Buggy

Ahoy! This here is the 101st Featured Article. “Buggy” has been featured, meaning it was chosen as an article of interest.

Buggy the Star Clown is the captain of the Buggy Pirates^[3] as well as the co-leader of the Buggy and Alvida Alliance^[4], and a former apprentice of the Roger Pirates.^[6] Shortly after the Summit War of Marineford, he became a member of the Seven Warlords of the Sea^[5] and the leader of the pirate dispatch organization “Buggy’s Delivery”.^[2] He later lost his Warlord title when the Seven Warlords system dissolved.

He is the main antagonist of the Orange Town Arc and can be considered the secondary antagonist of the Loguetown Arc. He has since become a highly recurring character in the series. Buggy is also the central character from Buggy’s Crew Adventure Chronicles Cover Page Serial. Despite his rivalry with Luffy, he temporarily became one of his main allies during the Impel Down and Marineford Arcs.

He is also the main antagonist in most episodes of “Boss Luffy Historical Special”. He also serves as a help to Luffy in the 3D2Y special episode, and the movie One Piece: Stampede.

Appearance

Buggy is a slim 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.^[13]

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.^[1] 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.^[14][15] After that (when his crew meets 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.

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 neckerchief 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.

In Impel Down, he wore a striped prisoner outfit and wore his hair in a ponytail. After escaping from the Grand Prison, he changed his prisoner uniform with clothes like the one he normally wears, with salvaged Marine uniform pieces to recreate the effects of a pirate captain: a white coat and a white tricorn that had the Marine symbols crossed out.

As a young man serving aboard Gol D. Roger’s ship, he looked mostly the same; the only notable differences were his shorter hair and smaller stature. He wore a different outfit in each flashback but dressed similarly to how he does now, usually seen in striped T-shirts (or collared shirts), white gloves, baggy pants, pointed shoes, and donning a sash. He wore beanies rather than a captain’s hat and he lacked the captain’s coat.

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.

After the timeskip, Buggy’s appearance has changed greatly. His hair is not tied anymore and now looks spikier. He wears a big red and white, stripped tricorn with a rim ornated with several golden little balls and his crew’s Jolly Roger on the front. He wears a big, red cloak, using his Devil Fruit powers to make himself appear larger.^[2]

Non-Canon

In the Boss Luffy Historical Special episodes, he has long pink hair, a green ribbon in the front, and a white face with red and blue lines. He wears an orange kimono, with blue shoulder pads that have his Jolly Roger drawn, with two yellow lines crossed behind, and a blue and red ribbon at the waist. He also wears white gloves (different from the canon storyline), and sandals.

In the 3D2Y special, he dresses in a similar way to his appearance in Orange Town, with the difference of his shirt and sash are with the colors in Marineford, and the shoulder pads in his coat are gold.

In the video game One Piece: World Seeker, Buggy wears his hair in a ponytail, and sunglasses with star-shaped lenses. On his neck he wears a purple scarf and a gold collar, and he wears a green shirt with printed flowers, which he has unbuttoned, leaving his torso in sight, orange shorts with a red and white striped scarf at the waist, and sandals. He also wears his white gloves, and Captain John’s armband on his wrist.

In One Piece: Stampede, in his “Star Clown” appearance he is wearing an orange and white captain coat on the shoulders, and a pink cravat. In his original appearance, he is shown with yellow hair, and a black hat with a Jolly Roger. He wears a white shirt, pants with pink and yellow vertical stripes, fastened by light blue suspenders, and an orange coat on the shoulders. He also wears brown shoes and socks with white and light blue stripes.

Gallery

Main Series (Pre-Timeskip)

Buggy’s photo used on his grave.

Buggy at age 9.

A close up of Buggy’s face as Roger Pirates’ apprentice.

Buggy at age 12.

Buggy at age 13.

Buggy at age 14 (with the outfit in the manga).

Buggy at age 14 (with the outfit in the anime).

Buggy’s outfit when he says goodbye to Roger.

Buggy at age 15.

Buggy’s color scheme in the manga during the Orange Town Arc.

Buggy’s color scheme in the manga during the Loguetown Arc.

Chibi Buggy in the anime.

A close up of Buggy’s face during the Jaya Arc.

Main Series (Post-Timeskip)

Buggy’s wanted poster after the dissolution of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.

Buggy’s color scheme in the manga during the Zou Arc.

Buggy the Star Clown.

A close up of Buggy after the timeskip.

