Blackbeards secret 3rd devil fruit theory, and his plans to become a unstoppable powerhouse.
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Blackbeard has the mythical Zoan model kraken fruit, and has had it since he was a young boy.
Devil fruits "devils" or "powers" are stored within the heart upon consumption
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a devil fruit ability can be rebirthed or stolen with these 2 rebirth mechanics, 1: when a devil fruit user dies, in time the devil fruit that the person ate gets recycled and transforms THE NEAREST APPLICABLE "ordinary" fruit. (Aka the fruit its based from, some are bananas, apples, oranges. You get the idea. Its always the same) Into the new devil fruit. Or, 2: you cannibalize the previous devil fruit users HEART.
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Aquatic devil fruits DO exist, but are in a sort of Grey area. No fruits directly are full fledged sea creatures like sharks, fish, etc etc, atleast from what ive seen.
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BLACKBEARDS LIFE AND OVERALL PLAN. AND REASONS I HAVE TO BELIEVE THIS THEORY
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none of this is actually confirmed so for term sake ill just say this is my headcanon, but this still isnt based in complete BS, so confirmed or not it has some legitamacy. but just adopt my bias for a sec and let me take you for a ride.
Blackbeard as xebecs child (possibly even xebec himself, but thats a whole nother can of worms) has adopted xebecs ideology and plans on carrying forth his father's will, and achieving what xebec fell short on and was unable to.
Alot of the information about his childhood is uncertain, but at a VERY YOUNG AGE, he definitely had access to advanced research material or probably information taught through word of mouth about the "secret" or truth behind devil fruits, haki, the WG, etc etc.
He is extremely knowledgable from a young age on every subject beneficial to being a pirate.
at some point throughout his early childhood he managed to consume the mythical Zoan, kraken fruit. Whether he came across the fruit by pure happenstance, or more likely if he was given it from god valley, its unclear. ( but im guessing he ate it BEFORE he began education, so that way he planned everything around specifically the kraken fruit he already had.) With this knowledge he deduced that the best possible fruit combination blackbeard needed to achieve his goals were the dark fruit, and the quake fruit. Why those fruits you ask?
Here's why, the kraken fruits main powers is, biologically having abnormal sleep cycles (octopus sleep little to none, and its known that zoans underlying primal traits can appear in their user, so that adds up with blackbeards behavior) a body with 3 hearts (which means 3 devil fruit slots) increased strength and endurance, a gigantic zoan form with 8 suction tentacles, and the ability to shoot out pitch black ink clouds to block out sunlight and visibility.
And what are the fruits he chose?
The dark fruit, which is pretty much one of, if not THE BEST LOGIA FRUITS THAT EXIST, it has the ability to create abyss black holes that consume anything and everything, the ability to NULLIFY others devil fruit powers, and the ability to gravity pull (aka magnetise) someone towards you.
But all these insanely broken powers come with one extremely debilitating, CONSTANTLY PRESENT downside. And thats his logias element weakness. Like crocodile to water, light is the weakness of the dark fruit, its always active, probably even during night (since the moon is just reflecting sunlight) and its CONSTANTLY suppressing his logia, even to the point where even blackbeards normal dark attacks are probably being weakened and cant be used to their full potential, not to mention THE MAIN PROBLEM THIS WEAKNESS CAUSES! He cant even go intangible?!?! So much so that luffy can suckerpunch this guy without haki. Blackbeards yami fruit is CONSTANTLY being crippled. (Thats probably why it hurts like a bitch every time hes hit)
So blackbeards yami is probably the best logia in one piece with a glaring weakness. One that the kraken fruit perfectly has the solution for, the KRAKEN INK CLOUDS TO BLOCK OUT THE LIGHT! Thats why blackbeard probably wanted this logia so bad. This seems like a perfect combination as the kraken thrives in the dark abyss, and has the ink ability to create the ideal environment for battle combined with the yami fruit. And dont forget the kraken has SUCTION TENTACLES! You know what that pairs well with? Gravity pulling someone towards you like a magnet!
