Buggy the Clown, meanwhile Buggy the 1000 Coin Clown (jap. 千両道化, Senryō Dōke) is the captain of the Buggy Pirates and was formerly a cabin boy on the Pirate King’s ship. He was Luffy’s third opponent on his journey and the second character in One Piece with a Devil Fruit. Along with Alvida, he seeks revenge against the Straw Hat, which is why he pursues him. He is also the general commander of the pirate delegation company (jap. 海賊派遣組織, Kaizoku hook Soshiki) called Buggy’s Delivery. During the time jump, he was made a Samurai of the Seas, but they were abolished on the Levely.
Contents
Appearance
As his nickname suggests, Buggy’s current appearance is reminiscent of a clown. Probably the most striking thing about him is his red clown nose, which is real.
In his youth he had short blue hair, which was partly hidden under a brown cap. He wore brown trousers and a light yellow shirt, which he sometimes changed to a vertical white and red striped shirt.
Twenty-four years ago at the execution of their captain, Buggy already had longer hair, which he let peek out of his headscarf in a braid.
At times on Orange he changed his style of dress, which was probably more in keeping with his epithet. As is customary for a captain, he swapped his cap for an orange captain’s hat, wearing a bandana underneath. To the left and right of the hat his blue hair peeked out, probably looking more like fringe and thus part of the hat. On the front his Jolly Roger is clearly visible. Furthermore, he now wears white gloves, a purple bandana, a horizontal red and white striped t-shirt, an orange captain’s coat over his shoulders, light green pants and a dark green sash as a belt.
All over his face he made up two crossed bones. Around his eyes he applied narrow blue lines and on his lips a red lipstick. In Loguetown, instead of two crossed bones, he wore a green star on his forehead. But when he met Portgas D. Ace, his face paint changed. From now on, he had two green dots on both sides of his face, right next to his eyes, and four large dots of the same color on his bandana, which peeks out from under his hat as always. He also now has green eyeliner and green lipstick, which runs on both sides of his face as a slightly wider line down under his chin.
As footwear he wore brown Crakowthe toe of which is usually longer than that of normal shoes.
While Buggy was in Impel Down, he had reapplied the same face paint as in Orange. For clothing, he wore a black and white striped prison uniform like all the inmates. He also had to exchange his beak shoes for ordinary shoes. His long hair was now no longer hidden under his hat and pinned into a ponytail.
After the time jump, he has a longer wild mane that is no longer tied into braids. He wears a red and white striped tricorn hat with his Jolly Roger on it and a purple bandana with yellow dots underneath. He also wears a large red cape. By means of his devilish powers, he uses it to make himself appear huge to his followers.
Personality
Buggy is very sensitive when someone makes fun of his red clown nose. So it came to the fact that he laid a whole city with his cannons in ruins, after a group of children there made fun of his nose. Likewise, he indirectly makes fun of his cardboard nose, but thinks someone else said it. He also seems to have a habit of greeting or addressing someone first, and only then realizing who he was talking to.
Unlike other opponents in the world of One Piece, Buggy’s character improved somewhat after the first encounter with Luffy. Thus, back on Orange, he didn’t care much about his crew. Which can be seen by the fact that he used two of his members as human shields. Even when Buggy thought that another member had insulted his red nose, he had him executed in front of a cannon. But after the first defeat to Luffy, he saved his entire gang on Kumate Island. Furthermore, he also argues against Alvida that his gang needed a little rest now and then.
