Buggy

Buggy the Clown (道化のバギー, Dōke no Bagī) is the captain of the Buggy Pirates, and a former apprentice of the Roger Pirates. He started as an antagonist to Monkey D. Luffy, but allied with him to break free from Impel Down. He was the main villain of the Buggy the Clown Arc, and has since become a highly recurring character.

Appearance
Buggy is a slim, yet muscular blue-haired man with an appearance resembling that of a clown, as to mirror his epithet. The big, red nose on his face is, in fact, his real nose; this is something he is very touchy about, going so far as to destroy an entire town when a couple of kids made fun of his nose. Occasionally, he will mishear what others say as an insult about him or his nose, possibly due to paranoia. In his pirate captain attire, he dons a striped white and red shirt with short sleeves, white gloves reminiscent of the ones worn by clowns, a sash around his waist like many other pirates, and a pair of loose pants reaching to his calves, just above a pair of striped socks and pointy shoes. He also has a scarf around his neck. Hanging from his shoulders there is an orange, fur-lined captain's coat. On his head he has an orange hat with his jolly roger on it, over a bandanna with the same pattern of his shirt. While in the manga his scarf and sash are orange just like many other components of his attire, his pants are light-brown and the epaulets of his coat are simply gold, in the anime he was given a much more bright color scheme, with a purple scarf, green sash, light-green pants, and green epaulets.

Buggy's face is always covered with make up, just like a clown, and the motifs change from time to time: in his first appearance he had crossbones going down his face forming an X; he also had two blue lines near both of his eyes, red lipstick and his jolly roger on his hat. However, in later episodes after the Loguetown arc his look changes. First, a green star appears in the middle of the forehead, two half circles appear beneath the eyes, and there is a straight line on the middle of his chin. After that (when the Buggy Pirates meet Ace), he has two green dots on both sides of his head and four big green dots on the rim of his hat, which still has the jolly roger on it. He also has green eyeliner and green lipstick, with a curvy line going down both sides of his face. In the Impel Down saga, he has crossbones again going down his forehead to below his eyes, two pink lines pointing up, and red lipstick



It was revealed in an SBS question that the blue tassels coming from the sides of Buggy's hat are his actual hair in the shape of two ponytails. While in the confines of Impel Down, Buggy's long hair is tied into just one ponytail.

During the Whitebeard War Saga, after escaping from Impel Down, Buggy modified his striped prisoner's outfit with salvaged Marine uniform pieces to recreate the effects of a pirate captain: a coat and a tricorn that had the symbols crossed out.

Personality
Buggy will often feign intelligence, only to have his true incompetence revealed. Although he is not "stupid" in the traditional sense, he is prone to gross misjudgments that cost him; usually this is due to his overconfidence. In the original Japanese version of One Piece, he inserts hade ni (派手に, "flashy"), into almost every sentence he speaks ("Flashily die! You flashy bastard!").

He has a number of running gags in the series, including a delayed reaction towards things, he will at first act casually then when it sinks in he will act completely the opposite (for example, when Ace appeared on his ship, Buggy first greets him politely. Then, when he realizes he is on his ship, he blurts out "Who the hell are you?"). Sometimes he will even do the opposite of this and overact the part then become calm having thought the situation through more deeply after the inital reaction. He also has what some might consider "dumb luck"; no matter what happens to him he is lucky enough to survive somehow (including being struck by lightning at Loguetown, being chased by Smoker, being frozen alive by Admiral Aokiji, or inadvertantly slashed by Mihawk).

Buggy is one of the few villains to become reformed after facing Luffy, though only slightly. He also begins to accept people's kindness, though he can still be cruel to anyone who isn't a member of his crew or is aiding him in his goals. He also is fun loving and displays a huge fondness for parties, admiring those who are equally fun loving (strangely, he shares this trait with Shanks). He takes great joy in riding on the beliefs of others and took a great advantage of the cheering crowds of prisoners from Impel Down upon his escape, who were impressed with his history on Roger's crew, as well as his connections with Shanks.

He also has a strong love of treasure. Unfortunately (for him) his obsession with treasure led to him leaving himself open in his first encounter with Luffy to attack Nami who was stealing them and was arguably the sole reason for his loss. Buggy fails to understand how anything but gold, silver or jewels can be considered "treasure"; an opinion which apparently hasn't changed in over 22 years even though so far it has led to constant failure.

His primary goal was to get revenge against Luffy, for defeating him, and Shanks, for ruining his dreams during his youth. His dream is to become Pirate King and own all the treasures in the world. After the escape from Impel Down, with the encouragement of his followers, he put his sights on defeating Whitebeard and conquering the "top". Many of those he has known previously such as Luffy and Whitebeard see him as little threat.

