Blackbeard Pirates

Roster over time

Crews are dynamic. Track membership at major era boundaries.

Era: Mock Town reveal (Ch. 234)

Era: Sailing for Enies Lobby (Ch. 434)

• Full early crew shown on-page on a Grand Line island, reading the Straw Hat newspaper and resolving to sail for Enies Lobby / Water Seven to chase Luffy’s rising bounty (pp. 18-19). Members on-page: Blackbeard, Van Augur, Jesus Burgess, Doc Q, Lafitte. Lafitte delivers the “another turn of the wheel of fate” line; the chapter ends with Ace catching up to Teach (“I’ve been looking for you!”, p. 20).

Era: Banaro Island (Ch. 440)

• Crew shown in action at Banaro: captain Marshall D. Teech (full name canonized on-caption), sniper Van Augur, “Ogre” Jesus Burgess, and the sickly Doc Q. Teach reasserts command, scolding his crew for attacking Ace without orders.
• Origin clarified: Teach was a Whitebeard 2nd-Division pirate who killed the 4th Division Commander Thatch for a darkness Logia fruit.

Era: Banaro Island duel (Ch. 441)

• Captain Blackbeard fights Ace one-on-one on Banaro Island and demonstrates the now-named Yami Yami no Mi in full. Two unidentified crew members observe the duel from a distance (unnamed on-page this chapter). The town is destroyed by the fight.

Era: Thriller Bark window — captain appointed Warlord (off-page reveal) (Ch. 474)

• Captain Marshall D. Teech is revealed (via Kuma briefing Gecko Moria) as the new Seventh Warlord, filling Crocodile’s vacated seat — “completely unknown,” original bounty zero, a former Whitebeard Pirates member who “fled from there and proved his abilities before being appointed” (pp. 12-15). The crew is not shown on-page this chapter; the appointment realizes Lafitte’s Ch. 234 Mariejois petition. Cross-link Seven Warlords of the Sea, Blackbeard Appointed Seventh Warlord Replacing Crocodile Bounty Zero.

Era: Impel Down assault (Ch. 542)

• The full crew assaults Impel Down’s front gate (p. 5 silhouette lineup): Marshall D. Teech, Van Augur (top hat), Jesus Burgess (muscle), Doc Q (mounted on his horse Stronger), Lafitte (winged). Stated objective shouted as “LIBERATION!!” — they breach to reach the prisoners. Sets up the crew’s roster expansion via Impel Down’s Level 6. See Blackbeard Invades Impel Down To Liberate Level 6.

Era: Impel Down infiltration — comms severed (Ch. 544)

• The crew presses its Impel Down invasion: smashes the monitor room and severs all communications between the prison and Navy HQ / government facilities, so the breakout cannot be reported out. Teach billboards “a show that will shake the world” within hours; the crew clashes with Luffy’s breakout at the Level 3 stairway and is met by Warden Magellan’s Hydra poison. See Blackbeard Invades Impel Down To Liberate Level 6.

Era: Impel Down invasion — breach to Level 4 (Ch. 543)

• The five-man crew breaches Impel Down from Level 1 up to Level 4 (“There are only five of them!!”, pp. 2, 16-17), cutting down Under Warden Hannyabal from behind. The freed former Head Jailer Shiryu is present at Teech’s side (p. 3); Blackbeard introduces himself to him. Seeds the crew’s Impel Down recruitment. See Shiryu Of The Rain Freed And Sides With Blackbeard At Impel Down.

Era: Impel Down Level 4 — Shiryu allies (Ch. 549)

Era: Marineford arrival (Ch. 575)

• The Blackbeard Pirates arrive en masse at Marineford, emerging from hiding behind the fortress onto the execution platform as Whitebeard lies mortally wounded (pp. 13-15). See Blackbeard Pirates Arrive At Marineford As Whitebeard Lies Dying.
• The crew is now visibly enlarged beyond the original five — including a giant/large member (unidentified on-page, pp. 13-14).

