[ “ Buggy ” || “ 🤡 ”

Buggy the Star Clown is the nominal president of Cross Guild, and one of the current Four Emperors dominating the New World.[3][2][16]

Initially a Roger Pirates apprentice alongside Shanks,[8] Buggy succeeded his disbanded mentors as a career pirate in the East Blue, in time becoming captain of the Buggy Pirates. One of the earliest enemies defeated by Monkey D. Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates,[4] revenge drove him to an alliance with "Iron Mace" Alvida and pursuit into the Grand Line.[6] Since then, his fortunes have constantly, dramatically revolved: from imprisonment in Impel Down to entanglement in its first mass-breakout and the subsequent Summit War of Marineford, his escalating infamy won him entry to the Seven Warlords of the Sea,[7] allowing him to launch the pirate mercenary organization Buggy's Delivery.[5]

After the Warlords were outlawed,[17] Buggy found himself "leading" the Cross Guild, a successor group actually controlled by fellow ex-Warlords Crocodile and Dracule Mihawk; with his inflated reputation, he was grudgingly retained as figurehead leader, and gained recognition as one of the new Emperors.[16] Emboldened, Buggy has declared his intent to become the Pirate King, putting Cross Guild in pursuit of One Piece.[18]

He is the main antagonist of the Orange Town Arc and a secondary antagonist in the Loguetown Arc, as well as the central protagonist of the Buggy's Crew Adventure Chronicles cover arc (the manga's first). Since then, he has become one of the series' most-recurring characters, serving as a supporting character through the Summit War Saga in addition to tertiary appearances in the Jaya Arc, Zou Arc, Wano Country Arc, and Egghead Arc.

Buggy is an average-sized man with an appearance resembling that of a clown, so as to mirror his epithet. He has long blue hair and gray eyes (light blue in the manga). The big, red nose on his face is, in fact, his real nose.[19] The blue tassels coming from the sides of his hat are his actual hair in the shape of two ponytails.[20]

Buggy's face is always covered with makeup, 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.[21][22] 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 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 as 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 brighter color scheme, with a purple scarf, teal green sash, pale turquoise pants, and light 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 a sash. He wore beanies rather than a captain's hat, and he lacked the captain's coat.

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 striped tricorn with a rim ornamented with several little golden 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.[5]

Buggy is 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.[23] 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.[24][25] If presented with an opportunity to make himself look good, 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.[26]

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.[27] During the Summit War of Marineford, he had his followers broadcast his exploits to the outside world with a stolen Den Den Mushi,[28] 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.[5]

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.[24] 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.[29] Buggy was even willing to guide Luffy through Impel Down in exchange for an armband pointing to Captain John's treasure, though he did not intend to fully honor the deal, especially after Luffy gave him the armband in advance.[30] 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.[31]

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.[32] After Luffy defeated him, Buggy made it his mission to hunt down and kill him for simply angering him.[33] 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;[34] he initially paid much more attention to Zoro due to having heard of the swordsman before.[35] 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.[36] Buggy also angrily confronted Portgas D. Ace as an enemy until finding out who he was.[37] 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.[38]

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.[39] He frequently tends to mishear people as talking about his nose when in reality they are talking about something completely different,[40] and sometimes he even mistakes his own speech as referring to his nose and gets angry at people around him for it.[41]

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.[42] 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.[37] 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.[30] 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.[43] 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.[44] 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.[45] When Crocodile and Mihawk confronted him for his unintentional usurpation of the presidency of the Cross Guild, he showed tremendous cowardice by crying and pleading for mercy, even offering to lick their shoes clean, and upon being made figurehead leader under the two superior pirates, he became worried for his future.[16]

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.[46] 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.[47] 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.[48] 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.[30][49] 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.[24] 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.[34]

Buggy appears to love eating and drinking, as he frequently engages in parties and banquets with his crew.[50][37][5] 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 stop him from heading into an obvious ambush.[51]

Like many other characters, Buggy has a distinct laugh, "Gyahahahahaha!"

When Buggy was younger, he ate the chop chop Devil Fruit, in where he can separate his body parts.

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 on 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 them 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 than 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.[48] However, with Crocodile suddenly sinking the ships, the crew misunderstood this act as loyalty to Buggy. Their admiration of Buggy grew stronger than ever, as they even posted him as the most standout member of the new company that Crocodile founded, leading to the world believing that he managed to recruit Crocodile and Dracule Mihawk as subordinates. When Crocodile and Mihawk confronted Buggy for this misunderstanding, Mohji, Richie, Cabaji, and Alvida, all of whom knew of Buggy's façade, casually brushed off his impending doom while expressing their next step in following Crocodile as they continued to party. However, when Buggy was made the figurehead leader of this new organization, his crew cheered fiercer than ever for him and his new "commanders."[16]

Cross Guild During his escape from Impel Down, Buggy became acquainted with Crocodile, who considered Buggy to be overly pathetic and weak; even learning that Buggy was a member of the Roger Pirates did not change his opinion of the clown.

After the war, when Buggy became a Warlord, he borrowed a large sum of money from Crocodile to start his pirate mercenary group, Buggy's Delivery. After the Warlord system was dissolved and Marines sent a fleet to arrest Buggy, Crocodile came and sank them so he could make Buggy repay his debt and start his own company, the Cross Guild, while expressing surprise that Buggy did not flee. When Buggy revealed he could not pay, Crocodile offered to sell him into slavery and did not spare him any mercy, to which Buggy desperately replied by offering Buggy's Delivery to be used as a building foundation for Cross Guild.[16]

However, due to Buggy's employees' overzealous admiration of him, they placed him as the foremost member of the Guild on flyers and distributed them worldwide before Buggy even had a chance to review them. As a result, the World Government mistook Buggy as the leader of this new organization and Crocodile and Dracule Mihawk as his subordinates, naming him as a new Emperor in the process. Crocodile and Mihawk became very insulted by this misunderstanding and beat Buggy up severely, but Mihawk eventually suggested using Buggy as a figurehead leader so that he and Crocodile could operate without the excessive attention, something Crocodile agreed upon. As Buggy fulfilled his role as a puppet leader, he began to fear for his future under the two superior pirates.[16] This fear was not misplaced, as Buggy was beaten up multiple times by Mihawk and Crocodile for situations he found himself in, and oftentimes Buggy has to suffer from the actions his overzealous followers commit. This constant harassment and beating up by Crocodile and Mihawk has led to Buggy constantly living in fear of their rage and the consequences he has to suffer, even wishing to be killed by them instead of working alongside them.

On Mihawk and Crocodile's side, they both abuse their strength over Buggy multiple times by beating him up and pushing their agenda further, while rejecting his ideas and silencing him whenever he speaks up, as they consider him a deluded lowlife pirate. Despite this, Buggy does not refrain from speaking up against their wishes or without permission, even if it means he ends up beaten up.

Eventually, Buggy learns that Shanks is finally going into the race for the One Piece, making Buggy reflect on his life and decide that he would rather die than live under the abuse of his "executives," and he rallies Cross Guild to go after the treasure too. This subsequently makes the enraged Crocodile and Mihawk forced to go along with it, as they realize that they'll lose the loyalty of their troops and organization if they kill Buggy or go against their "leader." However, despite regaining a level of control from them, Buggy still has a small level of fear of his superiors, as he immediately complies to an annoyed Crocodile telling him to sit down after the clown declares that the world will belong to Cross Guild when they find the One Piece.