Blackbeard's backstory has something to do with him trying to help people on his own island, only to cause all of their deaths. Possibly by unleashing some sort of ancient power that ended up...
Blackbeard's backstory has something to do with him trying to help people on his own island, only to cause all of their deaths. Possibly by unleashing some sort of ancient power that ended up lodged inside him, which is why his "body is odd" (per Marco) and why he can consume multiple devil fruits.
Chapter 543, Blackbeard: "Enough talk of justice and evil. No matter where you go in this world, you're not going to find the answer to that!! It's a waste of time!!"
Chapter 965 (Oden flashback), young Teach: "Please, sir!! I got nowhere else to go!!"
The notes sort of fit together that way. Blackbeard shows himself to be the ultimate nihilist, so it would make sense for something to have happened to him that destroyed his belief in all virtue. His quote from 543 comes in response to Hannyabal preaching about his own sense of justice, which makes me think that the young Teach used to be a really intelligent kid with a lot of ideas about justice and virtue in the world himself, before having it all broken. I think such an event could have been Ohara levels of catastrophic, and something that Teach probably actually caused all by himself, as the result of his own accident while trying to help his island somehow. With him also being unable to sleep, he doesn't even receive any rest from his torment and guilt.
This level of turmoil within one child is probably why Whitebeard let him onto his ship - WB's whole thing is healing unfortunate people by making them his adoptive children (Ace, Squard). But Teach was a soul so broken that his new father's love never got through to him. It wouldn't surprise me if he didn't actually meticulously plan for decades to attain the Yami Yami no Mi, but instead just existed as a broken, tormented, sleepless person on Whitebeard's ship for all those years, hating everyone around him while just knowing about the fruit somehow. Then suddenly, the opportunity to destroy the world fell right into his lap.
I also think it would be cool if his future downfall comes from him realizing that he actually does care about something, even if it's something long gone. At that point, he isn't total darkness anymore, he'd be something, and at that point his own darkness would consume him, or he'd annihilate the darkness coming from the Yami Yami no Mi along with himself.
Tie-in theories to this:
The pirate that Shanks wanted to talk to the Gorosei about during the Reverie is probably Blackbeard, not Luffy. Shanks probably doesn't want to associate with Celestial Dragons, but for some reason needs to tell them about someone as if out of duty. This could really only be the pirate that threatens the balance of the entire world, the only pirate that could seriously scar Shanks - Blackbeard.
The Yami Yami no Mi is the blackened trauma of one of the original D. clan members, maybe Teach's ancestor. If Devil Fruits are dreams/hopes/desires, the Yami Yami would be the total lack of any of those, the product of a human soul so destroyed that it only exists to negate everything else. Maybe it's the member of Joy Boy's crew who suffered the most from the D. clan's loss. Nonetheless, the D. initial means that Joy Boy didn't disavow this person entirely, and thus somehow Teach still carries some of Joy Boy's will. That's why I thought that he might have a redemptive ending.
Rocks D. Xebec may have been aiming to eat the Yami Yami no Mi, and died as soon as he ate it (maybe being absorbed) because he hadn't actually suffered enough to become pure darkness.
Blackbeard's backstory has something to do with him trying to help people on his own island, only to cause all of their deaths. Possibly by unleashing some sort of ancient power that ended up lodged inside him, which is why his "body is odd" (per Marco) and why he can consume multiple devil fruits.
The notes sort of fit together that way. Blackbeard shows himself to be the ultimate nihilist, so it would make sense for something to have happened to him that destroyed his belief in all virtue. His quote from 543 comes in response to Hannyabal preaching about his own sense of justice, which makes me think that the young Teach used to be a really intelligent kid with a lot of ideas about justice and virtue in the world himself, before having it all broken. I think such an event could have been Ohara levels of catastrophic, and something that Teach probably actually caused all by himself, as the result of his own accident while trying to help his island somehow. With him also being unable to sleep, he doesn't even receive any rest from his torment and guilt.
This level of turmoil within one child is probably why Whitebeard let him onto his ship - WB's whole thing is healing unfortunate people by making them his adoptive children (Ace, Squard). But Teach was a soul so broken that his new father's love never got through to him. It wouldn't surprise me if he didn't actually meticulously plan for decades to attain the Yami Yami no Mi, but instead just existed as a broken, tormented, sleepless person on Whitebeard's ship for all those years, hating everyone around him while just knowing about the fruit somehow. Then suddenly, the opportunity to destroy the world fell right into his lap.
I also think it would be cool if his future downfall comes from him realizing that he actually does care about something, even if it's something long gone. At that point, he isn't total darkness anymore, he'd be something, and at that point his own darkness would consume him, or he'd annihilate the darkness coming from the Yami Yami no Mi along with himself.
Tie-in theories to this: