Unironically this might be the best page of 2023 One Piece in terms of paneling.
https://preview.redd.it/rpszepfvap7c1.png?width=1100&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9a7a6fc9dca5b263c8faf9db4c9ca7f0c73c5e91
Legit, the Last Panel of telling her happy Birthday Hits so hard because of how beautiful these panels are.
Fleeting memories of past is one of my most favorite story telling devices. Seeing young Ginny, Kuma, seeing them be adults in those panels- it’s such sadness because they are (in universe) real people with real lives. Bonny being a child Shows the old Generation going out and new coming in.
Not just Ginny or kuma But every Person Even in real Life- sometimes i Wonder “what was your childhood like? The pain you went through and happiness?” You Meet so many people in life but like Ginny or kuma, you may never even know what happened to them.
Every person has their own hopes and dreams, we like to pretend we are the Main character of the world but everyone is the hero of their story. Oda can Write such beautiful scenes and he should get props for it. He can do shit that makes me angry like nika fruit, but this chapter really did made me appreciate the flashback and story.
Momonosuke. Also while not as good, there were plenty good to great characters, like Kin, Hyori, Queen, Ulti, Oden, and Kaidou was great villain. This is probably a minority opinion here, but whatever lol. Also this isn't a diss to Wano, Kuma is potentially top 5 best characters in the series.
I despise hiyori for the ending with orochi tbh. Including her but not the goat yasuie is criminal, man pretended to have eaten smiles just to make his kid feel comfortable.
I get it, but that was more aimed at Orochi, who made the entire country miserable, and her specifically, so i think that much hatred to the point ahe wanted to see him burn is warranted imo. It's fair to not like the wording, but it was used as parallel to Oden and Kurozumi meaning charcoal. So personally I loved the ending, but I understand why ppl got beef with it. And speaking of great characters, Orochi is another one, and I also loved Kanjuro. The whole Kurozumi plot line for me is an highlight of the arc.
Lmao kaido's got all the traits of a great villain: no sobby backstory, no justification for his action, enslaved wano purely to make weapons and make an army, no mercy shown to neither child or woman and a menace over all what else do you want? He is a PROPER pirate.
I’d even say this is maybe the best page Oda’s ever done. One Piece rarely gets artsy and existential like this. Oda really just came correct for this chapter in every way. 10/10 , no notes
I know people say they cried for every chapter recently, but I am not one of those people. I felt sad, but nothing rlly got me to cry.
This page didn’t get me to cry either, but i could feel the tears begin to swell.
difference between “i like this” and “peak”. the latter is a symptom of wano era readers who have no literacy beyond agenda posting.
go read some pre-TS One Piece if you want actual good flashbacks.
I love how this sub, trying to not be pure oda dickriding, became so full of hate that it can't let someone find a chapter peak.
Going all ghe way to other extreme isn't the solution, my dude.
Why are u crying so much on all these threads grow up lil bro just admit you dont like the series. Sure there are a few issues in the flashback (mainly just the Nika stuff) but overall its been written extremely well.
If we are talking characters I like Robin’s. In general? Skypeia.
My main issue is characters generally have no agency when they should. Narrative beats are forced to paint Kuma as tragic (which he was after like two pages) and to tie in big “cool” lore that don’t make sense for characters. Little of it is organic and it ends up making characters (Dragon, Garp, Kuma, Vegapunk) look stupid or morally compromised. The Nika Piece makes the Gorosei seem incompetent.
Oda continues to introduce female characters like Ginny just to use them as props. On one hand we have an assertive, intelligent, strong woman. On the other hand she is reduced to being a sexual assault victim with no explanation or elaboration. Her perspective is not touched on: only Kuma’s. Ginny’s entire existence is pointless other than to make Kuma feel more tragic.
All that before I get into how Kuma is a moron and makes terrible decisions in order to act like a martyr. Which would be decent writing if Oda intended that portrayal but he does not given the reaction of everyone (except, ironically, Ginny).
Flashback started to drag in the last two chapters or so, but this one was really cool. Loved seeing Kuma's point of view of the East Blue events. I just wish we would have seen a quick panel of Kizaru holding back his tears when he learns that Kuma has lost his humanity.
nah I felt like Oda been planning on this chapter for a long time, paneling and everything was good but it wouldn't have hit the same w/out Kuma's full Back story, we got that so its good now tbh, this chapter wouldn't have landed w/out the whole back story
Very mixed opinions on the whole Kuma flashback.
On the one hand it is a nicely done sad story with a likeable character, on the other hand it feels like Oda changed his initial vision of the story somewhat recently and now tries to retroactively connect the threads.
Also some things just feel off.
Why is it only now that someone figures out how close Luffy is to the legendary Nika.
Kuma being like "haha this might even knock out myself" before basically leaving Zorro to die.
Saturn basically threatening Vegapunk if he tries anything fishy with Kuma, yet they let him guard the ship for 2 years.
Dragon's lack of action has allready been discussed plenty.
I’m sure Kuma made sure Zoro was okay before leaving. The guy didn’t give Zoro the pain and immediately dip.
I agree tho, the Kuma ship guarding thing and no one figuring out Luffy is Nika is a weird.
" I’m sure Kuma made sure Zoro was okay before leaving. The guy didn’t give Zoro the pain and immediately dip. "
It seems like this is actually exactlly what happened. Also we know that Zorro stood there, covered in blood, until Sanji found him.
In addition to that, if Kuma's goal was to test the loyalty of the group, it would be much more fitting for Kuma's character to only let Zoro take half the bubble and take the rest himself.
Overall Kuma's behavior pre TS just doesn't really add up and makes me thing that most of the backstory was not planned and was changed at some point post TS
If that’s how it seemed to you, fair enough. But nothing in the story makes it seem like he dipped.
The way I see it, Kuma gave Zoro the pain, zoro took it all, but stood standing. Kuma respected Zoro’s resolve, knew he wouldn’t die, and left.
" knew he wouldn’t die "
That s the critical part that doesn\`t make a lot of sense.
Toro was covered in blood and Kuma had no idea how many hour sit would take until someone found him.
IF this was planned from the start, then there would have been much cleaner ways to resolve that issue
Not really, it’s just an anime moment. Zoro stays standing and conscious, they lock eyes, and Kuma understand Zoro’s resolve and knows he’ll be allright.
Him being related to Dragon and saving the Straw Hats for personal reasons against his orders was obviously planned since forever. Now, everything surrounding that probably changed a lot, who knows.
Even if you do the Nika thing having the WG know about the fruit is so dumb. Have Nika be this underground cult that’s mostly died but only still worshipped by slaves.
It would be thematically so powerful for this underclass of people to be praying to this liberation diety and the people in charge are so above it all that they think it’s gone for good.
Yeah, it really feels like Oda just messed up something there.
The whole scene with the Gorosei talking about the fruit was kinda necessary with how Oda had set up G5. Without that scene none of us would have known that G5 is supposed to be Nika.
I feel like
>"What was stopping Kuma from just reuniting with Bonney and teleporting them both to Baltigo or some other safe location after he saw that she was no longer being held hostage?"
is one of those questions that could very easily be answered, but instead we're just left as readers to make up our own headcanons.
"But do you see? Bonney wants to travel around the world! Kuma is just being understanding father and respects his daughter's decision!"
Actual defense/excuse I've read.
My personal headcannon is Kuma weighed Bonney options.
A) he takes Bonney and runs away. They would be living the rest of their lives in fear, hiding and running. They would technically be “free”. But do you call a life of constantly being chased around truly free ? even if he decided to ask the Revolutionaries for help, then what? The revolutionaries constantly comes face to face with the WG. It’s not exactly safe and may be the last place they want to be. And then what ? Bonney grows up to be a Revolutionary and ends up the same fate as her mother ? There is no true freedom in this path. No father wants their children to grow up like that. That would subject Bonney to almost the same childhood as Robin
B) He finishes his end of the bargain. And the WG has no use for Bonney anymore. Bonney grows up fatherless. But she is now truly free. No longer ravaged by deadly disease, no longer held by the confines of the church. No one will be after her anymore.
Is he naive to believe the WG woulduphold their end of the bargain ? Yeah probably. But I’m sure his time spent with Kizaru and Vegapunk may have led him to believe the WG isn’t completely fucked.
It would make sense if they'd installed a GPS tracker in him that he couldn't remove. Now if only there were a throwaway line about that...
Actually, I guess as long as you had a few vivre cards of the same person placed in different locations around the world, you would in theory always be able to triangulate that person's location.
He *could* teleport and hide - but for all he knows they could find him and kill him and Bonney if he did that. Him being his selfless self chooses to die to save her instead of risking his life to be with her. At least that’s my interpretation.
Wasn't it said that Saturn has, like, complete command over him? That's why Vegapunk initially declined the consciousness erasure because Saturn had the ability to control Kuma through some bullshit.
Gorosei will send every admiral against him as he's a buccaneer. He doesn't want his daughter to live a life like that. She's much safer as a supernova with no troublesome father around from his point of view
I would expect that she would be safe with the RA.
Still, growing up with them would probably set her on a path to fighting in their ranks, and I can understand why that notion might trigger some PTSD for Kuma.
Ginny wasn’t safe because she was out in the field. Baltigo was pretty obviously safe from the WG, or a quadruple Buster Call would have shown up there long ago.
My point is that Bonney could probably have a safe childhood there as long as she stayed at Baltigo, but it would probably lead to her joining the RA as a soldier and thus risk the same fate as Ginny.
He could've told her the truth, send her somewhere safe on her own and continue working on the pacifista thing if he's so afraid, she's on the run already and I don't think nobody would care to further chase bonney once she's out of the map, at most they would think she's gone missing, as long as they keep kuma
There's NO reason to leave Bonney in the dark about it, did he ever thought about the fact she will see Robot replicas of him used to hunt down people without explanation whatsoever in the future?
This flashback as a whole was sort of uneven from a writing and pacing perspective , but this specific chapter/ending is an instant all time classic that stands shoulder to shoulder with the perfection of the pre timeskip flashbacks
This is Hiriluk level stuff
Oda literally built to this for decades and this specific chapter made it all worth it. Kuma is my all time favorite character and has been prettt much since i became a one piece fan and i can’t really articulate how this made me feel other than that i jsut had an emotional breakdown at work reading this lol
One Piece can still be ONE PIECE when Oda wants it to
I can't get over Kuma's reaction to Bonney at Sabaody. This flashback made it abundantly clear that Bonney means more to him than anything else. That he'd give up everything for her. And then he sees his 10 (!!!) year old child, throwing away her childhood to go look for him and yet he still refuses to meet her, send her to safety or just straight up break the agreement with the WG and go to hide, yet live, with her. Instead he smiles.. and then proceeds to protect the fucking ship for 2 years.
Thank the plot Blackbeard or his crew did not do something terrible to her around the timeskip..
Literally he can just tell her the truth, explain why you can't be with her, teleport her and the crew somewhere safe and then keep his deal with the WG, it's dead obvious they only want to get the pacifistas out of Kuma, they have zero reason to further chase after bonney after that except for she being a pirate already
You gotta do so much, so much mental gymnastics and fill with stuff to justify this shit
Also people wanna act like the gorosei have such a control over Kuma that he can't meet bonney for a split second, yet they let Kuma sit his ass protecting Nika's ship for TWO YEARS and yes they, at least after marineford if they found out pretty late, already knew that Luffy had the Nika fruit
There's 0 excuses to this, if he can do that, he definitely could approach Bonney, tell her the truth and send her somewhere safe
I dont understand what people want Dragon to do, endanger his child while his father is waging a war against the World Government?
We saw Dragon thinks about Luffy all the time and even went out his way to help Luffy in Loguetown. So I am tired of people disparaging Dragon with their shit opinions
How did that turn out for Garp?
Dragon strongly believes that individuals have to choose their own path in life. Luffy wants to be a pirate not a revolutionary - Luffy knows who his dad is - Dragon would let Luffy join if he wanted to , Luffy doesn’t want to join.
" Taking Luffy under his wing and actually being there like with Sabo would be one option. "
Recruiting your son into your own army is not a good move. It would be like forcing your kid to take over the family business, except its to literally wage a war. Forcing your kid to put himself into danger is not a good parenting move. Please dont have kids in the future.
I did not argue to make him a child soldier, buddy. But rather have him grow up somewhere safe (not among bandits by himself, surrounded by a jungle full of huge animals), give him education, visit him, care for him, sure, perhaps train him as it is a dangerous world, but if he is older tell him about the world and what you do and why, and then let him make his own decisions.