Buggy has the habit of often spitting big sounds. Accordingly, he likes to show off in front of other people and present himself as a great man. During and after the breakout from Impel Down, this approach has earned him a lot of new followers. After becoming a Samurai of the Seas, Buggy even got himself a big cape that allows him to make his body appear much bigger than it actually is thanks to his devil powers. This way, he makes quite an impression on his followers. Since then, Buggy has been less concerned with improving his own skills and more concerned with recruiting strong people for his organization, who he can then always send forward and let fight for him, while he can steal away inconspicuously if necessary. So whenever he’s in trouble, Buggy tries to get out of it as quickly and unscathed as possible. He avoids danger at all costs. In Impel Down, for example, he wanted to avoid descending into the lower levels of the prison with Luffy at all costs. He also deliberately accompanied Jinbe, Crocodile and Daz Bonez, who were about to capture a navy ship, when they broke out of the prison gate, because he thought he would be safest near them. For his own integrity, he behaves extremely selfishly at times, which is why he’s not above excuses and lies.
Since it is known that he once served on the pirate king’s ship, he also likes to hide behind his own reputation, although in truth he is comparatively weak. To some extent, Buggy also carries some delusions of grandeur and fantasy. Thus, he quickly dreams of becoming one of the Four Emperors, or even a Pirate King, when he realizes the opportunities his sudden notoriety presents.
His dream is to recover all the treasures in the world. That’s why he’s constantly trying to find treasure maps that lead him to a treasure. So he immediately noticed Luffy’s bracelet in the Impel Down, which was a signpost to Captain John’s treasure. Luffy let Buggy have the bracelet and after his escape, he proudly presented it to Alvida. In Marine Ford, Buggy also let Shanks trick him into bringing Luffy his straw hat, in exchange for which he was supposed to receive a treasure map. However, this was a lie by Shanks, as he knew about Buggy’s fondness for treasure maps, which made the clown quite angry afterwards. Since the One Piece is also referred to as treasure, one could conclude that he would want it as well, and accordingly would automatically get the title of Pirate King.
Although he hates Luffy, he became friends with his brother Portgas D. Ace. The two once partied together on his ship.
Skills and strength
Even though Buggy was once a cabin boy for the Roger pirate gang, he is comparatively weak. As such, there was only 15 million on his head, which was also frozen after he became a Samurai of the Seas. This was far from the truth, however, as Buggy had previously offered to provide Crocodile with himself and his own men as labor to work off his debt to him.
Buggy possesses devil powers given to him by the Separation Fruit. Through these powers, he is able to split his body into separate parts independently and levitate. This has the advantage of being immune to cutting weapons, among other things. If a body part takes damage, he still feels the pain no matter where it is. Also, in order to gain this ability, he had to forfeit another – the ability to swim. Over what range the clown can levitate his separated limbs, or how many parts he can split his body into, is unknown. But it is stated in one SBS that Buggy can levitate his body parts within a 200 separation radius. It is further stated in another SBS that the farther he lets the body parts fly, the less he can control them. Likewise, his feet are the only body parts he cannot levitate.
As he and Luffy fight their way through Level 1 in Impel Down, you can see the current power difference between the opponents. While Buggy deals with a Blugori, Luffy manages to take out four of them as well as Buggy’s opponent.
In addition to his devil powers, Buggy also uses weapons in battle. Whether it’s an extendable knife – hidden in the sole of his shoe – or throwing knives, which he combines with his devilish power.
Past
The crew of the pirate king
As early as 30 years ago, at the age of nine, Buggy was a cabin boy with Shanks in what would become Pirate King Gol D. Roger’s pirate gang, the Roger Pirates. The two seemed to be constantly arguing over trivia, such as where it would be colder, the North Pole or the South Pole. During a raid by an enemy pirate gang, Buggy found a treasure map that showed him the way to a precious underwater treasure. Also, during the same raid, the gang obtained a devil fruit – The Separation Fruit. Due to the high value of the Devil Fruit, he wanted to sell it for a high price. So he exchanged the fruit with a normal one that resembled the real one. Thereupon he ate the fake with the whole crew, so that nobody would miss it. Later, when Buggy looked at the treasure map and the devil fruit, Shanks surprised him from behind. He reflexively hid the Devil Fruit in his mouth, but before he could react at all, he was surprised by Shanks one more time and out of sheer fright he swallowed the Separation Fruit – thus he had lost forever the ability to swim and the only possibility to get the precious underwater treasure.
