The Blackbeard pirates (黒ひげ海賊団, Kurohige Kaizokudan) are fictional pirates from the anime and manga One Piece, led by Blackbeard.

Their captain, Blackbeard was originally a member of Whitebeard’s band of pirates (and Ace’s subordinate) until he quit and killed a crewmate, heading out on his own and forming his own crew. Blackbeard is now one of the Shichibukai, and is searching for high bounty heads to defeat in order to make a name for himself.

The first time the crew is mentioned is by Dalton. They are said to have ransacked the kingdom of Drum, and upon seeing their immense power, king Wapol, fled without even fighting back. In Alabasta, when the Straw Hats meet up with Portgas D. Ace, it is revealed that Ace is hunting him down for what he did to his crewmates.

The crew marks its first visual appearance in Jaya, where they are playing “games” of fate, such as handing out explosive apples to shooting birds to see which ones die quickly and testing strength. When Luffy meets Blackbeard himself in a bar, they at first seem to have the exact opposite opinions. While Luffy hates the bar’s pie, Blackbeard loves it, and while Luffy loves one of the bar’s drinks, Blackbeard hates it, which leads to them challenging each other to a fight, but they decide not to go through with it when Nami points out that they are fighting for no reason. Later on, after the Bellamy Pirates taunt them for believing in Sky Island, Blackbeard assures the Straw Hats that it does exist and in response to the notion of the “New Age”, states that people will never stop dreaming. Because of this, it is not yet known whether Blackbeard is truly evil or just misguided. When Blackbeard finds out about Luffy’s high bounty, he and his crew try to capture him, but the Straw Hats are launched into the sky by Knock-Up Stream before they can make an attempt.

Recently the entire Blackbeard crew, including Laffite, have finally encountered Ace. Ace defeats them easily, but Teach reveals his devil fruit. Ace and Blackbeard both battle, and Blackbeard clearly has the upper hand, but the fates of both pirates are unknown after two of their powerful attacks collide at the end of the battle. Ace’s hat lying on the ground at the end of the battle is said to be a likely signification that Blackbeard had won the battle {this is supported by how Kuma asks Nami about Ace and then speeks with Gecko Moria about Blackbeard becoming a shichibukai and since one needs a reputation to become one the only logical reason is blackbeard killing ace.}.

According to Van Auger, they are also not too far from Enies Lobby. It is still unknown at this time if they will still continue to pursue Luffy, though it’s quite possible considering Blackbeard’s hidden agenda that Shanks and Whitebeard discussed. Currently, Blackbeard is attempting to become, or is, more powerful than even Whitebeard.

While their role so far has been that of secondary villains, it seems clear that they will play a major role sometime in the future.

Blackbeard’s flag is that of three skulls–one looking left, one looking forward, and one looking right.

The crew’s ship is a giant raft with no extras except a number of cannons in the center of the logs. During the Jaya arc the ship was torn apart by Knock Up Stream, But considering it was made of logs and the fact Blackbeard and his crew are on the move it’s possible the ship was repaired, or they found a replacement.

Marshall D. Teach

Captain

Also known as blackbeard Teach betrayed Whitebeard’s crew to form his own, ironically it was called the blackbeard pirates. Teach posseses great strength, comarable to that of a shichibukai, and has eaten the Yami Yami No Mi (dark dark fruit). he has been accepted to join the Shichibukai.

Jesus Burgess (ジーザス･バージェス, Jīzasu Bājesu), nicknamed “The Champion”, claims himself a champion because he stands on top of buildings and challenges random people to fights. He appears to be based off of Mexican wrestlers, as both his name and face mask are Spanish in origin. He is extremely strong, enough to shrug off Ace Hiken (Firefist) blast and to fight Ace by throwing a building on him. He has also shown to be quite level-minded and serious, as he berated Blackbeard for his easy-going attitude after the crew’s failure to capture Luffy, ironically similar to Zoro.

His name is perhaps based on that of real life pirate, Samuel Burgess. In the English version of One Piece: Pirates’ Carnival, he has been named G. Zass Burgess. In the funimation dub, his name is pronounced as “hay-soos” instead of “gee-sis”

Van Auger

Sniper

  • Seiyuu: Masaya Takatsuka
  • Voice Actor (FUNimation): ?

Auger (ヴァン･オーガー, Van Ōgā), nicknamed “The Supersonic”, is first seen in the Jaya arc shooting down seagulls from a distance so far that the Straw Hat Pirates, who were watching, couldn’t even see the island he was on. When fighting Ace, he moved and shot extremely fast. This was shown when he hit 2 shots on Ace in a second (1 on his forehead and other in his chest) and then escaped from Ace’s fire shots. His velocity can be compared to that of Usopp’s. Van Auger appears calm and analytic even during battle as he deduced that words couldn’t calm Ace and he was the first to attack. Auger comes from Auge, the German word for eye, and can also derive from the real life pirate, John Auger.