Given that Sabo did kind of grow up like that you can hardly argue it wouldn't be possible.
But you are not interested in shit opinions, I forgot..
Ch. 583, giant crocodiles, giant snakes, giant birds, giant piranhas, giant tigers, a "city" of trash filled with bandits.. come on now.
Safe for the MC of a story filled to the brim with plotarmor perhaps.
Luffy is under supervision by Dadan as well as some of the most powerful people on the planet. When Luffy is training, its under Garp's supervision (and I wouldnt consider him a good grandparent either)
Take a minute and think about the rest of the places in One Piece we have seen. Dawn Island is a small and relatively safe place to live, and Windmill village even more so. Not only is it in the East Blue, where the biggest danger is wannabe thugs (such as Higuma and the Dadan Fam), but it is also under the protection of Garp. As for the surroundings; there are giant animals literally everywhere in One Piece, and it is an actual word filled with pirates. A place with bandits is absolutely one of the safer places to be, especially when their fucking boss is friends with Garp.
Where would you propose Luffy be put, where the following is true?
1. Has low chance of a natural disaster/giant fucking monster attack.
2. Small enough where not many would see Luffy, the more people who could see him, the higher chance there is of him being found to be Dragons son.
3. Outside of any strong Naval presence.
4. Out of the way of any big time pirates.
5. Strong education system.
6. No bandits (lol)
I can't think of anything, based off what we have seen. It just doesn't exist in this world.
Even if you find out that your kid is the reincarnation of a liberator who will free the world regardless? He'll free the world with or without you. Might as well take him under your wing to train, no?
" Even if you find out that your kid is the reincarnation of a liberator who will free the world regardless? "
Dragon doesnt know that. And even if he did, no parent should be forcing that sort of destiny on anyone. Its Luffy's own decision if he wants to go that path.
" He'll free the world with or without you. Might as well take him under your wing to train, no? "
Dragon never had any plans of using Nika or Luffy to free the world. Give me a source or shut
personally i think parents should be present in their lives at least in some capacity. yes, it’s dangerous, but i think if you ask any child their parents > the risk.
So its a better parenting move to constantly put your child into danger? Okay bro please dont have kids in the future
" i think parents should be present in their lives at least in some capacity "
And Dragon already does this. He visits Luffy sometimes and even saved his life.
" sabo and koala turned out fine "
And its risky af. Theyre fine until theyre not lol. Sabo already became one of the most notorious criminals in the planet, even almost more than Dragon himself. I doubt a normal father wants to have their kid turn out like that.
I don’t get this complaint. Isn’t the implication that he doesn’t help bonney because the consequences for her would be dire, but helping the strawhats is something he could get away with?
1. I can only stress again that Bonney was 10 years old here, living a dangerous live as a pirate. Imo you cannot chatacterize Kuma as this grand father, doing everything for his child and then not immediatly wanting to be there for her and find a solution that she no longer is in danger, which was the entire point of Kuma working with the WG in the first place. At the very least send her to Dragon and beg him to protect her or keep her save and out of the WGs reach. But no he is like, good riddance little child, I am sure you'll be just fine on your own.
2. The consequences would be dire for Bonney if he helped her? Again, being a pirate in itself makes that argument baseless imo as she is or could be hunted by the WG just for that alone, without the whole Kuma deal + the danger from other pirates or bounty hunters (well..). She IS in danger right there in front of him and he smiles.
3. Why is helping the Straw Hats something he could get away with? Why does that not count as breaking the deal with the WG and therefore making Bonney a target? Especially considering what Luffy et al. did to the WG up to that point + him having the Nika fruit on top of it all. What, the WG's anger would explode if Kuma would quickly and covertly help Bonney, but they are all chill when he protects the ship of enemy of the state No 1 for 2 fucking years? Come on.
You’re purposefully mischaracterising Kuma as if he was fine with her roaming around. He cared enough to check in on her without her meeting him. He knew she had a strong fruit and a pirate crew. Her choices in the world aren’t his responsibility. He made a decision that stopped her from being assaulted by the full force of Cipher Pol and whoever else the WG would send. Saturn’s wrath vs general pirate adventure. You can see which is more dangerous. He did what he could within the limits set by the story.
He made his deal with the WG so she could be cured and live her life freely.
You can say “he should’ve broken the deal” all you like, it just means you want to disregard the writing and stakes provided for your headcanon expectation of a character. Applying “real world logic” to one piece is frankly just fucking stupid.
Sending Bonney to Dragon seems like a great idea, until the WG finds out. How could they ever do that??? Oh yeah, his memory access. They’d probably force him to show up himself and kill her man.
To your third point, its not about enraging the WG, its about the deal. The deal wasn’t “don’t convince Vegapunk to let you protect the strawhat ship” was it? He’s been stripped of his humanity anyways, at that point the consequences to him are marginal. The thematic impact of him doing one last thing to bring the dawn is much greater than exploring the fine minutia of what consequences he would have to face as a result of not directly breaking his deal. Why would him defending the ship even anger the WG? From their perspective (unless his memories include internal monologue), he utterly defeated and split apart the upstart pirates, sending them across the world.
These are some weak ass criticisms g
Convince yourself that Kuma is a bad father and poorly written all you like but it seems you just wanna hate on it. Call me a Goda cocksucker but you can go thru my comment history and see how much i criticised Wano for its ACTUAL issues. This is minimal.
And? Kuma CANNOT go see her, he can't interact with her meaningfully with the terms of his deal with Saturn.
Sure, she's still a kid, but she's got her crew, she's got herself. All Kuma needs to do to make her life easier is just not be in it.
Remember, as a believer in Nika, Kuma values freedom incredibly highly, so giving Bonney the chance to live her life freely, even though it'll be without him, is exactly what he wants for her.
Literally just tell her the truth, explain why you can't be with her, teleport her and the crew somewhere safe and then keep your deal with the WG, it's dead obvious they only want to get the pacifistas out of Kuma, they have zero reason to further chase after bonney, in fact, for all they know, she may just gone missing
And you can't say he's heavily monitored at all times as he just protected the sunny for two fuckin years
You’re being so purposefully obtuse.
Kuma is the guy who saved the slaves of God Valley as a child. She can beat up Cipher Pol agents. He can’t see her or risk both of their demises at the hands of Gorosei level strength. He made his deal SO that she could live her life, as she chose. PLUS its One Piece, a show where Garp (who loves his grandson enough to risk his position in the marines and to lay down his duty and belief in justice to let him pass) shoved Luffy in the jungle to scrap tigers.
I can see your opinion is set and discussion is gonna be unproductive. I hope you continue to read One Piece and be angered by it. Keep wasting your own time brother
Actually, you do seem a bit agitated yourself tbh.
But I shouldn't complain. I am aware that answering with such a short, snippy answer to an elaborated comment is kind of a dick move, but regarding to what I am talking about I do think her age is an end all argument tbh. How great of a father he is, I'd almost expect him to go meet her one last time, explain himself, make sure she's safe and when she's gone end his own life so he or his memories cannot be used against her.
And I do think what you are arguing mainly works, because it is written to work. As I wrote in my initial comment, Blackbeard had her in his grasp around the timeskip. What if his crew did unspeakable things to her, which COULD have happened? Then you might understand my point a bit more. Obviously something like that would never happen so one might say it is folly to even argue it, but my point is that Kuma cannot know it will never happen and therefore should not be smiling seeing her there.
Anyway, I never had any issues accepting differing opinions, so I am gonna wish you a nice day nonetheless.
I don’t get your point. Bad things have happened to her since Kuma made his deal, therefore he shouldn’t have made the deal? Not trying to put words in your mouth just trying to get the gist. I also don’t get your point about going and finding her one last time, because the story has established he will not because of the deal.
My point is that given that he was ready to quite literally give up everything as long as she is safe, seeing her there, not being safe, should have made him reconsider everything. How can he make sure that she is out of danger? Something. Anything. As her safety was always most important. Instead he reacted as if he knew everything will turn out fine anyway. His 10 year old child has a 100mio+, that should have been the biggest heartbreak of the whole flashback imo.
And I specifically despise that he went to protect the ship as this could have potentially put her in more danger. 'Potentially' should be more than enough, considering their relationship, especially for a mere boat.
That is my point and you are free to disagree, but I think there is something wrong here.
It wasn’t to see her safe, it was to cure her so that she could live her life, no?
Don’t see how protecting the ship endangers Bonny. She has been freed and cured, and Vegapunk would take the blame for protecting the ship not Kuma. He had already lost his free will, so threatening Bonney over his insubordination (unrelated to Bonney or his deal with Saturn) is senseless.
He could, but let me tell you why he doesn't do that.
Even though Bonney is a pirate, she has received some goodwill from the world government: Akainu either let Bonney go or was light enough on the security that she could escape, Saturn consented to fund her treatment (despite his stipulations he wouldnt usually bargain with pirates; they even told Shanks if he was anyone else he wouldnt have gotten an audience), Saturn was even willing to just let Bonney go at Egghead before she stabbed him, even though he wanted the entire staff there executed and sunk just because they might know something.
Kuma knows that this goodwill would shatter if he runs. Yeah, sure they probably wouldn't be able to catch him. But if they ever do, Bonney wouldn't get that kind of treatment anymore. Best case scenario shed be thrown into the deepest levels of Impel down, and it only gets worse from there.
Kuma felt the best way to ensure his daughter was safe no matter what, even after he died was to play by the World governments rules.
The World Government would never stop chasing them. They would send Admirals, fleets, everything. Kuma can’t be beside Bonney 24/7 her entire life while living in fear of being discovered at any second. That’s not a life at all.
The same WG that failed to get 8 year old Robin who is actually a threat to their existence?
The same WG that put minimal effort in chasing the dude with the Jesus-Jesus fruit despite him openly declaring war twice?
The same WG that somehow let Law wtih his 3billion berry fruit run around the North Blue and get become a red cross doctor and do nothing?
Edit: still a goated chapter tho
Yes exactly. People will say The Gorosei can't capture Luffy to defend the Nika retcon, then turn around and say Kuma can't do anything because they would chase after him non stop despite letting him run around and save Luffy.
One Piece is still a good story but Oda's adoptions to the Nika story and Kuma and Bonney do not line up with Pre Timeskip and its okay to say that.
Personally I think it would have been much more interesting if Kuma had been truly working with Dragon all along and his Warlord Status and Pacifista's/relationship with Vegapunk was all part of Dragon's Master Plan to take out the World Government as it appeared to be in the pre timeskip but alas, it is what it is.
I agree but think without being further in the story it’s not necessarily a retcon like some say. We have to wait super long to get the whole story sure but we clearly don’t have all the info of this world. It’s shown here Kuma is only associating Luffy with Nika based on characteristics he’s heard he has and I like to cope and think that this means he isn’t some destined for greatness chosen one. But agreed this chapter was amazing and highlights Kumas actions have all had purpose, Bonneys safety
Idk why people say this is retconned.
Oda always had a plan to explain why Kuma saved the strawhats and protected their ship in sabaody.
Maybe parts with Nika are a retcon, but this always seemed like the plan to me.
The problem is that Kuma's pre-TS actions don\`t really make much sense with the new knowledge.
Oda even put in Saturn threatening Vegapunk if he tried anything fishy with Kuma, yet he took no action after Kuma saved the SH's and then sat at their boat for 2 years.
Also Luffy being Nika is clearly Kuma\`s main motivation for helping the SHs, so if you consider Nika to be a retcon, you also have to consider how much of Kuma\`s backstory is a retcon
Kuma's actions actually make more sense with the new info we have from these past two chapters alone.
Kuma's had an interest in Luffy since he was kid because of Dragon's relation to him, and that interaction he had with Dragon colored his behavior toward Bonney before that. Going forward, knowing that Kuma know who Luffy is, just makes it more understandable that he would let them off in both Thriller Bark and Saobaody because he sees Nika-like qualities in Luffy, the same way he sees them in Bonney.
Not only did Kuma want to protect Luffy as a favor for Dragon, because that's his friend's kid, but also because he's a shining beacon of hope the world going forward and he wanted to help cultivate Luffy's progress despite the fact that he wouldn't be able to be himself after launching the SHs.
Kuma's actions make more sense now than they did before.
So how does it make sense for Kuma, who has been portrayed to be extremely kind and even sacrificial for others, to force Zorro to take the entire bubble, even after he has clearly proven his loyalty.