Another strange trait of Buggy's is his complete lack of fear toward swordsmen, no matter how powerful they may be, in contrast to his cowardice against other people stronger than him. This can be seen in such instances as his fight against Roronoa Zoro and Mihawk. This most likely is a trait he developed because of his Devil Fruit-based immunity to cutting attacks.

Crew
Of the Roger Pirates, most relationships between Buggy and the other crewmates remain unknown. Though it has been shown through flashbacks that he would fight with Shanks over just about anything. The Marines themselves describe their relationship as a 'brotherly bond' and Whitebeard himself had noted the pair were always together. Though he was often punished by Rayleigh, he still has much respect for the former first mate of the crew, Silvers Rayleigh. Buggy, just like Shanks must have had a good relationship with Roger because he is seen crying at his execution.

Before his loss to Luffy, he was willing to use his own crew as human shields, while afterwards, he shows a lot more care about their well being. And them to him as well, even willing to attempt to invade Impel Down to rescue their captain, only to forget this idea after Alvida explained that they would all be killed before even reaching the prison.

Friends
He was good friends with Portgas D. Ace. He also forms a bond with Mr. 3 during their time in Impel Down, after which, Mr. 3 seems to join Buggy's crew. Due to the fact that he helped free the prisoners from Impel Down (though he was only planning to use them as sacrifice for his own escape), many of them have earned a deep respect. Since finding out about his Legendary connections, most of the prisoners seem to see him as a Messiah, and are willing to follow him anywhere, a fact which he uses to his advantage. He is also good friends with Gaimon. However they battled first when he crashed on the island. Coincidently, neither of them knew the others relationship with Luffy.

Enemies
While he hates Luffy, he has proven that though willing to exploit Luffy's naive ways he will work with him to his own goals if he is to benefit from it. He is also not above exploiting his previous "friendship" with Shanks whom he discredits now the pair have gone their separate ways. Yet despite what they claimed to each other, when the two met for the first time in years, Shanks was able to trick Buggy into giving Luffy the Straw Hat back. Buggy then had a go at Shanks for it afterwards while Shanks himself was calm despite Buggy's reaction, indicating that despite their differences the pairs relationship between them is still on a similar grounds to what it was in the past.

Interestingly, Buggy's current relationship with Luffy is similar to his past relationship with Shanks: in a slightly friendly antagonistic way. He considers Luffy to be the worst troublemaker in the world, but was immensely shocked when discovering that Dragon is Luffy's father.

Abilities and Powers
While not as powerful as other former Roger pirates, Buggy is a fairly capable fighter who was strong enough to survive all the battles with Whitebeard's crew and the extreme dangers of the Grand Line but his arrogance and greed usually gets the best of him, preventing him from fighting at his fullest.

While he was a considerable villain at the beginning, he become a less threat as more powerful enemies showed up. Finally, in the Impel Down arc, the Baroque Works members commented how weak or how much of a coward Buggy actually is. However, he is still able to survive the ordeals that even the more powerful people can (albeit with their help).

However, he has very high endurance and resilience, since he survived an explosion from a Muggy ball, redirected from Mihawk to him, with hardly any resulting injuries (though his Devil Fruit might have helped him somewhat), while a similar Muggy Ball severely injured Minotauros, one of the Demon Guards in Impel Down. He also possesses quite a great deal of physical strength, as he was able to lift and choke one of his underlings with just one hand, lifting a blugori easily and slamming it into the floor (although it got up again with minimal injuries) and managed to sustain the weight of both Luffy and Jinbe while floating with the upper part of his body (though this may be attributed to his Devil Fruit abilities).

Due to the misconceptions of his selfish actions, ie: running away out of fear as something to do with the death of Whitebeard and their short term partnership, as well as catching Jinbe by accident but they believed that was his plan all along, many pirates become extremely loyal to him. Most of the times they were in tears from his "heroics."

If anything, Buggy can at least be seen as a formidable chemist. This was seen when he was able to create a cannon ball with enough power to destroy a town, as well as making it smaller but just as destructive.

Devil Fruit
Buggy accidentally consumed the Bara Bara no Mi, a Paramecia type Devil Fruit which allows him to separate his body parts and control them independent of each other, but robbed him of the ability to swim, which, according to Shanks (back when the two were still cabin boys at Roger's ship) he was excellent at. The abilities gained from this fruit also make Buggy immune to slashing, cutting and cleaving attack; any such attack just separates him into his component parts.

In addition, most of his body is capable of flying through the air, with enough force to send a man flying through a wall - with the crucial exception of his feet. Even though the parts are separate, Buggy can still feel what the part feels; e.g. when Luffy attacked Buggy, he separated his torso from his waist, only to find that Luffy was aiming for the crotch (needless to say, this left him with a rather painful result). Also, when Buggy used Bara Bara Festival in an attempt to take down Nami, Luffy took one of the feet and tickled it, causing Buggy to break down in laughter. No matter how much of his body he separates, something also seems to act normal; e.g., his feet walking as normal while Buggy sends the rest of his body flying. Though Buggy is a strong fighter and his Devil Fruit power makes him almost invincible, he was constantly leaving himself open in the latter half of his match for Luffy due to distractions, resulting in many careless mistakes. A weakness of his fruit is that if a component part is restrained, he can't use the component part, shown by Nami when she restrained a part of his body in their first fight with him. Because he is invulnerable to cutting attacks, he could be considered the natural enemy to even the most powerful swordsmen, as seen when he easily survived Mihawk's extremely powerful slashing ability.

The major flaw of his Devil Fruit's ability is his feet. They cannot leave the floor like the rest of his body. Buggy may also, despite feeling them at all times, lose pieces of his body, without direct eye sight to guide them back to him, it is impossible, though once he can see them he can easily guide them back.

Weapons
Buggy seems to prefer bladed weapons, presumably because they can't be used against him due to the nature of his Devil Fruit, though he most favors the use of knives. He tends to hold one single knife at a time or three between the fingers of his hands, and can apparently perform small feats of sleigh-of-hand to both store and draw them whenever necessary. Buggy seems to carry an impressive amount of these types of weapons on his person at all times; some of which he prefers to keep hidden under his gloves, or in his shoes (he throws both his legs spinning in an attempt to cut his opponent). He was also seen using a sword in a (failed) attempt to cut Luffy's head off at Loguetown. Within Impel Down he initially wielded a battle-axe taken from one of the Blue Gorillas, but after losing it armed himself with four katana-like weapons and a gun used by one of the prison staff.

Outside of blades, he also can be seen using (or threatening to use) his Buggy Balls, which are highly explosive cannonballs carrying his Jolly Roger on them and which are fired from a cannon. The Buggy Balls are able to clear entire streets consisting of buildings. In fact, he is one of the few pirates who actively uses cannons. In addition, he had hidden "Muggy Balls": hand grenade-like weapons derived from his Buggy Balls on himself, with decreased size, but retains the mighty explosive powers. Until now he has only used three of them: first against the Minotaurus prison guard, a second one on Hannyabal's subordinates (in the manga, the usage was unseen, but in the anime, it was), and a third one on Dracule Mihawk, who redirected it towards Buggy.

The Apprentice Years
Buggy holds a bitter grudge against Shanks over the matter of his Devil Fruit curse. In their youth, both men were pirates aboard the same ship, the Oro Jackson which belonged to Gol D. Roger and his crew the Roger Pirates. When they were not fighting, the pair constantly argued over everything imaginable (in the flashback in the manga and the anime alike, they argue over whether the North or South Pole is colder). Despite the difference between them, both pirates stayed together for some strange reason while they were on board the ship. This led Whitebeard to notice and even remember seeing a "big nose" with Shanks during their battles with Gol D. Roger.



During a raid on an enemy ship, Buggy found a treasure map marking the location of a valuable underwater treasure; during the same raid, the crew retrieved a Devil Fruit: Bara Bara no Mi. Told of the fruit's value, Buggy switched the real fruit with a fake, and then ate the fake in front of the crew so he could sell the fruit, as it was worth a good amount of money.

But, while privately gloating with both the map and the fruit in his possession, Buggy was surprised by Shanks; he hid the fruit in his mouth, and before he could remove it, Shanks surprised him again and he swallowed it - forever losing the ability to swim, and thus also losing his chance to get the treasure underwater.

Twenty-six years before the storyline, Roger was found to have a disease that was incurable. For the next three years, Roger explored the Grand Line until he ultimately disbanded it in secret a year before his death. One by one the crew disappeared.

The last time Shanks and Buggy saw each other was in Loguetown. They had been there the day of the captain's death and parted ways that same day. Shanks offered Buggy a place on the crew he was going to form, but Buggy refused. For the next ten years, he would struggle to kick start his plans he made on the day he ate his Devil Fruit.

Threat of Orange Town
Buggy's later founded the Buggy Pirates, who used powerful Buggy Balls, which are cannonballs with the power to take out an entire block. His first mate was Mohji the animal tamer, who used his pet lion Richie to fight, and his second mate was Cabaji the acrobat, who was a swordsman who also used deadly acrobatic tricks to fight. Buggy became a wealthy pirate with a 15,000,000 bounty, 10,000,000 worth of treasure, and a big, decorative ship called Big Top.