The two cabin boys, like the rest of the crew, also fought numerous battles with the rival Whitebeard pirate gang. Another of the gang’s opponents was Shiki the Golden Lion and his fleet, which was also used to fight the naval battle of At War.
28 years ago, the Pirate King fell ill with an incurable disease. He decided to cross the Grand Line with his crew one last time. Three years later, the gang had located the last island, but shortly before reaching it, Buggy fell ill and Shanks stayed by his side, leaving neither to enter Laugh Tale itself. Shortly thereafter, however, both rejoined the gang. Thereupon, at the command of their captain, the crew disbanded. Man after man disappeared.
After their captain was executed in Loguetown a year later, twenty-four years ago, the two cabin boys parted ways and never saw each other again. Although Shanks wanted Buggy to join his newly formed pirate gang, Buggy angrily refused, saying he had no desire to set sail under Shanks’ leadership.
Within the next twenty-four years, Buggy formed his own team, but stayed in the East Blue and never moved back to the Grand Line.
Present
First encounter with Luffy
When he first met Luffy, Buggy was the captain of a pirate gang that resembled a circus. He was also known as one of the Five Plagues of the East Blue with a bounty of 15,000,000 berries. At this time Buggy was not treasure hunting but was laying siege to Orange with his gang and had amassed treasure worth 10,000,000 berries. Likewise, he was in possession of a ship – the Big Top – and a map to the Grand Line. However, the map was stolen by Nami, so Superhuman Domingos from Buggy’s gang followed her to retrieve the stolen map. However, Luffy happened to arrive at that time and rescued Nami. After it turned out that she had encountered another pirate, Buggy found a bound and confused Luffy in front of him, who was brought to him by Nami, who also handed him back the stolen map.
With the ulterior motive of stealing Buggy’s accumulated treasure and also getting the map into her possession, she asked the captain of the “Circus Pirates” to accept her into his crew. The latter was flattered and accepted. But things did not turn out as the thief had hoped. To celebrate her entrance, the girl was supposed to kill the prisoner, who was now in a cage, with the buggy gun. However, when Nami refused and Buggy then ordered his men to kill her as well, Zoro stood in their way, who summarily defeated the attackers. To increase his bounty, Buggy decided to hunt down the famous pirate hunter himself.
Thus he revealed his devilish powers to the Straw Hats for the first time and wounded Zoro. The latter, after the hopeless fight, turned to Luffy and Buggy’s cannon, which then, with Nami’s help, shot a Buggy bullet in the direction of the enemy gang. However, the clown survived. A few fights followed until finally it came to the battle of the captains. During the confrontation with Luffy, Buggy recognized the latter’s straw hat and memories of that time came up in him. Also his anger at Shanks – by whom he lost the possibility to dive for treasures – showed. Furthermore he seemed to be superior to Luffy, but with Nami’s help, who tied his floating body parts into a package in a moment of surprise, the rubber boy won the fight. Buggy’s missing limbs made him appear quite small, and Luffy was able to fling him out to sea with a gum-gum bazooka.
Buggy’s little adventure
On the island where Buggy landed, he had his own problems without his limbs. For example, he was on the run from a giant green bird that saw him as a meal for in between. Eventually, he was even eaten by it, but spat out to the lost island as inedible. There he made the acquaintance of Gaimon and, after initial differences, befriended him. He was later rescued by Lady Alvida, who had also eaten of a devil fruit in the meantime. Meanwhile, his crew had given up looking for him and were engaged in power struggles over who should be the new captain of the gang. They also built a grave for their “former” captain, unfortunately for them, on Kumate Island of all places. The natives – cannibals – captured the entire crew as food. But luckily for them, Buggy reappeared at just the right moment, grabbed his missing body parts, and saved his men from the boiling pot. Since then, Buggy and Alvida’s gangs have been together after Luffy.