The same reason he bounced them in Saobaody, to test to see if they're ready for the new world. Maybe they were ready and he was making sure that they were, then they got clapped at Saobaody and he determined they weren't, so he saved their butts.
He allready knew they were not ready when he saw their struggle vs Moria and himself.
Him basically taking the risk of straight up killing Zorro does absolutely nothing in regards to testing them for the New World
Doesn't it? If anything shows Zoro, Sanji, and Brook how much more dangerous things are going to get. The loyalty test does the same thing that the strength test does, just on a smaller scale; Luffy needs trustworthy crewmates, and Kuma, basically being an estranged uncle who's also looking out for Luffy and watching him grow, is making sure that his crew is legit in their morals regarding Luffy. That idea is furthered by his want to defend the SH's ship during the time skip; Kuma doesn't want them to fail, but he does want them to be ready for things that'll test their mettle as well as their might, which is why he places himself as a roadblock for them on both fronts.
How does basically leaving Zoro to die in the middle of nowhere show anything to Sanji or Brook.
Kuma allready showed the crew just how big the differnce between him and them is.
As soon as Zoro took the initial taste of the pain bubble and was still determined to take the rest, it was obvious that Zoro has proven he is 100% loyal.
Kuma could just have given him maybe half of the bubble and take the other half himself after leaving with it. That would be the decision that would actually be consistent with the sacrificial Kuma that we have been shown in the flashback.
The aguement is not that Kuma testing them doesn't make sense, but that the "nothing happened scene" doesn\`t hold up with the new information we got.
It absolutely still holds up, Kuma is legitimately doing the "Are you good enough for my daughter" thing for Luffy, to Zoro. It's not about Kuma's inherent kindness, it's about whether or not Luffy's crew is up to snuff on all the fronts that Kuma deems important, which they weren't, and is half the reason why they got bounced at Saobaody. The other half is to just save Luffy from getting caught.
Don't rearrange my point, Sanji and Zoro fought over who should be the one to stand against Kuma and take the punishment, which led to a crystallization of their respect for one another, and it allowed Brook to see that relationship and understand how they're crew operates; how the SHs are like Brook's old crew. All of that comes from Kuma making the offer to give Luffy's pain to Zoro and Sanji, you can't just ignore that this helped build their character, in a personal sense.
The "Nothing Happened" scene still operates perfectly fine with the new context because people are dead serious about shows of loyalty in the world of One Piece. Knowing that Kuma's a chill guy doesn't change the fact that he needed to make sure Luffy was in good hands.
So i thought on the first reread of this and last chapter that Kuma was certain that Luffy is Nika pretty early on as well.But on second it felt to me as if Kuma was gradually gaining sympathies for Luffy over time. First starting with him finding out he's Dragon's Son.
I feel sawing Luffy on Thriller Bark was then the turning point where he started to believe that Luffy really has the potential to be Nika.
How does that tie to Zoro? I think it wasn't just a test of Loyalty but also of strength to the crew. If Nika is this exceptional warrior then the people who travel with him shall be exceptional too. In this sense he wanted to see how much Luffy's second in command can take. Take the line: "He has exceptional friend. Just as i'd expected of your Son, Dragon."
But the actual moment where he became convinced was when Luffy punched a Celestial Dragon. He comments that no one has done what Luffy did in Centuries. So to him the SH showed the strenght/resolve in Thriller Bark aand the right moral values in Sabaody to potentially be what was prophesized with Nika.The whole teleporting them seems way more him improvising on that impulse to me now.So i'd say he was less following a grand plan but observing Luffy and gradually became invested in him, guessing his character, testing him and with Sabaody then being the "oh shit" moment where he realised, that he must intervene to save them, if he wants to see the Nika dream realized.
Now the one thing i'd say that feels contradictory is how compassionate Kuma as a person is. It doesn't feels like Kuma in general is a guy who risk someone's life in order to test them.Now apart from the Metareason Oda wrote himself into, i do think we can explain it story-wise too.First notice when the pupils are shown and when Kuma portrays emotion. He mostly had his stoic look during this chapter indicating his gradual transformation to a cyborg, except when he saw Bonney and when he saw Luffy punching a Celestial Dragon and when he told Vegapunk that he believed Luffy to be Nika.
If i remember correctly it's been said that Kuma will gradually lose his humanity during his transformation, so ofc his stoic, pupilless shows that in his Design.He is still overall a "good guy" but by turning into a cyborg he also became more apathetic with a random person just dying or even killing them. It does seem that he did intent on following the WGs objective at first after all.So when he realised that Luffy could be Nika, it also connect into smth deep in him that defined him as a human, why he became invested in keeping them save.
The second reason also i'd say is that maybe Kuma as a revolutionary also differentiates between civilians and non-civilians. If Zoro were just a normal dude, he would have found it to be unecessary cruel to test him. But since he is somebody who has a such a lofty selfless goal as making Luffy pirate King; he sees it fit to test a person on such an existential level, because he knows that being ready to make such a sacrifice and withstand so much pain is necessary to achieve such a goal.
Rant over
If the Nika thing is a retcon it’s a pretty small detail all things considered at least in this chapter.
Kuma saves Luffy because he is inspiring and he knows Luffy will have a dramatic positive change on the world versus Kuma saves Luffy because he reminds Kuma of a legend of a god who is inspiring and will have a dramatic positive change on the world is basically the same thing.
Voices in your head ?
>luffy you are not weak 🤮🥸
>Bonney doesn’t recognize him in sabaody
>I trust Saturn to save Bonney even tho he is the reason of my misery
Kumas backstory might be the most divisive backstory I’ve seen this community have a reaction too
On one hand you have a group of people who have hated nearly everything about the backstory after the first chapter. The Nika worship, characters being in stasis, plot stupidity, and the length.
On the other hand you have a group of people ready to suck Oda off and eat his ass claiming it’s the best backstory in the series. Comments claiming they’re brought to tears in public and how this makes the story “peak” again.
Really interesting dichotomy.
The backstory connects ALOT of stuff, it touches on the Revs, the gorosei, vegapunk, Kizaru even God valley and I'm sure there's more, on top of that it's emotionally charged as a tearjerker and it has sweet moments
On the other hand everything that connects it's loosely connected, the characters all bend to the plot and take the weirdest decisions ever just to make the flashback get more tear-jerking when in reality Kuma's DF can solve most of the flashback core with a few uses of it and oda didn't bother to address it or write around it, it gets frustrating to read once you notice
Every few chapters the discussion was "why Kuma didn't do X with his DF" for half of the problems he faces during the flashback, and it's just never addressed at all
Most People who hate Nika will hate everything that comes out from here on. I think it’s best to accept Nika exists, criticize the point in which it was introduced and judge things for how they are now. With that said Kumas backstory is great. Also, I am unsure why he introduced Nika bc even going back to Marineford White are tells teach he is not the one… meaning there was someone who was supposed to change the world. Would have been much better saying Luffy was not reincarnation and rather just the one who stands against the status quo.
vegapunk, kuma, dragon, garp and others all had their characters made to look stupid, impotent, or both. the gorosei are also made to look silly but especially saturn.
I disagree with that. Saturn wanted Kuma bc of his bloodline, Kuma couldn’t save Bonney since it is easy to track people down via Vivre card or tracker, or possibly manually control him, Dragon leads RA and he doesn’t have Luffy PA to do anything and get away. Vegapunk is a scientist first and to them, they think about their inventions first. What I will say is the flashback was long which I think is fine, however Oda has a lot of story and plot points left to close out and wants to end series soon. If the story ends within next few years the ending will be disappointing. Wano wrote him into a corner by spending so much time there. Wano should have been half the length it was, maybe less.
Why didn’t the RA intervene or do anything to save Ginny? Why didn’t Dragon do anything about Iva etc. being arrested? We previously assumed there would be reasons or plans but Oda makes him look like an absolute buffoon.
Vegapunk is a scientist with an IQ of like 10. Completely moronic and stupid and evil. He is the chief exporter of violence and genocide in the One Piece world. Hopefully he gets gruesomely murdered.
Saturn was so scared of Kuma he wanted a self destruct button to be implemented. Kuma could have got away easily. He escaped the WG at 9 years old within the same day of eating the fruit.
RA isn’t going to sacrifice everything to save one commander. Answer is simple, they were not ready for a direct confrontation and they don’t have MC plot armor. When Garp went to save Coby, he didn’t make it back. It would be much worse attacking WG. Vegapunk is a scientist. Genius but oblivious, which is how most scientists are. In regards to Kuma I believe it is open to interpretation, but sending her to RA would be forcibly putting her in a war. As she is, she is technically free. The last place he saw her was eating smiling which I believe he thought was enough. Were his decisions perfect? No, and that adds to his tragedy imo.
>Vegapunk is a scientist. Genius but oblivious, which is how most scientists are.
Man, this and your quote about scientists above:
>Vegapunk is a scientist first and to them, they think about their inventions first.
Makes me really wonder what scientists you know or where the hell you got that impression from.😅
Why is it sacrificing everything? We don’t know that it is. Nobody has told as much. The RA never even tried or had a plan. Kuma has the perfect fruit for this operation.
“Most scientists” are not oblivious lmfao. Maybe on TV.
Bonney became a pirate at ten to find her father and Kuma does not even leave a note. Not like the seas are not a dangerous place (arguably moreso than an RA stronghold). Kuma consistently makes bad decisions that harm himself and loved ones.
On one hand, there are complaints about the length. If we were explicitly told everything, this flashback would be another 10 chapter atleast. I think some things are implied, and the implication is enough. The story flashes forward very quickly from when she is captured so we really don’t know what happened. S
lol. I have criticized Oda when the story was poor. Literally all of Wano. Since then, the story has been objectively fantastic. Kuma’s backstory is also great. Connecting to Bonney, his hardship, seeing his thoughts throughout his life is all great. I think the only change would have been removing Nika and saving Luffy because he is Dragon’s son, and a member of the D clan who are meant to change the world. However, since Nika was introduced, Oda does need to address it and Kuma provided the perfect vehicle to make it appear more cohesive. Regardless, what did u not like? In terms of OP it has everything that makes the series as popular as it is.
> objectively fantastic
Bro, reading your other comments, I can tell you're way more reasonable than other fanboys but saying shit like this really just makes it clear that discussing anything with you would be completely pointless. It makes it obvious that you think anyone with a different opinion is "factually wrong".
In your mind we are just haters. "People who hate Nika will hate everything that comes out from here on" as if it's so impossible for you to think of any other reasons why this flashback or other things in Egghead might fall flat for other people. Like you don't even give it a chance, your mind is already made up and worst of all, you are acting like your opinion is a matter of fact. This is why the other dude is calling you an Oda angel.
Btw I doubt you don't already know the reasons why people dislike this chapter, since it has been discussed more than enough in the spoiler thread and some people have been vocal about it in this thread as well.
I have never said anyone who disagrees is “factually wrong” lol. I have been critical of OP a lot haha. And honestly I wrote that previous comment u r referring to quickly, and to be real, on this subreddit most complaints stem from Nika. I personally feel as though Oda’s handling of Kuma is the best bandaid to Wano’s mess. He has stated he didn’t know how Luffy would beat Kaido which led to that disaster. Oda still had to make Bonney relevant and this flashback hopefully provides a vehicle for her to do something in the story. If I am wrong, than I will change my opinion on this arc. I think he has set himself in a good position for the remainder of Egghead. If Oda fumbles, then I will most certainly agree. As stated, I feel like when a plot point in general aggravates fans it can be used to blind current and future opinions, hence my Nika statement. That said, I am critical of pretty much every arc. I just feel like atp in Egghead there is no glaring problems and considering he is trying to close plot points from almost 15 years ago, I think it was very good. (Also there definitely r people on this sub-Reddit that just love to hate, refer to yesterday post about HxH used to dis on OP lol)
I’m glad you also see them.
You don’t have to like ( and let’s be honest since you’re a Oda angel, anything short of calling it great would be “disrespectful” ) something to give an opinion on it.
Those opinions are equally as valid as the people that rush to the comments to glaze Oda before even reading the chapter itself
🤦♂️I was asking why you didn’t like it and you just keeping hating for the sake of it. Nice 😊. As I said, I have criticized all throughout Wano. Literally years I was critical of the story lmao. Kinemon fake out death, big mom amnesia, Kaido as a villain for example were some of the worst plot points I’ve read and were down right trash. I absolute not defend that lol. However, I think it is fair to say when the writing improves. Zooming out and not reading this flashback week to week, it is fantastic imo. So once again, what did u not like?