Non-Canon

Video Games

Omakes

Other

Personality

Buggy is very vain and egotistical and seeks to be glorified and feared by others. When he was nine years old, he complained that the Whitebeard Pirates were receiving more attention in the newspaper than his crew, the Roger Pirates.^[16] He does not spend much of his time improving his own abilities to become a powerful fighter, but rather focuses mainly on recruiting powerful subordinates who do the hard work while simultaneously being subjected to him.^[17][18] If presented with an opportunity to make himself look good and recruit powerful followers, Buggy will take it. Whenever someone strokes his ego, even if it is due to an inaccurate impression of him, Buggy will revel in it and start getting delusions of grandeur; when the Impel Down escapees praised him for being on Roger’s crew, Buggy started considering that their support could help him take down Whitebeard or even become the Pirate King.^[19]

Buggy is a showman, and his actions are frequently designed to bring attention to himself. He injects the word “flashy” (派手に hade ni^? ), into almost every sentence he speaks (“Flashily die! You flashy bastard!”), and frequently uses it to describe his actions, such as giving Monkey D. Luffy a “flashy execution” in Loguetown. In that attempted execution, he made his entrance by blowing up a fountain, and allowed his crew to run wild while he executed Luffy atop the platform where Gol D. Roger was famously killed.^[20] During the Summit War of Marineford, he had his followers broadcast his exploits to the outside world with a stolen Den Den Mushi,^[21] and after becoming a Warlord of the Sea during the timeskip, he uses his Devil Fruit abilities in conjunction with a large robe to make himself look much bigger than he actually is.^[2]

In addition to wanting followers, Buggy loves to find treasure and spends most of his time following maps leading to great riches; when he was on the Roger Pirates, he stated that the most important thing to a pirate is the physical treasure they find. Buggy is extremely possessive over the treasure he takes and will kill anyone who attempts to steal from him. When Shanks accidentally caused him to lose a treasure map during their apprentice days, Buggy developed a grudge against him that has lasted for three decades.^[17] When the Roger Pirates went to Skypiea, Buggy was very attracted to the Shandorian Golden Belfry Bell and was disappointed when Roger decided not to take it.^[22] Buggy was even willing to guide Luffy through Impel Down in exchange for an armband pointing to Captain John’s treasure, though did not intend to fully honor the deal especially after Luffy gave him the armband in advance.^[23] When asked by Shanks on Marineford to return Luffy’s straw hat, Buggy immediately did so upon being promised a treasure map in return, and was extremely angry when he found out Shanks was lying.^[24]

Buggy is extremely prideful; when he failed to kill Luffy, Zoro, and Nami for stealing from him and defying him, he said that it would bring great shame upon him and his crew to let them go free.^[25] After Luffy defeated him, Buggy made it his mission to hunt down and kill him for simply angering him.^[26] He is prone to underestimating opponents that he knows nothing about, as he initially mistook Luffy for a common thief and believed that Luffy was much weaker than him until being defeated by him;^[27] he initially paid much more attention to Zoro due to having heard of the swordsman before.^[28] In Impel Down, Buggy’s lack of knowledge about vice warden Hannyabal caused him to assume that he and Galdino had a chance of beating him, causing them to attack him and get easily beaten.^[29] Buggy also angrily confronted Portgas D. Ace as an enemy until finding out who he was.^[30] When the Roger Pirates battled the Whitebeard Pirates for four days, Marco noted that Buggy and Shanks both had impressively stoic attitudes for young pirate apprentices.^[22]

Buggy is extremely sensitive about his big red nose and will immediately execute anyone who points it out, usually by blowing them up with a Buggy Ball.^[31] He frequently tends to mishear people as talking about his nose when in reality they are talking about something completely different,^[32] and sometimes he even mistakes his own speech as referring to his nose and gets angry at people around him for it.^[33]

Despite his prideful and vain attitude, Buggy is aware of the many dangers of the Grand Line and typically does not commit rash actions that would put him in trouble, to the point of acting cowardly. When the Roger Pirates came into conflict with the Golden Lion Pirates and their massive fleet, a 12-year-old Buggy worriedly pleaded for Roger to comply with Golden Lion captain Shiki’s request.^[34] When Ace fell asleep on his ship, Buggy ordered his crew not to kill him as he knew that doing so would unleash Whitebeard’s wrath on them.^[30] When teaming up with Luffy, who wanted to go to the lowest level of Impel Down to save Ace, Buggy wished to stay on the highest level possible and avoid the prison’s powerful guards.^[23] When escaping from Impel Down, Buggy went along with Jinbe, Crocodile, and Daz Bonez to commandeer a Marine ship in order to stay away from the warden Magellan.^[35] When he witnessed Whitebeard die after battling the Marine admirals and Blackbeard Pirates, Buggy immediately became afraid and flew away from the battleground, not caring if his followers saw him as cowardly.^[36] However, Buggy may commit rash actions if compelled by his emotions; when Dracule Mihawk sliced him into many pieces during the Summit War of Marineford, Buggy got angry at him and shot a Muggy Ball at him without thinking, causing Mihawk to deflect it back at him.^[37]

