Kuja

The Kuja (九蛇, Kuja) is a race in the One Piece series. They are a tribe of all female fighters found on the island of Amazon Lily. Apparently, until they found Luffy on their island, most of them had never seen a man before.

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 * —About Kuja.

Appearance
They typically seem to wear a warrior style of clothing they have for every day use that is skimpy and usually have straps, as well as a bikini style briefs/clothing on their lower regions or very short loin clothes. Many wear thigh length boots and stockings or have their legs completely bare. The style of clothing they wear would be considered otherwise provocative to normal people but are worn freely by the women on the island. On top of this outfit, they often wear a long cape that reaches from the shoulders to the ankles which appears to be a marine uniform jacket. Workers seen in the fields and at other chores without a cape, thus this proves the capes are not fixed permanently onto their outfits.

For evening and casual wear it was seen that they have a patterned shawl that goes over their top half but leaves the shoulders bare. They wear nothing underneath this shawl and it is tied together at the middle of the breasts with a single bow and often wear a mini-skirt on their lower half to match this or the usually bikini/loin cloth instead.

Warriors are seen each carrying a large snake wrapped around them. When the Kuja threatened Luffy, it was revealed that they use the snakes as bows.

Biology
It is stated that the women who leave Amazon Lily sometimes return pregnant. Oddly enough though, they always give birth to females.

Apparently, the empresses of the tribe can contract a disease known as "love sickness", which is when the empress grows infatuated with a man, but keeps that love suppressed because of their tribe's rituals and customs, which then often leads to their death.

Otherwise, they are biologically identical to normal human females, though it is implied that they have a better intuitive grasp of Haki.

Culture
The Kuja tribe consists entirely of women. Due to most of them being isolated on their island, the majority of them are unfamiliar with men, particularly their anatomy.

Just as they have limited knowledge on men, likewise the rest of the world seems to know little about them. Momonga's men told one of the many examples of the Kuja pirates rumors, stating that they turn people to stone. However, this rumor applies only to Boa Hancock.

The Kuja have always lived in peaceful isolation due to their natural advantage of living on an island in the Calm Belt, protected from the rest of the world by the Sea Kings who surround them. However, this isolation has slowly eroded away as advancements in Sea-Prism Stone technology has allowed the government to make new ships that can pass through the Calm Belt with no Sea King interference. The only means of protection remaining for them is the alliance held by their empress as a member of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, which both protects the Kuja from Marine attack but unfortunately classifies all, both at sea and at home, as pirates. The Kuja and their leader must comply with the government's terms or risk the attack and destruction of everyone on the island, a peace barely hanging by a thread in a rapidly changing world.

Overall Strength
The women are raised in the ways of the warrior and are often burly and strong, but there are the odd beauties amongst them. Despite being a warrior tribe, the Kuja cultivate a surprisingly peaceful existence within Amazon Lily, and only engage in battle amongst themselves in arranged competitions held in the local arena for the general public's entertainment.

Typically, as there are no men to do the work that they would otherwise do elsewhere in the world, the women do all the chores from fishing to building. Notably, in one panel of the manga a woman is seen catching a stock of fish with her net and commenting on the fish being small fry. In another panel a worker was seen with a large, heavy bag lifted above her head.

Haki

 * Main article: Haki

While the warriors of Kuja may lack information on Devil Fruits, or even know of their existence, most (if not all) seem to be knowledgeable and fairly proficient in the use of Haki. They can imbue their arrows with Armament Haki, mainly to increase the overall impact. This puts the Kuja warriors above most other characters seen in the series, as Haki is not a widely used ability.

Snake Weapons
The Kuja all have snakes which can be used as weapons or other things. When not in use, the snakes wrap themselves around the body of the Kuja who owns them. The serpents' bodies are about as long as the Kuja who use them and they all wear small berets and a scarf. Salome, Hancock's snake, is an exception as its body is exceptionally long compared to the others and it wears a horned skull on its head with some kind of furry scarf around its neck.

When the snakes form into their various shapes, no word is spoken by the Kuja (as seen so far) to instruct the snake to take the shape it does. How the snakes know which form to take is uncertain. They are also useful for tracking people and animals, as Hancock used her snake to find Luffy after the war.

Shapes

 * Bow: The first mode of the Snake Weapon used by the Kuja. The snakes get into a bow-shaped position with strings behind them. They are capable of firing projectiles such as arrows like normal bows. The arrows fired by the snakes are imbued with Armament Haki, increasing the force of impact.


 * Staff: Nyon's snake is seen in the formation of a staff, however it has not been seen being used for battle. In Chapter 521, however, it was also used as a stepladder for the small sized elder to speak with Boa Hancock, her sisters and Luffy.