In the English version of One Piece: Pirates’ Carnival, Van Auger has been named Van Ogre.

Doc Q (ドクQ Doku Kyū) is the crew’s doctor, though ironically, he has a weak body and needs his horse, Stronger (who is just as sick) to get around. His nickname is ‘Shinigami’ which literally means God of Death. Most fans however refer to him as the ‘Grim Reaper’. He meets Luffy, Zoro, and Nami during the Jaya arc, while in Mock Town. After the Straw Hats help him get back on his horse, he offers Luffy an apple from the basket he is carrying. Unbeknownst to Luffy, Doc Q had been offering explosive apples to other pirates in Mock Town, who would then explode once they ate it. Luckily for Luffy, he picks a dud, and Doc Q tells him he is very lucky before riding off. Strangely, he is seen rowing on Blackbeard’s ship, even though his body is supposedly sick and weak. Also, in the manga, both him and Stronger are seen swiftly running away from Blackbeard’s and Ace’s climatic fight, with the rest of Blackbeard’s crew (In the anime Doc Q passes out while running and is carried by Burgess, then Stronger passes out seconds afterwards, annoying Burgess). While he didn’t fight Ace, Doc Q (and Stronger) easily shrugged off one of Ace’s attacks.

Lafitte (ラフィット, Rafitto) first appeared when he joined, unannounced and uninvited, at the meeting of the Shichibukai and the Marines to determine the replacement for Sir Crocodile in order to recommend his captain. He used to be a policeman in West Blue, but he became a pirate after being exiled from the police force and West Blue for being excessively violent and cruel. He is incredibly pale and sickly looking, and is usually tap-dancing, even when walking or running. Despite these impediments Lafitte is shown to be very stealthy and agile, as not even “Hawkeye” Mihawk noticed him before he spoke up (a remarkable task, for he wears tap-dancing shoes). While dodging Ace’s Hiken he used a move similar to Soru showing his agility.

His name may have been inspired by Jean Lafitte, a famous real-life pirate.

In the English version of the PS2 and Gamecube game, One Piece Pirates’ Carnival, Lafitte is named Raffit. Most likely since Montblanc Cricket’s changed name {Monbran Cricket} was kept in the funimation dub, Lafitte’s english dub name will probably be kept was Raffit.

Blackbeard pirates are much stronger than normal pirates depicted so far in the story. Van Auger shot a flock of seagulls from a distance so far the Straw Hats couldn’t even see the island he was on. Jesus Burgess is a wrestling champion and won every fight he was in in Mock Town. Laffite was able to sneak into the World Government headquarters of Mariejoa during a meeting between several high-ranking Navy officials and three Shichibukai members completely undetected until he spoke up, a feat made even greater by his wearing tap shoes. The crew captain, Blackbeard, has shown that he is capable of fighting Red-Haired Shanks (who is himself an equal to both Whitebeard and Mihawk, two of the world’s strongest men) and living to tell of it (it was Teach who gave Shanks the scars on his left eye). He also acquired the power of the Yami Yami Fruit, and it has proven to be a uniquely powerful fruit. Lastly, their attack on Drum Island was overwhelming to the point that it forced its king Wapol to flee the country entirely.

They believe heavily in fate and luck, using often cruel measures to see how destiny plays out. One example is Van Auger, who shot a group of seagulls just to see the ones destined to die slow and painful deaths. Another example is demonstrated by Jesus Burgess, who challenges random people to a fight to see who wins. Doc Q also handed out apples in Mock Town to see who was unlucky enough to get ones that exploded after one bite and who did not. Even when they chase after Luffy to the Knock-Up Stream, his escape was put down to fate.

While it has never been stated by Oda where the influence of their flag comes from, the image of the or 3 heads appears as a classic depiction of Cerberus. The three heads of Cerberus are suppose to see the past, the present and the future and Cerberus was also the guardian of the gates of Hades. This happens to tie in with the crews views of fate and destiny as well as their often deadly methods for seeing how fate plays out and may be the reason behind the three skulls. It may also be a depiction of the Moirae, the three goddesses of Fate.

All members of the crew appear to be massive humans, not unlike Aokiji or Whitebeard. Initially Lafitte was thought to be roughly the size of a normal human male but his most recent appearance revealed him to be nearly as tall as Teach. In addition, all of the crewmembers (save for Doc Q) are named after real life pirates.

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