Buggy can often be cruel and selfish, even toward his comrades. While operating in the East Blue, he regularly raided and pillaged defenseless towns before destroying them as he pleased, and would kill anyone who opposed him without hesitation.^[38] If one of his subordinates fails to accomplish a task, Buggy will become very angry at them and may abuse them. When a Buggy Ball was flying toward him and his crew, Buggy used two of his crewmates as shields without any remorse.^[39] After losing his Warlord position and being confronted by a Marine fleet, Buggy plotted to escape in secret while the rest of his forces fought the Marines.^[40] When teaming up with Luffy in Impel Down, Buggy frequently looked for ways to split away from him and pursue his own goal of escaping, even if it meant going back on his word or leaving Luffy in a perilous situation. When Luffy gave him Captain John’s armband in advance, and let him go off even before they had agreed to, Buggy was baffled by his kindness.^[23][41] While with the Roger Pirates, he kept a treasure map from them without telling anyone and pretended to eat the Devil Fruit the crew had in order to sell the real one, valuing gaining wealth for himself over contributing to the crew.^[17] Buggy is willing to do whatever it takes to win and aid his comrades in battle, as shown when he attempted to restrain Zoro to allow Cabaji to strike him.^[27]

Buggy appears to love eating and drinking, as he frequently engages in parties and banquets with his crew.^[42][30][2] When he was in Level 4 of Impel Down, he wanted to go with Luffy to break into the kitchen, and Galdino was forced to to stop him from heading into an obvious ambush.^[43]

Relationships

Buggy Pirates

Before his loss to Luffy, he was willing to use his own crew as human shields. Afterwards, he shows a lot more concern about their well-being. Through a series of adventures, Buggy manages to recruit a transformed Alvida to his cause, regroups with his crew, and recombines with the rest of his body.

They follow the Straw Hats to Loguetown, where Buggy manages to trap Luffy onto the execution platform, but before he can cut off his head, a bolt of lightning strikes his swords, destroying the platform and letting Luffy escape. After this event, the Buggy Pirates follow the Straw Hats into the Grand Line, but they are taking a different path than them.

When Buggy, was sent flying by Luffy, the crew was depressed and his crewmates even built a tomb for him. However, when Buggy was captured and sent to Impel Down, they gave up searching for him, because they were afraid for their lives. But after the war, they lied to Buggy saying that they never ceased looking for him.

After Buggy’s escapade from Impel Down, many fellow escapees from the prison have heard of his past as a member of Gol D. Roger’s crew but miss out that he is a mere apprentice, and potentially the weakest member on board. Consequently, they come to admire him as a powerful pirate. During the course of the Battle of Marineford, Buggy repeatedly shows his cowardice, but the escapees keep mistaking it as courage and bravado, furthering their admiration. They were further amazed to watch his interaction with Shanks, vowing to follow him wherever.

Buggy and Mr. 3 teamed up in Impel Down in order to escape the Great Prison, and sharing a hatred for Luffy, quickly became friends. However, they usually found that their attempts to escape without the assistance of Luffy and his allies proved fruitless, and it was only through Luffy’s help that they managed to break free. During their time side by side in Impel Down, Galdino acted as the more cautious of the two, frequently warning Buggy about the dangers that the two of them have triggered throughout the course of their escape from the prison; in the anime he has, on more than one occasion, had to do things himself to ensure Buggy’s safety as well as his own, using his wax to supply themselves with convenient implements to fend for their lives with. After Buggy gains his blindly loyal followers, Mr. 3 remains the only one who can see through Buggy’s facade.

By the end of the war, when Buggy reunites with his old crew, the escapees join his crew, admiring First Mate Mohji and Second Mate Cabaji as well. In truth, these new recruits are more powerful than Buggy himself and they all had high bounties in their past. Their combined strength is far more then Buggy’s old crew; however, their utter loyalty to Buggy means they are no threat. According to Mr. 3, who also joins the crew and is the only one who sees through the facade, their ears are so full of hope that they are half-deaf.

