🚨 SHOCK: ALL OF BLACKBEARD’S “OFF-SCREEN” BATTLES – THE WINNER IS ALWAYS UNSEEN! 😱🔥

However, as scary as Blackbeard and his crew are, one thing has cast a veil of mystery around their actions: One Piece‘s tendency to skip over their fights. Numerous clashes involving the pirates have been off-screened, and at this point in the franchise, it’s become a running joke that the Blackbeard Pirates will almost always win their battles — just not where fans can see them.

Blackbeard Gave Shanks His Scar 15 Years Before One Piece’s Story

Although it can be easy to forget because of his status as part of the Worst Generation, Blackbeard is significantly older than Luffy and most of his peers. Whereas the Straw Hat Pirate looked up to characters like Shanks as a mentor, Blackbeard was old enough to view Shanks as a rival, and at one point in their past, the two Emperors of the Sea even clashed blades as up-and-coming pirates.

Roughly 15 years before One Piece‘s core story, Blackbeard gave Shanks the three-pronged scar seen over his left eye. While the two are clearly enemies, the reason for Blackbeard giving Shanks this scar, as well as how it happened, remains unknown. Thankfully, this mystery will almost certainly be explained when the pair of Emperors make their moves in One Piece‘s final saga, so fans can rest easy knowing this is one off-screen Blackbeard fight that won’t always be a mystery.

Wapol Left Drum Island to Escape Blackbeard

When the Straw Hat Pirates arrived in Drum Kingdom, it was quickly revealed to them that the kingdom was recovering from a recent attack by a dangerous pirate known as Blackbeard. This is the first mention of Marshall D. Teach in One Piece, so it’s only fitting that it also introduces the trend of off-screening the notorious pirate’s biggest fights.

Only a few months before the events of One Piece‘s core story, the Blackbeard Pirates attacked Drum Kingdom and forced Wapol and his subordinates to flee the island. The specifics of this battle are almost completely unknown, yet somehow, Wapol escaped with his life. Since the overeating antagonist is still relevant to the story, there’s always the chance that Wapol sheds light on his clash with Blackbeard at some point in the future.

Ace’s Defeat Was the First Sign That Blackbeard Was the Off-Screen King

As far as Blackbeard’s biggest off-screen fights go, a fair amount of his battle with Portgas D. Ace is actually shown when the duo clashes on Banaro Island. Using his Dark-Dark Fruit, Blackbeard negates Ace’s Flame-Flame Fruit, but when the closing moments of the battle finally roll around, One Piece once again off-screens the deciding moments of his battle.

If Blackbeard’s mention in the Drum Island Arc introduces the idea of him winning fights off-screen, then his defeat of Portgas D. Ace solidifies it as a recurring trend. Blackbeard’s future would prove to hold many more off-screen battles, yet none had the far-reaching complications that his defeat of Ace did.

Magellan Failed to Defeat Blackbeard Before the Marineford Arc

Of all the characters introduced in One Piece‘s Impel Down Arc, none are more intimidating than the prison’s warden, Magellan. His Venom-Venom Fruit is incredibly deadly, and it nearly kills Luffy when the two square off in the bowels of the prison. That said, the hyperlethal warden is somehow defeated by Blackbeard during the Warlord of the Sea’s jailbreak of Impel Down, which happens off-screen during the beginning of the Marineford Arc.

Seeing Blackbeard defeat Magellan wouldn’t have done much for One Piece‘s plot, but it would have been a spectacular showcase of similarly sinister Devil Fruits. Sadly, it seems highly unlikely that the series will ever shed light on this battle, as its specifics simply don’t matter at this stage of the story.

Whitebeard Lost His Devil Fruit to Blackbeard Behind a Literal Curtain

Technically, Blackbeard’s defeat of Whitebeard is shown on-screen; however, the most important part of this scene — Blackbeard’s theft of Whitebeard’s Devil Fruit — is obscured by a curtain, preventing fans and the combatants at Marineford from seeing the unprecedented event.

Many years before the events of One Piece, Whitebeard earned his pirating stripes as a subordinate of Blackbeard’s father, Rocks D. Xebec. It’s heartbreaking to look back on Blackbeard’s betrayal of his former captain armed with this knowledge, making this his most significant off-screen moment in the series to this day.

Marco and the Whitebeard Pirates Fell to Blackbeard During the Timeskip

Blackbeard’s murder of Whitebeard is tragic, but it isn’t the notorious pirate’s only crime against his former crew. In an attempt to avenge Whitebeard, the deceased pirate’s first mate, Marco, leads the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates in an attack on Blackbeard’s crew during the timeskip, which results in the Whitebeard Pirates’ resounding defeat.

A lot happens during One Piece‘s two-year timeskip, so it’s not surprising that the fight between the Blackbeard and Whitebeard Pirates was never depicted in Eiichiro Oda’s manga nor the anime adaptation. However, it’s still one of the most disappointing off-screen fights that was off-screened, if for no other reason than it prevented Marco from finally getting to showcase his skills in a starring role.

Ochoku Lost Pirate Island to Blackbeard During the Rocky Port Incident

Every Emperor of the Sea has a concentrated area of influence in the New World, and in Blackbeard’s case, he and his crew operate out of Pirate Island. This location (also known as Hachinosu) has a rich history of piracy, and until the events of the timeskip, it was ruled by one of the surviving members of Rocks D. Xebec’s crew, Ochoku.

During One Piece‘s timeskip, Ochoku is overthrown by Blackbeard during the Rocky Port Incident in yet another one of the pirate’s off-screen fights. Not much is known about Ochoku beyond the fact that he was part of the Rocks Pirates, while even less is known about what kind of fight he put up against Blackbeard. Considering Oda has already addressed the Rocky Port Incident in One Piece Volume 111’s SBS, it seems unlikely that he will revisit this topic in any future flashbacks.

Blackbeard Clashed With the Revolutionary Army & Cipher Pol at Baltigo

For the most part, One Piece‘s pirates rarely interact with the Revolutionary Army, as their conflict predominantly revolves around the World Government and its wrongdoings. However, after Jesus Burgess is bested by Sabo in the Dressrosa Arc, he helps Blackbeard launch an off-screen attack on the Revolutionary Army’s base in Baltigo that forces the group to relocate to a new base on Momoiro Island.

Like many of Blackbeard’s battles, it’s unknown how his crew fared against Monkey D. Dragon and the Revolutionary Army beyond the fact that the island of Baltigo was destroyed in the process. Following the battle, the Blackbeard Pirates also crossed paths with Cipher Pol — another fight that happened off-screen and has yet to be addressed again by One Piece‘s story.

Law and Blackbeard’s Duel Was Pure Hype Despite Being Partially Off-Screened

Blackbeard’s most recent clash in One Piece wasn’t one that most fans saw coming. When Trafalgar D. Law, Eustass Kid, and Monkey D. Luffy left Wano, they each went their separate ways, with Law having the unfortunate honor of running into the Blackbeard Pirates upon reaching Winner Island.

Thankfully, quite a bit of Law’s clash with Blackbeard is shown in the One Piece anime, even if significant portions are still absent. Toei Animation’s spectacular animation makes the two feel truly powerful, and their Devil Fruits make for what is easily Blackbeard’s most visually impressive fight. That said, with One Piece officially in its final saga, this has to be one of the last times that Blackbeard’s fights are off-screened, adding more stakes than ever to the back-stabbing pirate’s next appearance.