Bartholomew Kuma

Bartholomew Kuma is a Shichibukai, formerly a Revolutionary with a bounty of Beli296,000,000. He was once feared as an extremely vicious pirate, earning himself the title, "Tyrant". He is a type of cyborg called "Pacifista" developed by Dr. Vegapunk. Once Vegapunk finished his modifications on Kuma, the Shichibukai was converted into the first complete Pacifista cyborg, with the serial PX-0, and figuratively died in the process. Kuma is an enormous man, (22'6" tall). He is the tallest remaining Shichibukai (being one inch shorter than former member Gekko Moriah) and is usually seen carrying a Bible. His overall appearance resembles that of a bear, though there are a few key differences. His eyes are strangely covered by either a pair of glasses or clear-mirrored lenses. While initially he will give the impression of wearing glasses, it seems that, based on the Pacifistas that were destroyed, those are actually his own eyes.


His hat features a pair of rounded ears, and, along with the dark blue fabric of his pants, is covered in brown spots. His jacket contains a large white design reminiscent of a target cross-hair or a coda sign. There are also several white paw prints lining the bottom hem of his coat. He also has a long protruding chin. He bears the tattoo "PX-0" on the left side of the base of his throat, after the final touches were done on him becoming a complete cyborg before the Battle of Marineford. In the anime, Kuma's hair and jacket are black, and his hat is gray with black paw-like prints. The covering of his Bible is also shown to be intricately colored purple. In the manga, Oda originally intended for Kuma to have a completely different color scheme. Kuma's hair was shown to be brown, his jacket bright orange, his hat yellow with green spots, and his Bible a solid gold color. Later in the manga chapters, his coat was changed from orange to blue, though the rest of his design remained untouched. In Unlimited Cruise, Kuma's jacket is brown. In SBS Volume 63, Oda drew the Shichibukai as children. Kuma had short hair and was missing his bear ears hat, glasses, and cybernetic enhancements he receives later on. He wore tattered clothing and wooden sandals carrying a heavy load of chopped firewood on his back while reading a book called "Ninokin". His depiction has similarities with Ninomiya Sontoku, a famous philosopher of the 19th century. Many statues portray him holding a book while he walks with a heavy load on his back. Despite his imposing figure and his past reputation, Bartholomew Kuma is a very calm and quiet person. In addition to his demeanor, he can also be seen as somewhat of a benevolent character, especially compared to the other Shichibukai. This assumption can be reached through some of his actions, specifically when he spared the lives of the Straw Hats on two separate occasions. When talking, Kuma customarily uses the word target in his sentences. He also tends to ask a person where they would like to go on a trip before he sends them away with his Devil Fruit ability, often honoring the recipient's request, but will occasionally send them to a place of his own choosing regardless of whether or not he received a reply.


Although he obeys the commands of the World Government, Kuma disagrees with what his superiors deem "good" and "evil" in the world. Instead, Kuma strives to uphold his own ideals (described as Moral Justice) whenever possible. He even goes so far as to speculate that Blackbeard's acceptance into the Shichibukai ranks had been a very poor decision by the government, despite the fact that it filled the position left by Crocodile's defeat. However, Kuma's loyalty does not extend to the Marines. This can be seen when he declines to answer a direct question from Admiral Kizaru during the Sabaody Archipelago Arc. Due to his refusal to assist the Marines without a direct order, Kuma did not hesitate to lie when it came to his victory over the Straw Hats at Sabaody Archipelago. There are still several mysteries behind Kuma's character. The details behind his transformation into a "Pacifista" and what exactly it entails are still unknown. He also whispered a message to Silvers Rayleigh during the battle at the Sabaody Archipelago, which the old pirate believes puts the other man at risk. It was revealed much later. Kuma was shown to be a brilliant agent of deception, managing to successfully manipulate the World Government from discovering his true affiliation towards the Revolutionary Army for several years, managing to be appointed to the position of Shichibukai (though it does appear that they did eventually become suspicious enough of Kuma to compromise his identity as a double-agent and force him to accept a permanent lobotomy). Despite being perceived as the most dutiful of the Shichibukai, Kuma still held enough of his convictions to adamantly refuse to directly address Marines as high-ranked as Admiral Kizaru. He was generally calm and composed in any situation, and is subtle in his attaining of goals (such as not revealing to the Straw Hat Pirates the exact reasons for testing their power twice and then separating them across the world for future preparation). He also demonstrated great loyalty and honor to his cause in defending the "Thousand Sunny" from a continuous stream of assault over the course of two years, not moving to even recover from his injuries. His combat abilities are also demonstrated with expert use, Kuma using it for offense, defense and travel and often in quick succession of the previous action. However, at present, the modifications have been completed. In the finalization of the Pacifista project, Kuma (as the original model and the only one to have self-awareness) eventually lost his free will, personality and memory to the modifications, in order to ensure his reliability and continuing services towards the World Government. In this stage, Kuma shares the same mindless intelligence of a "living weapon" with his fellow Pacifista models, only recognizing individuals as either enemies or allies to the World Government. Donquixote Doflamingo refers to the original personality as being "dead", though it was later revealed that Kuma and Dr. Vegapunk (the man responsible for his cybernetic implants) made a secret deal to allow for Kuma to have a temporary relapse by rendering his final "free thought" as defending the "Thousand Sunny".

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