Chapters · Water Seven › Post-Enies Lobby

Chapter 440: Fire Fist vs. Blackbeard

Arc: Post-Enies Lobby · Saga: Water Seven · Released:

Summary

After Enies Lobby, the Straw Hats’ new bounties ripple across the world. A tour of the crew’s hometowns shows the reactions: the Baratie cooks howl at Sanji’s terrible wanted-poster sketch; Windmill Village frets over Luffy’s 300-million bounty and the “family crazy for three generations”; Syrup Village celebrates Usopp’s 30-million and reproduces the Sogeking mask in clay; Koushirou recalls Zoro at the Frost Moon dojo; Genzo enlarges Nami’s poster at Cocoyasi and renews his graveside vow to protect her smile; and at the Sakura Kingdom, Dr. Kureha shows King Dalton Chopper’s “pet” bounty. At the Revolutionary HQ Baltigo, the great revolutionary Monkey D. Dragon reads of his son’s exploits — the crew’s combined bounty is now 667,000,050 — and vows that the day will come when they meet. Three days earlier on Banaro Island, Portgas D. Ace finally catches up to Marshall D. Teech (Blackbeard), now a pirate captain. Blackbeard offers Ace a partnership to conquer the world; Ace refuses because Blackbeard plans to murder his brother Luffy. When Blackbeard’s crew attacks, Ace unleashes his fire, and Blackbeard reveals his motive and his power: he killed the Fourth Division Commander Thatch for a Devil Fruit he had hunted for decades — a rare Logia of darkness. As the chapter closes, Blackbeard rises from the smoke: “You may be fire… but I’m made of darkness!”

New reveals

• The Straw Hats’ total crew bounty is now 667,000,050 berries (p. 9); they have become a gang “the government cannot ignore.”
• Dragon’s full name “Monkey D. Dragon” appears on a name-caption at the Revolutionary HQ (p. 10) — “World’s Worst Criminal / The Great Revolutionary.”
• The Revolutionary HQ is Baltigo, the Island of White Soil (p. 9); the Revolutionary Army is winning conflicts worldwide (South Blue’s Centaurea, the North Blue) (p. 9).
• Banaro Island (Grand Line) is the site of the Ace–Blackbeard confrontation (p. 11).
• Blackbeard = Marshall D. Teech, captain of the Blackbeard Pirates, canonized on a name-caption (p. 11).
• Blackbeard killed Thatch, Whitebeard’s Fourth Division Commander, to steal a Devil Fruit he had searched for “all his life” (p. 17).
• Blackbeard stayed on Whitebeard’s ship for decades, memorizing the Devil-Fruit identification manual to recognize the one fruit he wanted (p. 17).
• Pirate custom stated: “the one who finds a Devil Fruit has the right to eat it” (p. 17).
• Blackbeard’s fruit is “a rarity even among the Logia fruits” — a darkness Logia (power shown pp. 18–19; the fruit is not named on-page).
• Blackbeard’s stated plan: become King of the Pirates, then kill Luffy at Water Seven and present him to the government “as a gift” (p. 13).
• Dalton is now King of the Sakura Kingdom (former Drum Kingdom) (p. 8).

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

• Banaro Island: Ace, Blackbeard (Marshall D. Teech), Van Augur, Jesus Burgess (“Ogre” Burgess), Doc Q · Blackbeard Pirates
• Baltigo: Dragon (Monkey D. Dragon) · Revolutionary Army
• Hometown tour: Zeff, Patty, Carne (Baratie); Woop Slap (Foosha/Windmill Village); Kaya, Onion, Pepper, Carrot (Mink), Merry (Syrup Village); Koushirou (Shimotsuki/Frost Moon dojo); Genzo, Nojiko (Cocoyasi Village); Dr. Kureha, Dalton (Sakura Kingdom)
• Named / referenced (not shown): Luffy, Sanji, Usopp, Zoro, Nami, Nico Robin, Tony Tony Chopper, Garp, Dadan, Thatch, Whitebeard, Water Seven, Enies Lobby
• Groups: Straw Hat Pirates (worldwide bounty fame), Whitebeard Pirates (Thatch / decades context)

Notable panels

• p. 1 — Chapter-title page “FIRE FIST VS. BLACKBEARD,” doubling as the cover-story art: Eneru’s Great Space Mission, Vol. 10 — “Lieutenant Spacey is killed by a space pirate.” .
• p. 2 — Narration: after Enies Lobby “everyone in the world will know about the Straw Hat Pirates”; the Baratie cooks laugh at Sanji’s sketch-poster (“Black-Leg” Sanji, 77,000,000).
• p. 7 — Genzo’s vow at Bell-mère’s grave: “If you do anything to take away Nami’s smile… I will come to kill you!”
• p. 9 — Total Straw Hat bounty: 667,000,050 berries; Revolutionary insurgency news.
• p. 10 — Full-page Dragon name-caption: “Dragon (Monkey D. Dragon) — World’s Worst Criminal — The Great Revolutionary.”
• p. 11 — Blackbeard named on-caption: “Head of the Blackbeard Pirates, Captain Marshall D. Teech.”
• p. 17 — Blackbeard confesses to killing Thatch and explains the decades-long fruit hunt.
• pp. 18–19 — Blackbeard’s darkness power debut: ”…But I’m made of darkness!”

Open questions raised

• What is the darkness Logia fruit Blackbeard ate, and why was it worth decades of waiting and a murder? (Name not given on-page.)
• How does a fire Logia (Ace) fare against a darkness Logia (Blackbeard)?
• When and how will Dragon and Luffy finally meet?
• Who is Dadan, referenced by the Windmill Village residents in connection with Garp’s care of Luffy?