The hunt begins
In Loguetown, they finally met Luffy again. The time for revenge had apparently arrived. When Luffy visited the scaffold where Gold Roger had once been executed, the clown had Cabaji strap the rubber hanger to the pillory on the aforementioned scaffold to carry out his own execution. Further, a violent storm announced itself, but did not cause Buggy to abort. He allowed Luffy to reveal his last words before his death. However, Luffy did not agree with this at all. His supposed last words echoed throughout the square.„No! I’m the future king of the pirates!„
– Straw Hat Luffy during his supposed execution –
Among those present were Zoro and Sanji, but even they could do nothing. Luffy realized that no one could save him anymore and concluded with his life – he smiled. He smiled, just like the King of Pirates did when he was executed 22 years ago on the very same scaffold. However, just before the triumphant Buggy could decapitate his victim with his sword, a bolt of lightning struck him at the last second. The scaffold disintegrated and Buggy lay smoking on the ground, while Luffy stepped out of the resulting pile of scrap metal due to his rubber body. The entire square was then filled with marines within seconds, engaging Alvida’s and Buggy’s gangs in combat. Through the ensuing chaos, the three Straw Hats managed to escape. The other two gangs also tried to escape, but were held by Smoker and caught with nets made of sea stone. Only a strong gust of wind allowed them to escape. Whether Dragon was the cause of this gust or whether it was simply fate is unknown. Shortly after the Straw Hat Pirates set out for the Grand Line, Buggy’s destination was also known. He wanted to go to the Grand Line again after all these years to chase Luffy.
The treasure of Captain John
While the Straw Hat Pirates was on their way to Jaya to find out about Sky Island, the Buggy Gang was on an unknown island on the Grand Line looking for Captain John’s legendary treasure – but without success. Back on Big Top, they chatted about the already famous Straw Hat Pirates. Buggy’s plan was to leave the Straw Hat Pirates alone for now, and while their bounties continued to rise, then nab them and turn them over to the Navy. That way they would get rich. This idea was also vigorously celebrated. During the celebration, Portgas D. Ace revealed himself to them, following the scent of the feast and sneaking onto Buggy’s ship. They recognized him as the commander of Whitebeard’s 2nd Division and left him alone for that reason. Buggy also mentioned to him that he knew his captain. Together they continued to celebrate.
Buggy later searched island after island for Captain John’s treasure, but to no avail. Then, when he went into a cave again, but this time alone, to look for the treasure, he accidentally stumbled upon a secret naval quarter, whereupon he was immediately arrested and taken to Impel Down. This incident was reported even in the newspaper.
Buggy under discussion
While Whitebeard and Shanks met on Enie’s lobby shortly after the fights, they talked for a short time about the past time when the Roger pirate gang and the Whitebeard pirate gang often fought each other. At this, Whitebeard asked if the boy with the funny red nose was still alive. Shanks replied that he didn’t know for sure, as they had parted ways at that time after the execution of their captain. He had heard, however, that Buggy was still sailing somewhere on the seas as a pirate, which of course he was right about.
Also, Silvers Rayleigh, the former vice-captain of the Roger Pirates mentioned him in a conversation with the Straw Hat Pirates on the Sabaody Archipelago.
Impel Down
While Luffy was on his way to free his brother Ace, Buggy’s crew also set out with Alvida to free someone from the same prison – Captain Buggy. However, they turned back due to the obstacles – the Calm Belt and the Gates of Justice. Alvida took charge of Buggy’s band of pirates and his ship. Buggy, on the other hand, who was arrested, tried to break out. Luckily for him, his devilish powers remained hidden from the staff, allowing him to escape from his cell. While running through the Impel Down, he attracted the attention of the Blugori and also ran into Luffy, who was trying to free Ace. Together, they fought their way through the ranks of the Blue Gorillas.
