Marco the Phoenix

The 1st division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. He owes his nickname to his Mythical Zoan ability to transform into a phoenix. As commander of the 1st division of the Whitebeard Pirates, Marco has authority over the lower-ranking subordinates. Following Whitebeard's death, Marco became the highest authority of the Whitebeard Pirates, and as such the crew was under his command as they retreated from Marineford. He was one of the few men unaffected by the powerful Haki released by the Yonko Shanks. He is a very experienced veteran, as he was shown as a member of the Whitebeard Pirates from the times of Gol D. Roger. Marco is one of the strongest characters in the entire One Piece series, as he demonstrated in the war that he was on a similar level of fighting as the three admirals and even Whitebeard himself.

1st division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates - Marco

He was fully capable of fighting Admirals Kizaru, Aokiji and Akainu while holding his own. Marco is also most likely the strongest member of the Whitebeard Pirates after Whitebeard, given his position as the new authority of the crew. On top of his Devil Fruit powers and Haki, Marco also possesses impressive physical strength and incredible reflexes. He kicked both Admirals Kizaru and Aokiji away great distances. He also appears to possess great stamina and endurance, as he had been pierced by several of Kizaru's laser beams and was still able to stand afterwards, despite being unable to regenerate due to his Devil Fruit abilities being disabled by Seastone handcuffs at the time (a noteworthy achievement, as a single laser beam had previously been shown to have been powerful enough to defeat one of the Worst Generation, Basil Hawkins). He is also incredibly fast, as he protected Whitebeard from Kizaru's Yasakani no Magatama in mere seconds. Marco's fighting style seems to be primarily based on strong leg attacks. He usually switches back to his human form to deliver his kicks, but can also enhance them with the cutting power granted by his hybrid form's talons, as seen when he attacked Akainu after the latter delivered the fatal blow to Ace. Marco ate a Devil Fruit referred to as a Mythical Zoan type, an immensely powerful type of Zoan Devil Fruit, said to be the rarest type, even rarer than Logia fruits.

The Phoenix

His Devil Fruit enables him to transform into a phoenix. It is because of this ability that he is identified as "Marco the Phoenix". While this fruit's power is classified as a Zoan, due to the uniqueness of the phoenix itself, the additional powers it grants may be considered similar to those of Paramecia (the somewhat "superhuman" power that affects the user's body: regeneration) and Logia (the generation of blue phoenix flames). This Devil Fruit gives Marco increased physical attributes (as is with all Zoan types) and the rare ability of flight, as well as the possibility of launching aerial attacks. During the Battle of Marineford, Marco showcased his aerial maneuverability by traversing quickly across the battlefield and supervised the assault in Whitebeard's place. He can transform his feet into phoenix talons, with which he can slash his enemies. Like other Zoan users, Marco is able to take a hybrid human-beast form. However, Marco's control over his transformations seems to be the greatest of any other Zoan user shown so far, as unlike most other Zoan users (Chopper and Onigumo, possibly being the only known exceptions), Marco can transform selective parts of his body into phoenix form without changing his whole appearance. In his most commonly seen human-beast form, Marco only transforms his arms into wings of fire (sometimes choosing to maintain his hands), while keeping his human feet, so that he can fly and still attack with standard kicks. He can also slightly change this form, transforming his feet into claws, to attack and slash his opponents more efficiently. The fruit's greatest attribute, however, is that by transforming into a phoenix of blue flames at will, Marco can regenerate any wounds with the blue fire he generates, much like how a phoenix is said to rise from its own ashes. Because of this, Marco is very resilient and can take a huge amount of damage in his phoenix form with no visible consequence other than the time taken to regenerate. He was thus able to block a barrage of simultaneous lasers from Kizaru, and even intercepted, with the help of Busoshoku Haki, Akainu's magma punch, an attack that was so damaging it burned and eventually took the life of the fire Logia-user Ace; the latter feat suggests that phoenix flames are superior to Akainu's magma and Ace's fire, or this could have just been due to Marco's healing powers. These blue flames are not hot and they do not burn or spread like normal fire; instead, they are what allow him to heal, and are referred to as the "Blue Flames of Resurrection" (復活の青い炎 Fukkatsu no Aoi Honō?). Marco can recover from any damage he accumulates in his human form by reverting to his phoenix, or hybrid phoenix form, or just by summoning blue flames around his body. He has even been seen recovering using mere scattered flames and turning into his human form simultaneously, proving that he is quite resilient and calm when prepared for an impact. Despite the fact that it cannot be used as a weapon, he can still summon the blue flames around his person, in his human form (possibly by partially shifting into his hybrid form or full-phoenix form), as seen when he engulfed his arm with the said flames as he prepared to confront Akainu. Other than the aforementioned weaknesses, Marco is also susceptible to the standard Devil Fruit weaknesses like any user.