Upon the end of the Seven Warlords, Buggy made another act of bravery in front of his crew by challenging the Marines who came to arrest him, only to secretly plan to slip away while his subordinates hold back the pursuers.^[40]

Galdino

Buggy and Galdino teamed up in Impel Down in order to make their escape. Harboring a common hatred towards Luffy, they quickly made friends with each other and spent most of their time in Prison together, trying to find a way out. While Galdino was the more cautious of the two, Buggy was the more spontaneous one. Surprisingly, he was also the more crafty of the two, quickly taking advantage of the situations they were in to pull out his heroics, much to Galdino’s dismay. Galdino was shocked to hear of Buggy’s past as a member of the Roger Pirates and his friendship with Shanks. He seems be the only one whose advice Buggy takes seriously, as well as the only one who sees through Buggy’s brave facade. The two of them seem to have some basic level of concern for each other, with Galdino actually showing fear that Buggy had lost it when he declared he could beat the Marines. But that can be credited to Buggy being a vital aspect to Galdino’s survival, since the Impel Down escapees only listened to Buggy. Galdino may on some level see that Buggy has a way of getting powerful people to aid him such as Luffy and Alvida and may see Buggy as a path to his former status. Buggy’s ability to gather powerful allies is not something Galdino is blind to and he may think that Buggy is very useful in his own way.

After the Summit War of Marineford, Galdino stayed with Buggy and joined his crew along with the other escaped Impel Down inmates.

Roger Pirates

Buggy was an apprentice of the crew since childhood and was loyal to them.

Of the Roger Pirates, most relationships between Buggy and the other crewmates remain unknown. Though he was often punished by Silvers Rayleigh, he still has much respect for the former first mate of the crew even wanting to see him again after Luffy mentioned him.^[44] Buggy, just like Shanks, must have had a good relationship with Roger or at the very least showed admiration for him, as Buggy was seen crying at his execution.

He initially held Kozuki Oden in a poor view, as the latter’s rise took attention from his crew.^[16] However, after Oden joined the crew, Buggy held him in high regard. He wanted to help with Oden’s wish to open Wano Country to the world despite the annoyance of being referred as the second son.^[45]

Friends

Gaimon

He is good friends with Gaimon despite battling him when he first crashed onto the island. Ironically, neither of them knows the other’s relationship with Luffy.^[46]

Portgas D. Ace

He was also good friends with Portgas D. Ace. During his pursuit of Blackbeard, Ace happened across the Big Top while Buggy and his crew were partying. Attracted by the “very strong and sweet scent” of food, Ace boarded the ship unnoticed and proceeded to help himself – Buggy did not notice his presence until, upon hearing Buggy and Alvida say that they were in pursuit of Luffy but had no clue where he was, Ace offered to give them some helpful information. Ace, however, fell asleep moments later. Though Buggy’s crew wanted to capture him, Buggy forbade it, knowing that Whitebeard would not hesitate to take revenge. After Ace woke up, the entire crew apparently immensely enjoyed the rest of his momentary stay (though it seems Buggy continued the party mostly out of fear).^[47] At the time, Buggy was unaware that Ace was Luffy’s brother or that Ace was his old captain’s son.

When the Buggy and Alvida Alliance approached Impel Down with the intention of rescuing Buggy, Cabaji exclaimed that their captain could be sentenced to execution just like their buddy Ace. Buggy himself seems to like Ace. After meeting Luffy on Level One, he mentions that Ace, unlike Luffy, happened to be a very swell guy – they were apparently drinking buddies for a while. Buggy also told Luffy that he was very upset when he heard the news of Ace’s scheduled execution, but he did not want to risk his own life to save him. Like so many at the time, Buggy was shocked to see Ace fall to Admiral Akainu.

Enemies

World Government

After Buggy broke out of Impel Down and recruited many prisoners, the World Government believed that Buggy’s low bounty was due to him keeping a low profile on purpose, despite being a former member of the Pirate King’s crew.

Buggy was thereby invited to join the Seven Warlords of the Sea via a letter that he received. Upon doing so, his status as a wanted criminal was retracted, and he became an ally of the World Government.^[5] However, Buggy took advantage of his position as a Warlord to promote his new business, Buggy’s Delivery, to profit off of wars and allow his crew to do whatever they want without fear of repercussions of their actions due to his position.

After the Seven Warlords system was abolished, Buggy returned to being the Government’s enemy as Vice Admiral Stainless wasted no time trying to arrest him. This angered and frightened Buggy as he openly accused them for using underhanded tactics. He then had no choice but to evade them by using some his subordinates as scapegoats.^[40]

Neutral

Shanks

Buggy and Shanks served in the Roger Pirates since their childhood and they constantly argued with each other.

