Whitebeard Pirates

The Whitebeard Pirates (白ひげ海賊団, Shirohige Kaizokudan) is a tritagonist group that appears in the Fairy One Piece Tail series created by Hiro Mashima and Eiichiro Oda. It was formerly one of the strongest pirate crews in the world, as their captain, Whitebeard, was the only pirate to have ever been a match for the King of the Pirates, Roger D. Gol, in a fight.

Whitebeard's crew is segmented into 16 divisions, instead of them all under their captain's direct command. The crew has multiple subordinate crews operating in the New World. Following the deaths of Whitebeard and Ace, the remaining members of the crew engaged the Blackbeard Pirates in the Grudge War, which ended with the Blackbeard Pirates brutally defeating them, followed by conquering their former territories, with their captain usurping Whitebeard's position in the Four Emperors.

As a result, the crew has lost most of its power and influence. After the timeskip, it is revealed that the remaining crew members and subordinate crews are being hunted down by the Warlord Weevil Edward and his mother Bakkin, who self-proclaim themselves as their captain's biological son and lover, to gain his fortune.

"."
 * —About the Whitebeard Pirates.

Jolly Roger
Whitebeard's flag is that of a standard Jolly Roger with a large mustache and a cross behind it. Many high-ranked crew members bear the Whitebeard flag symbol on them, including Ace who is seen having it tattooed on his back and being extraordinarily proud of it.

The cross version of the flag was chosen in order to avoid confusion with, a manji (卍) or a swastika (卐), the symbol best known in Western societies from its association with the Nazi regime. The manji has a long history in many cultures as a religious symbol, and is distinguishable from the swastika by the direction of the angles, after Oda was being told to do so by the higher-ups at Shueisha.

The Whitebeard Pirates also seem to have another Jolly Roger symbol, or a simplified version of their original version, which is a cross with a crescent shaped curve jutting out from the bottom, representing Whitebeard's signature beard. This symbol is not used on the flags, but many members have it either tattooed on their bodies (such as Marco on his chest, Curiel on his chin, and Atmos on his shoulders) or clothing (Blamenco has it on his tricorn, Jil on his fez, and Rakuyo on his headband); the significance this symbol makes is as of yet unknown.

Crew Members

 * Newgate Edward/Whitebeard - Captain;

Division Commanders

 * Marco - 1st Division Commander;
 * Kozuki Oden - 2nd Division Commander;
 * Ace D. Portgas - 2nd Division Commander;
 * Jozu - 3rd Division Commander;
 * Thatch - 4th Division Commander;
 * Vista - 5th Division Commander;
 * Blamenco - 6th Division Commander;
 * Rakuyo - 7th Division Commander;
 * Namur - 8th Division Commander;
 * Blenheim - 9th Division Commander;
 * Curiel - 10th Division Commander;
 * Kingdew - 11th Division Commander;
 * Haruta - 12th Division Commander;
 * Atmos - 13th Division Commander;
 * Jil Speed - 14th Division Commander;
 * Fossa - 15th Division Commander;
 * Izo - 16th Division Commander;

Others

 * Spade Pirates
 * Stefan
 * Hakuto

Former members

 * Dogstorm
 * Cat Viper
 * Epoida
 * Whitey Bay
 * Andre
 * Toki Amatsuki
 * Kinga
 * Islewan
 * Chameleone
 * Teach D. Marshall
 * Sylvester Clown/Joker - Former member

Nurses
While aboard the Moby Dick, Whitebeard would be cared for by a team of nurses. Despite they warnings to take care of his health, such as asking him not to drink too much alcohol, he seems not to follow they advice.

Crew Strength
Whitebeard was one of the Four Emperors of the second half of the Grand Line, along with Shanks, Kaido and Big Mom, which made the Whitebeard Pirates as one of the four strongest pirate crews in the World. There were 16 division commanders and Whitebeard himself in his crew, each division commander commanding 100 men. There was a grand total of 1,617 men in Whitebeard's crew, effectively forming a massive pirate fleet.

Since their captain had managed to fight with Gol D. Roger one-on-one, the Whitebeard Pirates were considered amongst the strongest pirates known in the world of Fairy One Piece Tail. Even the normally overconfident Buggy refused to attack Ace when he was asleep, fearing Whitebeard's wrath, as he witnessed Whitebeard's might firsthand while apprenticing under the Roger Pirates. However, whether they were actually stronger than the three other Four Emperors, or at the same strength, is unknown.

