 Buccaneer, Kraken or Cerberus, three people in one body or a new race entirely. Marshall D. Teach, also known as Blackbeard, has been the source of intrigue and mystery for as long as we've known him. Since his introduction, we were told that there's something not quite right about his body, something that he proved when he managed to eat a second devil fruit and then lived to tell the tale, a man who doesn't sleep and hasn't been able to since he was a child. And now, as of chapter 1107, we also know that Blackbeard is of a special lineage. Well, what does that mean? Lucky for you, you have me, your resident One Piece nutjob who likes to discuss these mysteries as much as you do. So, put on your evil mastermind thinking the hahaha hat. We're going speculating. But before we do, make sure to hit subscribe because if you do in fact love One Piece discussions, then this is the channel for you. So let's go through what we know about Blackbeard, especially what makes him different and so odd. It was revealed in his Vivricard that Marshall D. Teach was born in the Grand Line growing up as an orphan. Buggy noted in chapter 966 that Blackbeard is known for never having slept in his entire life. Seemingly providing an explanation for a drawing of a young Blackbeard that Oda included in SBS volume 63 where we see Blackbeard as a child crying underneath the moonlight. Suggesting that rather than Blackbeard choosing not to sleep, he is physically incapable of doing so. It's more of a curse than Blackbeard's choice. Hence the young boy is upset, frustrated at his insomnia. Or it could just be that Blackbeard witnessed something traumatic, a core defining experience that would shape who Teach would become as a person when he grows up. He wasn't orphan after all, maybe it's a glimpse of how he became to be an orphan. But I am getting a little bit too ahead of myself so more on that later. We also saw in chapter 225 both Luffy and Zoro commenting that Teach is not just one guy, there's more than one. In chapter 577, Marko also noted that Blackbeard has an odd body, that Teach isn't normal. Which is Marko's theory for how Teach has been able to eat two devil fruits, the yami yami no mi, and then also the gura gura no mi, successfully taking Whitebeard's devil fruit even after having his own, despite the fact that we were told that eating more than one devil fruit would surely lead to that person's death. Fans have also noticed that the way in which Oda draws Blackbeard changes from time to time, most notably the number of teeth he's shown to have varies every so often, but also his personality, bouncing between cowardly and overconfident, being at times reckless, other times shrewd and intellectual. And now, we know that he comes from some sort of special bloodline. And these unique characteristics of Blackbeard have resulted in many speculations over the years. Given his Jolly Roger features three skulls, we've also been expecting that this number three will be significant to his character, in particular that he will acquire a third devil fruit, if he doesn't have one already, or that he's actually three people in one man's body. There are also some other popular theories such as the possibility that he's a kraken, or has a kraken devil fruit, or that he's a Cerberus, or has a Cerberus devil fruit. Both these ideas stemming from the fact that Octopi and the Cerberus have three hearts or three heads, respectively speaking. I've also seen the idea that it's Blackbeard's yamiyami no mi that has allowed him to eat Whitebeard's gura gura no mi, the nature of his original devil fruit, meaning that he was able to effectively cancel out Whitebeard's so that eating a second devil fruit doesn't have the same effect on his body. And now, more recently, ever since the introduction of a new race in the buccaneers, the possibility of Blackbeard also being part of this near extinct buccaneer race has also been very popular. And I too have shared my thoughts on this question of what Blackbeard's true nature might be on more than one occasion. I've once speculated that Blackbeard might actually have the hitohitonomi model devil, or akma, meaning devil in Japanese. And in a very recent video, I also considered whether Blackbeard really could be a buccaneer. And while I won't rule that out completely, I can't say that I'm personally convinced that Blackbeard is a buccaneer, especially because of Saturn's words in chapter 11107, because now that we know that Saturn knows of Blackbeard's special heritage, if he knew that Blackbeard was also a buccaneer, then he wouldn't call kuma the last of his kind, because the buccaneers clearly aren't extinct. But the purpose of this video isn't just to discredit other speculations, and I will share links in the description of both videos where I've discussed Blackbeard and his particular nature in the past, so feel free to watch those after you finish this video because I go more in depth there. But for the purposes of this video, I have to say that the dialogue in chapter 11107 has gotten me thinking about this mystery from a very different perspective, and so a very different speculation. Firstly, I want to premise the discussion with this. The choice of the word lineage or bloodline is very interesting because I think that that term specifically has a lot of implications. Now I know I may be reading too much into this, it is after all just one word, and who knows if we're even reading it accurately because translated, it could mean something different to what order intended in Japanese. Which is why I did actually dig deeper into this, which basically means I consulted our resident Japanese speaker, Sekaiichi-san. And according to Mr. Sekaiichi, as far as I understand, that word is usually used for familiarity or family line. It does not feel to have a race connotation. The first kanji means blood, and the second means muscle, but can also mean line. Which is actually just what I wanted to hear because that's the feeling I got while reading the chapter. The popular ideas about Saturn's dialogue is that this suggests that Blackbeard really could