I´m sorry if this is a dumb question but I´m just curious what the term means if you tranlate it correctly. I know shichi means seven but what is bukai?
The question why I ask is that over here in Germany the Shichibukai are called 'The Seven Samurai of the Sea´s" ('Die sieben Samurai der Meere) but I get the impression that we are the only ones who are using that term. So any info would be nice. Thanks for reading. 
Take care
Shichi means 7 and the Kanji for Bukai literally means Armed Seas. So it translates to Seven Armed Seas or something.. This is based on Chinese Kanji Knowledge so I am not very sure.
I've read a few other terms, but the 'armed seas' is usually the most frequently used.
I wonder why it's seven, not eight etc
Perhaps as StrawHatLuffy mentioned, it's related to the 7 Seas. Like how pirates like to boast how conquer the seven seas
Seven is a good number.
Luffy is the Hachibukai (8)!!
(Arabasta Arc reference.)
Thanks for the info guys. I´ve also heard some other terms like "Seven God´s of Pirates" or "Seven Knights of the Seas" what is close to "Seven Samurai".
To answer the question why it has to be seven, Oda said that he is a very big fan of the Eastern Movie "The Seven Samurai". They were an inspiration for the Shichibukai and on the other way around the Shichibukai are an homage to this movie.
That´s actually why I asked the question the first place. I´m not familiar with japanese but I always assumed that samurai is a japanese term so logically Oda should have called them Shichisamurai. But he didn´t. So either he didn´t do it because of some legal restrictions or maybe that term would make no sense in Japanese :).
Either way I was just curious what it meant. So once again, thanks for the info guys.
Take care