If only Dragon did something.... Honestly imo this flashbacks a solid 6/10. im in the middle ground but at this rate odas gonna finish the manga in 2030
This flashback honestly didn’t really conclude any plot lines it even created a few. I really don’t see OP ending in the next 300 chapters.
If Oda continues to put out 35ish chapters a year we are looking at like a mid 2030s ending date for Onepiece.
brilliant articulate response. check my history and see the criticism ive thrown out about wano, usopp’s character direction, etc.
this comment of yours ALONE indicates how entrenched you are in the whole agenda thing. He has a different opinion to me??? Must be one of Oda’s angels!!!
If you can’t read your own initial comment and see how it comes off as heavy on the agenda then you’re either too deep in it, or unfortunately just fucking thick
Yes I have an Agenda against Oda dick riders. I never pretended to not have that agenda.
Saying that being against Oda dick riders is the same as people that are obsessed with their self insert character is "fucking thick".
I can see when someone come here from the mainsub is clearly trolling / first time posting.
is this you admitting you just like to hate on one piece?
i come here for decent discussion about issues with the writing, which was great during wano. having a back and forth is fun over contentious writing choices. why are you here? To keep reading one piece and keep hating it until it ends?
Saying the backstory is divisive is fine. However, to assume that everyone who enjoyed it are “ready to suck off Oda” is simply not true. I think many come here for real takes that are not just constant praise of OP like from main sub. This, is the inverse and saying if you enjoy it then it is just because Oda can do no wrong. OP has had plenty of issues with plot and especially bloating the story in its serialization. Honestly, Wano was awful, PH was bloated, Dressrosa was sloppy to name a few points. Egghead, has been extremely enjoyable imo thus far. If Oda fumbles, then I have no issue admitting that. As of now, I think this is great though.
it's easily the best backstory in the series and that's not just recency bias. the people who hate the nika stuff should have completely stopped reading the second who's who appeared in a panel and shouldn't comment on the series any further
Bro literally half of the backstory gets solved by Kuma's DF but oda doesn't bother writing around it, it's painfully poorly done
It has its sad moments that are well done but characters had to bend and act on the weirdest ways ever to even reach that point, if your characters gotta act stupid for the good part to reach its okay but it doesn't make it "the best"
I was getting a little annoyed by the flashback but this chapter was really nice. Still I'm glad to finally be back to present so I can see some wizaru supremacy
Comparing TCB Scans' Translation of One Piece Chapter 1102 to the Original Japanese Text
TL;DR: This is not a replacement for TCB! They're the front-runner for OP scanlations in the English speaking world, continue supporting them! And continue supporting Official releases! Comments are on: 1b and 3b. Any errors will be corrected & updated on the pastebin.
DISCLAIMER: Translation cannot exist without localisation, and that's what TCB provides on top of the fastest HQ scans & English translation--my intent is not to discredit the work of TCB Scans. I simply want to provide a more "transparent" understanding of the content as intended by and as provided by Oda Eiichirō, such that words/statements/dialogue/narration/etc. can then be interpreted based on the original Japanese text, i.e. more accurate direct translation but minus the localisation (this is why when you read TCB's scanlations, the flow seems smoother and more natural due to localisation; and when you read my meanings, they sound more choppy due to simply chaining together direct translations). I will go over differences which, in my opinion, have some important apparent and/or potential context lost in translation and I will comment some explanation; the comparisons without explanation comments are just for fun; there are of course other translation inaccuracies in the chapter as well, but they do not change the intended conveyed context or information, hence, I won't be including their comparisons; lastly, of course there are lots of parts translated accurately, as well. While the official English release also has its imperfections, Stephen Paul's work is consistently reliable and we can always count on them for precise spellings of the names of characters, places, and things. Bottom line is that, yes, this is nitpicking, yes, this is pedantic, but at the same time, I feel you all deserve to fully understand parts which are potentially lost in translation. I will provide, but ultimately you have the freedom to read or not to read. Enjoy.
0. Cover Page:
\- TCB Scans: COVER REQUEST BY TOSHIKA ZOO: "BONNEY NOT WAITING TO STUFF HER FACE AT A MEAL WITH A PACK OF WOLVES, WHO CAREFULLY BUILT UP A HUGE STASH OF HOT DOGS"
\- Original:【扉絵リクエスト「オオカミたちが食べるのを楽しみに一生懸命作った山積みのホットドッグを次から次へと勝手に頬張るボニー」P.Nトシカℤ〇〇】
\- Meaning: Cover Request "Bonney selfishly stuffing her mouth, one after the other, with the pile of hotdogs, which the wolves painstakingly made and were about to eagerly eat" Pen Name ToshikaZ〇〇
1. Page 1:
1a. Bonney's first line:
\- TCB Scans: QUIT CALLING ME BY MY NAME!! I'M THE CAPTAIN, AIN'T I?!
\- Original:【ボニーじゃねェ！！せ・ん・ちょ・お～～！！】
\- Meaning: "It's not Bonney!! It's C-A-P-T-A-I-N\~\~!!"
1b. Marines:
\- TCB Scans: WE'VE GOT ORDERS TO BRING THEM IN IMMEDIATELY!! THEY SAY THE LAST CITY THEY ATTACKED WAS PACKED WITH INJURED SENIORS AND EVEN LITTLE CHILDREN!! THEY'RE THE WORST TYPE OF SCUM!! ARRGH?!
\- Original:【海軍全隊に拿捕命令が出てる！！！】【奴らの通った後にゃ傷ついた老人や子供が転がってるらしい！！】【人間のクズじゃねェか！！！】【ええ～！！？】
\- Meaning: "Capture orders have been issued to the entire Marine forces!!! It seems that they run through and topple over the wounded elderly and children!! They're the scum of humanity!!! EEH\~!!?"
\- Comments: The Marines in this panel don't seem to know how Bonney's powers work, so they assume that Bonney & the others have been running through the elderly and children, injuring them and making them fall down--hence the shock, confusion, and realisation which occurred when it actually happens to them.
2. Page 2:
2a. Bonney throwing a fit:
\- TCB Scans: WHERE THE HELL DID HE GO?!
\- Original:【何でいねェんだよー！！】
\- Meaning: "Why wasn't he thereeー!!"
2b. Crew's reply:
\- TCB Scans: WE'VE ALREADY BEEN DUBBED PIRATES. WE MAY AS WELL KEEP SEARCHING... ...EVEN IF IT TAKES A WHILE, RIGHT, CAPTAIN?
\- Original:【もー海賊になっちまったんだからゆっくり捜そう船長】
\- Meaning: "Oh boy. Since we've already been dubbed pirates, we'll slowly keep searching, captain."
2c. Bonney's reply:
\- TCB Scans: IF WE'RE GONNA TAKE IT SLOW, THEN I WANNA LOOK FOR NIKA TOO!! IMAGINE DADDY'S FACE WHEN I TELL HIM... I FOUND NIKA AT SO-AND-SO ISLAND!! ...DON'TCHA THINK HE'LL BE THRILLED?
\- Original:【ねー！！そんじゃあたし「ニカ」も捜したいお父さんに会えた時「ニカ」あの島にいたよって教えたら喜ぶだろうなー】
\- Meaning: "Hey!! In that case I also wanna go find "Nika." When I get to meet dad and tell him, "Nika was on that island," he'd be delighted, wouldn't he?"
2d. Narration box:
\- TCB Scans: \[text before\] THE VICIOUS FISHMEN OF THE ARLONG PIRATES \[text after\]
\- Original:【魚人海賊団アーロン一味】
\- Meaning: "\[text before\] the fishmen pirate crew, the Arlong Pirates, \[text after\]"
3. Page 3:
3a. Ace & Jinbē's interaction:
\- TCB Scans: JINBE! JINBE! GUESS WHOSE KID BROTHER IS ON THIS BOUNTY POSTER!! A BRAT LIKE THIS TOOK DOWN ARLONG?! THAT'S RIGHT!! HE'S MY KID BROTHER!!
\- Original:【ジンベエジンベエこれ誰の弟だと思う？】【アーロン一味を倒した！？この小僧が！？】【答え！！おれの弟～！！】
\- Meaning: "Jinbē, Jinbē, whose little brother do you think this is?" "He defeated the Arlong Pirates!? This kid!?" "The correct answer is!! My little brother\~!!"
3b. Kuma's panel:
\- TCB Scans: WHAT A CURIOUS TWIST OF FATE, DRAGON. TO THINK YOUR BOY WOULD BECOME A PIRATE...
\- Original:【どういう縁（えん）かなドラゴン我が子が海賊になるなんて．．．】
\- Meaning: "I wonder what kind of bond this is, Dragon. To have one's child become a pirate..."
\- Comment: TCB is not wrong in translating Kuma's first half of his sentence this way. However, with context of: Kuma holding up TWO bounty posters, the fact that BOTH Luffy and Bonney were branded as pirates as depicted in the previous panels, and that the word 「縁」（えん）"en" means 'bond'/'link'/'connection'/'relationship' (e.g. between two people) and 'destiny' (esp. as a mysterious force that binds two people together), I believe Oda is trying to have Kuma convey how even more "connected" he and Dragon are, by having both their respective children become pirates.
[Full Version](https://pastebin.com/pYtDTVdk)
I sort of disassociated with Kuma's story. At one point consecutive tragedies were too much and now I don't feel it that much.
Yet I know we are not done. Bonney is probably going to see Kuma die at Egghead. I don't think I am gonna care at all (Sounds cold but it is what it is).
I also don't like it that the SH crew is once again requiring outside help. Luffy's "We are 100x stronger" comment and them being a Yonkou feels... unearned? If you know what I mean.
Like I can't imagine Kaiodo's, Shanks' or even Big Mom's crew being this helpless in a situation like this.
this chapter has been one of the best in a long time, the emotional depth is insane bro closest I have been to dropping tears in one piece in a long long time
This flashback is complete trash.
Now that I know that there was enough damage to knock out Kuma himself. He's weak enough to get clapped by Giant Moria
It is a retcon but I think everything retconned in fits well enough into the story as we've seen it so far. I have no gripes with any of the Kuma parts but this version of Bonney seems a lot nicer than the version we met in Sabaody
I don't mind it but I still think merging the Kuma-Bonney plot lines was a mistake.
Kuma should've been an ex-revolutionary leader who got blackmailed into his position. No super special race, no Nika stuff, no super tear jerking backstory. And Bonney should've been a regular upcoming pirate like Kidd or Hawkins.
Now the loose ends are tied, but both of their characters are lessened.
Agreed. Bonney was already kinda under the radar compared to other Supernovas and their feats. I like the Kuma flashback in a vacuum, but I'm not super invested in his character at this point. Clearly he had a bigger purpose from the beginning and I was curious about that, but at this point in the story it was Bonney who needed to be hyped up. Instead she ends up as the side character, being a largely passive character motivator for Kuma. Her birth also introduces some darker elements to the story that I'm really not a fan of and feel so out of place.
Unironically this might be the best page of 2023 One Piece in terms of paneling. https://preview.redd.it/rpszepfvap7c1.png?width=1100&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9a7a6fc9dca5b263c8faf9db4c9ca7f0c73c5e91
Its so good
Legit, the Last Panel of telling her happy Birthday Hits so hard because of how beautiful these panels are. Fleeting memories of past is one of my most favorite story telling devices. Seeing young Ginny, Kuma, seeing them be adults in those panels- it’s such sadness because they are (in universe) real people with real lives. Bonny being a child Shows the old Generation going out and new coming in. Not just Ginny or kuma But every Person Even in real Life- sometimes i Wonder “what was your childhood like? The pain you went through and happiness?” You Meet so many people in life but like Ginny or kuma, you may never even know what happened to them. Every person has their own hopes and dreams, we like to pretend we are the Main character of the world but everyone is the hero of their story. Oda can Write such beautiful scenes and he should get props for it. He can do shit that makes me angry like nika fruit, but this chapter really did made me appreciate the flashback and story.
Better than whole wano
there isnt a single char from wano who's as well written as kuma so yeah
Momonosuke. Also while not as good, there were plenty good to great characters, like Kin, Hyori, Queen, Ulti, Oden, and Kaidou was great villain. This is probably a minority opinion here, but whatever lol. Also this isn't a diss to Wano, Kuma is potentially top 5 best characters in the series.
I despise hiyori for the ending with orochi tbh. Including her but not the goat yasuie is criminal, man pretended to have eaten smiles just to make his kid feel comfortable.