Era: Marineford arrival — Level 6 recruits revealed (Ch. 576)

• The crew arrives at the Summit War aboard the colossal giant San Juan Wolf (“Great Battleship”), escorting three more “erased” Level 6 escapees — Catarina Devon (“Crescent Moon Hunter”), Avalo Pizarro (“Corrupt King”), Vasco Shot (“Heavy Drinker”) — plus former Impel Down Head Jailer Shiryu of the Rain. Pays off the Impel Down Level 6 recruitment seed (Impel Down Level 6 Holds Erased World-Shaking Prisoners).
• Blackbeard reveals the Seventh Warlord seat was only ever a means to open the Gates of Justice and breach Impel Down, then renounces it (p. 5).

Era: Post-War — the ten-strong crew sails the New World (Ch. 595)

• First post-Marineford on-page group scene of the expanded crew: the full ten members sail the New World on a makeshift raft after their ship was damaged (Teech, Burgess, Van Augur, Lafitte, Doc Q + the Level-6 recruits Shiryu, Avalo Pizarro, Vasco Shot, Catarina Devon, the giant San Juan Wolf) (pp. 6–7).
• They bicker openly over leadership (Pizarro: “Let me be the leader!”), grog (Vasco), and clothing (Devon); Teach manages them — “Stop whining, Wolf!… We’re trying to strike a deal here!” This is the crew’s first present-day appearance as the consolidated post-war roster. (Voyage/era beat — current_roster unchanged.)

Era: Emperor-era fleet structure (Ch. 803)

• The crew is now an Emperor of the Sea with a multi-ship structure: Shiryu of the Rain = Second Ship Captain; Lafitte = Fifth Ship Captain (pp. 8-9). Burgess (a Ship Captain) is operating apart, having infiltrated the Revolutionary Army; he phones in the location of the Revolutionary HQ (Baltigo) and tells the crew to raid it for “a ton of weapons.” First on-page evidence of the crew’s numbered Ship-Captain fleet command structure.

Era: Post-War — became a Yonko via the Grudge War (Ch. 820)

Era: Four Emperors saga — Blackbeard’s tribute network surfaces (Ch. 904)

Era: Fullalead — Pirate Island base (Ch. 925)

• The crew is shown at its New World base, the Pirate Island of Fullalead, with the ship-captain command structure surfacing on-caption:
  • Avalo Pizarro — Fourth Ship Captain, “Corrupt King”
  • Catarina Devon — Sixth Ship Captain, “Crescent Moon Hunter” (Dog-Dog Fruit, Mythical Model Nine-Tailed Fox)
  • Shiryu — now invisible via the Clear-Clear Fruit (Suke-Suke no Mi; killed Absalom)
  • Blackbeard — captain, captioned “Emperor of the Sea,” bounty 2,247,600,000 (at this time)
• The crew hunts power-users and keeps corpses; killed Absalom, who “wandered into” their lair. Gecko Moria storms the port hunting Teach + Absalom and is invited aboard Blackbeard’s ship. (evidence_chapters += 0925; the named ship-captains are already in current_roster.)

Era: Post-Wano — Amazon Lily raid (Ch. 1059)

• Raid Amazon Lily to seize Hancock’s Mero Mero no Mi (Catarina Devon present, covets Hancock’s head, p.8); forced to stand down by Rayleigh (p.15); abduct Captain Koby of the Marines (p.17). See Koby Abducted by the Blackbeard Pirates.
• Backstory dropped: Blackbeard became boss of Pirate Island (Fullalead) by toppling Wang Zhi (p.14); recalls his prior debt to Koby from the Rocky Port Incident.

Era: Pirate Island, present — Tenth Ship Captain Kuzan (Ch. 1081)

• Kuzan revealed as the crew’s Tenth Ship Captain (chapter title; p. 7, p. 14). Recruited ~1 year ago at the Pirate Island bar (about a year after his 2-years-ago Fleet-Admiral duel and departure from the Marines); Blackbeard frames it as “an alignment of interests.” current_roster += Aokiji.