During their days as pirate apprentices in the Roger Pirates, Buggy and Shanks would argue over just about anything. The Marines themselves describe their relationship as a ‘brotherly bond’^[48] and Whitebeard himself had noted the pair were always together. Kozuki Oden even wondered whether Buggy and Shanks saw each other as friends or enemies.^[49]

In their youth, Buggy accused Shanks of being too soft to make it out as a pirate, making it ironic that Shanks is currently a great well known pirate while Buggy’s crew is weak in comparison. In spite of acknowledging Shanks saving him from nearly drowning, Buggy does not hesitate to discredit him now after they went their separate ways, due to him being angry that Shanks cost him great wealth.^[50] Nevertheless, Shanks also tended to Buggy after he fell ill while the rest of the crew went to Laugh Tale.^[51]

When the two met for the first time after more than twenty 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 pair’s relationship is still on similar grounds as in the past.^[52]

Straw Hat Pirates

Back when Buggy and his crew were terrorizing Orange Town, Luffy, Zoro, and Nami decided to form a temporary alliance in order to best Buggy and his henchmen, and after a moderately difficult battle, they achieved it. After following Luffy to Loguetown, Buggy was determined to get revenge on the Straw Hat captain and was annoyed that the latter forgot about him until recalling his name. Buggy nearly executed Luffy on the site of the Pirate King’s scaffold but was struck by lightning before he could do it. After leaving Loguetown, Buggy decided to pursue Luffy on the Grand Line to continue seeking his vengeance on the Straw Hats.

While he hated Luffy, he has proven that, though willing to exploit Luffy’s naïve ways, he will work with him to his own goals if he is to benefit from it. Interestingly, Buggy’s current relationship with Luffy is similar to his past relationship with Shanks: in a slightly friendly but antagonistic way. He considers Luffy to be the worst troublemaker in the world, but was immensely shocked when discovering that Dragon, the Revolutionary, is Luffy’s father.^[53]

Luffy came across Buggy attempting to break free from Impel Down in Level 1 of the Great Prison. The ever-opportunistic Buggy attempted to use Luffy as his means to escape, but was only dragged down into the deeper levels during Luffy’s attempt to rescue Portgas D. Ace. After Luffy was defeated by Magellan, Buggy and his new ally, Mr. 3, ascended Impel Down back to Level 1, and, only with the help of Luffy and his band of escapees, managed to escape the Great Prison. After arriving in Marineford, Buggy and his new crew, for the most part, neither assisted nor harmed Luffy nor his allies in the Summit War of Marineford However, he was unwillingly used as a shield by Luffy against Dracule Mihawk. Unwillingly, Buggy also played a major role in saving Luffy’s life when Crocodile threw Luffy and Jinbe in the air to get them away from Akainu. Buggy accidentally caught them and carried them away before throwing them to Trafalgar D. Water Law for treatment. Upon the battle’s end, Buggy returned Luffy’s straw hat and fled the battle with his new crew and Mr. 3.

He is shown to be displeased to learn that Hajrudin and the New Giant Warrior Pirates had left Buggy’s Delivery to join the Straw Hat Grand Fleet. However, despite this, Buggy benefited from the Straw Hat Crew’s defeat of Doflamingo as it has increased business for his pirate dispatch company.

Abilities

Overview

As captain of the Buggy Pirates, Buggy has authority over his crew, which grew exponentially during the Impel Down Arc after he freed hundreds of powerful prisoners from Impel Down whose individual bounties are much higher than his own.^[54] After hearing that Buggy was once a member of the Roger Pirates, these prisoners came to heavily respect him and follow him wherever he went.^[55] The Emperor Whitebeard even noted that Buggy’s new forces could disrupt his crew’s ability to save Portgas D. Ace if they were against him, so he offered to form an alliance with Buggy during the Summit War of Marineford.^[56] Buggy’s newfound authority created by his association with the Roger Pirates even attracted the attention of the World Government, who offered him a Warlord position.^[57] Buggy used this position to run a mercenary business called Buggy’s Delivery, where he had authority over a large number of powerful mercenaries including giants from Elbaf.^[2] However, now that the Seven Warlords system has been dissolved, Buggy is now an enemy of the World Government again and he can no longer operate outside the law as he pleases.^[58]

Despite once being an apprentice with the renowned Roger Pirates, Buggy has never achieved the great strength and combat skills of his crewmates, particularly his fellow former apprentice Shanks who is now a member of the Four Emperors.^[55] For the most part, he is only truly dangerous against normal citizens and novice pirates in the weakest sea East Blue, though did manage to easily defeat the Kumate Tribe with the help of Alvida, Mohji, and Cabaji.^[59] However, Buggy is resilient, having sailed the Grand Line with the Roger Pirates and surviving the battles and perils they were in, including fights against opponents like the Golden Lion Pirates and Whitebeard Pirates.^[60][61] Buggy has also captained his own crew through the Grand Line and has survived its perils so far, and currently operates in the New World.^[2] Buggy was involved in the mass breakout of Impel Down and the Summit War of Marineford and survived, although he was rarely involved in direct combat and most of the fighters paid him little mind.