While the purpose party was fighting their way through Level 1, Buggy noticed the bracelet that Luffy has been wearing around his arm since Thriller Bark. This bracelet belongs to Captain John’s treasure, which Buggy had been searching for quite some time. For this reason, he made a deal with Luffy. He would accompany him to level 4 in exchange for the bracelet. Luffy immediately went along with the deal and handed Buggy the item he coveted. Buggy’s original plan – to escape as soon as he had the map to the treasure in his hands – failed due to some mishaps, and they both ended up in level 2. Once there, they were immediately confronted by a Basilisk, which Luffy quickly defeated with Gear 3. When Buggy freed the prisoners – with the ulterior motive that they would cause chaos and that this mess would give him a chance to escape – he revealed to the rubber boy that he had lied and didn’t know the way to level 4. Mr. 3, who was also among the freed prisoners, now joined the two.
The great outbreak
However, Buggy found an ally in Mr. 3, who also wanted to break out instead of going further inside Impel Down. But due to the confrontation with the Sphinx, the trio ended up in Level 3, where Buggy and Mr. 3 wanted to leave Luffy alone, but freed Mr. 2 (Bon Kurei) first, who supported Luffy in return. Luffy and Buggy’s rampage did not go unnoticed, however, so the Minotaur was sent to Level 3 and engaged all four of them in a fight. Through good teamwork, they were able to defeat the Minotaur. However, they now fell into level 4, much to Buggy’s chagrin. From then on, Buggy and Mr. 3 tried to separate from Luffy and Bon Kurei again, but they were captured by Hannyabal and some guards.
Bon Kurei, however, took Hannyabal’s place and freed the two, in turn freeing Luffy, who was imprisoned by Magellan in level 5. However, at the first opportunity, Buggy and Mr. 3 abandoned Bon Kurei and tried to fight their way back up alone. After some time, they managed to get back to level 2 together, where Buggy again freed the prisoners so they would join them. Buggy was therefore seen by the prisoners as their great saviour. This time everything seemed to work until Magellan showed up to take care of the prisoners. However, the latter had to abandon the chase as Luffy & Co. freed prisoners on levels 4 and 3, which now became a large army. Buggy and Luffy’s army of prisoners met up as they transitioned from level 2 to level 1 and allied. Along with Crocodile, Jinbe, and Daz Bonez, Buggy organized a naval ship to escape, which again greatly impressed the prisoners, with Buggy actually just thinking he was safest with two samurai at his side. A final sacrifice on Bon Kurei’s part then allowed Luffy, Buggy, and 240 other prisoners to escape.
The big event
After the escape from Impel Down, the prisoners intercepted a radio message, with the Navy believing that not only Luffy, but Buggy was one of the main culprits of the escape. The Navy had investigated around through this event and found out that Buggy was a member of the Roger pirate gang, so they would not underestimate him from now on. That Buggy was merely the cabin boy, no one knew. The ex-convicts on board now looked upon Buggy even more as their great hero, most even swearing allegiance to him. Buggy thought about it for a moment and wanted to use it all to his advantage so he could become pirate king. Buggy decided to kill Whitebeard with his new army, thus making a big name for himself in the world. When the gate of justice surprisingly opened, the clown was also immediately blamed for it.
When Aokiji froze Whitebeard’s waves to ice, Luffy’s alliance sat on one of them. They fell off and broke through the ice, but were rescued by Jinbe. At first Buggy was ecstatic, but the multitude of overpowered opponents soon intimidated him. Whitebeard also noticed Buggy and remembered him. He decided to join up with the clown, as he had brought many strong individuals from Impel Down. He also said that Buggy could come back for his head later. Later, he was swept away by a sandstorm from Crocodile. However, Luffy brought him back to the ground as he was in the middle of a fight with Hawkeye. Since Buggy’s Devil Fruit didn’t mind his sword blows, he considered himself confident of victory this time. However, due to his cockiness, he lost to his own attack. Before the transmission was to break on the Sabaody Archipelago, Buggy stole a camera and put himself in the spotlight. He filmed Whitebeard being severely wounded by his ally Squard. Afterwards, however, Buggy was frozen by Aokiji on Sengoku’s orders, and with that, viewers on the archipelago only saw Whitebeard being exposed as a traitor. However, this was actually a lie by Akainu.
