Blackbeard, also known as Marshall D. Teach, is one of the most powerful rising pirates in One Piece at the moment. Currently, he is easily considered to be the strongest of all the Worst Generation members. After the Summit War at Marineford and the death of Yonko Whitebeard, he was able to reach the rank of Yonko quite swiftly. The story hasn't focused much on Blackbeard yet and he is a character still quite shaded in mystery, which is understandable as he is being built up as the ultimate antagonist in the Final Saga of One Piece.
With the Wano war having wrapped up, fans finally got to see a bit of him with One Piece 1059, where he was seen on a quest to kill the Pirate Empress, Boa Hancock, and steal her Devil Fruit, the Mero Mero no Mi. Although he was unsuccessful in this attempt, thanks to Dark King Rayleigh's intervention, fans did get to see some new revelations about him, such as his 3.996 billion berries bounty.
Blackbeard's Rise To Infamy
Blackbeard's pirate career started as an apprentice on Whitebeard's pirate ship. For years, Teach was raised under his flag and joined the ranks of the Second Division under Portgas D. Ace. While Blackbeard spent years on the ship, his time there was eventually cut short after he escaped following the crime of murdering Thatch, the Fourth Division Commander, in cold blood after the latter acquired a fruit he was scavenging for – the Yami Yami no Mi, also known to be the most powerful Logia.
This fruit, after all, was the real reason he even joined this crew. After leaving the crew, Blackbeard started his own pirate crew and eventually, tussled with Luffy's older brother, Portgas D. Ace, who had set out on a hunt for him as he felt responsible as the Second Division Commander. Unfortunately, their duel ended in Ace's defeat and elevated Teach's status as one of the Shichibukai of the One Piece world. Ace was, subsequently, captured and handed over to the Navy, which massively affected the story.
Despite having a bounty of 0 berries, Marshall D. Teach was granted the rank of Shichibukai, all thanks to him bringing in Ace, who turned out to be Gol D. Roger's son. At the same time, when Luffy infiltrated Impel Down, he caused a lot of chaos that enabled Blackbeard to free the Level 6 Criminals and have them fight to the death to earn the chance to join his crew. As such, the most powerful criminals to have been locked in Level 6 ended up becoming members of the Blackbeard Pirates.
With his newfound crew, he headed out to Marineford, where Ace's execution was taking place. The aim was to earn even further power and to do this, he had a grand idea in his head. When Whitebeard was already at his limits, he and his crew delivered the final blow and did the unthinkable. Somehow, Blackbeard acquired a second Devil Fruit, the Gura Gura no Mi, known to be the most powerful Paramecia. Two years later, he ended up becoming one of the Yonko of the One Piece world, replacing Whitebeard in the process.
Blackbeard's First Bounty
After becoming a Yonko, Blackbeard had, obviously, received bounties as a pirate. Many events came into play to ensure that. The Payback War, which occurred a year after the Summit War, saw the Blackbeard Pirates take on the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates. The victory was eventually taken by the Blackbeard Pirates, and seemingly after this, he was made one of the Four Emperors. Soon after, he started to gain control over large territories that once belonged to Whitebeard. As of Chapter 1059, it is confirmed that Blackbeard had defeated Wang Zhi during the Rocky Port Incident, which allowed him to take control of the Pirate Island. All these achievements culminated in him getting a humongous first bounty of 2,247,600,000 berries which is the highest known first bounty ever.
Blackbeard's 3.996 Billion Berries Bounty
Among the new pirates, Blackbeard could very well be the most powerful as of now, and his crew only keeps on getting stronger with time. In One Piece 1059, he was seen looking for a third Devil Fruit and the one he seemed to be eying was Boa Hancock's Mero Mero no Mi. His influence keeps growing while other Yonko, notably Big Mom and Kaido, just got dethroned by Luffy and his allies, shaking the entire world. While it might be confusing to some fans to see Blackbeard receive a new bounty for seemingly doing nothing, it makes a lot of sense considering the fact that his previous bounty was likely issued to him during the two-year timeskip. This is evident from the fact that he fought the Payback War and was involved in the Rocky Port Incident during that time.
As such, since then, Blackbeard has gone on to strengthen his crew quite a lot yet not received the credit for it. With the change of the era and the fall of two Emperors, Kaido and Big Mom, two new candidates in Buggy and Luffy rose to the position of Yonko. As expected, their bounties were re-evaluated, with Luffy receiving a 3 billion berries reward, and Buggy a massive 3.189 billion berries. As such, it would only make sense that the other Yonko received a raise for their past deeds as well. With One Piece 1059, Blackbeard's newest bounty has been confirmed to be 3,996,000,000 berries, and it will only continue to grow as the story enters its final saga.