Seeking a way into the Grand Line so she could steal from richer pirates, Nami stole the map from Buggy while he was terrorizing Orange Town.

Angry that his pirates had failed to get the map back from Nami, Buggy started destroying random buildings in Orange Town with cannonballs and Buggy Balls. Monkey D. Luffy happened to fall into the village when Buggy shot down a passing seabird that was attempting to eat Luffy. Luffy rescued Nami from members of Buggy's crew, so Nami got him to get tied up and took him to Buggy's hideout on top of the town bar. Nami then said that Luffy was her boss, and that she had double-crossed him after another fight. She then returned the map to Buggy, and asked to join his crew, planning to steal the map again along with Buggy's treasure. Happy that he had his map back, Buggy accepted Nami into the crew and threw a party.

During the party, Buggy put Luffy in a cage near a cannon and told Nami to kill him by firing the Buggy Ball. However, Nami refused, so Buggy told his men to kill her. Roronoa Zoro then appeared and beat up Buggy's crewmembers. Wanting to boost his bounty, Buggy decided to kill Zoro. Zoro easily cut up Buggy, but Buggy was unharmed due to his Bara Bara no Mi powers. He then managed to disable Zoro by stabbing him in the side when his back was turned. Zoro then turned around Buggy's cannon, while Nami lit the fuse, firing a Buggy Ball at Buggy's crew while the Luffy, Zoro, and Nami escaped.



Buggy survived by using two of his crewmembers as shields, and sent his first mate Mohji to kill Luffy. However, Mohji came back defeated, and passed out before he could warn Buggy of Luffy's Gomu Gomu no Mi powers. Luffy then challenged Buggy, who fired a Buggy ball at him, only to have it bounced back at the bar by his Gomu Gomu no Balloon. Buggy then sent Cabaji to kill Luffy, but Zoro ended up battling and defeating Cabaji. Buggy then began to battle Luffy.

During the battle, Buggy managed to nick the straw hat Luffy had gotten from Shanks. After Luffy told him that it was Shanks' hat, Buggy managed to stab the hat in the middle, enraging Luffy. Buggy then told Luffy about how he and Shanks were apprentice pirates on the same ship. Buggy then used his Bara Bara no Festival to avoid Luffy's attacks. However, Buggy saw Nami stealing his treasure so his head and hands flew after her, attempting to kill her.

While Buggy was chasing after Nami, Luffy saw that Buggy's feet could not fly, so he attacked Buggy's feet, saying that he and Buggy were still fighting. Buggy then put his body back together, but found out that Nami had tied up most of his separate body parts, leaving him with just his head, hands and feet. Luffy then sent him flying with Gomu Gomu no Bazooka.

Chibi Buggy's Adventure
After losing his battle with Luffy, Buggy was separated from his body parts for a long period of time. He found himself on a deserted island, where he tried to kill a giant baby bird to eat it. However, he was eaten by the bird's huge parent, but spat out Buggy to the Island of Rare Animals because he tasted bad. There, Buggy dueled with Gaimon, but later befriended him. After leaving Gaimon's island, Buggy was attacked by a giant crab who also destroyed his Super Flashy Raft - and then saved by a mysterious, beautiful woman who turned out to be Luffy's old foe, Alvida. Learning that Alvida was looking for Luffy, the two teamed up to find Buggy's crew and then find Luffy.

The two pirates later found Mohji and Cabaji all beaten and bruised. Buggy's crew had thought that the Gomu Gomu no Bazooka had killed Buggy, so they held a funeral for him, and held onto his spare parts as a memento. Mohji and Cabaji later dueled to become the captain, but were defeated by a sleepwalking Richie. Richie was then crowned captain of the "Richie Pirates," who had left Mohji and Cabaji behind to explore the island. The four later saw the Richie Pirates being boiled in a giant pot by a cannibalistic group known as the Kumate Tribe. Reunited with his body parts, Buggy, Alivida, Mohji, and Cabaji defeated the tribe and Buggy was reunited with his crew. The pirate crew then went hunting for Luffy.

The Hunt Begins
Buggy later found Luffy at Loguetown, where he was greeted by "Oh, it's just you, Buggy." Enraged, Buggy had Cabaji trap Luffy on Gol D. Roger's execution stand. Meanwhile Mohji was sent to burn the Going Merry just in case Luffy escaped, but failed when it started to rain. Buggy stated that he was going to stage an execution, which made Luffy excited until Buggy told him he was going to execute Luffy. Zoro and Sanji attempted to rescue Luffy, but Luffy simply smiled and said that he was going to die and that they were too late.