Later, Buggy was thawed out again. After Luffy finally freed Ace, the picture Den-den Mushi was also ready to go again. The transmission to the Sabaody Archipelago was up again, and Buggy was eager to get back into the spotlight. However, Buggy wasn’t the center of attention, the battle was. A little while later, the Blackbeard pirate gang also showed up, taking down and eventually killing Whitebeard. Buggy was so frightened by this that he took flight and flew away. However, he got caught up in the action again when Crocodile rescued Jinbe and Luffy, whose will had been broken by Ace’s death, from Admiral Akainu and sent them both flying with a sandstorm. Buggy caught the two unintentionally and immediately had to dodge one of Akainu’s magma fists. Jinbe thanked him and lost consciousness. Buggy now had to carry the two to safety, but down out of the water suddenly emerged a submarine whose occupants were Trafalgar Law and his crew. Law ordered Buggy to give him the straw hat and Jinbe, as he was a doctor. This Buggy did, realizing that he was now the target of Kizaru.
Shanks then appeared with his crew. The redhead tossed Luffy’s straw hat to Buggy and asked him to take it to its owner, as he had a treasure map for him. Buggy, gullible as he was, obeyed his request. When he realized he had been tricked, he was furious, but quickly realized that he felt safe around Shanks and could leave the island unharmed.
After the battle
Buggy was able to leave Marine Ford with his men reasonably unscathed and reunited with his original crew on a deserted island in the Grand Line. He surprised Alvida by bringing Captain John’s bracelet, which he got from Luffy in the Impel Down. Galdino then alerted him that a letter-bat from the government had arrived for him, handing him a letter.
Two years later
As it turned out two years later, Buggy had been appointed a samurai of the seas. As such, he had founded Buggy’s Delivery, a pirate delegation company that distributed pirates as mercenaries to crisis areas. Their base was located on the island of Karai Bari. The fact that Doflamingo had been defeated and his underground machinations put to an end played right into his hands, as it meant that the services of his organization were needed all the more. However, he already had his first casualties because of this, with Mohji informing him that Hajrudin had left his organization and joined Luffy as part of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet instead.
A vote at the Levely resulted in The Seven Warlords of the Seas being stripped of their status and targeted by the Navy. Buggy found himself facing Vice Admiral Stainless’s fleet. Buggy spurred his men to go into battle for him, secretly waiting for an opportunity to make his escape. In exchange, he also wanted to make his own people available.
Miscellaneous
- Buggy was originally supposed to be called “Boogie”, but when Eiichirō Oda watched a movie, he realized that the name had already been used. So he decided to give the clown the current name. Also, “Boogie” was drawn differently. Show image
- It can be said that Buggy’s Devil Fruit is the opposite of Luffy’s Devil Fruit: while swords can’t hurt Buggy, he is vulnerable to bullets. With Luffy, it’s the other way around.
- His prisoner number at Impel Down was E-8200.
- He also stars in various specials:
One Piece specials 4 through 7 as an antagonist. Show imageTarget. Pirate baseball king as commentator.
- Buggy is also Oda’s favorite villain from One Piece.
- There’s also an ice cream flavor called “buggy.”
- Buggy’s favorite food is hot dogs.
- His hate food is tomatoes.
- His hobby is collecting treasure maps.
- If he were an animal, he’d be a panda.
- He also has various appearances in a great many One Piece video games.
- Buggy can also share his private parts.
- Buggy made an appearance in Cross Epoch.