Buggy mainly gets by with his craftiness; he frequently devises plans to unexpectedly overwhelm his opponents with his weapons and Devil Fruit. He allowed Roronoa Zoro to cut him into pieces and pretended to be dead in order to stab Zoro with a detached hand while he was off-guard.^[62] He was also able to trap Luffy on Gol D. Roger’s execution platform, and would have successfully executed him had lightning not struck the platform.^[63] Buggy is also a skilled inventor, as evidenced by his creation of extremely powerful ammunition like Buggy Balls and Muggy Balls that greatly aid in his destructive capabilities.^[64][65] While alone on an unknown island, he made a trap to attempt to catch a large bird, but the bird was not fooled.^[66]

Additionally, Buggy is very opportunistic, and will frequently look to utilize other people to help him get out of trouble. This was most notably shown in Impel Down, where he freed hundreds of prisoners to get them to follow him and create a riot.^[54] When the Marines identified him as a former member of the Roger Pirates, Buggy decided to quickly utilize this to build up his own image.^[55] Although his efforts to be seen as great are frequently intentional, Buggy also benefited from a significant amount of luck when leading the Impel Down escapees, as even though he showed his cowardly nature multiple times, his words and actions were always misconstrued by the escapees as indicators of strength.^[67][68][69]

Physical Abilities

Buggy possesses notable physical durability, as he quickly recovered after being hit by a Muggy Ball that Dracule Mihawk rebounded back toward him in Marineford.^[70] Although he avoided most of the damage by using his men as shields, Buggy was able to survive the explosion from a Buggy Ball that Luffy sent flying back at him and emerged from the wreckage of the collapsed tavern with no injuries.^[71] Additionally, although he does not have immunity to lightning like Luffy, he was able to quickly get back up after being struck on the Loguetown execution platform and immediately start chasing after Luffy.^[63] In Impel Down, he was able to walk though the extreme heat of Level 4 and extreme cold of Level 5 without suffering significant adverse effects.^[72][73]

Buggy has a notable amount of physical strength, which is aided by his Devil Fruit allowing his hands to detach and fly. He was easily able to lift one of his men and Mayor Boodle off the ground by their necks with a single detached hand.^[64][74] Additionally, he was able to lift a massive Blugori high into the air with both of his detached hands,^[75] as well as carry Luffy and the very large fish-man Jinbe in the air with just his hands holding them against his torso.^[76] He was also able to throw Mohji a great distance forward despite Mohji being slightly bigger than him.^[71] According to Shanks, Buggy was a very good swimmer, but he lost this ability after eating his Devil Fruit.^[77]

Devil Fruit

Further information: Bara Bara no Mi

Buggy ate the Bara Bara no Mi, a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit that allows him to split his body into pieces and reassemble them at will. This power also makes him immune to slashing attacks.

With the exception of his feet, Buggy can make his disassembled body parts levitate and control them telekinetically. He can launch his body parts at high speed, allowing him to strike a distant target with strong force.^[62] He can also split his body to dodge opponents’ attacks by detaching the section of his body that would have taken the attack and making it fly out of the way.^[78]

Furthermore, his body parts remain connected to each other, even when they are separated. For example, if his hand is detached, he can still control his fingers. Additionally, he can feel any pain that is inflicted on his detached pieces.

Weapons

Blades

Buggy’s most frequently used weapons are his knives. In addition to simply holding them, he has also put his knives between his fingers to wield them like claws. He often uses his knives in conjunction with his Devil Fruit power by flying his detached hands and trying to strike people from afar; he can also throw the knives with power and accuracy. Additionally, he possesses retractable knife blades in his shoes, and can detach his legs and spin them to strike opponents. Thus, Buggy is capable of overwhelming opponents by flying his detached blade-holding limbs at rapid speed and attacking from multiple directions at once.^[78]

He wielded a sword when attempting to behead Luffy in Loguetown.^[63]

Buggy Balls and Muggy Balls

Further information: Buggy Balls

Buggy’s most prominent weapons are his Buggy Balls, which are immensely powerful cannonballs that can instantly demolish an entire row of buildings. With this ammunition, he can terrorize a village that is not well protected such as Orange Town and easily destroy it whenever he wants. Additionally, he has also fired Buggy Balls at people who come to his base to confront him or subordinates that displease him, bringing certain death upon them.^[64][79] However, his crewmates have shown to be able to survive after being hit.^[71]

While in Impel Down, Buggy revealed a smaller version of the Buggy Ball known as the Muggy Ball. Despite being only slightly bigger than a bullet, the Muggy Ball possesses equivalent destructive power to a Buggy Ball, and since it is so small, Buggy can carry them on his body and throw them rather than having to shoot them out of a cannon like Buggy Balls. Buggy was able to severely injure the awakened Zoan user Minotaurus by hitting him with a Muggy Ball.^[65]

Major Battles

Filler Battles

• Buggy and Galdino vs. Gairam (interrupted by Boa Hancock)

Early One Piece

Buggy was originally going to be called “Boogie”. The creator of One Piece, Eiichiro 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”.

