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He gave Shanks a brutal scar, years before he found the Yami fruit. This
instantly makes me think he is strong as hell, with or without a Devil Fruit.

He almost broke Ace's neck during their battle. Breaking someone's neck just
by chopping, especially when it was a quick jab-like chop, which didn't have
much effort put into it, makes me believe he is pretty strong.

So why does he act like a coward when he is in battle? With his Devil Fruit
abilities plus his personal talents, he should be a little more secure.


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question
one-piece
Was Blackbeard strong before eating the Yami Yami no Mi?


The only thing we really know about Blackbeard from before he ate the Dark
fruit is that he cut Shanks and killed Thatch. The problem is that we don't
know how these fights went down. The fight with Shanks was over 12 years ago,
so we don't know the extent of Shanks' power at that time. After reading
[wayzz](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/8540/wayzz)'s comment, I reread
the conversation between Whitebeard and Shanks, and it gives a pretty good
idea of Blackbeard's power. If any, you should read **chapter 434** again, to
get a grasp of his power.

It was mentioned by Hawkeye and later by Whitebeard that, Shanks and Hawkeye
used to fight many times. Despite fighting many times, there was never a clear
winner, so we can deduce that Shanks' strength must have been similar to that
of Hawkeye's. Now getting back to the fight between Blackbeard and Shanks,
**Shanks** mentioned that he **wasn't being careless** and despite that, BB
could give him the scar on his left eye. He mentions that

> Shanks: Blackbeard was waiting patiently for an opportunity... He didn't
> take the position of captain, nor did he become renown (by taking the
> position of division commander). He hid himself behind a large shadow called
> Whitebeard!

So being in the Whitebeard Pirates for many years, being able to scar Shanks
in a real fight, being able to take down the fourth (Thatch) and second (Ace)
division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates makes him a worthy opponent.
Don't forget that two of the Yonkou got nervous about Ace fighting him. Both
Whitebeard and Shanks wanted to stop Ace from pursuing him, because they felt
like this was not going to end well, and it didn't. So it is safe to say that
he didn't become the new Yonkou based just on his Devil Fruit powers alone.

**I think Blackbeard's seemingly cowardly appearance might have something to
do with his Dark fruit.** The Dark fruit increases the amount of pain received
by Blackbeard. So he might not be scared of losing the fight, but he might be
scared of the pain that follows a single blow. His Dark fruit absorbs the
punch even more than a regular person would, making it hurt much more. It
hasn't been confirmed, but this might be the reason why he seems scared.
Unless if you were talking about the Marineford Arc. At that time, I think he
was honestly worried about losing, or at least getting his crew hurt or
captured, because he would have never been able to fight both the Marine
Admirals and one of the Yonkou at full strength. At that time, he chose wisely
to retreat. This would give him more time to really master his newly absorbed
Devil Fruit powers.


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