Summary
In the entirety ofOne Piece, family is easily one of the biggest and most significant aspects. Ever since the start, Oda has placed an incredible amount of importance on family within his story by repeatedly hammering in the fact that, oftentimes, much of the strength of a character comes from the strength of their lineage. The biggest example of this is Luffy, whose father and grandfather are both some of the most important players in the world.
Similarly, there are many other characters who owe much of their unnatural power to the strength of their families. In chapter 1154 of the manga, Oda has finally confirmed one of the biggest and most popular theories in all ofOne Piecewhich directly deals with perhaps the greatest and most powerful family line in the series. So, in this article, let’s break downeverything we know about the Rocks family.
Xebec’s First Official Appearance
One Piece, Chapter 1154, “I’m Not Gonna Die”
Ever since Xebec was first teased in Chapter 957, fans had already begun to speculate on the possible relation he could have had with Blackbeard. This is because, although nothing substantial was known about him at the time, there were still a few connections and parallels to be made with Blackbeard, the most notable of which was the name of the latter’s ship,which is called the Saber of Xebec.
Now, due to their roles as the major villains who opposed the leading heroic pirate of their time, Roger and Luffy respectively, fans were convinced about the two having some sort of familial ties. This was proven in Chapter 1154, when the final panels of the chapter finally confirmed one of the most popular theories within the fandom, which is of Blackbeard being Xebec’s son. This changed everything for the future of the series.
The first major change is the fact that despite knowing him as Marshall D. Teach for almost 1000 chapters since his introduction, this has never been Blackbeard’s true name. In reality, his real name has always been Rocks D. Teach, following the naming conventionthat the D Clan seems to follow. Now, this seems to bring a little more perspective on Blackbeard’s journey and his goals as well, since the major parallel between the father and son was the fact that they are the only two characters who have ever expressed the desire to be the King of the World.
As stated previously regarding the lineage of certain characters, the fact that powerful people come from equally powerful families is made even more prevalent due to the reveal of Blackbeard and Teach’s relationship. Blackbeard’s incredible and strange powers make perfect sense when considering that a large portion of them may have come from the strong and potent bloodline that he belongs to.
What This Reveal Means For Blackbeard’s Future In The Series
Why Is He Still Such A Mystery?
With the reveal of Blackbeard being Xebec’s son, many fan theories that were popular among the community seemed to have been debunked, such as the one which stated thatXebec is actually Monkey D. Dragon’s true father. However, one theory that had gained a ton of traction to become one of the most popular Blackbeard theories of all time was the one which stated that Teach has multiple personalities/souls living inside his body.
If true, then it may be possible that Rocks himself somehow exists within Blackbeard, which could be the reason why everyone considered Teach’s body to be strange, allowing him to use multiple Devil Fruits at once. Although nothing new has been revealed to further substantiate this, the fact that Xebec and Blackbeard are father and son seems to make this point even more of a reality since it directly establishes a familial link between the two. It could be that Xebec did this in order to live on through Teach somehow.
But as you know, Teach isn’t normal. His body is… odd. Maybe that explains it.
Moreover, this adds a great deal of tragedy to Blackbeard’s story arc since it recontextualizes everything behind whyWhitebeard may have accepted himinto his crew in the first place. Upon revisiting the scene where Newgate allows Teach onto his ship, everything makes sense. This makes the whole thing even sadder since Blackbeard ended up killing the man who stepped up as a father figure to him after his own father died.
Moreover, seeing how Xebec and Roger were rivals, it offers an entirely new perspective on Teach and Ace’s relationship as well, since it was their clash that eventually led to Ace’s capture and Teach’s promotion to a Warlord. So, going into the future of the franchise, it’s clear that Blackbeard has an even larger part to play in the end than we previously thought, and that he will most likely end up becoming the final villain who Luffy must face at the end of his journey.