“Boogie” was drawn in a harder, more realistic style, making him look more like a traditional ‘scary horror clown’ (somewhat akin to other clown-themed villains such as DC Comics’ Joker). 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, who had a normal-looking nose.

Anime and Manga Differences

Romance Dawn Arc

The anime ties Buggy into the Romance Dawn Arc, being mentioned by Nami that he had stolen his map of the Grand Line from the 153rd Branch, and showing a silhouette of him.^[80] Why he would make the effort of raiding a Marine base for such a thing is not explained, especially given his former crew’s considerable experience with the Grand Line.

Orange Town Arc

In the manga, Buggy is introduced accosting and executing a crewman – whom he’d mistakenly thought insulted his nose – with a special Buggy Ball. In the anime, Buggy shows mercy to this crewman and spares him.

In the manga before passing out, Mohji tries to say that Luffy is a rubber man but could not say the words completely, causing Buggy to get the wrong idea of what Luffy did to Mohji to win the fight. Buggy later throws Mohji for not properly informing him that Luffy had the power of a Devil Fruit. In the anime, Mohji tried to tell Buggy that Luffy had eaten the Gomu Gomu no Mi but could only say the word Gomu before passing out. Unlike the manga, Cabaji is the one that threw Mohji, after Mohji got angry at him for his treatment of Richie.

Loguetown Arc

In the manga, the Buggy Pirates are not revealed to be in Loguetown until the moment they trap Luffy on Gold Roger’s scaffold. The anime establishes their presence earlier, and adds several gags with Buggy encountering Luffy but (possibly due to his cloak blocking his peripheral vision) failing to realize it until Luffy has wandered off.

Impel Down Arc

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.

Marineford Arc

During the Marineford arc his on screen time is extended as to include comic relief in an otherwise violent and dark arc, and for the most part filler. Buggy seems less eager to take Whitebeard’s head than he does in the manga. A new scene was shown in which Buggy was watching Whitebeard fight Blackbeard, with Buggy coming up with excuses of why he could not attack Whitebeard.

Post-War Arc

Buggy and Alvida comment on Luffy’s actions in anime, and Buggy imagines that Rayleigh could be Luffy’s uncle because of his family’s history. These comments were not present in the manga.

Wano Country Arc

During the the flashback of Oden and the Roger Pirates before the start of the Third Act, Buggy’s outfit is changed, being like the clothes he wore during the three-day confrontation against the Whitebeard Pirates a year earlier, but with a purple sash around his waist.

Translation and Dub Issues

Under the 4Kids-dubbed anime, Buggy received typical content edits: his crew’s alcohol was censored into “grapefruit punch”, blood was erased from his successful knifings, and Luffy’s kick to his groin was redrawn as a kick to his shin. A “reverb” effect was also used whenever he spoke in anger, implying that his powers could “split” even his voice. Finally, his “after the battle” mini-arc was cut from final production, leaving his return at “Roguetown” unexplained.

His habit of attaching “flashy” to random words was completely dropped by the 4Kids anime, and downplayed by the Viz manga (which often uses substitutes such as “gaudy, “magnificently”, “gloriously”, etc.). The Funimation-dubbed anime—which gives his overall voice an inflection similar to Mark Hamill’s portrayal of the Joker—portrays the habit much more consistently.

Post-timeskip, his Senryō Dōke (千両道化^? lit. “thousand-ryō clown”) epithet has also been subject to different translations, as it is meant to parody the Japanese phrase Senryō Yakusha (千両役者^? lit. “thousand-ryō actor”), a term for extremely popular film stars and other entertainers.^[81] Both the Viz manga and the Funimation anime render this epithet as “Genius Jester”, combining the general concept with an alliterative motif; in contrast, most fan translations use either “Star Clown” or the more literal “Thousand-Piece Clown”.

Merchandise

As a popular recurring 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.

