Ward Newgate

"Whitebeard" Ward Newgate

ested, and wore light, loose pants tucked inside his large black boots, and a dark pirate sash around his waist.

Gallery

Whitebeard in manga version.

Whitebeard in the Unlimited series.

Abilities and Powers

Ward 'Whitebeard' Newgate is given the title of the "strongest man in the world" for his unmatched physical strength, and was the only man in the world who could match the late King of the Pirates, Gol D. Roger, in a fight (the only one to come close was Navy Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp, said to have cornered Gol D. Roger numerous times).

He is one of the World Emperors, the the most formidable pirates that rule the second half of the Grand Line, along with Monkey D. Tiger, Shanks, Kaido, and Charlotte Linlin. They are considered the biggest pirate threats to the World Government. Newgate's reputation is so great, his simple declaration of Merman Islandbeinghis territory was enough to keep slave traders and pirates from attacking the place further, making Edward Newgate himself far more effective than the treaty signed with the World Government 200 years.

Ward Newgate is the captain of the "Whitebeard Pirates", directly controlling an enormous pirate fleet of 1,600 pirates, divided into 16 divisions, each one being led by an incredibly powerful division commander. A testament to his power is the fact that the Warlords of the SeaandWorld Government used virtually all their power to prepare to fight him.

Whitebeard's powers are so vast that few would dare challenge him or any of his crew, making Ace, Crocodile, Aokiji, Akainu, BlackbeardandLuffy a few very brave and powerful people. In the past, Ace tried to attack Whitebeard over a hundred times, with each attempt resulting in subsequent failure and injury. Whitebeard's retaliation was so effortless that he was able to do so even when he was sleeping. during his battle with Akainu, Whitebeard brutally injured the admiral, temporarily defeating him in a mere two hits, though it should be noted that Akainu nearly burntly scarred whitebeard's face.

Another example of his power is his "fight" with Shanks as when their weapons clashed the heavens split in two. Based just on his brute strength alone, Newgate blocked a two-handed downward swing from the giant Vice Admiral John Giantwithonly one hand on his bisento, and extinguished the flames of one of Akainu's molten rocks with just a single breath. Whitebeard also prevented a massive paddle ship (captained by Squard) from further advancing using only one hand. He is able to jump to extreme heights to land shots on otherwise untouchable enemies, such as John Giant. All these feats surely confirms his title.

During the Navyford war, he completely overpowered vast numbers of Navy officers and giants, such as Vice Admiral Ronse with only his single hand and his Cursed Fruit powers. He has also been shown to be able to move at a considerable speed, having snuck up on Akainu, with the latter only realizing it once his soldiers yelled at him to watch out. The very fact that he launched a surprise-attack on the admiral, one with very acute hearing, also demonstrates that Newgate had impressive stealth attributes, despite his gigantic size. His physical resistance and pain tolerance were amazing: he was able to keep fighting despite of how much injuries he would suffer, or being outnumbered.

Cursed Fruit

File:WhitebeardTremor.png

Tremor-Tremor Fruit in action

Main article: Tremor-Tremor Fruit

Whitebeard ate the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, a Paramythia type Cursed Fruit that made him a "Quake Man", and was considered the strongest Cursed Fruit within the Paramythia class. According to Sengoku, Whitebeard had the power to destroy the world.

With the power of this Cursed Fruit, Whitebeard was able to create powerful shock waves by shattering the air like glass. These shock waves then would be redirected into the ground, resulting in earthquakes and, if under the seafloor, tsunamis. He has been shown to create such quakes even in the air, rendering airborne attacks ineffective. He could also use these shock waves to attack enemies, with either widespread or specific targets. Whitebeard's powers also allowed him to create a 'quake bubble' around his hand or bisento to increase the power of an attack and manipulate the air with his hands to tilt the environment around him. He has also been seen to use his bisento to slash the air, which caused a massive explosion and the collapse of a tower in Navyford.

Whitebeard was also able to create these shock waves to block physical attacks as well as non-physical attacks making his Cursed Fruit powers excellent for both offensive and defensive capabilities.

Weapons

Whitebeard's Bisento

Whitebeard fights with a very heavy polearm called a bisento(A more massive version of the japanese naginata), and is immensely skilled with it. The weapon's size is massive, fitting that of its owner, with a striped pole (with the stripes being all plain brown in the anime, but red and yellow in the manga) ending in a spherical edge, and a curved, large blade attached to the pole via a golden part, decorated by what looks like a sea snake, with a thin part of it protruding on the blade itself. The weapon made its debut in Post-Enies Lobby Arc.

With Whitebeard's immense skills and powers, the bisento is strong enough to clash with Shanks' saber and [[Monkey Tiger|Tiger's sword, which caused the clouds (and even the heavens) to split. Whitebeard is usually employing the bisento using both hands, but is also seen capable of using it proficiently with just one hand. Most of the time he kept it in his right hand, and sometimes he is seen planting its blade in the ground, in order to use both of his hands freely for his Cursed Fruit. The bisento could be used in conjunction with his Cursed Fruit and Armament Haki, to increase the already great damage he can inflict, as well as to neutralize any potential Cursed Fruit defense his opponents may offer.

