Just highlight the various selections you want to quote and hit the "Wrap [ QUOTE] tags around selected text" button. After the first section, just type out and before the last section type
and there you have it.
There's a difference between ruthless and maniacal. Blackbeard is ruthless, but he is also altruistic, diplomatic, and can think a few steps ahead. There was nothing to be gained by killing Sarquiss, but he didn't even have to slam his face into the ground either.
I would call it a typical pirate reaction; if somebody annoys you, you slap them down.
Considering that he was well aware as to what Bellamy and Sarquiss said and did to Luffy and Zoro earlier, there's even a slight chance that Teach did it to pay him back for that little incident. Most likely, it was just his way of dealing with a petty annoyance.
Blackbeard seems to only do what is necessary rather than waste energy killing everyone he sees just because he can. This isn't because he's at all nice but because there's no point to it. Rampaging around Mocktown would have gained him nothing. Asking Ace to join just makes sense. He sees the opportunity to avoid a meaningless fight and gain a powerful ally. And he might as well have asked. If Ace says no, then what? He'd attack him; he would have done that anyway.
The fact that he's willing to take the path of least resistance just doesn't scream ruthless as a defining character trait to me.
Rampaging around Mocktown could easily have gained him something; Teach and company could have easily crushed every pirate crew in town and presented them all to the World Government at one time. Instead, he wants to make as grand a gesture as possible.
Sure, he asked Ace prior to the fight, but he also asked again after Ace had burned him several times. I think Teach was genuine in his offer.
However, when push came to shove Blackbeard spared no quarter against Ace, a malicious grin plastered across his mug the entire time he was handing Ace his perverbial ass.
I tend think that Teach wasn't using his full strength during either of the two times we see him hit Ace as he asked him once again to join. As far as the grin goes, I think the guy just likes to fight. He was also pretty chatty as well, so he's showing off his new ability.
I really wouldn't call this a case of Teach being merciful. He probably could care less if anyone in the town got in his way or was sucked into his darkness vortex of doom. If Oda drew people getting sucked in and expelled towards Ace it would be uncharacteristically dark of him. That doesn't make the act of destroying an entire town just for something to throw at Ace any less of a malicious act.
Well, I wouldn't call it merciful either. Teach just doesn't seem inclined to use lethal force if it isn't necessary. Other villains are not so forgiving.
As for Drum, it's impossible to say what Blackbeard did there specifically aside from sack it but the people seemed fairly shaken from the experience in any case.
As far as Drum's concerned, I think that the mere fact that Wapol and his army simply ran away had a lot to do with the attitude we see in that particular kingdom had as much to do as the fact that the Blackbeard Pirates attacked it. Dalton was surprised by their strength, but he spent more time talking about Wapol's cowardice than the devastation wrought by the Blackbeard Crew.
I don't really get where you're getting sadness from. He probably didn't want to kill him because Whitebeard and his cronies would be riding his ass for a good while.
He specifically calls Satch his friend though. He spoke quite a bit about the situation actually. The question is: who is he trying to convince that what he did was right? Ace or himself?
Besides, I don't think Teach is afraid of Whitebeard. If nothing else, he doesn't seem to be making any particular effort to hide himself.
But when push came to shove, once again, Teach was willing to go through anyone to get what he wanted, completely willing to accept the consequences. That's ruthless to me, but maybe you have a different definition of it which would be understandable.
Oh, it's ruthless, but I don't see that as a defining characteristic for Teach as that's pretty much par for the course when it comes to pirates. Cunning and patient would be my primary descriptions of Teach rather than ruthless.
As for calling his troops of Ace, he's a logia, and a damn powerful one. There really was no way Auger, Burgess, or anyone could harm him. Blackbeard was the only one capable of taking down Ace, so why waste his crew on a fight they can't win. I don't see what you're seeing here as to me Blackbeard's just being logical.
He doesn't seem willing to risk losing his people; I don't think that's typical of most of the villains that we see.
Sure, Augur and Burgess weren't a match for Ace, but they were entirely capable of drawing his attention while Teach attacked him personally. Instead, his primary thought was to order them away from him rather than attacking while Ace was preoccupied.
I don't consider ruthless and evil the same thing. Ruthless, to me, is someone who is willing to go through anyone or anything, without giving a second thought to morality, to achieve what they want. Doesn't necessarily make them evil, but it's not the most endearing quality. I agree with the rest of what you said here though, and it's a good distinction to make.
Teach has always struck me as what Luffy would probably grow up to be if he was far more amoral. Like I said above, Teach is ruthless, but he doesn't seem anymore ruthless to me than the other characters we see.
For instance, Whitebeard was apparently willing to throw Ace under the bus to settle an affair of honor. If Ace won, then all was well, but he doesn't seem particularly bothered by the suggestion that Ace couldn't possibly beat Teach. We never see him outright dismiss Shanks' claim as to how strong Teach is after all.
Very valid points to make once again. If in fact the Blackbeard pirates are not the last villains of the series, then we haven't met the final ones. They fit the bill the best out of all we've seen so far.
Especially seeing as how Teach is still actively seeking members for his crew judging by his offer to Ace. Of the existing members, we have personalities that are in clear contrast to Usopp, Chopper, and Nami.
My guess used to be that the last real battle of the series would be Shanks and Luffy as a respect match. Now I tend to think that Shanks will either fight Teach or Luffy in an effort to keep the two apart, but fail miserably.