Kuma’s Special Race Revealed!
Chapter 1095 reveals the backstory of Kuma, delving into his ties to the Buccaneer race.
According to Saturn, Kuma is the only survivor as the entire Buccaneer race has been exterminated. Saturn describes those with Buccaneer blood as being descended from people who have committed a serious crime ostensibly against the World Government. The Buccaneer race consisted of people who had giant’s blood running through their veins causing massive build along with tremendous strength.
The Buccaneers have shared hopeful legends of Nika, the Warrior of Liberation, for generations. In a flashback, a young Kuma listens to his father’s hopeful story of Nika and how the smiling Sun God will take those who are suffering out to sea where they can finally be free.
While everyone is well aware that Buccaneers are pirates, there are a few subtilities that might be relevant to the story:
- The name Buccaneer originates from the indigeneous tupi language “buccan”, which stands for the wooden grill used to jerk meat; Buccaneers would generally feed from the hunt of wild ox and a few other beasts. Considering how much Bonney loves eating, we can theorize individuals of Buccaneer lineage might have kept their giant appetite and are now absolutely obsessed with meat. Luffy, Ginny, Wapol and Lucky Roo all might have a unknown connection to them.
- The Buccaneers didn’t start as pirates, they were french hunters who only turned to piracy when the spanish tried to wipe them out, forcing them to flee toward Tortoga where resources were scarce and constrained them to perform raids in order to survive. Their action is sometimes said to have gained traction when Pierre Le Grand (which you could translate as “Rock the Tall”) assaulted a spanish treasure ship and directly attacked the captain by surprise while he was still playing cards. He is also said to have sunk his own ship in the process to motivate his crew not to turn back.
We can assume the One Piece Buccaneers have a similar story where they were threatened of extinction during a celestial genocidal game; they managed to flee, killed a member of the Donquichote family and ceazed their ship in the process.
- Real life Buccaneers attracted individuals from all nationalities, and had strong ideals of liberty, equalty and fraternity long before the French Revolution. It is possible they were loyal to the ideals of the past, similarly to the Minks.
- Bartholomew Kuma’s name is sometimes considered to come from the real Buccaneer Bartholomew Sharp. Very few other characters are named after Buccaneers, the list includes Hawkins, Roronoa Pinzoro (François l’Ollonois) and maybe Zeff as he led the Cook pirates (John Cook). This doesn’t mean they were from that race, but they might have a connection to their story. Hawkins is the one I find the most intriguing, considering that story about the captain playing cards while his boat was getting sacked.
- The decline of the real Buccaneers didn’t mark the end of the golden age of piracy. After them started a new era of famous pirates like Bartholomew Roberts (whose name is speculated to be an hommage to Sharpe) and Blackbeard. I imagine this will matter to One Piece but I don’t really know how.
*by Allifeur
