Eiichiro Oda Teased One Piece’s New Buccaneer Race Years Ago

kuma one piece

One Piece manga chapter 1095 is huge. Not only does it continue the Straw Hats’ ongoing struggle with an in-person Gorosei, but we finally get a glimpse of Kuma’s memories that Jewelry Bonney absorbed. There’s almost too much to talk about here, but we’re going to nail down one thing specifically: Oda knew he was going to introduce the Buccaneer race years ago.

We often talk about Oda’s terrifying degree of foresight – the One Piece author has confessed to improvising on numerous occasions, but he’s always known what the ending will be – and the revelation of the Buccaneer race is just the latest revelation that has been in place for years.

So, let’s start with a recap of the latest manga chapter: St. Saturn has touched down on Egghead Island, Luffy is out of commission, Kizaru is down, all while Sanji, Franky, and Vegapunk look on at Jewelry Bonney who lodged a sword into the chest of one of the world’s most powerful figures. It’s a lot to take in, but before you even have time to absorb the moment, Saturn pushes back Bonney, grabs her, instantly heals his wound, and then curses Bartholomew Kuma, pronouncing that he was born into a “slave caste,” and was “the descendent of a clan that once committed a grave crime against the world.”

This is revealed to be the Buccaneer race, and this segues into a chunky flashback from Kuma’s childhood. It seems the Buccaneer people may have been the ones who revered Joyboy, and are the reason why he has lived on in the minds and hearts of the slaves of Marijoa. Kuma’s blood was discovered by government agents at the hospital where he was born, and from a young age was thrown into slavery, along with his parents. Under the tyranny of the Celestial Dragons, neither of the parents lived to see Kuma mature.

So here are the established facts: Kuma is a member of the Buccaneer race, his father was, but his mother wasn’t. It’s also suggested that the Buccaneer race has the blood of giants, which is interesting, as we’ve seen several giant hybrid races, including fishman giants, but not human giants – though, some characters in the One Piece world sure are large. Now we have to ask if the larger humans we’ve seen in One Piece, like Big Mom and Whitebeard, could potentially also be Buccaneer race members – we have seen Big Mom’s parents, who are human-size, but it could potentially be a recessive gene? Whitebeard’s early origins are still a mystery, though.

But the earliest evidence of the Buccaneer race in the One Piece series – outside of Kuma’s existence – comes from manga chapter 757, Trump Card. Not the actual chapter, though, but the cover story Solo Journey of Jinbe, Knight of the Sea. This cover story sees Jinbe encounter some troubled sea creatures, and people that claim ancient ruins are falling from the sky. It’s not a sky island though, instead it’s Wadatsumi, the giant tiger blowfish fishman from the Fishman Island arc. He’s returning the generosity of the humans that give offerings to the Sea God by bringing their ancient ruins back onto the land, instead of being on the sea floor.

In chapter 757, the cover story is Jinbe looking puzzled with a catfish, while an ancient ruin sits in the background. If we look closely enough, we can make out a shape on the ruin. It’s a large circle, with three smaller circles just above it, shaped almost like an animal paw. We’ve seen this same symbol on Kuma before, but we all assumed it was simply a paw to complement his Paw-Paw Fruit ability and name – Kuma means bear, in case you weren’t aware.

Honestly, I think this was intended to simply be Kuma’s symbol, like the icons of the Heart and Doflamingo pirates in place of the traditional skull-and-crossbones Jolly Rogers. As simple as that. But it’s clear that, at some point along the line, Oda expanded Kuma’s scope. Kuma is now symbolic of this race, especially since we’re unaware of any other Buccaneers, and similarly, his symbol is the one that likely marks the Buccaneers.

Jinbe’s cover story was serialised from 2013 to 2014, stretching from manga chapter 751 to 785. That’s a fair few years after Kuma’s introduction, but that means that Oda has had the Buccaneer race, and Kuma’s recent plot relevance, in mind since at least 2013. A full decade of holding onto this reveal, at minimum.

And I haven’t even mentioned the reveal of God Valley, a certain other important figure, and the first meeting of the Revolutionary Army’s chief officers. Honestly, this is a stunning One Piece chapter, and the Egghead Arc has been wall-to-wall brilliance. It’s just a shame that it’s on break this week.

If you're still here, make sure to read my theory about the Five Elders' Mythical Yokai Fruits.