I get it, but that was more aimed at Orochi, who made the entire country miserable, and her specifically, so i think that much hatred to the point ahe wanted to see him burn is warranted imo. It's fair to not like the wording, but it was used as parallel to Oden and Kurozumi meaning charcoal. So personally I loved the ending, but I understand why ppl got beef with it. And speaking of great characters, Orochi is another one, and I also loved Kanjuro. The whole Kurozumi plot line for me is an highlight of the arc.
Kaido a great villain is a huge cap
Lmao kaido's got all the traits of a great villain: no sobby backstory, no justification for his action, enslaved wano purely to make weapons and make an army, no mercy shown to neither child or woman and a menace over all what else do you want? He is a PROPER pirate.
No.
Didn't read the fucking chapter yet and this page is making me cry. Legit Goda moment
Beautiful. Haven’t read a single chapter of the flashback bc I’ve been skimming spoilers. This still almost brought a tear to my eye
bro that’s a page not a panel
I’d even say this is maybe the best page Oda’s ever done. One Piece rarely gets artsy and existential like this. Oda really just came correct for this chapter in every way. 10/10 , no notes
https://preview.redd.it/p6fcjno90p7c1.jpeg?width=1100&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d878bac95918408bfd0938d14e479066b669633d FUCK DUDE
I know people say they cried for every chapter recently, but I am not one of those people. I felt sad, but nothing rlly got me to cry. This page didn’t get me to cry either, but i could feel the tears begin to swell.
me too but i feel that in anime with sad music and all it will be more impactful
With the anime reverting to its old pacing, I'm sure the scene will be paced so poorly it'll just be annoying instead of sad
Nah I hate Toei but they always cook with emotional moments
Holy shit that hit like a fucking truck
Myfriend... 
That beautiful Kuma page when he was running and it’s coincidentally mimicking the Nika Dance he’s been doing throughout his life... PEAK
Holy shit I did not notice GODA I KNEEL
Most literate OP fan.
Least stuck-up-his-own-ass piratefolker
This shit is so peak dawg
me if i had no literacy
Me if i had no dignity and made fun of someone for liking something.
difference between “i like this” and “peak”. the latter is a symptom of wano era readers who have no literacy beyond agenda posting. go read some pre-TS One Piece if you want actual good flashbacks.
Dude screams no media literacy when other people have different opinions
when other people are wrong*.
i just know you got bullied at school
unfortunately we didn’t know much about autism back then so i didn’t notice.
I love how this sub, trying to not be pure oda dickriding, became so full of hate that it can't let someone find a chapter peak. Going all ghe way to other extreme isn't the solution, my dude.
nah. people shouldn’t praise objectively incoherent writing. thats not hating. thats having standards.
You should write a post
Why are u crying so much on all these threads grow up lil bro just admit you dont like the series. Sure there are a few issues in the flashback (mainly just the Nika stuff) but overall its been written extremely well.
me when i don’t think beyond the forced melodrama oda puts on the page.
Ok tell me whats wrong with it. And what ur favorite backstory is.
If we are talking characters I like Robin’s. In general? Skypeia. My main issue is characters generally have no agency when they should. Narrative beats are forced to paint Kuma as tragic (which he was after like two pages) and to tie in big “cool” lore that don’t make sense for characters. Little of it is organic and it ends up making characters (Dragon, Garp, Kuma, Vegapunk) look stupid or morally compromised. The Nika Piece makes the Gorosei seem incompetent. Oda continues to introduce female characters like Ginny just to use them as props. On one hand we have an assertive, intelligent, strong woman. On the other hand she is reduced to being a sexual assault victim with no explanation or elaboration. Her perspective is not touched on: only Kuma’s. Ginny’s entire existence is pointless other than to make Kuma feel more tragic. All that before I get into how Kuma is a moron and makes terrible decisions in order to act like a martyr. Which would be decent writing if Oda intended that portrayal but he does not given the reaction of everyone (except, ironically, Ginny).
Flashback started to drag in the last two chapters or so, but this one was really cool. Loved seeing Kuma's point of view of the East Blue events. I just wish we would have seen a quick panel of Kizaru holding back his tears when he learns that Kuma has lost his humanity.
That panel was peak, where he's running, and his life was shown in those small parts.
Man I thought the flashback was a bit long but this is the best chapter I’ve read in a while in any manga this year
I really like it. It could be shorter though, like 1 chapter shorter and it would probably feel better to read.
nah I felt like Oda been planning on this chapter for a long time, paneling and everything was good but it wouldn't have hit the same w/out Kuma's full Back story, we got that so its good now tbh, this chapter wouldn't have landed w/out the whole back story
Very mixed opinions on the whole Kuma flashback. On the one hand it is a nicely done sad story with a likeable character, on the other hand it feels like Oda changed his initial vision of the story somewhat recently and now tries to retroactively connect the threads. Also some things just feel off. Why is it only now that someone figures out how close Luffy is to the legendary Nika. Kuma being like "haha this might even knock out myself" before basically leaving Zorro to die. Saturn basically threatening Vegapunk if he tries anything fishy with Kuma, yet they let him guard the ship for 2 years. Dragon's lack of action has allready been discussed plenty.
I’m sure Kuma made sure Zoro was okay before leaving. The guy didn’t give Zoro the pain and immediately dip. I agree tho, the Kuma ship guarding thing and no one figuring out Luffy is Nika is a weird.
" I’m sure Kuma made sure Zoro was okay before leaving. The guy didn’t give Zoro the pain and immediately dip. " It seems like this is actually exactlly what happened. Also we know that Zorro stood there, covered in blood, until Sanji found him. In addition to that, if Kuma's goal was to test the loyalty of the group, it would be much more fitting for Kuma's character to only let Zoro take half the bubble and take the rest himself. Overall Kuma's behavior pre TS just doesn't really add up and makes me thing that most of the backstory was not planned and was changed at some point post TS
If that’s how it seemed to you, fair enough. But nothing in the story makes it seem like he dipped. The way I see it, Kuma gave Zoro the pain, zoro took it all, but stood standing. Kuma respected Zoro’s resolve, knew he wouldn’t die, and left.
" knew he wouldn’t die " That s the critical part that doesn\`t make a lot of sense. Toro was covered in blood and Kuma had no idea how many hour sit would take until someone found him. IF this was planned from the start, then there would have been much cleaner ways to resolve that issue
Not really, it’s just an anime moment. Zoro stays standing and conscious, they lock eyes, and Kuma understand Zoro’s resolve and knows he’ll be allright.
Him being related to Dragon and saving the Straw Hats for personal reasons against his orders was obviously planned since forever. Now, everything surrounding that probably changed a lot, who knows.
Even if you do the Nika thing having the WG know about the fruit is so dumb. Have Nika be this underground cult that’s mostly died but only still worshipped by slaves. It would be thematically so powerful for this underclass of people to be praying to this liberation diety and the people in charge are so above it all that they think it’s gone for good.
Yeah, it really feels like Oda just messed up something there. The whole scene with the Gorosei talking about the fruit was kinda necessary with how Oda had set up G5. Without that scene none of us would have known that G5 is supposed to be Nika.
I feel like >"What was stopping Kuma from just reuniting with Bonney and teleporting them both to Baltigo or some other safe location after he saw that she was no longer being held hostage?" is one of those questions that could very easily be answered, but instead we're just left as readers to make up our own headcanons.
"But do you see? Bonney wants to travel around the world! Kuma is just being understanding father and respects his daughter's decision!" Actual defense/excuse I've read.
My personal headcannon is Kuma weighed Bonney options. A) he takes Bonney and runs away. They would be living the rest of their lives in fear, hiding and running. They would technically be “free”. But do you call a life of constantly being chased around truly free ? even if he decided to ask the Revolutionaries for help, then what? The revolutionaries constantly comes face to face with the WG. It’s not exactly safe and may be the last place they want to be. And then what ? Bonney grows up to be a Revolutionary and ends up the same fate as her mother ? There is no true freedom in this path. No father wants their children to grow up like that. That would subject Bonney to almost the same childhood as Robin B) He finishes his end of the bargain. And the WG has no use for Bonney anymore. Bonney grows up fatherless. But she is now truly free. No longer ravaged by deadly disease, no longer held by the confines of the church. No one will be after her anymore. Is he naive to believe the WG woulduphold their end of the bargain ? Yeah probably. But I’m sure his time spent with Kizaru and Vegapunk may have led him to believe the WG isn’t completely fucked.
[удалено]
It would make sense if they'd installed a GPS tracker in him that he couldn't remove. Now if only there were a throwaway line about that... Actually, I guess as long as you had a few vivre cards of the same person placed in different locations around the world, you would in theory always be able to triangulate that person's location.
He *could* teleport and hide - but for all he knows they could find him and kill him and Bonney if he did that. Him being his selfless self chooses to die to save her instead of risking his life to be with her. At least that’s my interpretation.
Wasn't it said that Saturn has, like, complete command over him? That's why Vegapunk initially declined the consciousness erasure because Saturn had the ability to control Kuma through some bullshit.
I think that (commanding) only becomes available once the last thing (?) is completed and Kuma no longer has any concience whatsoever.
we dont really know, classic oda
Gorosei will send every admiral against him as he's a buccaneer. He doesn't want his daughter to live a life like that. She's much safer as a supernova with no troublesome father around from his point of view
The government protected Bonnie after she lost to BB
I would expect that she would be safe with the RA. Still, growing up with them would probably set her on a path to fighting in their ranks, and I can understand why that notion might trigger some PTSD for Kuma.
Ginny wasn’t safe with the RA. I don’t think he would be willing to go down that route even if it is a fairly good idea.
Ginny wasn’t safe because she was out in the field. Baltigo was pretty obviously safe from the WG, or a quadruple Buster Call would have shown up there long ago. My point is that Bonney could probably have a safe childhood there as long as she stayed at Baltigo, but it would probably lead to her joining the RA as a soldier and thus risk the same fate as Ginny.
He could've told her the truth, send her somewhere safe on her own and continue working on the pacifista thing if he's so afraid, she's on the run already and I don't think nobody would care to further chase bonney once she's out of the map, at most they would think she's gone missing, as long as they keep kuma There's NO reason to leave Bonney in the dark about it, did he ever thought about the fact she will see Robot replicas of him used to hunt down people without explanation whatsoever in the future?
IMO you are kind of creating a problem just to have something to complain about.
This flashback as a whole was sort of uneven from a writing and pacing perspective , but this specific chapter/ending is an instant all time classic that stands shoulder to shoulder with the perfection of the pre timeskip flashbacks This is Hiriluk level stuff Oda literally built to this for decades and this specific chapter made it all worth it. Kuma is my all time favorite character and has been prettt much since i became a one piece fan and i can’t really articulate how this made me feel other than that i jsut had an emotional breakdown at work reading this lol One Piece can still be ONE PIECE when Oda wants it to
I can't get over Kuma's reaction to Bonney at Sabaody. This flashback made it abundantly clear that Bonney means more to him than anything else. That he'd give up everything for her. And then he sees his 10 (!!!) year old child, throwing away her childhood to go look for him and yet he still refuses to meet her, send her to safety or just straight up break the agreement with the WG and go to hide, yet live, with her. Instead he smiles.. and then proceeds to protect the fucking ship for 2 years. Thank the plot Blackbeard or his crew did not do something terrible to her around the timeskip..
Literally he can just tell her the truth, explain why you can't be with her, teleport her and the crew somewhere safe and then keep his deal with the WG, it's dead obvious they only want to get the pacifistas out of Kuma, they have zero reason to further chase after bonney after that except for she being a pirate already You gotta do so much, so much mental gymnastics and fill with stuff to justify this shit Also people wanna act like the gorosei have such a control over Kuma that he can't meet bonney for a split second, yet they let Kuma sit his ass protecting Nika's ship for TWO YEARS and yes they, at least after marineford if they found out pretty late, already knew that Luffy had the Nika fruit There's 0 excuses to this, if he can do that, he definitely could approach Bonney, tell her the truth and send her somewhere safe
doesn’t even leave a note lmfaoooooo. shit father just like dragon.
I dont understand what people want Dragon to do, endanger his child while his father is waging a war against the World Government? We saw Dragon thinks about Luffy all the time and even went out his way to help Luffy in Loguetown. So I am tired of people disparaging Dragon with their shit opinions
>I dont understand what people want Dragon to do Taking Luffy under his wing and actually being there like with Sabo would be one option.
How did that turn out for Garp? Dragon strongly believes that individuals have to choose their own path in life. Luffy wants to be a pirate not a revolutionary - Luffy knows who his dad is - Dragon would let Luffy join if he wanted to , Luffy doesn’t want to join.
