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.

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 "violent man" Kuma. It is possible that he found religon 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)


Kuma recently appeared on Thriller Bark looking for Moria.

Kuma was called "The 'Tyrant' Barthlomew Kuma" since, when a pirate, he was "brutal beyond measure". He seems to not show emotions, but tries to start a fight with anyone who opposes him, and at least suggests fight the other Shichibukai on Thriller Bark, Gecko Moria.

He then intervenes when Perona and her Wild Zombies are attempting to leave Thriller Bark. Perona recognizes Kuma and grows exceedingly annoyed with him. She attempts to fight Kuma for his shadow, though Kuma makes Perona vanish. It is worth mentioning that before the "fight", his Bible was shown to be open and his right hand's glove removed. Kuma then spots Nami and asks her if Luffy has an older brother. Afterwards, he continues his search for Moria.

He is said to have defeated several zombies "without a sweat". He also transported himself quite a distance without being seen and Nami did comment that it appeared to be a teleport ability. Gecko Moria confirmed that when he asks where someone would like to go as he did with Perona, it is related to his ability, so it is almost granted that his ability is some form of teleportation, allowing him to teleport both himself and others, with some requirements to activate it.

He referred to Nami as "kitten thief", and calls her a Nakama of Luffy, thus he must have seen the new wanted posters.

It was revealed that Kuma came to Thriller Bark (after he asked Moria where would he want to go on a trip and Moria declined to answer, saying he knows his powers) to inform Moria that a successor for Crocodile was already chosen: Marshall D. Teach. His other reason for coming to Thriller Bark was because the government "ordered" him to go and fight the Straw Hat Pirates, because they have grown greatly alert of them since the events at Enies Lobby. He did not accept the order, but mainly wanted to inform Moria of this. He then asks if Moria thinks he should help, to which Moria gets extremely angered and tells him "to sit back and watch" how he'll defeat the Straw Hats.

However, after Gecko Moria was defeated, Kuma reported this to the World Government. Fearful that the rumors of Gecko's defeat will cause another globle uproar like with Crocodile, they ordered Kuma to kill all witness on Thriller Bark including the Straw Hat Pirates, he lauched an attack on the the Rolling Pirates before shifting his attention to Zoro.

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.