Video Games

Playable Appearances

Enemy Appearances

• One Piece: Become the Pirate King!
• Set Sail Pirate Crew!
• Birth of Luffy’s Dream Pirate Crew!
• One Piece: Treasure Wars
• Big Secret Treasure of the Seven Phantom Islands
• Aim! The King of Berry
• One Piece: Round the Land
• Treasure Wars 2 Welcome to Buggyland
• One Piece: Dragon Dream!
• One Piece: Pirates Carnival

Support Appearances

• One Piece: Gear Spirit
• One Piece Romance Dawn: The Dawn of the Adventure
• One Piece: Pirate Warriors
• One Piece: Dance Battle
• One Piece: Great Pirate Colosseum

Non-Playable Appearances

• Legend of the Rainbow Island

Other Appearances

Other Media

• Buggy is one of the primary antagonists of One Piece Premier Show 2007 after he allies with Deacon to defeat the Straw Hat Pirates and find the treasure hidden beneath Atoll. A clone of Buggy is created by Bildy in Premier Show 2014 to fight the Straw Hat Pirates under the DX Marines. Buggy also acts as a secondary antagonist in One Piece Premier Show 2018 when the Bounties Pirates hire Buggy’s Delivery to help them kill the kings of Levely.
• Buggy and his subordinates Galdino and Mugon fight Luffy, Usopp, and Nami in One Piece Water Battle 2019. Buggy also appears in the 2018 season of Sanji’s Pirates Restaurant.
• Buggy is the primary antagonist of One Piece Live Attraction: Phantom when he and Puggy kidnap Ann in a plot to capture and sell the Straw Hat Pirates to the Marines.
• An image of Buggy appears in in the first One Piece Water Spectacle show.
• Buggy appears in the Vivi-centered Hungry Days commercial.
• Buggy’s failed attempt to execute Luffy is retold in the brass entertainment show One Piece Oto Utage. He is played by the same actor as Arlong and Clapper.

Buggy in Premier Show 2014.

Buggy in Live Attraction: Phantom.

Cameos and Crossovers

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

Trivia

• In the six Japanese popularity polls about One Piece characters, Buggy is ranked, from the first to the sixth, in the 7th, 20th, 30th, 21th, 34th, and 35th place.
• In an early interview for Shonen Jump, Oda once stated Buggy was his favorite villain; however, over time Oda has listed other villains as his favorite.^{[citation needed]}
• Buggy is the first villain to appear in the series who is a Devil Fruit user, and also the second character in the series to be one, after Luffy himself. He is the also first Devil Fruit user whom Luffy has fought.
• 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.
• Like many other characters, Buggy has a distinct laugh, “Gyahahahahaha!”
• Buggy’s favorite food is hot dogs^[11] and his least favorites are tomatoes.
• During Oden’s flashback Buggy is depicted with a more childish design and voice in spite tooking place some years after other flashbacks where Buggy is depicted with a more mature design and his adult voice.
• In 2021, a gene in the fruit fly species Drosophila melanogaster was named Baramicin A, after Buggy. The gene produces a protein which is split into multiple parts, akin to Buggy’s Devil Fruit power.^[82]
• Buggy’s animal resemblance is a panda.
• His hobby is collecting treasure maps.
• In Buggy’s flashback, he is shown arguing with Shanks about the North Pole and the South Pole prior to eating the Bara Bara no Mi.^[83] In Chapter 0, Buggy is confirmed to have eaten his fruit before the battle of Edd War, which took place 27 years ago.^[84] However, in Oden’s flashback, the argument between Buggy and Shanks seemingly takes place after Oden had joined the Roger Pirates 26 years ago, creating an inconsistency.^[85] Vivre Card – One Piece Visual Dictionary explains this by stating that the same argument occurred repeatedly between the two.^[86]

SBS-Based Trivia

• Buggy’s birthday, August 8, comes from his Devil Fruit’s name since 8-8 can be derived from ba-ra.^[9] He shares his birthday with Hatchan.^[10]
• In the manga, Buggy is usually drawn with his mouth open, causing one fan to ask Oda to draw him with his mouth shut.^[87]
• A fan asked Oda if Buggy’s penis is also able to split and fly off. Oda replied “his penis can fly too” as every part of Buggy’s body could fly off, except his feet.^[88]
• A fan asked Oda if Buggy can bleed when using his Devil Fruit powers, only for Oda to reply that it would make him appear too scary.^[89]
• In reference to Buggy and Shanks’ “which is colder” argument, a fan asked Oda who got it right. Oda went on to explain that the Arctic was just a mass of ice and the Antarctic was a continent, which was made of land. Since land is colder than the sea (and the Arctic is frozen sea whereas the Antarctic is frozen land), Buggy was wrong.^[90]

References

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