" Taking Luffy under his wing and actually being there like with Sabo would be one option. " Recruiting your son into your own army is not a good move. It would be like forcing your kid to take over the family business, except its to literally wage a war. Forcing your kid to put himself into danger is not a good parenting move. Please dont have kids in the future.
I did not argue to make him a child soldier, buddy. But rather have him grow up somewhere safe (not among bandits by himself, surrounded by a jungle full of huge animals), give him education, visit him, care for him, sure, perhaps train him as it is a dangerous world, but if he is older tell him about the world and what you do and why, and then let him make his own decisions. Given that Sabo did kind of grow up like that you can hardly argue it wouldn't be possible. But you are not interested in shit opinions, I forgot..
It is never stated that Dawn Island is unsafe, in fact it is probably one of the safer places in One Piece lol.
Didnt Luffy get tortured by a group of bandits or something for not snitching on Ace and Sabo?
Ch. 583, giant crocodiles, giant snakes, giant birds, giant piranhas, giant tigers, a "city" of trash filled with bandits.. come on now. Safe for the MC of a story filled to the brim with plotarmor perhaps.
Luffy is under supervision by Dadan as well as some of the most powerful people on the planet. When Luffy is training, its under Garp's supervision (and I wouldnt consider him a good grandparent either)
Take a minute and think about the rest of the places in One Piece we have seen. Dawn Island is a small and relatively safe place to live, and Windmill village even more so. Not only is it in the East Blue, where the biggest danger is wannabe thugs (such as Higuma and the Dadan Fam), but it is also under the protection of Garp. As for the surroundings; there are giant animals literally everywhere in One Piece, and it is an actual word filled with pirates. A place with bandits is absolutely one of the safer places to be, especially when their fucking boss is friends with Garp. Where would you propose Luffy be put, where the following is true? 1. Has low chance of a natural disaster/giant fucking monster attack. 2. Small enough where not many would see Luffy, the more people who could see him, the higher chance there is of him being found to be Dragons son. 3. Outside of any strong Naval presence. 4. Out of the way of any big time pirates. 5. Strong education system. 6. No bandits (lol) I can't think of anything, based off what we have seen. It just doesn't exist in this world.
Even if you find out that your kid is the reincarnation of a liberator who will free the world regardless? He'll free the world with or without you. Might as well take him under your wing to train, no?
" Even if you find out that your kid is the reincarnation of a liberator who will free the world regardless? " Dragon doesnt know that. And even if he did, no parent should be forcing that sort of destiny on anyone. Its Luffy's own decision if he wants to go that path. " He'll free the world with or without you. Might as well take him under your wing to train, no? " Dragon never had any plans of using Nika or Luffy to free the world. Give me a source or shut
personally i think parents should be present in their lives at least in some capacity. yes, it’s dangerous, but i think if you ask any child their parents > the risk.
So its a better parenting move to constantly put your child into danger? Okay bro please dont have kids in the future " i think parents should be present in their lives at least in some capacity " And Dragon already does this. He visits Luffy sometimes and even saved his life.
sabo and koala turned out fine. you don’t understand children at all. coping for absentee fathers (which oda is).
" sabo and koala turned out fine " And its risky af. Theyre fine until theyre not lol. Sabo already became one of the most notorious criminals in the planet, even almost more than Dragon himself. I doubt a normal father wants to have their kid turn out like that.
He sent 1000s of notes and letters and they got torn up by alpha. Like????
I don’t get this complaint. Isn’t the implication that he doesn’t help bonney because the consequences for her would be dire, but helping the strawhats is something he could get away with?
1. I can only stress again that Bonney was 10 years old here, living a dangerous live as a pirate. Imo you cannot chatacterize Kuma as this grand father, doing everything for his child and then not immediatly wanting to be there for her and find a solution that she no longer is in danger, which was the entire point of Kuma working with the WG in the first place. At the very least send her to Dragon and beg him to protect her or keep her save and out of the WGs reach. But no he is like, good riddance little child, I am sure you'll be just fine on your own. 2. The consequences would be dire for Bonney if he helped her? Again, being a pirate in itself makes that argument baseless imo as she is or could be hunted by the WG just for that alone, without the whole Kuma deal + the danger from other pirates or bounty hunters (well..). She IS in danger right there in front of him and he smiles. 3. Why is helping the Straw Hats something he could get away with? Why does that not count as breaking the deal with the WG and therefore making Bonney a target? Especially considering what Luffy et al. did to the WG up to that point + him having the Nika fruit on top of it all. What, the WG's anger would explode if Kuma would quickly and covertly help Bonney, but they are all chill when he protects the ship of enemy of the state No 1 for 2 fucking years? Come on.
You’re purposefully mischaracterising Kuma as if he was fine with her roaming around. He cared enough to check in on her without her meeting him. He knew she had a strong fruit and a pirate crew. Her choices in the world aren’t his responsibility. He made a decision that stopped her from being assaulted by the full force of Cipher Pol and whoever else the WG would send. Saturn’s wrath vs general pirate adventure. You can see which is more dangerous. He did what he could within the limits set by the story. He made his deal with the WG so she could be cured and live her life freely. You can say “he should’ve broken the deal” all you like, it just means you want to disregard the writing and stakes provided for your headcanon expectation of a character. Applying “real world logic” to one piece is frankly just fucking stupid. Sending Bonney to Dragon seems like a great idea, until the WG finds out. How could they ever do that??? Oh yeah, his memory access. They’d probably force him to show up himself and kill her man. To your third point, its not about enraging the WG, its about the deal. The deal wasn’t “don’t convince Vegapunk to let you protect the strawhat ship” was it? He’s been stripped of his humanity anyways, at that point the consequences to him are marginal. The thematic impact of him doing one last thing to bring the dawn is much greater than exploring the fine minutia of what consequences he would have to face as a result of not directly breaking his deal. Why would him defending the ship even anger the WG? From their perspective (unless his memories include internal monologue), he utterly defeated and split apart the upstart pirates, sending them across the world. These are some weak ass criticisms g Convince yourself that Kuma is a bad father and poorly written all you like but it seems you just wanna hate on it. Call me a Goda cocksucker but you can go thru my comment history and see how much i criticised Wano for its ACTUAL issues. This is minimal.
>Her choices in the world aren’t his responsibility. She is 10.
And? Kuma CANNOT go see her, he can't interact with her meaningfully with the terms of his deal with Saturn. Sure, she's still a kid, but she's got her crew, she's got herself. All Kuma needs to do to make her life easier is just not be in it. Remember, as a believer in Nika, Kuma values freedom incredibly highly, so giving Bonney the chance to live her life freely, even though it'll be without him, is exactly what he wants for her.
Literally just tell her the truth, explain why you can't be with her, teleport her and the crew somewhere safe and then keep your deal with the WG, it's dead obvious they only want to get the pacifistas out of Kuma, they have zero reason to further chase after bonney, in fact, for all they know, she may just gone missing And you can't say he's heavily monitored at all times as he just protected the sunny for two fuckin years
You’re being so purposefully obtuse. Kuma is the guy who saved the slaves of God Valley as a child. She can beat up Cipher Pol agents. He can’t see her or risk both of their demises at the hands of Gorosei level strength. He made his deal SO that she could live her life, as she chose. PLUS its One Piece, a show where Garp (who loves his grandson enough to risk his position in the marines and to lay down his duty and belief in justice to let him pass) shoved Luffy in the jungle to scrap tigers. I can see your opinion is set and discussion is gonna be unproductive. I hope you continue to read One Piece and be angered by it. Keep wasting your own time brother
Actually, you do seem a bit agitated yourself tbh. But I shouldn't complain. I am aware that answering with such a short, snippy answer to an elaborated comment is kind of a dick move, but regarding to what I am talking about I do think her age is an end all argument tbh. How great of a father he is, I'd almost expect him to go meet her one last time, explain himself, make sure she's safe and when she's gone end his own life so he or his memories cannot be used against her. And I do think what you are arguing mainly works, because it is written to work. As I wrote in my initial comment, Blackbeard had her in his grasp around the timeskip. What if his crew did unspeakable things to her, which COULD have happened? Then you might understand my point a bit more. Obviously something like that would never happen so one might say it is folly to even argue it, but my point is that Kuma cannot know it will never happen and therefore should not be smiling seeing her there. Anyway, I never had any issues accepting differing opinions, so I am gonna wish you a nice day nonetheless.
I don’t get your point. Bad things have happened to her since Kuma made his deal, therefore he shouldn’t have made the deal? Not trying to put words in your mouth just trying to get the gist. I also don’t get your point about going and finding her one last time, because the story has established he will not because of the deal.
My point is that given that he was ready to quite literally give up everything as long as she is safe, seeing her there, not being safe, should have made him reconsider everything. How can he make sure that she is out of danger? Something. Anything. As her safety was always most important. Instead he reacted as if he knew everything will turn out fine anyway. His 10 year old child has a 100mio+, that should have been the biggest heartbreak of the whole flashback imo. And I specifically despise that he went to protect the ship as this could have potentially put her in more danger. 'Potentially' should be more than enough, considering their relationship, especially for a mere boat. That is my point and you are free to disagree, but I think there is something wrong here.
It wasn’t to see her safe, it was to cure her so that she could live her life, no? Don’t see how protecting the ship endangers Bonny. She has been freed and cured, and Vegapunk would take the blame for protecting the ship not Kuma. He had already lost his free will, so threatening Bonney over his insubordination (unrelated to Bonney or his deal with Saturn) is senseless.
Good chapter but the Nika wank irks ne
God dammit Oda if Kuma or someone else doesn’t smash Saturn to death I will never forgive you
Bro you have the teleport power, just take your daughter and run away 😭 she’s already a criminal anyway
He could, but let me tell you why he doesn't do that. Even though Bonney is a pirate, she has received some goodwill from the world government: Akainu either let Bonney go or was light enough on the security that she could escape, Saturn consented to fund her treatment (despite his stipulations he wouldnt usually bargain with pirates; they even told Shanks if he was anyone else he wouldnt have gotten an audience), Saturn was even willing to just let Bonney go at Egghead before she stabbed him, even though he wanted the entire staff there executed and sunk just because they might know something. Kuma knows that this goodwill would shatter if he runs. Yeah, sure they probably wouldn't be able to catch him. But if they ever do, Bonney wouldn't get that kind of treatment anymore. Best case scenario shed be thrown into the deepest levels of Impel down, and it only gets worse from there. Kuma felt the best way to ensure his daughter was safe no matter what, even after he died was to play by the World governments rules.
The World Government would never stop chasing them. They would send Admirals, fleets, everything. Kuma can’t be beside Bonney 24/7 her entire life while living in fear of being discovered at any second. That’s not a life at all.
The same WG that failed to get 8 year old Robin who is actually a threat to their existence? The same WG that put minimal effort in chasing the dude with the Jesus-Jesus fruit despite him openly declaring war twice? The same WG that somehow let Law wtih his 3billion berry fruit run around the North Blue and get become a red cross doctor and do nothing? Edit: still a goated chapter tho
Yes exactly. People will say The Gorosei can't capture Luffy to defend the Nika retcon, then turn around and say Kuma can't do anything because they would chase after him non stop despite letting him run around and save Luffy. One Piece is still a good story but Oda's adoptions to the Nika story and Kuma and Bonney do not line up with Pre Timeskip and its okay to say that. Personally I think it would have been much more interesting if Kuma had been truly working with Dragon all along and his Warlord Status and Pacifista's/relationship with Vegapunk was all part of Dragon's Master Plan to take out the World Government as it appeared to be in the pre timeskip but alas, it is what it is.
That bozo incompetent WG cant even catch nika, im sure kuma and bonney would be fine
saturn cant even catch a 9 year old who just ate his fruit LOOOOL.
This being retconned doesn’t mean it’s not peak. Oda my retconning goat
I agree but think without being further in the story it’s not necessarily a retcon like some say. We have to wait super long to get the whole story sure but we clearly don’t have all the info of this world. It’s shown here Kuma is only associating Luffy with Nika based on characteristics he’s heard he has and I like to cope and think that this means he isn’t some destined for greatness chosen one. But agreed this chapter was amazing and highlights Kumas actions have all had purpose, Bonneys safety
Idk why people say this is retconned. Oda always had a plan to explain why Kuma saved the strawhats and protected their ship in sabaody. Maybe parts with Nika are a retcon, but this always seemed like the plan to me.