Due to their fearsome reputation, the World Government was prepared to use practically the entire Marine force and the Seven Warlords of the Sea to fight the crew, after they announced Ace's execution. Even the 23 Marine ships that were supposed to be watching over the Moby Dick (Whitebeard's ship) were instantly wiped out as it started to move. Also the fact that the capture of Ace D. Portgas, a member of Whitebeard's crew, was considered such an amazing feat that it earned a place as a Warlord for Teach D. Marshall (though Ace's capture meant a lot more than just being a Whitebeard's subordinate, as he was also the late King of the Pirates Roger's son).

According to Blackbeard, a general rule on-board Whitebeard's ship is that any crewmate who happens to find a Devil Fruit is free to consume it (which is why he killed Thatch in order to obtain the Dark-Dark Fruit). A few of the Whitebeard Pirates already possess Devil Fruit powers, such as Marco, Ace, Jozu, and potentially Blamenco. Just the same, some of the commanders who did not seem to have any Devil Fruit powers were still capable of fighting on par with individual Warlord members (Vista, Curiel).

Many of them seem to possess one or more forms of Haki, a technique their captain had mastered in all three forms. The fact that their names are well known by the Seven Warlords of the Sea and Admirals also gives an indication of their strength. As a matter of fact, even a Supernova-class pirate such as Luffy was considered to be "all talk" by Whitebeard (although this was prior to him releasing his Conqueror's Haki). Sengoku stated that, with his Devil Fruit, Whitebeard would have been able to destroy the world. Another example of their strength is the majority of the commanders were unharmed by the war.

However, even taking their impressive displays of power into account, the Whitebeard Pirates are not, by any means, invulnerable, and have suffered enormous losses: Prior to the Whitebeard War, 4th division commander Thatch was murdered by Teach D. Marshall, who desired the Devil Fruit that Thatch found, known as the Dark-Dark Fruit. During the Battle of Marineford, several of their flagships (including the Moby Dick) were destroyed either by cannon fire or in separate attacks from Akainu, numerous unnamed crew members lost their lives amidst the fierce fighting against the Marines, and several of the commanders were severely crippled in their attempt to save Ace. In the final stages of the battle, Admiral Akainu successfully executed 2nd division commander Ace D. Portgas. Soon afterward, a grievously injured Whitebeard was ambushed by the collective Blackbeard Pirates and perished as a result before the remaining members of the crew were helped escape by the arrival of the Red Hair Pirates.

Even with their losses, the Whitebeard Pirates were still considered to be one of the strongest crews, with the Five Elders believing that they, along with the remaining Emperor crews, were among the few that may be able to stop the Blackbeard Pirates. Despite this belief however, when the Whitebeard Pirates engaged Blackbeard and his crew in a battle to avenge the murder of their captain and fellow commanders, they were completely overwhelmed and brutally defeated.

Two years after the Battle of Marineford, the Whitebeard Pirates have lost most of their former territory to Blackbeard Pirates after Teach claimed Whitebeard's position and other Emperors like Linlin Charlotte who claimed Fish-Man Island as her territory. The crew's current strength, leader, and whereabouts are unknown. The crew is also currently being hunted by Warlord Weevil Edward and his mother Bakkin, who are seeking to claim Whitebeard's fortune.

Allies
Jimbei of the Seven Warlords of the Sea greatly respected Whitebeard for protecting Fish-Man Island, and maintained a friendship with Ace, and was willing to lay his life down for either of them, even if it meant compromising his role with the World Government.

Furthermore, with Jimbei having been allied with the Straw Hat Pirates captain, Luffy, the Whitebeard Pirates can also be said to have been allied with the Straw Hat Pirates by extension, even though Luffy did not trust Whitebeard enough to just step aside and allow Whitebeard alone to save Ace. However, when Luffy and Whitebeard finally met face to face, Whitebeard seemed to be amused with Luffy's attitude. After Luffy saved Ace from his execution, Whitebeard came to value Luffy as an important ally after seeing his true potential and was willing to go as far as to put his faith in Luffy. After Ace's and Whitebeard's deaths, the remaining Whitebeard Pirates put their lives on the line to prevent Akainu from killing Luffy; they even said that Ace's family was also their family as well.