However, at that moment a bolt of lightning hit the execution stand, destroying Buggy's plot. Luffy then escaped unharmed due to his rubber body. Buggy then pursued Luffy with his Bara Bara no Buggy, but was caught by Captain Smoker's Moku Moku no Mi powers. Buggy's crew were then captured in seastone nets as Smoker left to pursue Luffy. Buggy's crew was later freed due to the high winds of the storm knocking away the nets. Buggy decided to follow Luffy to the Grand Line.

Jaya Arc
Buggy was later seen on a skull-shaped island in the Grand Line, searching for Captain John's legendary treasure. However, he had mistaken the island for another, and was put to work by the digger of the island. He later heard news of Luffy's bounty increasing to 100,000,000, but was not worried, saying that after he took out Luffy, his bounty would increase even more.

He later found Portgas D. Ace sleeping on his ship, and refused to attack him, remembering that Whitebeard prizes his nakama. Ace later heard Buggy mention that he knew Whitebeard and Luffy, and promised to show him the way to Luffy. Buggy agreed to let Ace on his ship, thinking that Ace is one of Luffy's old enemies as well. Ace later ditched Buggy for unknown reasons, but most probably to continue his search for Blackbeard.

News of his Capture
Buggy is later seen on a newspaper Elder Nyon was reading, the article reported that Buggy had been captured after entering a cave he thought was Captain John's treasure hold. Unfortunately, it turned out it was a Marine Fort. He was later sent to Impel Down.

Escape from the Great Prison


Although his crew was forced to abandon him there after their replacement captain Alvida spoke to them, he was last heard to have escaped confinement (most likely because the prison staff were not aware of his Devil Fruit powers and thus, neglected to employ seastone restrainers on him) somewhere in the prison at the same time Luffy arrives at the prison with Shichibukai Boa Hancock. Luffy encounters him on the first level of Impel Down, using his Bara Bara abilities to survive being chopped by the prison guards and declaring a truce with Luffy while in the confines. They turn around and at the exact same time Luffy uses his Gomu Gomu Pistol and he uses his Bara Bara powers to punch a guard. Buggy tried to defeat the Blue Glory but failed as his attacks prove useless against the guards.

In a nick of time, Luffy defeated all of the guards which shocked Buggy himself. He also remarked on Luffy's ability comparing to the last time he met him. Luffy told him he broke in to save Ace from execution, to which Buggy expressed great shock, almost getting them noticed. Buggy initially wanted to escape himself but Luffy told him that battleships were already standing by for the up-coming war between Whitebeard and the Marines. Knowing that he would be captured once again should he escape, he decided to stay for a while. It was then that he spotted Luffy's arm band which was given by Nami. Realizing it was actually Captain John's treasure map that he was looking for, he decided to make a deal with Luffy. He would guide him to Level 4 but in return, Luffy had to give him the arm band. Without hesitation, Luffy agreed and even decided to give him the treasure in advance for helping him. Feeling guilty, Buggy was reluctant to accept the gift but still decide to take it. He planned to run away after grabbing the gift but crashed into the Gaolers room and flew out towards Level One, Crimson Hell. He then brought Luffy towards the entrance of Level 2 inside the Crimson Hell. Luffy immediately jumped into the pit hole but Buggy decided not to and instead, run away. His plans failed once again when a Blugori managed to catch up and his body accidentally tripped into the hole.

Once at Level 2 with Luffy, they came face-to-face with a creature known also the Gaoler Basilisk, a snake with a chicken head that eats whoever it can find on that level. Luffy manages to beat it though, and destroy the Monitor Room on that level. The prisoners on the level were amazed, and asked if they could be set free. Buggy did so, hoping the escaped prisoners would cause a riot, which he could use to cover his escape, but Luffy pulled him away trying to get them to continue onward. Buggy then admitted to him that he doesn't know how to get to Level 4 and that he lied to him about helping him get there. He was even going to reveal his plan of sneaking away during the riot, but then he realized that all the prisoners went back into their cages, leaving Buggy with an angry Luffy.



