User blog comment:Bloodhound20/Buggy one of the newest shichibukai?/@comment-2031609-20101019052918

It's very likely. Why else would he get a letter from the WG? Either way, everybody, most pirates, the marines, the WG, know he's weak. That is undeniable. But he does have a fairly strong crew, he was a member of Roger's crew, he's "friends" with Shanks, he was one of the leaders of Impel Down's break out, plus all the stuff he did during the Whitebeard War. All of that has been made public to the world, so I don't see why not.