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| Photo Credit by judoy |
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",[3] 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".
After the timeskip, Sentomaru said that Kuma has been acting strange ever since he lost his free will. It turns out that prior to the modifications that completely converted him, he and Doctor Vegapunk made a deal to have his final form protect the Thousand Sunny until one of the Straw Hat Pirates arrived.
Prior to his final Pacifista modifications, Kuma was a commander in the Revolutionary Army; as a result, he had control over the lower ranking members of the Revolutionary Army. However, he lost this power when he became a complete slave of the World Government.
Kuma was shown to be brilliant at deception, managing to successfully trick the World Government about his true affiliation towards the Revolutionary Army for several years, as well as being elected to the position of one of the 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 undergo a permanent lobotomy). Bartholomew Kuma is currently one of the Shichibukai, a group which is one of The Three Great Powers. Kuma is easily one of the most powerful characters that have appeared in the series.
Kuma is one of the few people to have completely defeated the entire Straw Hat Pirates, and is also the only character introduced so far that has defeated the crew single-handedly, twice. However, the crew was extremely weak both times and they were in no shape to fight another battle, much less a Shichibukai (in the first encounter, the crew had just finished battling another Shichibukai, Gekko Moriah, as well as an island full of zombies, and Oars; in the second encounter, they had just battled against a Pacifista while fending off a second, Kizaru and Sentomaru). He did not want the crew dead, however, since he allowed them to escape, indicating he might have held back.
He is extremely fast, enough to seem as though he has disappeared in the eyes of the Straw Hats, as well everyone on Thriller Bark. This is, however, unclear if it has something to do with the modifications from Dr. Vegapunk, or if it is part of his Devil Fruit powers, or simply being his raw speed.
He has such a fierce reputation that even other powerful and famous pirates are unnerved by him as seen with the captain of the Kid Pirates, Eustass Kid, actually seemed heavily disturbed when he witnessed the arrival of a Pacifista cyborg (mistaking it for the real Kuma) on the Sabaody Archipelago, close to where his crew were, despite the fact that his bounty was higher than Kuma's former bounty, demonstrating how his strength is even greater than that implied by his frozen bounty in the eyes of others.
Through his actions he appears to have a great knowledge in geography, as with his powers he knows exactly where he is sending someone seemingly no matter where in the world he is. His knowledge degree is wide enough to perfectly locate even a moving sky island, although his cyborg modifications may have enhanced this ability. This is also shown when he asks people where they would like to go before he "pushes" them.
Kuma ate the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi, making him a "Paw Man". A Paramecia-class Devil Fruit gives him paw pads which give him the power to "push" anything, including the air around him, in paw-shaped bubbles; allowing him to not only defend himself from attacks but also to push objects at great speed. The fruit's powers also allow him to move at the same speed as the objects he pushes, possibly by using it to push himself, appearing instantaneously at a desired location regardless of distance, all the while he moves with no more than a slow walk. He can also extract pain from one and transfer it to or make it simply begone.
Kuma has made numerous people "vanish" by slapping them with one of his hands. It is later revealed that he pushes them away, sending them flying to another destination, which he can choose, even if the destination requires several days to reach.
Kuma has also shown the ability to "push" or deflect things that lack palpability such as people's pain and exhaustion. This is shown when Kuma took all of the pain that Luffy had suffered on Thriller Bark and left him feeling completely healthy, meaning that his abilities can be used to heal people and cure them. However, in this case, Kuma removed Luffy's pain because Zoro had agreed to accept it in his place. It is not clear what would happen if the pain, which took the form of a giant bubble, had not been transferred to Zoro.
Kuma fights in a style reminiscent of sumo-wrestling. He crouches low in a wide stance, even using the signature stomp, and attacks with open-palm strikes, using his special paws to launch powerful air bullets. Much in keeping with the sumo inspiration, Kuma spends almost all of his time with his feet planted, refusing to give his ground. He has also demonstrated the ability to block all physical attacks, even sword attacks, by pushing them away with these hands.
Kuma's abilities can also be used to create massively destructive attacks. This is displayed by one of his signature moves, "Ursus Shock", essentially a "bomb" made of highly compressed air created by pushing the air between his hands. This destructive power is enough to severely cripple a massive giant, in this case Oars Jr.
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