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Now freely available for all fans to read on Shueisha's MANGA Plus, One Piece chapter 1095 showed Saint Jaygarcia Saturn's crushing display of power over Jewelry Bonney, Sanji, Franky, and Dr. Vegapunk. Additionally, the chapter provided a lot of information about the special race that Bonney's father, Bartholomew Kuma, was previously said to be part of.
Saturn's words and Bonney's remembrance of Kuma's memories revealed the existence of the Buccaneers, a powerful tribe that, like the god-like Lunarians, seems to have a bad history with the World Government. As a result of carrying the blood of the Giants, Buccaneers have large bodies and outstanding physical strength.
According to Saturn, Kuma is the only survivor of the Buccaneer Race nowadays. Still, some major characters from the One Piece story's recent past, including Edward Newgate "Whitebeard", one of the strongest pirates ever, might have been part of this tribe.
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Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers from the One Piece manga up to chapter 1096.
One Piece theory suggests Edward Newgate "Whitebeard" as part of Kuma's Buccaneer Race
Who is Whitebeard in One Piece?
With regards to both prominence and combat prowess, Edward Newgate, the pirate famous as "Whitebeard", is one of the greatest characters ever featured in Eiichiro Oda's One Piece. A former member of Rocks D. Xebec's dreadful crew, he eventually created his own group, the Whitebeard Pirates.
Despite being insanely strong, Newgate was a compassionate person. Rather than riches or authority, the thing he wanted the most was a family. In fact, the Whitebeard Pirates were his family, with Newgate considering his subordinates like his sons and them seeing him as their benevolent father.
Owing to the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, Whitebeard can generate devastating shockwaves and quakes. In his prime, he was able to simultaneously use this Devil Fruit, which was described as an asset potentially capable of destroying the world, in combination with the all-powerful Advanced Conqueror's Haki, the strongest type of Haki.
Factoring in these abilities as well as his exceptional physical might, Whitebeard could fight on par with Gol D. Roger, the man who went on to become the legendary Pirate King. These astonishing powers and achievements earned Whitebeard the reputation of the world's strongest man.
Like "Hawk Eyes" Mihawk and "Red Hair" Shanks, Whitebeard and Roger respected each other even though they had fought themselves to the death multiple times. Roger revealed Whitebeard priceless information about the mysteries related to the One Piece treasure, including the meaning of the Will of D.
After Roger's death, Whitebeard became one of the Four Emperors, the greatest pirate captains of the New World. Among them, he was easily considered the "Closest Man to the One Piece", i.e., the individual who ruled the seas and could have become the next Pirate King had he wanted to.
Despite being significantly weakened by both aging and a terrible illness, Newgate decided to challenge the Navy, which was about to publicly execute Portgas D. Ace, one of his most beloved subordinates.
The secret son of Roger, Ace, had been sold to the Navy by Marshall D. Teach "Blackbeard", another member of the Whitebeard Pirates, who had betrayed the crew after killing one of its members to steal the Dark-Dark Fruit the latter had found.
The ensuing battle in Marineford, which became known as the Paramount War, resulted in a brutal loss for the Whitebeard Pirates. Even though the crew was helped by several allies, they were significantly overwhelmed by the Navy, and both Newgate and Ace died tragically on the battlefield.
What links Edward Newgate with the Buccaneer Race?
Based on what was revealed in the latest One Piece chapter, Buccaneers are much larger than normal humans, although not as much as Giants. They have a huge torso with thick arms and square-shaped heads. In addition to this trademark appearance, they have an abnormally high level of physical strength.
Among the characters who could be unveiled as Buccaneers offspring, the World's Strongest Man, Edward Newgate "Whitebeard", is certainly one of the most expected. Just like Kuma,who is 689 cm tall, Newgate, being 666 cm tall, is much larger than a normal human and yet not a Giant.
One Piece's weird tendency in terms of the size of the characters featured in the franchise certainly makes the issue harder to contextualize. Many individuals in the series, ranging from the Admirals to characters like Doflamingo, Katakuri, King, and more, are exceptionally tall, despite not being part of the Giant Race.
Probably, this is a deliberate choice from One Piece author Eiichiro Oda, who bestows certain characters a towering height to emphasize their might. Most of those individuals are antagonists, so their height becomes a visual clue that makes them more intimidating, while in contrast, the protagonists are depicted as underdogs who challenge a menacing foe.
The quite evident physical resemblance between Newgate and Kuma as children is another interesting hint. Oda showed readers Kuma as a kid in the SBS column of volume 73, as well as in the flashback featured in the recent chapter 1095 of the manga. A teenage Newgate's appearance was instead shown in the SBS of volume 70.
Comparing the drawings side-by-side, it's easy to see the similarities between the two, the most evident being their face shape, with a very pronounced chin, a trait that, allegedly, remained even in their adult age. Admittedly, in terms of aesthetics, the young Kuma and Newgate look alike.
With regards to the other distinctive trait of the Buccaneers, abnormal physical strength, Newgate meets all requirements as well. All One Piece fans remember the exceptional feats he showed in Marineford, displays that appear even more extraordinary taking into account that he participated in the Paramount War while being old and sick.
For instance, he blocked a two-handed downward sword swing from Vice Admiral John Giant—a Giant in name and in fact—with his naginata held with only one hand. He also used just one hand to completely stop an enormous paddle ship from advancing.
Having refused to continue using his life support and medication, Whitebeard's health rapidly declined. Nevertheless, he displayed unbelievable pain tolerance as he continued to fight despite suffering several life-threatening injuries from top-tier-level opponents.
Admiral Kizaru pierced Newgate's chest with a laser, while Admiral Akainu burned through his torso and even blasted a portion of his head off. Newgate also sustained hundreds of additional injuries due to stabs, gunshots, and cannonballs. Still, he continued to fight, even annihilating Blackbeard, who tried to challenge him to a 1v1 battle.
Despite having suffered all that damage, in his already weakened state due to old age and sickness, Whitebeard only perished after the entire Blackbeard crew assaulted him. Still, he died standing, a feat of tenacity that left everyone shocked.
It must be noted that many One Piece characters, such as Garp, Rayleigh, Shanks, Mihawk, Oden, Zoro, Kid, and more, are normal humans, not belonging to any special race, and yet showcase extremely high levels of physical prowess, even in circumstances where they weren't using Haki.
Granted, in their case, such might be a result of harsh training. With regards to Whitebeard, it is unknown if his absurd strength and endurance stem from his genes, his practices, or a combination of both. Whitebeard's ostensible belonging to the Buccaneer Race could certainly be a good explanation.
All things considered, it's difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish Buccaneers from particularly tall and large humans without a proper blood test. In fact, performing blood tests is the method used by the World Government to track members of the Buccaneer Race.
Pending to the coming One Piece chapters to disclose more information about the Buccaneers, including other members of the tribe in addition to the already unveiled Bartholomew Kuma, the notion that Newgate was part of this ethnicity remains a speculation, although a rather grounded one.
Interestingly, Edward Newgate, just like Kuma, was orphaned. It's possible that the World Government persecuted Newgate's family due to them being Buccaneers, and that the loss of his parents became the reason that later prompted him to create his own family by gathering outcasts of all sorts.
Be sure to keep up with One Piece's manga, anime, and live-action as 2023 progresses.
