Bartholomew

Bartholomew Kuma is a Shichibukai, formerly a Revolutionary with a bounty of Beli296,000,000. He was once feared as an extremely vicious pirate, earning himself the title, "Tyrant". He is a type of cyborg called "Pacifista" developed by Dr. Vegapunk. Once Vegapunk finished his modifications on Kuma, the Shichibukai was converted into the first complete Pacifista cyborg, with the serial PX-0, and figuratively died in the process. Prior to his final Pacifista modifications, Kuma was a commander in the Revolutionary Army; as a result, he had control over the lower ranking members of the Revolutionary Army. However, he lost this power when he became a complete slave of the World Government. Kuma was shown to be brilliant at deception, managing to successfully trick the World Government about his true affiliation towards the Revolutionary Army for several years, as well as being elected to the position of one of the Shichibukai (though it does appear that they did eventually become suspicious enough of Kuma to compromise his identity as a double-agent and force him to undergo a permanent lobotomy). Bartholomew Kuma is currently one of the Shichibukai, a group which is one of The Three Great Powers. Kuma is easily one of the most powerful characters that have appeared in the series. Kuma is one of the few people to have completely defeated the entire Straw Hat Pirates, and is also the only character introduced so far that has defeated the crew single-handedly, twice.

However, the crew was extremely weak both times and they were in no shape to fight another battle, much less a Shichibukai (in the first encounter, the crew had just finished battling another Shichibukai, Gekko Moriah, as well as an island full of zombies, and Oars; in the second encounter, they had just battled against a Pacifista while fending off a second, Kizaru and Sentomaru). He did not want the crew dead, however, since he allowed them to escape, indicating he might have held back. He is extremely fast, enough to seem as though he has disappeared in the eyes of the Straw Hats, as well everyone on Thriller Bark. This is, however, unclear if it has something to do with the modifications from Dr. Vegapunk, or if it is part of his Devil Fruit powers, or simply being his raw speed. He has such a fierce reputation that even other powerful and famous pirates are unnerved by him as seen with the captain of the Kid Pirates, Eustass Kid, actually seemed heavily disturbed when he witnessed the arrival of a Pacifista cyborg (mistaking it for the real Kuma) on the Sabaody Archipelago, close to where his crew were, despite the fact that his bounty was higher than Kuma's former bounty, demonstrating how his strength is even greater than that implied by his frozen bounty in the eyes of others. Kuma ate the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi, making him a "Paw Man". A Paramecia-class Devil Fruit gives him paw pads which give him the power to "push" anything, including the air around him, allowing him to not only defend himself from attacks but also to push objects at great speed. The fruit's powers also allow him to move at the same speed as the objects he pushes, possibly by using it to push himself, appearing instantaneously at a desired location regardless of distance, all the while he moves with no more than a slow walk. He can also extract pain from one and transfer it to or make it simply begone. Kuma has made numerous people "vanish" by slapping them with one of his hands. It is later revealed that he pushes them away, sending them flying to another destination, which he can choose, even if the destination requires several days to reach. Kuma has also shown the ability to "push" or deflect things that lack palpability such as people's pain and exhaustion. This is shown when Kuma took all of the pain that Luffy had suffered on Thriller Bark and left him feeling completely healthy, meaning that his abilities can be used to heal people and cure them. However, in this case, Kuma removed Luffy's pain because Zoro had agreed to accept it in his place. It is not clear what would happen if the pain, which took the form of a giant bubble, had not been transferred to Zoro. It would seem that Kuma's ability does not give him the power to heal damage as much as simply extract it and let it go somewhere else. Kuma fights in a style reminiscent of sumo-wrestling. He crouches low in a wide stance, even using the signature stomp, and attacks with open-palm strikes, using his special paws to launch powerful air bullets. Much in keeping with the sumo inspiration, Kuma spends almost all of his time with his feet planted, refusing to give his ground. He has also demonstrated the ability to block all physical attacks, even sword attacks, by pushing them away with these hands. Kuma's abilities can also be used to create massively destructive attacks. This is displayed by one of his signature moves, "Ursus Shock", essentially a "bomb" made of highly compressed air created by pushing the air between his hands. This destructive power is enough to severely cripple a massive giant, in this case Oars Jr.