Bartholomew Kuma

Bartholomew Kuma (バーソロミュー・くま, Bāsoromyū Kuma) is a shichibukai who was first introduced attending the meeting in Mariejois with Donquixote Doflamingo. Little is known about him except that his former bounty was 296 million belli. "Kuma" means "bear" in Japanese, his animal theme.

Appearance
Kuma is a large man that is usually seen carrying a Bible. His hat has bear ears and along with his pants, have spots all over them. His jacket contains a large white design that looks like a target crosshair and several bear paw prints line the bottom edge of it. He is roughly the same size as Moria. His overall appearance looks like a bear. In the anime, Kuma's hair and jacket are black. His hat is gray and the spots on it are dark brown. The covering of his Bible is also shown to be intricately colored.

According to the 2007 calendar, Kuma has a completely different color scheme, than the one presented in the anime, that was originally intended by Oda. Kuma's hair was originally intended to be brown while his jacket to be orange. His hat was intended to yellow with green bear paws. His Bible is also shown to be intended to be golden in color.

According to Moria, Kuma worries about him more than any other Shichibukai.

Personality
Despite his imposing figure, Kuma is a very calm and quiet person as he rarely spoke during his meeting with the World Government. He also paid nearly no attention to Perona while she was threatening him. However, it seems when he is looking for someone he has a rather focused mind.

When talking, Kuma usually uses target metaphors in his sentences such as "We now have the same target" or "You're right on target, I am Kuma".

Relationships
Unlike most of the other Shichibukai, Kuma is the only one who is truly obedient to the World Government. For this, the World Government values him and his abilities very much.

Abilities and Powers
Kuma ate the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi. This Devil Fruit gives him the power to move anything he touches with the palm of his hand at the speed of light; this was mistaken for a form of teleportation by Nami. The things he can move include himself and the air, giving him the ability to shoot high-speed "bullets" of air. His body also seems to be as tough as steel, as noted by Sanji after he kicked him in the face with no effect.

History
According to Perona, Kuma was once a violent tyrannical pirate, who was said to "flatten everything who crossed him". Because of an unknown reason, he was known as Kuma "the Tyrant". It is possible that he found religion and was changed.

Like Mihawk and Donquixote Doflamingo, he was present at the government summit of Mariejois, following Sir Crocodile's defeat in Arabasta. He has only spoken briefly.

Current Events (Spoilers)
With orders from the World Government to inform Gecko Moria of Crocodile's replacement, Kuma came to Thriller Bark. Arriving there, he asked some of Moria's Zombie minions, who were loading stuff onto the Thousand Sunny, where their master would be. He however was meet with some resistance from them and was forced to deal with them. His actions however weren't unnoticed as the zombies reported his doings to the person they were to ordered to follow, Perona. Perona however recognized Kuma and shook in fear at his sight.

Despite Kuma's reputation however, Perona got annoyed with him and attempted to fight the Schihibukai for his shadow. However asking her where she would like to go and removing a glove, he somehow made her vanish. The zombies around seeing this tried to attack him but were frightened off by his mere presence. Kuma then spotted Nami and asked her if Luffy has an older brother. After receiving her answer, he then somehow teleported away and continued his search for Moria.

Kuma then found Moria in the dance hall in the Mast Mansion of Thriller Bark. After some formalities, he told Moria of Crocodile's replacement, Marshall D. Teach. Though the gap in the Schihibukai ranks had been filled up, he told Moria that he felt somewhat uneasy of the situation. Kuma then told Moria that since the Straw Hats were most likely to come in Moria's vicinity, he should do something about them. He explained to Moria this since the World Government had grown greatly alert of the pirates since the events at Enies Lobby. Though he wasn't given a specific order, he offered to help Moria in dealing with the Straw Hats. Moria however angrily declined Kuma's help and told him to instead sit back and watch as Moria himself defeats the Straw Hats.

However despite Moria's boasting, Kuma witnessed Moria get beaten by Luffy. After the battle, Kuma then reported this to the World Government. Fearful that the rumors of Gecko's defeat will cause another global uproar like with Crocodile, they ordered Kuma to kill all witnesses on Thriller Bark including the Straw Hat Pirates. Accepting the order, he launched an attack on some of the members of the Thriller Bark Victim's Association before shifting his attention to Zoro. Kuma weakens Zoro, and uses his Devil Fruit ability to take down Franky and Sanji. He gives them an ultimatum: let him kill Luffy, and he lets them live. When they refuse him, Kuma calmly detonates the entire island.

Anime and Manga Differences
In the manga, during the meeting in Mariejois, Kuma had a few lines while in the anime, he had none.

In the manga also, according to the 2007 calendar, Kuma was intended to have a different color scheme than the one he is presented with in the anime. This unfortunately was because no full colored version of Kuma was present when the first episode of him appearing was made.

Trivia

 * Due to his apparently reserved disposition and the fact that he is invariably seen with a large Bible, Kuma is likely modeled after Bartholomew "Black Bart" Roberts, a gentleman pirate known for his religious obstinacy.