And we haven't even gotten to the quake fruit, this reason isnt as complicated but still the best pick for him, so far he has a "mythical Zoan, and a logia" and what better paramecia to add than whats known as "the most strong paramecia in one piece with the power to destroy the world"
and its not like the quake conflicts with his other fruits either, it actually works perfectly, its already the most destructive pick, and what do we always see when people use the quake fruit? They use their arms! So imagine having 8 arms to slam quakes with, with the ability to gravity pull someone in close range, and with the ability TO SUCTION RESTRAIN THEM SO THEY CANT ESCAPE😂
And we know that blackbeard is capable of fully disabling a person's DF ability when he comes in direct contact with touching them, if he has tentacles and suction he can literally subdue any one and pulverise them with quake
this is genuinely the strongest combo in one piece ever, and This is probably why his fighting style with these 2 fruits alone currently looks so uncomfortable and shitty like hes missing a crucial puzzle piece right in the middle between them
If his logia cant even function fully in normal meager sunlight. How else will he overcome the SUN GOD
Blackbeard is a strategist and always plans ahead, aswell as never taking fights he knows he cant 100% win, which makes no sense if sometimes his fights "seem" closer than they actually are, almost like hes acting. whether this is to keep expectations low and have people underestimate him, or its so he doesnt put himself in any dangerous situations to avoid the risk of his zoan form slipping out, i dont know. But he would never take a fight unless the cards are heavily stacked in his favor.
And if youre wondering "if blackbeard wanted to keep his ability to use multiple fruits hidden why did he reveal his 2nd fruit quake to the world?" My guess is for status, influence and recognition, more people become aware of his crew and possibly collaborate or join blackbeard, also increases the eyes the world government/marines has on him with higher bounty more titles. I mean Blackbeards crew literally said it themselves "ready for the show?" this was a big theatrical display he was gonna put on, not just steal the fruit and slink away. Because blackbeard was still considered a nobody he planned to gain All this Without actually revealing the ace up his sleeve the kraken.
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Why i have reason to believe blackbeard has had this kraken fruit basically his whole life? Not much to go off of but heres what we know.
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There have been Mentions by characters about blackbeard seemingly "never have slept in his life" which directly correlates to real octopus biology, with octopus having sleep habits where they need appearingly LITTLE TO NONE spread over time in tiny increments. (Keep in mind this mention is also at a relatively young point in blackbeards life, where he was on whitebeards crew, but not even close to eating the dark fruit yet)
theres also the tease from ODA with blackbeards flag that could symbolize the kraken. A Flag with 3 skull 8 bone "the 3 hearts and 8 tentacles" (its 4 whole bones if you wanna be specific but it clearly appears as 8 and seems awfully deliberate under the guise of it being a octopus. More evidence to support this if you wanna be nitpicky that its 4 bones, is that blackbeards birthday is August 3 aka 08/03 8 tentacles. 3 hearts.
There's also the mentions by marco (whitebeards ship doctor) of speculation about blackbeard teach's, apparently "strange abnormal body" and if thats the secret behind him having multiple fruits. ( which would make sense as blackbeard probably had an abnormal blood pressure and heartrate from the 3 hearts, aswell as other small trace biological traits from him possessing the kraken zoan, (its WELL KNOWN IN ONE PIECE, that underlying zoan primal physical and psychological traits can develop in their users, even in their normal human form), the strange sleep habits teach appears to have, and also his lineage that likely lead to increased durability, strength, among other things)
There's also another potential small tease in the Manga when blackbeard unveils the tarp after he stole whitebeards quake and shows off the power, a marine says "thats Impossible to have 2 devil fruit powers!" And the marine who said that right after blackbeards showcase.... just happens..... to be wearing an octopus on his head!😂
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Why i have reason to believe that devil fruits are stored in the heart and fruit recycling can be either through nearby normal fruit or cannibalizing the heart.
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We know that cannabilizing a person with a devil fruit power can pass on the devil fruit ability as a fact, this was seen when big mom ate mother carmel WHOLE and stole the soul fruit from her, but its unclear which organ houses the fruit as big mom ate carmels entire body.