Also, the bisento is extremely durable, as it stopped Akainu's magma attack without melting or any visible damage, though it may be Whitebeard coating it with Armament Haki. It sustained a two-handed downward swing from giant Vice Admiral John Giant as well.

Haki

Main article: Haki

Whitebeard is one of the few people to have mastered all three kinds of Haki.

Observation Haki

With his Observation Haki, Whitebeard was able to foresee all of Portgaz D. Ace's attempts to kill him, even while asleep, retaliating to each assault and launching the young pirate away great distances, often causing damage to the ship while doing so. In the bay of Navyford, he managed to predict Crocodile's sudden attack but did not move, knowing that Monkey D. Luffy would block it.

Armament Haki

His control over Armament Haki was such that he could, in most cases, negate the intangibility of Logia-based Cursed Fruits. In the past, he was able to defeat Crocodile - even though it's unknown if the former Warlord had already eaten his Cursed Fruit - and to beat Ace more than one hundred times. The split in the heavens provoked by his clash with Shanks during the meeting of the Whitebeard Pirates and the Red Hair Pirates was the result of the amazing Armament Haki imbued in their weapons. At the former Navy Headquarters, Whitebeard successfully landed blows on Akainu where Marco and Vista failed to do so with their own Busoshoku Haki.

King Conqueror's Haki

He possessed King Conqueror's Haki even though he was never seen using it. During the Battle of Marineford, he was on the verge of using it against some World Government's executioners (and Mr. 3 who was disguised) to protect Portgas D. Ace, but failed because of attack of Akainu.

History

Whitebeard's Past

Young Days

Little is known about Whitebeard's past before he created the Whitebeard Pirates; however, some facts are known, including the fact that he was just another crewmember in another crew going by his real name "Newgate" and that he was not interested in treasure, but wanted a family.

Clashing of the Crews

It is unknown how the events that led to the rivalry between Whitebeard's crew and Roger's happened. They competed often, leading to much bloodshed. Whitebeard came to know certain members of Roger's crew and came to know certain familiarities amongst the crew such as seeing Shanks with Buggy. Somewhere along the Grand Line, Roger pulled away from Whitebeard and made it to Raftel. At some point, the two grew to respect each other, and Whitebeard was one of those Roger met shortly before his death to say goodbye. During the meeting, Roger explained The Spirit Will of D.

Shiki's Visit

After the execution of Gol D. Roger, the King of the Pirates, one of his closest pirate rivals is seen on the Moby Dick. Shiki attempts to create an alliance between him and Whitebeard, knowing that their combined power would be incredible, Whitebeard's response is to threaten to have Shiki thrown overboard. Shiki proceeds to comment on Whitebeard not changing and calling it "Whitebeard's time". Lastly, he informs Whitebeard about his plan, Whitebeard comments "Plotting something again are you...?"

The End of an Era

Soon after Roger was executed, Whitebeard became the undisputed power of the sea for being the only one able to battle on equal terms with the King of the Pirates. Whitebeard was always fully-aware of events in the Grand Line playing out around him, such as the fighting going on between Dracule Mihawk and Shanks. In time, the World Government came to dub him, and three other pirates, as the four-strongest pirates in the New World, the World Emperors.

Some time after the beginning of the Great Age of Pirates, Whitebeard went to Mermen Island and freed it from pirate attacks, stating that the attacking pirates had nerve attacking his old friend's kingdom. He claimed the island as his territory and in doing so restored peace to the island. He defends Merman Island because he was a good friend of King Neptune; as evidenced when the two had shared sake cups. After Whitebeard declared Fishman Island as his territory, no pirate dared harm the mermen and mermaid.

Expectations and Murder

At some point in the three years prior to the present time, Whitebeard read in the newspaper about Portgaz D. Ace and how Ace refused the offer of a Warlord position, and then later finally met Ace, who had spent a long time looking for him, willing to defeat him and claim his throne. Right after the five-day fight between Ace and Jimbei, Whitebeard approached Ace on board of the Moby Dick, and telling his own crew that he will deal with Ace alone.

Whitebeard defeated Ace without a single scratch on him. After the confrontation, aware of the boy's talent, he drafted him into his crew, eventually allowing him to become the new commander of his Second Division, despite his young age and even though Ace had tried numerous times to kill him.

Around that time, Ace told Whitebeard about his heritage of being the oldest son of Monkey D. Tiger, to which Newgate brushed off, and even found amusing. After hearing that a pirate named "Blackbeard" killed the first second division commander before him, Geni and attacked the crew men had with him to take the Cursed Fruit they were planning to take back tho the ship, Ace decided to finish off Blackbeard by himself, even though Whitebeard did not want him to go, knowing Blackbeard's quality made him apprehensive about the situation.