be part of the Buccaneer race, or it's talking about Blackbeard's family lineage and his family ties. And the feeling I got reading chapter 1107 was that Saturn was referring to Blackbeard's family line, that he was referring to Blackbeard's ancestry, unique family ties as opposed to Blackbeard belonging to a particular race. Which doesn't necessarily mean that Saturn couldn't at all be referring to Blackbeard's race because your species slash race definitely affects your genetics and lineage. But the use of bloodline, as it appears to be in Japanese, that I would imagine was used to denote something quite specific, as if Blackbeard came from a special family. And you could actually compare this to when Saturn talks about kuma belonging to the Buccaneer race, for example. Because here he uses the word clan, denoting a larger group of people than just one family line because he's talking about a whole damn race, like you would about an ethnicity, not just one particular family bloodline. Or when Big Mom invites King to join her crew because she's particularly interested in his Lunarian heritage, she uses the word race. Again, because that's the standard terminology for a whole race of people. Like I said, I might be thinking about this and looking into it way too deep, but can you blame me? This is one piece we're talking about. The series is a trove of minute details that have significant meaning. And I did admit that I was a nut job at the very beginning of this video, so I'm just going to roll with it. So assuming that Saturn was specifically referring to Blackbeard's ancestry, then who or what family could Saturn have been talking about? Well, the first and the most obvious one that I'm sure comes to everyone's mind is Rocks D. Zabeck. In addition to all the unique facts about Blackbeard that makes him so mysterious and intriguing that we've mentioned so far, the man also clearly has a connection to the legend Rocks D. Zabeck. Blackbeard's ship is called the Saber of Zabeck and these two are the two sore thumbs of the D clan that stick out. Oh my god, are there actually only 10 D clan families? Did that analogy make total sense? Goldy, Monkey D, Rocks D, Trafalgar D, Nefertari D, Podcast D, Marshall D, Jaguar D, and Joy Boy D? Okay, no, that doesn't count. Damn it, only eight. Man, that would have been so awesome otherwise if it totally made sense, but still, you know what I mean. Well, all the others known to belong to the D clan are portrayed to be the good guys of the story. Blackbeard and Zabeck are the only two who have been suggested to be evil or bad D clan members. Not to mention that this relationship between the two figures was explicitly hinted by Oda himself. In the Road to Laugh Tale series, supplementary material that was released about One Piece, Oda teased the possibility of a connection between Blackbeard's ship being named Saber of Zabeck, signifying a deeper relationship to the legendary figure. So then, what is this relationship between Zabeck and Blackbeard? Well, how about father and son? Now let me explain why. Firstly, Blackbeard is 40 years old, only one year older than Shanks, and two years older than the events of God Valley, meaning that if Zabeck died during the God Valley incident, as we've been told, it makes sense that he would have left behind his son, Teach, becoming orphaned as a toddler, or at least losing his dad because he could have still had his mother, but then again, this is One Piece we're talking about, where moms are almost nonexistent. But in all seriousness, this would be a great way to deepen the parallel and rivalry between Shanks and Blackbeard, because we know Shanks is somehow related to figureland garling, a figure who seems to have been very important during the God Valley incident, perhaps even being the one that killed Rocks D. Zabeck, whereas Blackbeard would be Zabeck's son. But then why is his name Marshall D. Teach? Well, it seems like Zabeck was public enemy number one during his heyday, meaning that following his father's death, Teach's mom or someone looking after Teach might have changed his name to hide his relationship to Zabeck because they knew that it would place the young boy in danger if the world government or other people that Zabeck wronged were to find out that Zabeck had a child, so Rocks D. Teach became Marshall D. Teach, maybe Marshall could actually be his mother's name. And then this would bring about an interesting connection to podcast the Ace, Ace who took on his mother's name, keeping his father's name a secret. And another parallel between Ace and Blackbeard being that while Ace grew up despising being Roger's son, self loathing and blaming his father, it seemed like Blackbeard would have grown up hating and blaming the world, setting the goal to avenge Zabeck and take on his will, glorifying his father more than anything. And this connection between Ace and Blackbeard would also mean that these two were almost destined to fight. And not just Blackbeard and Ace, but also Blackbeard's ultimate fight with Luffy, this dynamic being a reflection and a repeat of history to when Roger and Garp fought against Zabeck, which I also think is a more nuanced approach to the idea of a rivalry spanning generations, rather than Ace, Roger's son being the chosen one and being Blackbeard's ultimate rival, it's Luffy, despite the fact that it was suggested that the rivalry was greater between Zabeck and Roger rather than Zabeck and Garp. Another detail from chapter 1170 that tipped me off to the possibility of Blackbeard being related to Zabeck in addition to Saturn's dialogue was actually Caribou's interactions with the Blackbeard pirate captains. I know Caribou being a fanboy isn't anything new, we've known that he was a Blackbeard supporter for some time, but the level of his fanboying, mirroring Bartolomeo's adoration and worship of Luffy really left a big impression on me, because it suggests that Blackbeard seems to have this level of impact on other people similar to how Luffy does, because it's been commented that Luffy's greater skill is his ability to make friends and inspire