I made this post a while back ( https://www.reddit.com/r/OnePiecePowerScaling0/comments/1vkbbjm/choose_the_most_underrated_character_here_i_will/ ) and Kuma was the most asked character, so here is the thread scaling him.

In this thread I will analyze Kuma's showings and portrayal in the story to determine how strong he actually and who is the strongest character he could beat based on what he has shown.

Stats and Powers

As a Bucaneer, Kuma base stats by itself already surpasses regular humans and naturally grants him greater endurance and overall physical stats like speed and attack power. Also, it's valid to assume that Whitebeard also is a Bucaneer due his design and story that also has family as its theme, which it's implied that Bucaneers biggest powers come from the love for their families. So Whitbeard being a Bucaneer further confirms how great they are in terms of endurance and physical stats

https://preview.redd.it/dr5gao2stqjh1.png?width=1016&format=png&auto=webp&s=72992107fbf5936b0e385520dd7c50b8ccd774de

As for his feats, Kuma has great endurance and durability feats such as resisting Saturn's eye power at young age, tanking multiples attacks from Akainu and Kizaru, and surviving an buster call tier shooting. Also, it's valid to remember that Kuma was factually nerfed at every single instance

He also has shown poison resistance as he easily tanked and countered Saturn's attack

https://preview.redd.it/ebz77xslxqjh1.png?width=2647&format=png&auto=webp&s=ea7219bc47b23848f421ca2af6fdca61f7c05d34

In terms of speed he has some great showings as he could intercept Kizaru and Rayleigh, and even DR Rocks when he was a kid. And even if he used his DF for that, it still can be counted as speed feats due how naturally he can use it combat

https://preview.redd.it/y98koyejwqjh1.png?width=507&format=png&auto=webp&s=bb32845b540851b69a43fa6723e1c6cb8927118e

His AP also is impressive and is where the things get impressive as we do have a way to compare his AP directly to top tiers since they have fought foes with similar abilities

So we know for a fact that the Gorosei are stronger than the God's Knights despite both being immortals. Then, naturally, Saturn is stronger than base Sommers. With that clear, there are three instances that are useful to gauge Kuma's AP

Kuma:
- Landed one basic coa punch in Saturn and destroyed him
- He would be dead if not for the regen
- He took a while but regenerated himself
- They didn't fought after that

Luffy:
- Used a powerful named attack against Sommers and also destroyed him
- Would've killed him if not for the regen
- It took a while but Sommers could also regen

Gaban:
- Easily defeated Sommers but not destroyed him
- Would've killed him though
- Sommers regenerated faster and was in a better shape than Saturn and in his former clash with Luffy

(Disclaimer: Before I go for the conclusion I'm not saying that Kuma was using a weak attack because it was basic and unnamed, in fact believe that that was the strongest attack he could pull out in that state)

So all things considered, it's valid to assume that Kuma's AP should varies around Gear 5 Luffy and old Gaban's due having a similar showing against a much stronger foe

https://preview.redd.it/qkprnovszqjh1.png?width=1524&format=png&auto=webp&s=ee1604c713ba6eb760975057b5708754de675120

Veredict

As a Bucaneer who while nerfed has shown speed comparable to well know speedsters such as Ray and Kizaru, physical stats that via feats and narrative are only below monsters like Kaido, Big Mom and Whitebeard, and an attack power that is comparable to some of Luffy's and Gaban's attacks, we can conclude that Kuma in fact is a top tier and in peak condition should scale around the same level if not above the old legends.

And the strongest character he could beat should be Mars (no omen), or anyone around that tier

HM: Portrayal

As for his portrayal I don't think much needs to be said. For anyone who is actually invested in the story and in its characters I think it is clear that Oda wants the reader to see Kuma and Dragon with the same eyes we see Roger and Rayleigh, Whitebeard and Oden, and Luffy and Zoro (the parallels are so obvious that even their children are Nika lol). And we know that the RA commanders can match the Admirals as it is shown with Sabo, Karasu and Morley

https://preview.redd.it/h5vl6w622rjh1.png?width=3889&format=png&auto=webp&s=cbc9d90356a541c9f7416e0441e5559ae3cf1c49