The Black Cat Pirates (クロネコ海賊団, Kuroneko Kaizokudan) are fictional pirates from the anime and manga One Piece, led by Captain Kuro. They are a crew of pirates who appeared early on in the series carrying out orders under their captain, Kuro, who had taken the alias of Klahadore the butler.

Three years before the present storyline, Kuro grew tired of setting up schemes for his crew mates and of constantly being hunted down by the Marines. That was when he decided to have an impostor take his place as Captain Kuro and be executed in his stead by Morgan, so that the hunt for him would be ceased. [1] Soon after, Captain Kuro set up an elaborate scheme in a small village he came to live in, in order to live free from pursuit with great wealth. He took the name Kurahadol (Klahadore in the 4kids dub) and, for three years, lived as the butler of the wealthy parents of Kaya. He then became the sickly Kaya’s caretaker. When three years passed, he contacted his old first mate, the hypnotist Jango, and arranged for the Black Cat pirates to lay siege to the village, force Kaya to write and sign a will leaving all her wealth to Kuro, and then kill Kaya. Unknown to his crew, however, Kuro was also intending to kill all of them as well.

After Usopp and Luffy overheard Kuro explaining the plan to Jango, Usopp tried to warn everyone in town, but Kurahadol’s reputation and Usopp’s tendency to lie led them to not believe him. Thus, the Straw Hat pirates took it upon themselves to protect the village. Through a difficult battle, Luffy managed to keep up with Kuro’s insane speed and defeat him, and at the same time Usopp managed to protect Kaya from Jango. Afterwards, the crew, sans Jango, fled the island.

Kuro’s flag is that of a simply-drawn cat face.

Kuro

  • Seiyuu: Kōichi Hashimoto
  • Voice Actor (4Kids Entertainment): Jamie McGonnigel

Captain (16,000,000 beli bounty, no longer in effect)

Kuro

Kuro is the former Captain of the crew. He is known as “Kuro of the Thousand Plans” for his elaborate plans that virtually never fail. Thusly, he earns the title of the second most intelligent person in the East Blue behind Ben Beckman. [2] He has super-human speed with which to deliver his attacks. His skill is such that at full speed he is only able to be seen as a vague blur or by the damage his attacks cause. He primarily uses a special attack called Shakushi (Death Scoop/Death Ladle), that allows him to sweep a large area, killing anything his claws connect with at random, including his own crew. The technique travels at the roughly the same speed as CP9’s Soru ability. The difference is that when Kuro uses that technique, he cannot see what he is attacking, whereas CP9 have mastered this ability and therefore can.

Sham and Butchi

Lookouts

(Siam)

  • Seiyuu: Masaya Onosaka
  • Voice Actor (4Kids Entertainment): Eric Stuart
  • Voice Actor (FUNimation): ?

(Butchi)

  • Seiyuu: Yasuhiro Takato
  • Voice Actor (4Kids Entertainment): Jimmy Zoppi
  • Voice Actor (FUNimation): ?

Sham and Buchi (シャム、Shamu, and ブチ, Buchi, Siam and Butchie in the English version.), also known as the Nyaban Brothers (Meowban Brothers), are the two lookouts of the Black Cat pirates. The two try to act cowardly when first approaching an opponent, but show their true colors once their opponent’s guard is down. They fight against Zoro during Kuro’s attempt to raid Syrup Village (Usopp’s hometown), but are ultimately defeated. Buchi is fat and Sham is the one with green hair and a hunched back. Jango hypnotizes Buchi into becoming extremely powerful, being able to crush rock with one jump. Despite this increase in strength, he is defeated once again by Zoro. It is most likely that Zoro killed Sham because when Buchi got up and Sham didn’t, the following quotes were said: Kuro: “He is still alive, I’m not impressed.” Zoro: “Huh? Lucky.”

Nugire Yainu

Nugire Yainu

Shipwright

  • Seiyuu: Masaya Onosaka
  • Voice Actor (4Kids Entertainment):
  • Voice Actor (FUNimation): ?

Nugire Yainu was the name of the Black Cat crewmember who was killed three years earlier by marines. He was hypnotised by Jango to believe he was Captain Kuro. His name and position are never mentioned in either the anime or manga but are later revealed in the One Piece Blue Data book.

Most of the crew is weak and easily defeatable. Aside from their captain they have little strength as a whole. Buchi and Sham were the only other crew members aside from Kuro himself with any real fighting ability. The crew mostly relies on being hypnotised by Jango into believing they have immense strength in addition to the schemes of their cunning captain.

wikipedia.org