 * Chair: Boa Hancock was seen using her oversized snake, Salome, as a throne in her bed.


 * Ropes: Small snakes are used to tie up Luffy. Luffy states the snakes are as strong as steel.


 * Corkscrew: Boa Hancock's large snake took the form of a spiral, elevating her above the battlefield. Though it had no offensive value it took her out of harms way, from which she could speak to and look down at the Navy much more easily.

Beliefs
The Kuja are a tribe who consider strength as beauty and that there is no room for the greedy and foolish to enter. They seem to have little knowledge about Devil Fruit powers, despite the fact that Boa Hancock and her two sisters have Devil Fruit powers themselves (Margaret actually believes that Luffy cannot swim because men are "useless"). Taking advantage of this, Hancock lied to the rest of the tribe, telling them she and her sisters' powers were from slaughtering a Gorgon in battle, instead of them being fed Devil Fruits during their enslavement at the hands of the World Nobles.

Typically, they seem to have no fear of walking around in skimpy outfits or even bathing naked in public. One would presume this is because of the lack of men that they never develop the associations men have with seeing a woman's naked body. Despite their isolation however, they have some ideas of what is "sexy" and a common fashion opinion (but only have a female view). When Marguerite sewed frills onto Luffy's clothes, they mistake his dread for praise and commented that frills are "sexy". They also acknowledge Hancock's beauty and raise the question "is there no end to her sex appeal?".

Until Luffy came along, no man was allowed to ever set foot on their island, but the Kuja at the time not only brought Luffy to their village (albeit by accident), but allowed an exception to their normal rules of never allowing men onto the island. An extension was later given for the Heart Pirates to temporary dock at the island while their captain healed Luffy. Jimbei was also included in this, being Trafalgar Law's other patient, although none of the men were allowed to go further than the barrier put up around their docking area. Elder Nyon even went so far as to forbid Hancock to see Luffy until he recovered, stressing that their laws have been passed down for generations and must be obeyed, and that this situation is an exception among exceptions.

Since Luffy is the first man that the majority of the Kuja have seen, everything he is capable of is thought to be considered the norm for all men. This includes his massive appetite, slow wit, stretchy body, and immense strength, as well as his inability to swim.

The Island
According to the storyline, the Kuja built their town within the center of the large crater on their island, utilizing the landscape for security. The Kuja themselves have been around for "generations" (exact date unknown) with much of their culture and beliefs remaining mostly unchanged throughout this due to isolation. They apparently have a pirate crew, although it is unknown for how long the crew has existed, and attack others with it to gain supplies from the outside world. Over the centuries, their empress would come into contact with men from the outside world, only to fall prey to the "love sickness" disease and die. Empress Gloriosa however managed to bypass this by apparently leaving her homeland to follow her love, in a move that would see her exiled.

The Changing World
After escaping slavery, Hancock returned to her homeland with exiled former Empress Gloriosa, who had led her back to their homeland 20 years later. Although Gloriosa was pardoned for her departure from the island, she continued her exile from the others by living away from the main town. Hancock proceeded to lie to cover up her slavery and Devil Fruit powers of both her and her sisters then, 9 years before the start of the storyline, she became Empress herself of the tribe. After a pirate raid gained her a bounty of 80,000,000 berries, Hancock made an agreement with the World Government that would protect her homeland, but it came at a price - all Kuja from that point onwards would be classified as "pirate" even if they themselves were not.

As Hancock, who is enormously popular among the tribe, has fallen in love with a man, Monkey D. Luffy, as well as owing a debt to Silvers Rayleigh for protecting her from slavery, and leniency to Jimbei (possibly due to his relations with the Sun Pirates), the laws about men being forbidden within the tribe has been lifted somewhat, allowing exceptions.

Trivia and References

 * The Kuja, and the name of their empire, are possibly based on the Amazons from Greek mythology. Like the Kuja, the Amazons were a race of all-female warriors who lived isolated from the rest of the world and had a fearsome reputation for strength. No men were allowed in their territory on pain of death, and once a year, some Amazons left the country in order to get pregnant and preserve the species; although only the female children were kept and raised in the tribe. In some versions of the myth, the Amazonian queen Hippolyta fell in love with Theseus and abandoned the country to follow him, similar to Nyon and, in some degree, to Boa Hancock.
 * All known members are possibly named after flowers or other flowering plants: even the island is named after one.
 * Many of the Kuja had different colors than their initial introduction in the intro "Share the World".
 * Daisy had her top changed from yellow to green.
 * Blue Fan had a complete recolor.
 * Elder Nyon's jacket was changed from blue to red.
 * Nerine's hair color was switched from blonde to brown, her clothes also were recolored.
 * In some cases even the height of the Kuja seems to have changed somewhat.