One Piece has one of the most infamous and iconic rogues’ galleries in all of anime. Almost every single arc comes with a central antagonistic figure who often turns out to be a brilliantly written villain, one that provokes strong emotions from fans of the series, whether it’s hatred or even admiration. One such villain that fills these boxes is the legendary Marshall D. Teach, or as he’s more commonly known, Blackbeard.

Blackbeard has been terrorizing One Piece for quite some time now. Getting his start as a crewmember of the legendary Whitebeard Pirates, Teach has since then moved up the ranks due to his cunning, ruthless nature, and overpowered abilities to become an Emperor of the Sea. However, he and his true abilities largely remain a mystery, but this one theory seeks to explain everything about him, so let’s take a look at it.

A Brief History Of Blackbeard

First Appearance: One Piece, Episode 146, “Stop Dreaming! The City of Ridicule, Mock Town!

Debut Date: February 23, 2003

Story Arc: Jaya Arc

Making his debut in the series quite early on, the first mention of Blackbeard was that he was a character that Ace was after for some reason. However, it wasn’t until the Jaya arc that fans would first catch a glimpse of the towering man who gave Luffy, Zoro, and Nami some encouraging words before departing. This man was later revealed to be the infamous Blackbeard.

People’s dreams… never end!

Teach started his career as one of the very first members of the Whitebeard pirates but got kicked out after killing his crewmate, Thatch, to come into possession of the Dark-Dark Devil Fruit. Since then, Blackbeard has formed his own crew and has become one of the most notorious pirates in the New World, going from a simple upstart to a Warlord, to finally becoming an Emperor of the Sea.

The Chimera Theory

Blackbeard’s first-ever interaction with Luffy and his crew on Jaya remains one of the most important ones when it comes to him as a character. After meeting the pie-eating pirate outside the bar, he offers the Straw Hats some valuable advice about how Skypeia may actually exist and the importance of one’s dreams, alluding to his mysterious ambitions at the time. What truly stuck out was the end of the conversation, where Luffy and Zoro corrected Nami by saying it wasn’t ‘him’ they spoke to, it was ‘them’.

While most thought of this as a throwaway line about how the Straw Hats were speaking about his crew, it was later revealed that they were actually talking about Blackbeard only. This made fans theorize that Blackbeard was, in fact, multiple people inhabiting one body instead of just one person! This is a theory that makes a lot of sense, considering all the proof that is available to see, such as the symbolism of Blackbeard himself.

When Blackbeard’s ship was shown, his Jolly Roger was that of 3 skulls. The symbolism of 3 exists all around this villain, as he is always seen with it in one way or another. Examples of this are the 3 skulls on his flag, the 3 guns he carries on his person, 3 of his teeth missing at any moment, and 3 knots on his beard, among others. The main driving force behind this theory is that Blackbeard’s body is made up of 3 people.

It has been noted several times in the story that no one can eat multiple Devil Fruits as the toll would be too much for the body to handle and they would die as a result. However, Blackbeard seems to be an exception to this rule, seeing as how he has his own Dark-Dark Fruit as well as Whitebeard’s Tremor-Tremor Fruit. This anomaly was stated by Marco, who claimed that Blackbeard’s body is unique for some reason, which may be how he can have the power of 2 Devil Fruits simultaneously. There being multiple people within his body could explain this.

That’s true for normal humans… but, as you know, Teach isn’t normal! His body is… odd. Maybe that explains it.

The Cerberus Fruit Theory Supports This

Another wildly popular theory among fans is that of Blackbeard’s hidden Devil Fruit. This states that even before he ate the Dark-Dark Fruit, Blackbeard secretly ate the Inu Inu no Mi, Model: Cerberus, a Mythical Zoan Fruit that, mirroring the legendary creature it’s named after, creates 3 souls within its user. This theory holds some merit when one examines Blackbeard’s journey.

This is because, as of now, the Devil Fruits that he is confirmed to have are the Dark-Dark Fruit and the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, a Logia Type and a Paramecia Type respectively. Since these are some of the strongest fruits in their categories, it would make sense for Blackbeard to also own a Mythical Zoan Fruit to complete the trend, which the Cerberus fruit can easily do since it’s very strong due to being a Mythical Zoan and can possibly give Teach the ability to house many souls to eat multiple Devil Fruits. Like this, Blackbeard will have a Devil Fruit from all 3 categories!