice captain have combined bounties exceeding eight billion Beli 736 931.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Drum Island and the Beginning of the Feud

Blackbeard secretly visits Drum Island to investigate Devil Fruits. After severely injuring Zoro and kicking Kuina away, he faces Ye Chen and Lucci. Although initially competitive with Ye Chen, he loses ground when the fight enters the woods and resorts to threatening villagers to secure his retreat 562 567 568 569.

Ye Chen pursues him across the sea, defeats him again, and leaves him barely alive. He spares Blackbeard partly because he believes Zoro would want to settle their conflict himself. The humiliation establishes a lasting feud 569.

Still wounded, Blackbeard forces a clinic to prioritize his treatment over a patient undergoing surgery. During another encounter with Ye Chen, he affirms that Sky Island exists and refuses to retaliate against Bellamy’s mockery 574.

Acquisition of Two Devil Fruits

Blackbeard fights alongside Ye Chen at Sabaody. After Akainu’s death, he searches for the transferred Magma-Magma Fruit and eventually discovers it by chance 610 618 811.

He returns to Whitebeard’s ship and conceals his new power. When Thatch finds the Dark-Dark Fruit, Blackbeard murders him, steals it, and flees. His newly formed crew then departs Mock Town to obtain research materials on Drum Island and capture Luffy 619 627 630.

Capturing Ace and Luffy

Blackbeard targets Luffy as a route into the Shichibukai. When Burgess proves unable to defeat him, Blackbeard intervenes with magma and darkness. Ace arrives to protect his brother and confront Blackbeard over Thatch’s murder 631 633 634.

After a battle lasting nearly half a day, Blackbeard defeats Ace and captures both brothers. He hands them to the Marines and successfully joins the Shichibukai 634.

Impel Down and the Summit War

Blackbeard attacks Marine vessels and forces his way into Impel Down despite his Shichibukai position. Ye Chen interrupts his assault on Chaton and Momousagi, then fights him directly 650 659 661.

In the Infinite Level, Blackbeard makes prisoners fight to the death, allowing only each cell’s final survivor to join him. He leaves with powerful recruits including Shiryu, Catarina Devon, Vasco Shot, and Sanjuan Wolf, avoiding further confrontation when the Five Elders arrive 662 663.

At Marine Headquarters, his crew emerges from hiding and fights Whitebeard. Whitebeard initially maintains the advantage and kills Burgess, but Blackbeard eventually kills his exhausted former captain. He harvests the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, then kills Sengoku and harvests his power as well 686 689 690 695 696 698.

Territorial Expansion and Defeat at Sea

After Whitebeard’s death, Blackbeard invades his former territory. Within days, his crew captures more than a dozen islands and nearly half of Whitebeard’s holdings, recruits additional fighters, and establishes ten divisions. He then launches an assault on Ace’s base at Storm Island 717 736.

Later, Blackbeard surrounds Ye Chen’s ship, expecting to avenge his earlier defeats. Instead, underwater torpedoes and Ye Chen’s manipulation of ships and waves devastate his fleet. With escape blocked, Blackbeard and Kizaru kneel, kowtow, and call Ye Chen “Grandpa”; Ye Chen then orders his allies to attack rather than release them 812 813 815 817.

Pleasure Valley

Blackbeard enters Pleasure Valley to exploit the fighting and harvest powers from fallen combatants. His ambush of Lightman draws additional enemies into the conflict, while Luo Lin joins him and asks him to avenge her losses 871 872 873 874.

He fights Ye Chen again, suffering a sword through the chest and unleashing Conqueror’s Haki. The duel returns to a deadlock. After losing Devon and Doc Q, he withdraws and directs his anger toward approaching warships commanded by Iron Wolf 879 881 882 883 884.

Marriage Scheme and Death on Whole Cake Island

Recognizing that his forces remain weaker than those of the other Emperors, Blackbeard accepts Luo Lin’s proposal to marry into Big Mom’s family and seize her organization from within. He proposes to Lola, assaults her after her refusal, and approaches Big Mom with the marriage arrangement 917 918.

Lola later distracts him while Shiryu stabs his heart. As the situation collapses, Blackbeard tries to escape but is surrounded by Ye Chen, Law, Shiryu, and hostile forces. After another heart wound from Law, he goes berserk and reveals his awakened magma power 958 968 969.

Blackbeard battles Big Mom for hours, killing or injuring numerous opponents. Mountain Saffron pierces his heart before dying from Blackbeard’s counterattack. Finally, Law strikes with High-Frequency Gamma Knife while Ye Chen uses Star-Absorbing Art on his back; already exhausted and repeatedly mortally wounded, Blackbeard begins to shrivel under their combined attack 970.

Notable Quotes

“Sky Island exists. Only people without dreams refuse to believe it.” 574

“Patience is one thing I’ve got plenty of!” 680

Trivia

• His characteristic laugh is “Zehahaha” 562 634.
• He accidentally eats animal droppings along with the Magma-Magma Fruit and unsuccessfully tries to vomit afterward 618.
• Unlike his original-story counterpart at the Whitebeard confrontation, this Blackbeard already possesses both the Dark-Dark Fruit and Akainu’s Magma-Magma Fruit 688.