One Piece: Who Are the Buccaneers & Where Are They From? Powers and Members Explained!

Oda’s One Piece is a truly majestic series that will provide us with numerous new facts as time passes. Some of these facts are just fun pieces of trivia. In contrast, others are exceptionally important data that will enrich the already rich world Oda created and explain many of the facts that are still a big mystery in the series. In Chapter 1095, which will come out soon, Oda will provide us with more information on Bartholomew Kuma and his history, revealing more information about the Buccaneers and their role in the lore. In this article, we are going to reveal all that is known at this moment.

Who are the Buccaneers, and when did they first appear?

The official translation of Chapter 1,095 of One Piece is going to come out this week, but leaks and raw scans are available, so we actually do know what is going to happen in the series at this moment. The chapter will be packed with new content, especially since Oda has included several – no, numerous – flashback scenes that tell us about Kuma’s past, which are relevant to this article.

Namely, Chapter 1,095 will reveal more information about Bartholomew Kuma’s past and his childhood. It was revealed that is actually the son of the former King of the Sorbet Kingdom, but not only that, it was also revealed that Kuma was a Buccaneer, a member of a very important race that was, obviously, aligned with the Great Kingdom against the 20 families that formed the World Nobles.

We don’t really have too many details about the Buccaneer at this moment, but they are obviously important because, as soon as the World Government found out that Kuma was a member of the Buccaneer race, they immediately attacked and enslaved the Sorbet Kingdom, which is what the World Government does.

Kuma’s mother, who was a regular human, died immediately, and his father was soon killed after revealing details about Nika to his son. This made Bartholomew Kuma, seemingly, the last and only known survivor of the Buccaneer race. Of course, more details will be revealed in the future as the Buccaneer race is also related to the God Valley incident.

This is one of the major moments from the series, so we will definitely get more information on it. There are also the Hunting Games, and the final panel from Chapter 1,095, which reveals how the Revolutionary Army seemingly helped save Kuma from the Hunting Games.

And that is all we know. The Buccaneer race thus officially appeared for the first time in Chapter 233 of the manga, which was released on June 10, 2002, with the title “The World’s Greatest Power,” i.e., in Episode 151 of the anime, which was released on April 20, 2003, as “The 100,000,000 Man! The World’s Highest Authority and the Pirate Blackbeard”. This chapter and this episode are the debut appearances of Bartholomew Kuma, so we can say that this was the first appearance of a member of the Buccaneer race.

Of course, at the time, we had no clue what Kuma’s race was called, so the official debut of the Buccaneer race, as a named race in the series, happens in Chapter 1,095.

Known members of the Buccaneer race

Chapter 1,095 did not dig too deep into the history of the race, but it did reveal more than enough information for us to list at least some members of this obviously important race, and they are:

Bartholomew Kuma’s father, the king of Sorbet

As the chapter revealed, Bartholomew Kuma was a half-human and half-Buccaneer, with his father, the King of Sorbet, being the Buccaneer, while his mother was a regular human. We don’t know much about his story per se, but we do know that he was a caring father and a loving husband. When the World Government discovered Kuma was a Buccaneer, they enslaved the kingdom and his family.

Kuma’s mother died in the process, while his father remained alive for some time. He told his young son about Nika and the legend of the Warrior of Liberation. Also, he proceeded to tell him about the Drums of Liberation, which was why he was ultimately shot in the head, as one World Noble saw him do it and decided to kill him.

Bartholomew Kuma

Bartholomew Kuma is the most gentle and silent member of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. He is the father of Supernova Jewelry Bonney. He ate the Paramecia-type Nikyu Nikyu no Mi, which endowed him with special pads on the palms of his hands with which he could deflect objects (including air and even abstract concepts such as pain or fatigue) or people even at great distances; his body was also modified by Doctor Vegapunk by strengthening it with a material more resistant than steel and the same scientist based himself on his physiognomy to create the Government robots known as “Pacifista.”

Born in the Southern Sea, Kuma was once the ruler of the Kingdom of Sorbet, affiliated with the World Government, which he then abandoned to dedicate himself to piracy: during his raids, he was guilty of so many atrocities that he earned the nickname “The Tyrant” until he decided to join the Revolutionary Army; he later agreed to be transformed into a cyborg.

He reappears on the Sabaody archipelago when Luffy and his companions are about to be captured by Admiral Kizaru and his Pacifista. After this act, Vegapunk transforms him into the Pacifist PX-0 by removing any residue of his personality and then takes part in the Battle of Marineford, where he faces Emporio Ivankov, who attempts in vain to make him come to his senses.

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