Eventually, with the aid of Mr. 3, who was one of the prisoners released by Buggy and Luffy, they managed to get to the stairway that led to Level 3 and Level 1, but it was guarded by the Gaoler Sphinx, a feathered lion with a humanoid face. However, Mr. 3 and Buggy conspired together to get up to Level 1 in order to escape, which would leave Luffy by himself, had the Sphinx not accidentally smashed the floor to pieces, which plunged Buggy, Mr. 3, Luffy and the Sphinx down into Level 3. Upon crashing down they end up in Level 3 or "The Starvation Hell". Buggy and Luffy argue over the former's initial promise to help him find Ace. Before they could do anything, they are captured by the guards with a Seastone-reinforced net. The commander of the Blugori: Saldeath tells them there is no escape, but the Sphinx, who was captured along them, breaks the net, setting them free. Buggy and Mr. 3 tell Luffy that they're ditching him to escape Impel Down, and Buggy mockingly says "He will have drinks with him and Ace" if he manages to survive. However, to his and Mr. 3's surprise, he was only mildly disappointed and said goodbye. While trying to escape, they finds themselves along Mr. 2's cell, who is surprised to see Mr. 3 out of his cell. After freeing him, Buggy and Mr. 3 again tried to escape, only to be chased back by Minotaurus and running into Luffy and Mr. 2 again. There he unveiled his new weapon, the hand-held Muggy Ball explosives, and working together, the four fugitives managed to take the beast down. After the battle, the four fall down to Level 4, where Luffy and Mr. 2 run off to the kitchen. Mr. 3 holds Buggy back, warning him that there are guards everywhere waiting to capture them. The two then decided to attack Hannyabal to get to the staircase to Level 3. Unfortunately, they were both easily defeated by Hannyabal, though Buggy managed to injure several guards with a Muggy Ball. They were both saved however, by Mr. 2 disguised as Hannyabal, who then told them that they needed to rescue Luffy, who was defeated by Magellan.

The Return of Captain Buggy
Buggy is later seen with Mr. 3 and a disguised Bon Kurei heading down to Level 5. Upon entering the area though, the Wolf unit showed up, intending to eat them. Just as Bon Kurei decided to fight them in order to get to Luffy, Buggy is shown running away in horror with Mr. 3. He is then shown alongside Mr. 3 on level 2 freeing prisoners in order to cause a distraction for them to leave. Unfortunately, Magellan came to Level 2 and killed many rioters as well as sealed all the entrances and exits, causing Buggy to yell that that was unfair. Later though, Blackbeard reopened the level and Buggy and the rioters prepared to head to Level 1.

A short while later the recently revived Demon Guards arrive in Level 2 and start to destroy the rioters. Seeing they are no match for the Demon guards Buggy loses all hope and decided to run for it. It then he quit literally runs into Crocodile. Before he knows who he is he tells him to watch where he is going but upon realizing who he just ran into he along with Mr. 3 express great shock and terror at the revelation that he is there. He again is shocked when he see both Luffy and Jinbe after they effortlessly defeated the Four Demon Guards. A short while later he is promptly kicked in the face by Mr. 2 for leaving him and Luffy in Level 5. Afterwards he accompanies Jinbe, Crocodile, and Mr. 1 in an attempt to hijack a Marine battleship. He is cheered on by the prisoners he released earlier saying he is going into battle with two Shichibukai and riding with them like equals, though his inner monologue reveals that it's more for the protection that Crocodile and Jinbe provide rather than real bravery.



However, Buggy would soon come to realize that his decision was not exactly the safest. When the Marine battleships started to fire upon the makeshift raft that the three Devil Fruit users were riding and towed by Jinbe, Buggy was the only one who screamed in terror, leading Crocodile and Mr. 1 to question why he went along with them. When the raft crashed onto a ship, Buggy was the only one of the three who didn't make a graceful entrance, but instead fainted upon impact. He remain this way until Crocodile and Mr. 1 have defeated every marine on the ship, at which point he congratulates the others on a job well done, causing Mr. 1 again to question why he was even there. Upon Mr. 2's act of sacrifice to enable the others to escape the prison, he was so moved that he was brought to tears, and even apologized for his selfish behavior during the escape.

Battle of Marineford
After escaping Impel Down, Buggy was absolutely horrified to learn that the ship was bound of Marineford, even claiming that he'd rather go back to Impel Down.

However, during Luffy's Den Den Mushi conversation with a Marine officer, he discovers that he's been labeled the mastermind behind the jailbreak along with Luffy (much to the surprise of the other prisoners he was actually ranked above Jinbe and Crocodile in the escape). His past as a member of the Roger Pirates is also revealed, in addition to the fact that he was ranked alongside Shanks.



Because of this, the Marines mistakenly believe that he is of similar strength, and impressed by these revelations, many of the prisoners rally around him, even going to far as to suggest a mutiny before Buggy calms them down. However, the stronger characters present aren't fooled, and Mr. 1 and Crocodile are left wondering how someone with such an impressive history could be so cowardly and weak; Ivankov simply muses that Buggy is probably the "disgrace" of the Roger Pirates. With a new rush of confidence, Buggy uses the support of the newly-freed inmates to his advantage, declaring his intention to go on to Marineford and challenge Whitebeard himself, which would boost his reputation to unheard-of heights. Going along with the ship's surprising luck with The Gate of Justice opening, he plays along with it, pretending to be a Messiah but even wondering in his head if it's a sign from God to make him Pirate King.