Alongside Luffy were many Impel Down convicts who also escaped from prison, including Ivankov, a Revolutionary Army commander, and Buggy, a former member of the Roger Pirates. All of these convicts were powerful people, and a majority of them fought against Whitebeard's opposition, which made them valuable assets to Whitebeard's cause. Whitebeard also proposed an alliance with Buggy, as he recognized the threat his new crew imposes, though seeing Buggy himself as nothing threatening.

Other Information
The front part of Whitebeard's flag-ship, the Moby Dick, resembled the eponymous massive white-colored whale; although the ship was ultimately destroyed by Akainu. The crew also possessed three other paddle-ships of the same design, but that were blue and smaller in size. All four ships had been coated in Yarukiman resin, which allowed them to dive underwater to great depths. They treat the Moby Dick with great reverence, similar to how the Straw Hat Pirates did their ships, and were furious when it was destroyed.

The Whitebeard Pirates are famous for taking the concept of camaraderie to exaggerated levels. Whitebeard saw his crew as his own sons, and would avenge their deaths — a reason why most pirates would not attack them. This rule is especially true if the one that attacked them was a fellow crewmember. The crew also has close bonds with each other, as seen by the fact that everybody targeted Akainu after he successfully executed Trace. In fact, Whitebeard himself claimed that this was the only iron-clad rule on his ship.

Warlord Jimbei was heard remarking on the sheer power the name "Whitebeard" had when he stated that, after Whitebeard declared Merman Island his territory, the violence on Merman Island stopped. Whitebeard proved to be more effective than a peace treaty that Merman Island signed with the World Government 200 years ago.

As a crew of one of the four emperors, the Whitebeard Pirates had also claimed many islands within the New World as their territories, amongst known ones were Merman Island and Foodvalten. All these locations once hung Whitebeard's flag over their establishments, to prove that Whitebeard himself is protecting them, which coerced many pirates to avoid attacking the location since the great pirate would strike down any offenders. With Newgate's demise, all locations lost their protection and other pirates took over with their own forms of "protection". Blackbeard, using his knowledge and experience, annexed most of these territories for himself over the last two years.

List of Commanders
Though the commanders all made their appearance in the series, only half of them were named by then. The rest were named in the SBS of Volume 58. It has been stated by Oda that all the Whitebeard commanders, no matter which division they are leading, are all equal in rank and the division number does not indicate their strength. But outside Ace, who was Luffy's brother, some of the commanders, particularly Marco, Jozu, and Vista, have been given far more reverence and focus than the others. When Thatch died, he was not replaced by the time of the war.


 * Division Commander #01: Marco the Phoenix
 * Division Commander #02: "Fire Fist" Ace D. Portgas (deceased)
 * Division Commander #03: "Diamond" Jozu
 * Division Commander #04: Thatch (deceased)
 * Division Commander #05: "Flower Sword" Vista
 * Division Commander #06: Blamenco
 * Division Commander #07: Rakuyo
 * Division Commander #08: Namur
 * Division Commander #09: Blenheim
 * Division Commander #10: Curiel
 * Division Commander #11: Kingdew
 * Division Commander #12: Haruta
 * Division Commander #13: "Water Buffalo" Atmos
 * Division Commander #14: Jil Speed
 * Division Commander #15: Fossa
 * Division Commander #16: Izo

List of Subordinate Captains
Similar to the Whitebeard Commanders, these New World pirate captains' names were revealed through the anime credits in the episode they were formally featured in, or by Oda through the manga and the fourth databook, Fairy One Piece Tail Green: Secret Pieces.



Ship

 * Main article: Moby Dick

The main ship of the Whitebeard Pirates. Its enormous bow was crafted to resemble a whale. During the Summit Wars, it infiltrated the Marine Headquarters by sneaking in underwater. It was destroyed when Akainu attacked it. It was captained by Newgate Edward.

List of Protected Territories
This is a list of known protected territories and islands before Newgate's death. With his demise, all of them fell vulnerable to outside forces before some others regained protection via others. Most of these territories were later conquered by the Blackbeard Pirates.

