Marshall D. Teach

Personality

“ This "New Era" they talk about is shit. The age where pirates dream is over!? Eh!? Oi! Zehahahaha... THE DREAMS OF MEN... NEVER END! AM I RIGHT!?

— Blackbeard's opinion on the "New Era" that Bellamy and Donquixote Doflamingo boast about.
”

Like many people who carry the initial D, Blackbeard believes heavily in fate and the dreams of men, much like Luffy. He is a very amoral man, which makes him believe that there is neither inherit "good" nor "evil" in the world. He is a strong and fierce fighter, seemingly unafraid of anything, including death. He appears to have a happy-go-lucky, carefree attitude.

He is also patient and conniving, having spent decades on Whitebeard's ship just to get his hands on the Devil Fruit he wanted, before leaving the crew. During his raid on Impel Down, he stated that his plans have flaws, indicating that he cannot make exactly perfect plans, but is willing to admit his own faults.

Despite his cruel and amoral nature, Blackbeard has shown to care for his crew mates, even to the point of shielding them from Ace's attacks (despite the fact his Devil Fruit power actually intensifies his body's damage). Despite the fact that he defected from his Whitebeard Division, Blackbeard appears to still retain some respect for his former commander Portgas D. Ace to some degree, having attempted to recruit him prior to their duel in Banaro, as well as frequently referring to him as his commander.

Also, despite his encouragement of pursing dreams, he seems to enjoy mocking others, such as Hannyabal's notion of justice, and Luffy about Ace's impending execution.

He believes that the days of Whitebeard are over and is aiming to become Pirate King like Luffy. He also has an eye for talent and knew Luffy's potential was worth more than the Image:Bsymbol.gif30,000,000 bounty Luffy had at the time of their first meeting.

Blackbeard shows many traits similar to Luffy; such as having a voracious appetite, huge ambitions, a carefree attitude and being captain of a small but powerful crew. He also believes that all men should chase their dreams.

While Blackbeard has great endurance to physical attacks, he tends to scream out in pain regardless, such as being burned by Ace and poisoned by Magellan, or a punch from Luffy.

Powers and abilities

Blackbeard has proven to be an extremely strong pirate. He possesses incredible natural strength, evident of his massive build, and similar endurance as he shrugged off one of Ace's attacks. He once fought Red-Haired Shanks and gave him the scars on his left eye, noteworthy as he had not eaten his Devil Fruit yet and Shanks claimed the fight was not a sneak attack.
“ Whitebeard... I have... gone through many battles and suffered various wounds. But what aches now is this one...!!! This is not a wound from the adventure. Nor did I get it from "Hawkeye"... Your man "Blackbeard" Teach, was the one who inflicted this wound...!! And it is not like I was careless or anything.

— Shanks's explanation to Whitebeard on how he got the scars on his left eye
”

One of the most impressive feats he committed is that he defeated two commanders of the Whitebeard Pirates, Portgas D. Ace and Thatch, when few other people would even dare touch a member of the Whitebeard Pirates for fear of incurring their Captain's wrath. He also seems to have some knowledge of Haki (commenting that Luffy's spirit has improved).

However, Blackbeard has shown the habit of conversing with his opponents, leaving his guard down. This often gives a ridiculous impression of himself.

Devil Fruit

Blackbeard has eaten the Devil Fruit Yami Yami no Mi. With it, he can manipulate gravity, shown as an ebbing shroud of darkness. Teach demonstrates that the "darkness" is a void which devours anything, able to pull in (much in the manner of a black hole) and crush his surrounding environment into a pile of rubble. Due to the Yami Yami no Mi's gravitational ability, Blackbeard, unlike every other Logia user, cannot let attacks simply pass through him, meaning he takes damage like any human would but two times more powerful. He compensates for this one major flaw with his massive strength and endurance.

However, Blackbeard states that the risk this presents is well worth the advantages the fruit bestows upon him. The second, and most frightening power of the fruit is to nullify other Devil Fruit abilities through physical contact, allowing Teach to physically hit Ace, whose body was composed of intangible flames, and injure Luffy, whose body was made of rubber. Teach states that this is because the Yami Yami no Mi truly holds the power of the devil.