Then following up, at marineford we see whitebeard with no visible gashes or openings besides a giant hole in his chest get covered with the tarp, then blackbeard unveils with the quake ability stolen. And whitebeard looks visibly the exact same, no new wounds or openings whatsoever. That knocks it down to the devil fruit power being housed SOMEWHERE IN THE CHEST CAVITY! As the brain and elsewhere wouldnt have been possible to access. And it seems pretty obvious and likely that the giant caved in hole perfectly placed at the location of his heart is probably the organ were looking for. And if you need more evidence, remember vegapunks seraphim? They were able to use devil fruit powers from ARTIFICAL GREEN BLOOD THEY MADE! And just wanna clarify, cannibalizing the heart in no way bypasses the natural fruit limit its just a shortcut to eating a devil fruit itself but functionally the same. What this evidence does do however is reinforce the kraken theory, as again, octopus have 3 hearts, which perfectly correlates to the fruits being sourced in the heart and makes sense as the heart is what houses and pumps blood throughout the body.
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Why i have reason to believe aquatic zoans DO EXIST in a Grey area as not any full swimming sea creatures zoans have been found like sharks or something.
Fish fish mythical Zoan model Azure dragon
Rako rako no mi (sea otter zoan fruit)
Salamander salamander zoan model axolotyl.
Salamanders are semi aquatic creatures but still need water to stay in to survive.
Axolotyls are FULLY aquatic creatures, and will DIE outside of water
Fish are FULLY aquatic creatures and will DIE outside of water.
Also wanna clarify i am in no way saying that blackbeards kraken fruit will allow him to defy all devil fruit laws and swim. It didnt allow any of the other aquatic creature zoans to swim and the kraken certainly wont bypass this downside either. Octopus dont even swim, SQUIDS SWIM! Octopus crawl with their tentacles.
I also wanna clarify if were seeing blackbeard with the kraken fruit, him using it on land wouldnt be like a fuckin immobile beached whale. Just as we've seen with the AXOLOTYL (FULLY AQUATIC CREATURE) they fare on land fine.
Random notes too tired to implement
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The type of crew BB has, is similar to xebec, powerful members for one goal, the style they have is also blackbeard leveraging his knowledge to fulfill a niche, they are powerful devil fruit hunters where they either keep the devil fruit for themselves for a crewmate to eat, or they sell it.
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Cereberus fruit is currently taken. And wouldnt work as a last fruit anyway, the theory only functions if blackbeard got his zoan FIRST
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"Its not he its they" this translation pulled straight from the japanese manga is a misunderstanding, they didnt mean the pronouns they, zoro and luffy were referring to blackbeards crew and meant "its not just one / hes not alone"
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The dark fruit isnt a false name secret fruit, its a normal logia, oda wouldnt ripoff the luffy reveal with a copy paste of the exact same thing, and so far there has been no hints to suggest that and it functions as a normal logia.
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I dont believe the source of blackbeards multiple fruit is from the dark fruit, that doesnt explain all the other speculation and reasons to believe something else is behind his multiple fruits, aswell as the fact, if the "3" meant nothing and it truly was the dark fruit. BLACKBEARD WOULD GET WAY MORE DEVIL FRUIT ABILITIES THAN FUCKIN 2.
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Blackbeard didnt feed the fruit to his ring, you can only feed objects ZOAN FRUITS! As zoan fruits have their own will and are capable of activating their ability independent of outside forces. You cant feed an object any other fruit type but zoan.
And for anybody thinking that devil fruits are actually held in the "soul" in punk hazard law swapped Franky into choppers body, and Franky could still use rumble balls and switch zoan forms, and tashigi got swapped into smokers body and could still use the logia.
And for anybody suggesting shadows, luffy in thriller bark got multiple shadows in his body and didnt get any other devil fruit powers, and gecko moria GOT EVEN MORE SHADOWS in his body and didnt get any devil fruit powers.
If the ability to have multiple fruits was dependent on the yami dark fruit, that wouldnt explain all the character and body traits BB had prior to the yami that is leading to why he can use multiple fruits.
Octopus tentacles each have their own brains
Octopus has a denser nervous system which could explain the increased pain he feels as his body has SEVERAL functional neuron clusters (brains) for limbs sending nerve signals
Each limb has fully functional semi brains that can operate on their own, octopus can also fully regrow cut off limbs/tentacles. He already has the most destructive paramecia in the world, so much so that he has to be careful where he uses it as he can fucking sink entire islands if he wants to, imagine him laying out multiple ripped off tentacles everywhere or even keeping them attached and using the quake. This combination is completely perfect for eachother and genuinely gives him the power to defeat imu, decimate marie jois or more and become the most powerful person in the world.