Arguably the main villain of the series' final arc, Blackbeard is a character despised by all. Marshall D. Teach, aka Blackbeard, is the captain of the Blackbeard Pirates in One Piece, a former member of the 2nd Division of the Whitebeard Pirates, and, like Luffy, aims to become the Pirate King; he is also the Emperor of the Sea and a former warlord of the sea. In terms of his actions and especially his values, Blackbeard is often the exact opposite of Luffy, which is why people hate him so much. In this article, we will focus on his crew and explain the meaning of the Blackbeard Pirates' Jolly Roger (flag).

Blackbeard's Jolly Roger is a simple black flag with three scowling skulls: one facing left, one facing forward, and one facing right. There is also a set of intersected bones, more than the usual two. The exact symbolism of the flag has not been explained, but people speculate that it might have something to do with Blackbeard's multiple personalities or his Devil Fruits, but nothing has been proven.

The rest of this article will tell you a little more about the Blackbeard Pirates, as well as some theories surrounding their Jolly Roger. As we said, nothing has been confirmed on this aspect, so the Jolly Roger remains a mystery, but there are a few theories, and we'll present them here. Some minor spoilers may be present.

The Blackbeard Pirates are hated by everyone

The Blackbeard Pirate Gang is the pirate gang led by Marshall D. Teach, also known as Kurohige. The gang first appears after Blackbeard escapes from Whitebeard's band of pirates after murdering Thatch to take his Yami Yami no Mi. His escape takes the gang to the ancient kingdom of Drum, which then causes the king of the country of Wapol to flee with his army and the last of the doctors. The gang continues on their way, which, like the Mugiwara Gang, eventually leads them to Jaya.

While Laffitte is at Mary Geoise to propose Blackbeard as Sir Crocodile's replacement as Warlord of the Sea, Blackbeard sees Luffy's bounty of 100 million pounds and decides to capture him and Zoro, who is in the running for 60 million pounds; he believes capturing them both would benefit him. Luffy's gang escapes from Blackbeard and his crew with the Knock Up Stream, which takes them to Skypiea while Blackbeard's raft is sunk due to the natural disaster.

Just before the fall of Enies Lobby, the gang encounters Portgas D. Ace, tasked with avenging Thatch's death. The captain manages to surprise his former commander with his dark powers, capture him, and hand him over to the Navy. Protected by Blackbeard's status, the gang remains intact and, just hours before Ace's scheduled execution, captures a Navy warship and takes them to Impel Down, where Luffy attempts to free his brother.

The gang "likes" Ace to his younger brother, who attacks Blackbeard out of anger but is stopped by Jinbe. After Blackbeard's gang reaches Level 4, they encounter Naval Prison Warden Magellan, who unceremoniously poisons everyone with his Devil Fruit powers and then leaves them alone.

Alongside Marshall D. Teach, other members of the Blackbeard Pirates include Doc Q, Stronger, Laffitte, Jesus Burgess, Van Augur, Shiryu, Sanjuan Wolf, Vasco Shot, Catarina Devon, Avalo Pizarro, Kuzan, Kikipatsu, Maki and Tori.

Theories surrounding the Blackbeard Pirates flag

Now, as we said above, Blackbeard's Jolly Roger is a simple black flag with three scowling skulls: one facing left, one forward, and one facing right. There is also a set of cross-sectioned bones, more than the usual two. The flag looks like this:

Now, this flag has a rather unusual structure, and its exact symbolism has not (yet) been explained. If you know your One Piece Jolly Rogers, you will certainly know that this one is specific in more ways than one, and many fans are actually wondering what it means, why it has so many bones and why there are three skulls on it. , as well as what the skulls represent. Eiichiro Oda has not provided us with an official explanation, but there are some theories surrounding this.

The first theory suggests that the three skulls represent Blackbeard's multiple personalities. Namely, Luffy, on one occasion, referred to Blackbeard as them and not him, suggesting that there are more personalities inside that large body, more than one. Furthermore, on several occasions, Blackbeard has been depicted as lacking teeth (one or two, depending on the drawing) or as having all his teeth. This may simply be a drawing error on Oda's part, but it could also be a hint and a symbolic representation of the three Blackbeards that actually exist. This is the first theory.

The second theory states that the three heads symbolize Blackbeard's three main victims. One would represent Thatch, Blackbeard's first major victim and from whom he stole the Yami Yami no Mi. The second would represent Whitebeard, whom Blackbeard killed and from whom he also stole the Devil Fruit, while the third would represent an as-yet-unknown victim whose Devil Fruit Blackbeard might also steal in the future.

This would also somewhat fit the mold, since Blackbeard had already broken all natural laws by having two Devil Fruits, which was explained by the fact that he likely split his soul in two; with a third Devil Fruit, it would also complete the symbolism of his flag since he would likely have to split his soul into three parts.

Devil Fruits are also often used to explain the meaning of the flag, with each skull representing a Devil Fruit that Blackbeard has or will have in the future. This one seems a bit far-fetched, but when you combine it with all the others, they make for a pretty neat story. There is also a theory suggesting that Blackbeard ate something called the Cerberus Devil Fruit, but there is no specific evidence to suggest this theory could be true.

So, as we said, the first three theories make for a pretty good story, to be honest, and they might actually explain the symbolism of Blackbeard's flag. But, knowing Eiichiro Oda, it's not unlikely that he'll either give us some completely random explanation that makes sense but has absolutely nothing to do with any of these theories or that he'll never give us an explanation at all, probably because there's no exact story behind the flag.

Regardless, Blackbeard's Jolly Roger will remain one of the most specific in the series. Fans will have to speculate a little more about its symbolism before Oda reveals it, if he even decides to do so. Perhaps there will be an SBS episode where he'll be asked to explain its meaning—who knows? Until then, we hope you enjoyed our essay and that it helped you better understand the issue at hand.