Era: Egghead — Devon & Van Augur infiltrate (Ch. 1107)

• Catarina Devon (6th Ship Captain) and Van Augur (3rd Ship Captain) infiltrate Egghead; their “mission” is “complete” and “helped us quite a bit” (specifics unshown).
• Their stated goal, per Catarina Devon: “The world.” (p.16). See Blackbeard’s Bid for Nationhood.
• Van Augur on Blackbeard: “Teech is special. As is his bloodline.” (p.15-16) — the first on-page framing of the multi-fruit anomaly as hereditary. See Van Augur Calls Blackbeard’s Body And Bloodline Special, Blackbeard Multiple Fruits.
• Van Augur warps the pair off (still on the island — “you couldn’t have warped us farther away?”); Caribou trails them, begging to join Teach (p.17).

Era: Elbaf voyage — Fullalead cutaway (Ch. 1126)

• At Fullalead: lost Koby and Gecko Moria, but captured Garp (alive, via Kuzan) and the “three-eyed girl” Charlotte Pudding (pp. 10-13). Catarina Devon returns with a captive; Avalo Pizarro docks ships in island-form; Lafitte runs Mariejois-supply intel through the Umit Shipping Company. Driving a global scramble for the poneglyphs. See Garp’s Disappearance at Fullalead (RESOLVED @1126), Koby Abducted by the Blackbeard Pirates.

Notable events

• Ch. 234 — First on-page full-crew reveal in Mock Town, Jaya (pp. 18–19): “Supersonic” Van Augur (sharpshooter), “Champ” Jesus Burgess (helmsman), “The Grim Reaper” Doc Q (doctor, on his horse — unnamed on-page), and “Blackbeard” Blackbeard (captain). Teach states the crew’s hunting doctrine — “I’m looking for a head worth a hundred million!! I don’t deal with small fry!!” — and sets sail from the same town the Straw Hats just left. The navigator Lafitte is petitioning the Mariejois Warlord summit to make Teach a Warlord (pp. 8–9, 16). Confirms Dalton’s “five pirates” report from Ch. 133.
• Ch. 223 — Teach’s first on-page appearance, pre-crew: a lone shadowed drifter in Mock Town, Jaya. No Blackbeard Pirates crew is shown here; this predates the crew’s formation.
• Ch. 159 — Origin-story canonized on-page. Ace (in Nanohana, identifying Blackbeard, p. 15): “He used to belong to Whitebeard’s Second Division. He committed the worst crime possible for a pirate. He killed a shipmate and jumped ship. He’s been calling himself ‘Blackbeard’ lately.” — first on-page reveal that Blackbeard was a Whitebeard 2nd-Division pirate (under Ace’s command) who murdered a Whitebeard crewmate and defected to start his own captain-tier crew. The Blackbeard name is also canonized as his self-adopted captain-epithet (not his birth-name). Single most load-bearing line for the crew’s origin. Cross-link Whitebeard Pirates (Blackbeard defected from here), Blackbeard Killed Shipmate And Jumped Ship Reveal (new — load-bearing).
• Ch. 154 p. 5 — Ace’s manhunt seeded. Ace is pursuing Blackbeard across the Grand Line (Dalton’s narration to Kureha: “He said he was pursuing Blackbeard… the pirate who ravaged our country.”). The Ch. 133 Drum-conquest deed is the lead that brings Ace through Drum a week before the Strawhats’ departure. Forward-canon: Ace is the Whitebeard-Pirates-Second-Division-Commander hunting his crew’s traitor Blackbeard (Fourth-Division underling who murdered Thatch for the Yami Yami no Mi). See Ace Pursuing Blackbeard Manhunt Doctrine (new).
• Ch. 133 — first reference. Dalton attributes the off-page conquest of the Drum Kingdom (a few months prior to the Straw Hats’ arrival) to a crew of five pirates captained by Blackbeard. The first mention of the name Blackbeard in the series.

Cross-links

• Mysteries the crew is involved in: Blackbeard Multiple Fruits
• Captain: Blackbeard
• Foreshadowing: Blackbeard Five-Pirate Crew Conquered Drum Kingdom Off-Page Debut
• First attributed deed at: Drum Kingdom