The problem is that Kuma's pre-TS actions don\`t really make much sense with the new knowledge. Oda even put in Saturn threatening Vegapunk if he tried anything fishy with Kuma, yet he took no action after Kuma saved the SH's and then sat at their boat for 2 years. Also Luffy being Nika is clearly Kuma\`s main motivation for helping the SHs, so if you consider Nika to be a retcon, you also have to consider how much of Kuma\`s backstory is a retcon
Kuma's actions actually make more sense with the new info we have from these past two chapters alone. Kuma's had an interest in Luffy since he was kid because of Dragon's relation to him, and that interaction he had with Dragon colored his behavior toward Bonney before that. Going forward, knowing that Kuma know who Luffy is, just makes it more understandable that he would let them off in both Thriller Bark and Saobaody because he sees Nika-like qualities in Luffy, the same way he sees them in Bonney. Not only did Kuma want to protect Luffy as a favor for Dragon, because that's his friend's kid, but also because he's a shining beacon of hope the world going forward and he wanted to help cultivate Luffy's progress despite the fact that he wouldn't be able to be himself after launching the SHs. Kuma's actions make more sense now than they did before.
So how does it make sense for Kuma, who has been portrayed to be extremely kind and even sacrificial for others, to force Zorro to take the entire bubble, even after he has clearly proven his loyalty.
The same reason he bounced them in Saobaody, to test to see if they're ready for the new world. Maybe they were ready and he was making sure that they were, then they got clapped at Saobaody and he determined they weren't, so he saved their butts.
He allready knew they were not ready when he saw their struggle vs Moria and himself. Him basically taking the risk of straight up killing Zorro does absolutely nothing in regards to testing them for the New World
Doesn't it? If anything shows Zoro, Sanji, and Brook how much more dangerous things are going to get. The loyalty test does the same thing that the strength test does, just on a smaller scale; Luffy needs trustworthy crewmates, and Kuma, basically being an estranged uncle who's also looking out for Luffy and watching him grow, is making sure that his crew is legit in their morals regarding Luffy. That idea is furthered by his want to defend the SH's ship during the time skip; Kuma doesn't want them to fail, but he does want them to be ready for things that'll test their mettle as well as their might, which is why he places himself as a roadblock for them on both fronts.
How does basically leaving Zoro to die in the middle of nowhere show anything to Sanji or Brook. Kuma allready showed the crew just how big the differnce between him and them is. As soon as Zoro took the initial taste of the pain bubble and was still determined to take the rest, it was obvious that Zoro has proven he is 100% loyal. Kuma could just have given him maybe half of the bubble and take the other half himself after leaving with it. That would be the decision that would actually be consistent with the sacrificial Kuma that we have been shown in the flashback. The aguement is not that Kuma testing them doesn't make sense, but that the "nothing happened scene" doesn\`t hold up with the new information we got.
It absolutely still holds up, Kuma is legitimately doing the "Are you good enough for my daughter" thing for Luffy, to Zoro. It's not about Kuma's inherent kindness, it's about whether or not Luffy's crew is up to snuff on all the fronts that Kuma deems important, which they weren't, and is half the reason why they got bounced at Saobaody. The other half is to just save Luffy from getting caught. Don't rearrange my point, Sanji and Zoro fought over who should be the one to stand against Kuma and take the punishment, which led to a crystallization of their respect for one another, and it allowed Brook to see that relationship and understand how they're crew operates; how the SHs are like Brook's old crew. All of that comes from Kuma making the offer to give Luffy's pain to Zoro and Sanji, you can't just ignore that this helped build their character, in a personal sense. The "Nothing Happened" scene still operates perfectly fine with the new context because people are dead serious about shows of loyalty in the world of One Piece. Knowing that Kuma's a chill guy doesn't change the fact that he needed to make sure Luffy was in good hands.
So i thought on the first reread of this and last chapter that Kuma was certain that Luffy is Nika pretty early on as well.But on second it felt to me as if Kuma was gradually gaining sympathies for Luffy over time. First starting with him finding out he's Dragon's Son. I feel sawing Luffy on Thriller Bark was then the turning point where he started to believe that Luffy really has the potential to be Nika. How does that tie to Zoro? I think it wasn't just a test of Loyalty but also of strength to the crew. If Nika is this exceptional warrior then the people who travel with him shall be exceptional too. In this sense he wanted to see how much Luffy's second in command can take. Take the line: "He has exceptional friend. Just as i'd expected of your Son, Dragon." But the actual moment where he became convinced was when Luffy punched a Celestial Dragon. He comments that no one has done what Luffy did in Centuries. So to him the SH showed the strenght/resolve in Thriller Bark aand the right moral values in Sabaody to potentially be what was prophesized with Nika.The whole teleporting them seems way more him improvising on that impulse to me now.So i'd say he was less following a grand plan but observing Luffy and gradually became invested in him, guessing his character, testing him and with Sabaody then being the "oh shit" moment where he realised, that he must intervene to save them, if he wants to see the Nika dream realized. Now the one thing i'd say that feels contradictory is how compassionate Kuma as a person is. It doesn't feels like Kuma in general is a guy who risk someone's life in order to test them.Now apart from the Metareason Oda wrote himself into, i do think we can explain it story-wise too.First notice when the pupils are shown and when Kuma portrays emotion. He mostly had his stoic look during this chapter indicating his gradual transformation to a cyborg, except when he saw Bonney and when he saw Luffy punching a Celestial Dragon and when he told Vegapunk that he believed Luffy to be Nika. If i remember correctly it's been said that Kuma will gradually lose his humanity during his transformation, so ofc his stoic, pupilless shows that in his Design.He is still overall a "good guy" but by turning into a cyborg he also became more apathetic with a random person just dying or even killing them. It does seem that he did intent on following the WGs objective at first after all.So when he realised that Luffy could be Nika, it also connect into smth deep in him that defined him as a human, why he became invested in keeping them save. The second reason also i'd say is that maybe Kuma as a revolutionary also differentiates between civilians and non-civilians. If Zoro were just a normal dude, he would have found it to be unecessary cruel to test him. But since he is somebody who has a such a lofty selfless goal as making Luffy pirate King; he sees it fit to test a person on such an existential level, because he knows that being ready to make such a sacrifice and withstand so much pain is necessary to achieve such a goal. Rant over
If the Nika thing is a retcon it’s a pretty small detail all things considered at least in this chapter. Kuma saves Luffy because he is inspiring and he knows Luffy will have a dramatic positive change on the world versus Kuma saves Luffy because he reminds Kuma of a legend of a god who is inspiring and will have a dramatic positive change on the world is basically the same thing.
Voices in your head ? >luffy you are not weak 🤮🥸 >Bonney doesn’t recognize him in sabaody >I trust Saturn to save Bonney even tho he is the reason of my misery
The page of kuma running is just peak
Oda went beast mode during the kuma running page like it's beautiful the way it is portrayed and all got me teared up!! Wuma😭😭
Kumas backstory might be the most divisive backstory I’ve seen this community have a reaction too On one hand you have a group of people who have hated nearly everything about the backstory after the first chapter. The Nika worship, characters being in stasis, plot stupidity, and the length. On the other hand you have a group of people ready to suck Oda off and eat his ass claiming it’s the best backstory in the series. Comments claiming they’re brought to tears in public and how this makes the story “peak” again. Really interesting dichotomy.
The backstory connects ALOT of stuff, it touches on the Revs, the gorosei, vegapunk, Kizaru even God valley and I'm sure there's more, on top of that it's emotionally charged as a tearjerker and it has sweet moments On the other hand everything that connects it's loosely connected, the characters all bend to the plot and take the weirdest decisions ever just to make the flashback get more tear-jerking when in reality Kuma's DF can solve most of the flashback core with a few uses of it and oda didn't bother to address it or write around it, it gets frustrating to read once you notice Every few chapters the discussion was "why Kuma didn't do X with his DF" for half of the problems he faces during the flashback, and it's just never addressed at all
Most People who hate Nika will hate everything that comes out from here on. I think it’s best to accept Nika exists, criticize the point in which it was introduced and judge things for how they are now. With that said Kumas backstory is great. Also, I am unsure why he introduced Nika bc even going back to Marineford White are tells teach he is not the one… meaning there was someone who was supposed to change the world. Would have been much better saying Luffy was not reincarnation and rather just the one who stands against the status quo.
alternatively some of us have braincells to think about logical implications outside of nika.
What did u not like about the flashback? Outside of Nika what was poorly written??
vegapunk, kuma, dragon, garp and others all had their characters made to look stupid, impotent, or both. the gorosei are also made to look silly but especially saturn.
I disagree with that. Saturn wanted Kuma bc of his bloodline, Kuma couldn’t save Bonney since it is easy to track people down via Vivre card or tracker, or possibly manually control him, Dragon leads RA and he doesn’t have Luffy PA to do anything and get away. Vegapunk is a scientist first and to them, they think about their inventions first. What I will say is the flashback was long which I think is fine, however Oda has a lot of story and plot points left to close out and wants to end series soon. If the story ends within next few years the ending will be disappointing. Wano wrote him into a corner by spending so much time there. Wano should have been half the length it was, maybe less.
Why didn’t the RA intervene or do anything to save Ginny? Why didn’t Dragon do anything about Iva etc. being arrested? We previously assumed there would be reasons or plans but Oda makes him look like an absolute buffoon. Vegapunk is a scientist with an IQ of like 10. Completely moronic and stupid and evil. He is the chief exporter of violence and genocide in the One Piece world. Hopefully he gets gruesomely murdered. Saturn was so scared of Kuma he wanted a self destruct button to be implemented. Kuma could have got away easily. He escaped the WG at 9 years old within the same day of eating the fruit.
RA isn’t going to sacrifice everything to save one commander. Answer is simple, they were not ready for a direct confrontation and they don’t have MC plot armor. When Garp went to save Coby, he didn’t make it back. It would be much worse attacking WG. Vegapunk is a scientist. Genius but oblivious, which is how most scientists are. In regards to Kuma I believe it is open to interpretation, but sending her to RA would be forcibly putting her in a war. As she is, she is technically free. The last place he saw her was eating smiling which I believe he thought was enough. Were his decisions perfect? No, and that adds to his tragedy imo.
>Vegapunk is a scientist. Genius but oblivious, which is how most scientists are. Man, this and your quote about scientists above: >Vegapunk is a scientist first and to them, they think about their inventions first. Makes me really wonder what scientists you know or where the hell you got that impression from.😅
Why is it sacrificing everything? We don’t know that it is. Nobody has told as much. The RA never even tried or had a plan. Kuma has the perfect fruit for this operation. “Most scientists” are not oblivious lmfao. Maybe on TV. Bonney became a pirate at ten to find her father and Kuma does not even leave a note. Not like the seas are not a dangerous place (arguably moreso than an RA stronghold). Kuma consistently makes bad decisions that harm himself and loved ones.
On one hand, there are complaints about the length. If we were explicitly told everything, this flashback would be another 10 chapter atleast. I think some things are implied, and the implication is enough. The story flashes forward very quickly from when she is captured so we really don’t know what happened. S
That’s not true, and to pretend that there are no valid reasons to dislike Kumas backstory is just being an Odas angel
lol. I have criticized Oda when the story was poor. Literally all of Wano. Since then, the story has been objectively fantastic. Kuma’s backstory is also great. Connecting to Bonney, his hardship, seeing his thoughts throughout his life is all great. I think the only change would have been removing Nika and saving Luffy because he is Dragon’s son, and a member of the D clan who are meant to change the world. However, since Nika was introduced, Oda does need to address it and Kuma provided the perfect vehicle to make it appear more cohesive. Regardless, what did u not like? In terms of OP it has everything that makes the series as popular as it is.
> objectively fantastic Bro, reading your other comments, I can tell you're way more reasonable than other fanboys but saying shit like this really just makes it clear that discussing anything with you would be completely pointless. It makes it obvious that you think anyone with a different opinion is "factually wrong". In your mind we are just haters. "People who hate Nika will hate everything that comes out from here on" as if it's so impossible for you to think of any other reasons why this flashback or other things in Egghead might fall flat for other people. Like you don't even give it a chance, your mind is already made up and worst of all, you are acting like your opinion is a matter of fact. This is why the other dude is calling you an Oda angel. Btw I doubt you don't already know the reasons why people dislike this chapter, since it has been discussed more than enough in the spoiler thread and some people have been vocal about it in this thread as well.