He was seen alongside with the other Impel Down fugitives, falling from the sky to Marineford, in order to gain more fame. He was also seen wearing a pirate captain's attire, salvaged from different parts of a Marine officer's uniform, over his striped prisoner's outfit. He had also apparently scrounged up a number of knives, and, combined with his clothes, has mostly returned to his original appearance.



When Crocodile made his attempt to kill Whitebeard, Buggy exclaims that Crocodile tried to steal his (Buggy's) glory. He then became completely stunned when Luffy starts competing with Whitebeard in Ace's rescue.

When Kizaru fires a blast at Luffy, and Ivankov uses a Death Wink to blast him away, Buggy is seen wailing about wanting to go home. As usual of late, his desire is completely misconstrued, and the other escaped inmates from Impel Down think that he wants to kill Kizaru and ask him if he's crazy, saying that they, as his new Crew of Legends, have no fear of Kizaru. Which, as one could imagine, doesn't stand well with Mr. 3, who says that their ears are so full of hope that they're half-deaf. Later, when Fleet Admiral Sengoku reveals that Dragon is Luffy's father, Buggy is understandably thunderstruck. Buggy then enters into a temporary alliance with Whitebeard, Buggy believes this to be because Whitebeard thinks that he is strong and that they are equals. However, Whitebeard only did this because of the amount of pirates who have sided with Buggy, and they could interfere with saving Ace if they tried to attack Whitebeard. He was then seen rallying his followers to start fighting. Buggy was sucked into Crocodile's Sables, and then he was grabbed by Luffy's Gomu Gomu No Jet Migawari, to be used as a shield against Mihawk's sword slashes. He then fires a Muggy Ball at Mihawk. Mihawk deflects the Muggy Ball back to Buggy, making it explode on him. Luffy says: "Thank you, Buggy! I will never forget you!!!"



After a little while, Buggy is revealed to be fine, apart from some minor nosebleed and a missing tooth. He and his Impel Down subordinates stole one of the Visual Den Den Mushi and used it to broadcast a commercial about Buggy being a member of the legendary crew under Gold Roger, which prompts Sengoku to order the Marines to blast them with cannons.



When the stolen Den Den Mushi reveals to the whole world Whitebeard being stabbed by his ally Squardo, due to Sengoku's master plan, to which the world mistakes that Whitebeard made a deal with the Marines, in exchange for his crew's life comes the 43 ally crews that came with him, Sengoku orders Admiral Aokiji to interrupt the transmission. Buggy and the prisoners with him are immediately frozen by the Admiral's powers. Soon after they are thawed out by the heat from Admiral Akainu's magma; Buggy is quick to swear revenge, much to the escapees admiration. He's later seen witnessing Luffy reaching the execution platform together with the prisoners.

When the Visual Den Den Mushi reactivates, Buggy restarts the broadcast. While preparing to go and claim Whitebeard's head, Buggy is seen staring shocked and perhaps angered at the sight of Ace being struck from behind by Akainu's magma fist.

Later, Whitebeard met his end at the hands of the Blackbeard Pirates thus causing Buggy to lose the honor to claim Whitebeard's head. Buggy starts to get terrified and decides to run away. His crew, however, mistakes this as an act of honor and respect for Whitebeard and follows him in tears. During his escape, Aokiji would later freeze the ocean again into a frozen wasteland, in an attempt to prevent Jinbe from escaping with Luffy. However, the solidified sea enabled Buggy foothold, allowing him to seperate his upperbody high into the air and aid him in his escape

When Crocodile launched Luffy and Jinbe into the air to get them out of Akainu's reach, Buggy unintentionally caught them in mid-air and evaded a giant magma fist. Although his acting was completely casual, his crew once again believed he saved Straw Hat and the fishman intentionally and claims he's a hero. While Buggy's flying searching for a safe place in which he can land, the Heart Pirates appear with their submarine, and Trafalgar Law tells Buggy to bring Luffy on his ship. As Buggy is airborne, he is shot through his shoulder by one of Kizaru's beams. He screams in terror and throws them at the submarine and flees.

As Buggy is fleeing, Shanks and his crew arrives and Shanks tosses Luffy's strawhat to him and promises to give him a treasure map in return. He gives the hat to Law, only to return to Shanks and find out he lied just to mess with him just like the old days. As he shows his anger towards Shanks, his followers take his familiarity towards Shanks as a sign of his greatness even further and proclaim they'll follow him forever.

