Buggy

Buggy is a pirate in Eiichiro Oda's One Piece whose public reputation repeatedly grows far beyond his abilities. He first appears as the captain of the Buggy Pirates in Orange Town, seeking a treasure map stolen by Nami and pursuing the Straw Hat crew after Monkey D. Luffy disrupts his plans. Buggy ate the Bara Bara no Mi, a Paramecia Devil Fruit that lets him split his body into independently moving pieces. The power also makes cutting attacks ineffective against him, though he cannot swim and his separated feet limit how far other pieces can travel freely from him.

His connection to Shanks predates their rivalry. As boys, Buggy and Shanks served as apprentices aboard Gol D. Roger's ship, alongside figures such as Silvers Rayleigh. A flashback explains that Buggy lost a valuable treasure map and accidentally swallowed his Devil Fruit while trying to hide it from Shanks. Years later, he blames Shanks for that misfortune. During the Loguetown storyline, Buggy nearly executes Luffy on the same platform where Roger was executed, but a lightning strike destroys the scaffold. Buggy survives, later joins forces with Alvida, and continues chasing Luffy through the Grand Line thereafter.

In Impel Down, Buggy is incarcerated on Level One, where he meets Luffy again. He attempts to exploit Luffy's breakout for his own escape, but becomes part of the prison's increasingly chaotic mass flight. The prisoners who follow him mistake his past association with Roger and Shanks for proof of extraordinary stature. At the Summit War of Marineford, Buggy broadcasts from the battlefield and inadvertently draws worldwide attention. The Marines disclose his former place on Roger's crew, reinforcing the legend around him. After the war, the World Government offers him a position among the Seven Warlords of the Sea.

Following the abolition of the Warlord system, the Navy moves against Buggy's operation. Crocodile approaches him over money connected to the organization, and Dracule Mihawk also becomes involved. Together they form Cross Guild, which places bounties on Marines. Because a newspaper presents Buggy as Cross Guild's leader, the Government names him one of the Four Emperors, despite Crocodile and Mihawk being its real driving forces. His new bounty is 3,189,000,000 berries. In the Egghead-era story, Buggy publicly declares that Cross Guild should pursue the One Piece, reigniting the ambition shared by pirates across the world and alarming his powerful partners.