followers, but Blackbeard also seems to have this charisma, which would make total sense if he was Zabeck's son, because we would have to imagine Zabeck also likely had this sort of effect on people, given his worthy followers and crew, all legends who could have been fearsome pirates on their lonesome, but all chose for some reason or another to follow Roxy Zabeck. Not to mention Van Gogh's statement in Chapter 1107 that the Blackbeard pirate's plan and goal is world domination, which on a side note I got total chills reading that panel, but it's also obviously the same dream that Zabeck had. According to Sengoku, Zabeck was relentless in his pursuit of becoming the king of the world. Something else that could also suggest the close relationship between Blackbeard and Zabeck is that Oda stated in an SBS that if Blackbeard was living in the real world, his occupation would be archaeologist, which on another side note, sets off all sorts of alarm bells for Robin, our in-series archaeologist, who many have already voiced concerns that the Blackbeard pirates would be coming after the Straw Hats to kidnap Robin so that they could read the Poneglyphs, but getting back on track, it's particularly interesting because we know Zabeck was somewhat of an archaeologist himself, or a historian at least, which is close enough in my books. We know Zabeck was researching the world's taboos, which by world government standards, we know to mean digging up the past of the truth of the void century. So, like father like son, and also in that same SBS volume, Oda also revealed that Blackbeard in the real world would be Somalian, which I find quite funny because I get the feeling that Oda's making a reference to the Somalian pirates, which is probably one of the most well-known examples of modern day pirates, and I also think that Somalian pirates get a particularly bad rep. Maybe it's just me, but when we think about pirates from days of yore, I get the feeling that that period, or that history of piracy, is romanticized and glorified. We don't necessarily view it with the same lens of horror and disgust, whereas because of the recency, Somalian pirates feel more evil or dangerous, like their actual bad guys, which is quite fitting because both Zabeck and Blackbeard are obviously singled out as particularly bad pirates, and like I said, the evil members of the D-Clan. I've also recently talked about how Buccaneers are a very particular type or group of pirates or privateers that Oda seems to have drawn from in creating Kuma and the One Piece Buccaneer race, but now it seems possible that he also used the pirates off the coast of Somalia as a particular type of pirates in his creation of Blackbeard, and I know there are more obvious historical inspirations for both Zabeck and Blackbeard. When it comes to martial d'teach, it's certainly clear that Oda was particularly inspired by a very notorious pirate, Edward Teach, who also happened to be known as Blackbeard, and this relationship is actually very interesting because the real life pirate was also known as Thatch, meaning that his name seems to have been used as the basis of Blackbeard, but also Thatch, Blackbeard's former Nakama, whom he killed to steal the Yummy Yummy No Mi, and Whitebeard, or Edward Newgate, from whom Blackbeard also took his Grogro No Mi. So in a way, in a twisted devil fruit gobbling way, Blackbeard has become an amalgamation of three characters, all of whom have ties to the real life pirate, whereas Rox also seems to be based off a real name pirate, Roche Brasiliano, and I won't go through all the similarities or historical details, but one interesting fact is that Roche Brasiliano simply disappeared at sea, his body never to be found, suggesting that he didn't die. I mean I'm sure he did die eventually, he was alive and active like hundreds of years ago, but the myth was that he didn't die and so for the purposes of one piece, maybe Zabeck is also not truly dead. Going back to Blackbeard's weird body and what makes him unique, apart from being related to Zabeck, the whole Rockste family could have some sort of strange physical characteristics, something that allows Blackbeard to house or host Zabeck within him in some way. That way Blackbeard not only carries on Zabeck's will, but is actually literally carrying Zabeck, which I grant is a bit wild, but we do have the funk brothers in one piece, or even if it's not quite literal, I'm sure there's another way that allows Zabeck to be alive via Blackbeard, because imagine if the theory that Blackbeard hosts multiple personalities or specifically three personalities is true, and Zabeck is one of them. Zabeck might be that ruthless and cutting side of Blackbeard, while the real teach is the cowardly and weak persona, never having fully recovered from his trauma of losing his dad and growing up in fear of persecution, whereas Zabeck is that cold-blooded and vicious persona, and the reason why Blackbeard was so specifically after the Yummy Yummy No Mi in the first place is because this was originally Zabeck's fruit, and if it was Zabeck's fruit, it would also make sense how Zabeck was so powerful to get figures like Whitebeard, Big Mom and Kaido and all the other legendary pirates to follow him, and it would also explain why he was considered such a threat that Roger and Garp saw the need to put aside their differences and their ideals to work together to defeat him because we know that the Yummy Yummy No Mi is a broken fruit. Anyways, that's where my head's been at. The more I think about it, the more I think it makes sense that Blackbeard is Zabeck's son, but I guess we never know with one piece, and you guys might have your own ideas, so let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment below. Thank you for listening to one of my ramblings once again, and if you have enjoyed said rambling, then please do subscribe to the channel, I'd really appreciate it. Make sure to also like and click the notification bell, and thank you to all of our Patreon and channel members for always showing your support. This is Joygirl, and I'll see you again soon.