After the War
After the war, Buggy is somehow reunited with his original crew, and they lie stating they never gave up looking for him, and tearfully welcome him back; Alvida speaks up about them abandoning him, but is ignored. Buggy proudly shows Alvida "Captain John's treasure mark", but he's interrupted by Mr. 3, who announces a carrier bat brought him a message from the World Government, and says he'll never believe what's written in it. Buggy responds angrily that Mr. 3 is reading the letter before Buggy himself has a chance to. It is currently unknown what was written in the letter.

Early One Piece
Buggy was originally going to be called "Boogie". The creator of One Piece, Eiichirō Oda, saw a movie and saw that the name "Boogie" was taken. Oda quickly thought up the new name so he changed it to "Buggy". This was possibly done because in English, the term "buggy" is slang for someone who is considered crazy. "Boogie" was drawn in a harder, more realistic style, making him look more like a traditional 'scary horror clown' not too different from other clown-like villains in fiction such as the Joker from Batman. This is a contrast to Buggy's more rounded and cartoonish face in the final version. Buggy's red nose was also made bigger and more of an important feature on his face in comparison to Boogie.

Anime and Manga differences
In the anime, it was shown that Buggy stole a map of the Grand Line from Captain Morgan's Shells Town Marine Base. One could consider this somewhat "odd" for him to have or want a map of such a thing considering he once was on Roger's crew and already has a fair amount of information on the Grand Line.

Also in the anime, his screentime is greatly expanded during the Impel Down arc: his canon scenes from the manga are expanded greatly, and additional all-new scenes have been added as well.

Translation and Dub Issues
A few edits were made to scenes involving Buggy and his crew in the 4Kids dub. Firstly during his fight with Luffy, he received a blow to the crotch area from Luffy which was altered into a kick to the shin. Other edits included general bloody edits. The two episode mini-arc involving him trying to find his body parts was also cut from final production.

His voice was also given a echo due to the power of his Devil Fruit (which is absent in the Japanese version). Evidence of this came from the his voice suddenly echoing during his flashback with Shanks after he ate his Devil Fruit. In the FUNimation dub, he is given a voice and accent similar to that of Mark Hamill's portrayal of the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, albeit more rough sounding. Another note is Buggy's habit of saying "flashy" often. The 4kids Dub removed this trait, however in the FUNimation dub, he does show his fondness for the word. In the English manga, he says "flashy" sometimes, but uses other words as well. (e.g. "gaudy, "magnificently", "gloriously")

Cameos and Crossovers

 * Buggy appeared in Cross Epoch alongside the Straw Hats paired with Pilaf from Dragon Ball. Coincidentally, they're both voiced by Shigeru Chiba from their respective series.

Merchandise
As a popular recurring secondary villain, Buggy has made his way into a number of fan merchandise. He has been featured in the trading figure set One-Piece Motion Figure box alongside Chopper. He has also been featured in One Piece Gashapon and One Piece Gashapon Grand Battle sets. Buggy was also notably featured in the One Piece Super Deformed Figures, One Piece The Combining Prison Impel Down!!, One Piece World Collectable Figure, CharaColleCan, and One Piece Anime Heroes sets.

There has also been a One Piece DX Buggy Plushie released for him.

Trivia



 * In the manga, Buggy is usually drawn with his mouth open, causing one fan to ask Oda to draw him with his mouth shut..
 * In the 4th Japanese Popularity Poll, Buggy the Clown is ranked the 21st most popular character in One Piece. His best ranking in a fan poll was 7th place in the first poll . and his worst placement was place 30 in the third poll.
 * One of Oda's more mature SBS questions asked if Buggy's lower regions were also able to split and fly off. Oda replied 'yes' as every part of Buggy's body could fly off.
 * In an early interview for Shonen Jump, Oda once stated Buggy was his favorite villain, however over time Oda has listed other villians as his favourite.
 * Though not considered canon, a scene of Ace ditching Buggy can be seen at the end of Ace's ending for the game One Piece: Grand Battle 3. After entering a bar and feasting on food, Ace (currently asleep) wakes up and realizes he has forgotten something and runs out of the bar - leaving Buggy with the 380,000 bill.
 * He is seen amongst the audience of the theater in a trailer for Movie 6, even though he himself has no part in the story.
 * When Buggy detaches his head and floats around, he resembles a Nukekubi - a flesh-eating humanoid monster of Japanese mythology said to detach its head during the night to float around and hunt for mortals to victimize
 * He has shown to involuntarily split up his body when shocked or surprised. A joke to show that the news has caused him to "go to pieces".
 * Like other characters Buggy has a distinct laugh, "gyahahahahaha!"
 * Buggy is the only member of the Roger Pirates with a known bounty.

Related Articles

 * Shanks
 * Monkey D. Luffy
 * Buggy the Clown arc
 * Buggy's Crew: After the Battle!
 * Edward Newgate
 * Alvida
 * Mr. 3

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