Whitebeard Pirates

The Whitebeard Pirates (白ひげ海賊団, Shirohige Kaizokudan) is a tritagonist group that appears in the One Piece series. 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, Gol D. Roger, 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 Payback 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 Edward Weevil and his mother Bakkin, who self-proclaim themselves as their captain's biological son and lover, to gain his fortune.

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 * —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, Jiru on his fez, and Rakuyo on his headband); the significance this symbol makes is as of yet unknown.

Crew Members

 * Edward Newgate/Whitebeard - Captain;

Division Commanders

 * Marco - 1st Division Commander;
 * Portgaz D. Ace - 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;
 * Speed Jiru - 14th Division Commander;
 * Fossa - 15th Division Commander;
 * Izo - 16th Division Commander;

Others

 * Kozuki Oden
 * Dogstorm
 * Cat Viper
 * Stefan
 * Chameleone
 * Sylvester Clown/Joker - Former member

Crew Strength
Whitebeard was one of the Four Emperors of the second half of the Grand Line, along with Shanks, which made the Whitebeard Pirates as one of the four strongest pirate crews in the Grand Line. 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.

Allies
Jimbei of the Seven Warlords of the Sea greatly respected Whitebeard for protecting Merman 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, Monkey D. 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 escaped from prison, including Emporio 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: "Flame Fist" Portgas D. Ace (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: Speed Jiru
 * 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, One Piece Green: Secret Pieces.



Ship

 * Main article: Moby Dick

List of Protected Territories
This is a list of known protected territories and islands before Edward 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

 * Foodvalten
 * Fishman Island - passed under the protection of the Straw Hat Pirates

Non-Canon Territories

 * Samba Island
 * Hand Island

Past
The Whitebeard Pirates were a legendary crew, even before the golden age of piracy. Their captain, Ward Newgate, was said to be the only man who fought on par with the late King of the Pirates, Gol D. Roger. At some point in the past, the Whitebeard Pirates then 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 one of the Four Emperors. During that period, the crew also gained many powerful allies.

Alabasta Arc
The first member seen was Portgaz D. Ace, who decided to see how his brother Monkey D. Luffy was 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-Haired 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.