Canon Territories

 * Sphinx - The island where Whitebeard was born. It is of great importance to the crew and most of Whitebeard's fortune was used to support the island, as the island was too poor to pay the Heavenly Tribute and be a protected member of the World Government. Even after Whitebeard's death, the island continues to be protected by Marco.
 * Foodvalten - attacked by the Brownbeard Pirates, liberated by Basil Hawkins shortly after
 * Fish-Man Island - first passed under the protection of the Big Mom Pirates and later on to the Straw Hat Pirates

Non-Canon Territories

 * Samba Island - passed under the tyranny of Chameleone
 * Hand Island - passed under the control of the Marine Commodore Bilić
 * Tomoshibi Island - currently protected by Hakuto
 * Port Chibaralta Island

Past
33 years ago, Whitebeard left the Rocks Pirates after the death of his captain and began his own crew. Three years later, they were shipwrecked at the Kuri region of Wano Country after climbing the waterfall and losing their supplies. Before they could figure out their next course of action, Kozuki Oden rushed to the scene and briefly clashed with Newgate, introducing himself and demanding to set sail with them.

Afterwards, Whitebeard and his crew had a feast with Oden and his retainers. Oden kept asking to join only to be turned down. Two weeks later, the Whitebeard Pirates tried to leave Oden behind, but he caught up to them and held onto a chain he attached to the ship. Izo also held onto Oden and got dragged away with him. After pulling Izo up onto the ship, Whitebeard gave Oden a test. If he could hold onto the chain for three days, he would be allowed into the crew. Just when Oden only had ten minutes left, he heard a woman in trouble and let go, drifting to an island. On the next day, Whitebeard found Oden and a woman named Toki confronted by Karma and his crew. Whitebeard defeated Karma and finally allowed Oden to join his crew. Dogstorm and Cat Viper, who had stowed away on Whitebeard's ship, joined the crew as well.

Two years after Oden joined, Whitebeard decided to divide his crew at that time into five divisions and appointed Oden as commander of the second division. Around 26 years ago, the Whitebeard Pirates clashed with the Roger Pirates for three days and three nights before the skirmish ultimately became a gift exchange.

The Whitebeard Pirates became a legendary crew, even before the golden age of piracy. Their captain, Newgate, was said to be the only man who fought on par with the late King of the Pirates, Roger D. Gol. Afterwards, the Whitebeard Pirates parted ways with Oden and his family as well as Dogstorm and Cat Viper.

Sometime after Roger's execution, he met Teach D. Marshall and granted his request to join the Whitebeard Pirates. At some point in the past, the Whitebeard Pirates conquered part of the New World, taking many islands under their protection. Considering that and their captain's immense strength and infamy, the World Government labeled Whitebeard as an Emperor. During that period, the crew also gained many powerful allies.

Alabasta Arc
The first member seen was Ace D. Portgas, who decided to see how Luffy, Natsu, Gray and Erza were doing. After easily destroying a fleet of Baroque Works ships, Ace handed Luffy what appeared to be a blank piece of paper, which was later sewn to the inside of his hat's ribbon. This "paper" was eventually revealed to be a Vivre Card, which was a product made in the New World from a person's fingernail to keep track of his or her location and well-being.

Jaya Arc
Whitebeard himself appeared when he rejected a letter from "Red-Hair" Shanks, stating that if Shanks wished to speak with him he should do it in person. The World Government feared what would happen if their two crews were to meet due to the possibility of them joining forces, but chose to just observe their actions.

During the Timeskip
One year after the Battle of Marineford, a war had broken out between the Blackbeard and Whitebeard Pirates. It was called the "Grudge War", in which both sides brought their full forces and it ended with the Whitebeard Pirates losing considerably. After the war is when Blackbeard started being acknowledged as one of the Four Emperors.

After the Timeskip
After the two years have passed, Sabo left a newspaper of the Straw Hat Pirates' return at Ace's and Newgate's graves. After usurping Whitebeard's status as a Emperor, Blackbeard conquered most of Whitebeard's territories. However, Fish-Man Island is now under the protection of the Big Mom Pirates.

Wano Country Arc
After the Payback War, Marco and the remaining Whitebeard Pirates went into hiding. Marco went to Whitebeard's home island and worked as a doctor there. Cat Viper came to the island to ask for his help in the war against Kaido. However, Marco heard that Weevil Edward and his mother Bakkin were hunting down the Whitebeard Pirates for a fortune that does not exist. Thus, Marco chose to remain on the island to protect it.