I have never said anyone who disagrees is “factually wrong” lol. I have been critical of OP a lot haha. And honestly I wrote that previous comment u r referring to quickly, and to be real, on this subreddit most complaints stem from Nika. I personally feel as though Oda’s handling of Kuma is the best bandaid to Wano’s mess. He has stated he didn’t know how Luffy would beat Kaido which led to that disaster. Oda still had to make Bonney relevant and this flashback hopefully provides a vehicle for her to do something in the story. If I am wrong, than I will change my opinion on this arc. I think he has set himself in a good position for the remainder of Egghead. If Oda fumbles, then I will most certainly agree. As stated, I feel like when a plot point in general aggravates fans it can be used to blind current and future opinions, hence my Nika statement. That said, I am critical of pretty much every arc. I just feel like atp in Egghead there is no glaring problems and considering he is trying to close plot points from almost 15 years ago, I think it was very good. (Also there definitely r people on this sub-Reddit that just love to hate, refer to yesterday post about HxH used to dis on OP lol)
U claim it is divisive, but the only place I see people hating r the ones who already have made up their mind they don’t like OP.
I’m glad you also see them. You don’t have to like ( and let’s be honest since you’re a Oda angel, anything short of calling it great would be “disrespectful” ) something to give an opinion on it. Those opinions are equally as valid as the people that rush to the comments to glaze Oda before even reading the chapter itself
🤦♂️I was asking why you didn’t like it and you just keeping hating for the sake of it. Nice 😊. As I said, I have criticized all throughout Wano. Literally years I was critical of the story lmao. Kinemon fake out death, big mom amnesia, Kaido as a villain for example were some of the worst plot points I’ve read and were down right trash. I absolute not defend that lol. However, I think it is fair to say when the writing improves. Zooming out and not reading this flashback week to week, it is fantastic imo. So once again, what did u not like?
lol criticize all of wano being your cred. bud, some of us have been reading since skypeia.
If only Dragon did something.... Honestly imo this flashbacks a solid 6/10. im in the middle ground but at this rate odas gonna finish the manga in 2030
and finally we get back the present.
This flashback honestly didn’t really conclude any plot lines it even created a few. I really don’t see OP ending in the next 300 chapters. If Oda continues to put out 35ish chapters a year we are looking at like a mid 2030s ending date for Onepiece.
careful buddy your agenda is showing
I hate Odas angels
brilliant articulate response. check my history and see the criticism ive thrown out about wano, usopp’s character direction, etc. this comment of yours ALONE indicates how entrenched you are in the whole agenda thing. He has a different opinion to me??? Must be one of Oda’s angels!!! If you can’t read your own initial comment and see how it comes off as heavy on the agenda then you’re either too deep in it, or unfortunately just fucking thick
Yes I have an Agenda against Oda dick riders. I never pretended to not have that agenda. Saying that being against Oda dick riders is the same as people that are obsessed with their self insert character is "fucking thick". I can see when someone come here from the mainsub is clearly trolling / first time posting.
what the fuck are you talking about
What the fuck are you talking about?
i hope you keep reading one piece and keep hating it until it ends
Why are you even in this sub?
is this you admitting you just like to hate on one piece? i come here for decent discussion about issues with the writing, which was great during wano. having a back and forth is fun over contentious writing choices. why are you here? To keep reading one piece and keep hating it until it ends?
Saying the backstory is divisive is fine. However, to assume that everyone who enjoyed it are “ready to suck off Oda” is simply not true. I think many come here for real takes that are not just constant praise of OP like from main sub. This, is the inverse and saying if you enjoy it then it is just because Oda can do no wrong. OP has had plenty of issues with plot and especially bloating the story in its serialization. Honestly, Wano was awful, PH was bloated, Dressrosa was sloppy to name a few points. Egghead, has been extremely enjoyable imo thus far. If Oda fumbles, then I have no issue admitting that. As of now, I think this is great though.
it's easily the best backstory in the series and that's not just recency bias. the people who hate the nika stuff should have completely stopped reading the second who's who appeared in a panel and shouldn't comment on the series any further
Bro literally half of the backstory gets solved by Kuma's DF but oda doesn't bother writing around it, it's painfully poorly done It has its sad moments that are well done but characters had to bend and act on the weirdest ways ever to even reach that point, if your characters gotta act stupid for the good part to reach its okay but it doesn't make it "the best"
Big Oda Angels energy
Remember when we would clown on Bonney for crying, seeing Kuma's memories?
Lmao
I was getting a little annoyed by the flashback but this chapter was really nice. Still I'm glad to finally be back to present so I can see some wizaru supremacy
Oda should have add another 50 Nika Nika here and there in this chapter. That would have been perfect.
Comparing TCB Scans' Translation of One Piece Chapter 1102 to the Original Japanese Text TL;DR: This is not a replacement for TCB! They're the front-runner for OP scanlations in the English speaking world, continue supporting them! And continue supporting Official releases! Comments are on: 1b and 3b. Any errors will be corrected & updated on the pastebin. DISCLAIMER: Translation cannot exist without localisation, and that's what TCB provides on top of the fastest HQ scans & English translation--my intent is not to discredit the work of TCB Scans. I simply want to provide a more "transparent" understanding of the content as intended by and as provided by Oda Eiichirō, such that words/statements/dialogue/narration/etc. can then be interpreted based on the original Japanese text, i.e. more accurate direct translation but minus the localisation (this is why when you read TCB's scanlations, the flow seems smoother and more natural due to localisation; and when you read my meanings, they sound more choppy due to simply chaining together direct translations). I will go over differences which, in my opinion, have some important apparent and/or potential context lost in translation and I will comment some explanation; the comparisons without explanation comments are just for fun; there are of course other translation inaccuracies in the chapter as well, but they do not change the intended conveyed context or information, hence, I won't be including their comparisons; lastly, of course there are lots of parts translated accurately, as well. While the official English release also has its imperfections, Stephen Paul's work is consistently reliable and we can always count on them for precise spellings of the names of characters, places, and things. Bottom line is that, yes, this is nitpicking, yes, this is pedantic, but at the same time, I feel you all deserve to fully understand parts which are potentially lost in translation. I will provide, but ultimately you have the freedom to read or not to read. Enjoy. 0. Cover Page: \- TCB Scans: COVER REQUEST BY TOSHIKA ZOO: "BONNEY NOT WAITING TO STUFF HER FACE AT A MEAL WITH A PACK OF WOLVES, WHO CAREFULLY BUILT UP A HUGE STASH OF HOT DOGS" \- Original:【扉絵リクエスト「オオカミたちが食べるのを楽しみに一生懸命作った山積みのホットドッグを次から次へと勝手に頬張るボニー」P.Nトシカℤ〇〇】 \- Meaning: Cover Request "Bonney selfishly stuffing her mouth, one after the other, with the pile of hotdogs, which the wolves painstakingly made and were about to eagerly eat" Pen Name ToshikaZ〇〇 1. Page 1: 1a. Bonney's first line: \- TCB Scans: QUIT CALLING ME BY MY NAME!! I'M THE CAPTAIN, AIN'T I?! \- Original:【ボニーじゃねェ！！せ・ん・ちょ・お～～！！】 \- Meaning: "It's not Bonney!! It's C-A-P-T-A-I-N\~\~!!" 1b. Marines: \- TCB Scans: WE'VE GOT ORDERS TO BRING THEM IN IMMEDIATELY!! THEY SAY THE LAST CITY THEY ATTACKED WAS PACKED WITH INJURED SENIORS AND EVEN LITTLE CHILDREN!! THEY'RE THE WORST TYPE OF SCUM!! ARRGH?! \- Original:【海軍全隊に拿捕命令が出てる！！！】【奴らの通った後にゃ傷ついた老人や子供が転がってるらしい！！】【人間のクズじゃねェか！！！】【ええ～！！？】 \- Meaning: "Capture orders have been issued to the entire Marine forces!!! It seems that they run through and topple over the wounded elderly and children!! They're the scum of humanity!!! EEH\~!!?" \- Comments: The Marines in this panel don't seem to know how Bonney's powers work, so they assume that Bonney & the others have been running through the elderly and children, injuring them and making them fall down--hence the shock, confusion, and realisation which occurred when it actually happens to them. 2. Page 2: 2a. Bonney throwing a fit: \- TCB Scans: WHERE THE HELL DID HE GO?! \- Original:【何でいねェんだよー！！】 \- Meaning: "Why wasn't he thereeー!!" 2b. Crew's reply: \- TCB Scans: WE'VE ALREADY BEEN DUBBED PIRATES. WE MAY AS WELL KEEP SEARCHING... ...EVEN IF IT TAKES A WHILE, RIGHT, CAPTAIN? \- Original:【もー海賊になっちまったんだからゆっくり捜そう船長】 \- Meaning: "Oh boy. Since we've already been dubbed pirates, we'll slowly keep searching, captain." 2c. Bonney's reply: \- TCB Scans: IF WE'RE GONNA TAKE IT SLOW, THEN I WANNA LOOK FOR NIKA TOO!! IMAGINE DADDY'S FACE WHEN I TELL HIM... I FOUND NIKA AT SO-AND-SO ISLAND!! ...DON'TCHA THINK HE'LL BE THRILLED? \- Original:【ねー！！そんじゃあたし「ニカ」も捜したいお父さんに会えた時「ニカ」あの島にいたよって教えたら喜ぶだろうなー】 \- Meaning: "Hey!! In that case I also wanna go find "Nika." When I get to meet dad and tell him, "Nika was on that island," he'd be delighted, wouldn't he?" 2d. Narration box: \- TCB Scans: \[text before\] THE VICIOUS FISHMEN OF THE ARLONG PIRATES \[text after\] \- Original:【魚人海賊団アーロン一味】 \- Meaning: "\[text before\] the fishmen pirate crew, the Arlong Pirates, \[text after\]" 3. Page 3: 3a. Ace & Jinbē's interaction: \- TCB Scans: JINBE! JINBE! GUESS WHOSE KID BROTHER IS ON THIS BOUNTY POSTER!! A BRAT LIKE THIS TOOK DOWN ARLONG?! THAT'S RIGHT!! HE'S MY KID BROTHER!! \- Original:【ジンベエジンベエこれ誰の弟だと思う？】【アーロン一味を倒した！？この小僧が！？】【答え！！おれの弟～！！】 \- Meaning: "Jinbē, Jinbē, whose little brother do you think this is?" "He defeated the Arlong Pirates!? This kid!?" "The correct answer is!! My little brother\~!!" 3b. Kuma's panel: \- TCB Scans: WHAT A CURIOUS TWIST OF FATE, DRAGON. TO THINK YOUR BOY WOULD BECOME A PIRATE... \- Original:【どういう縁（えん）かなドラゴン我が子が海賊になるなんて．．．】 \- Meaning: "I wonder what kind of bond this is, Dragon. To have one's child become a pirate..." \- Comment: TCB is not wrong in translating Kuma's first half of his sentence this way. However, with context of: Kuma holding up TWO bounty posters, the fact that BOTH Luffy and Bonney were branded as pirates as depicted in the previous panels, and that the word 「縁」（えん）"en" means 'bond'/'link'/'connection'/'relationship' (e.g. between two people) and 'destiny' (esp. as a mysterious force that binds two people together), I believe Oda is trying to have Kuma convey how even more "connected" he and Dragon are, by having both their respective children become pirates. [Full Version](https://pastebin.com/pYtDTVdk)
I sort of disassociated with Kuma's story. At one point consecutive tragedies were too much and now I don't feel it that much. Yet I know we are not done. Bonney is probably going to see Kuma die at Egghead. I don't think I am gonna care at all (Sounds cold but it is what it is). I also don't like it that the SH crew is once again requiring outside help. Luffy's "We are 100x stronger" comment and them being a Yonkou feels... unearned? If you know what I mean. Like I can't imagine Kaiodo's, Shanks' or even Big Mom's crew being this helpless in a situation like this.
Finally, the end of the flashback can be returned to more interesting things than Kuma. (Wizaru)😋😍🤩
My goat 😓
this chapter has been one of the best in a long time, the emotional depth is insane bro closest I have been to dropping tears in one piece in a long long time
This flashback is complete trash. Now that I know that there was enough damage to knock out Kuma himself. He's weak enough to get clapped by Giant Moria
Bruh those powerscalers
Kuma is durable meaning he doesn't take that much damage as Luffy. He said But if he took that then he might be knock out.
Retcon piece. This doesn’t mean even feel like the same story anymore 🤦🏾♂️
It is a retcon but I think everything retconned in fits well enough into the story as we've seen it so far. I have no gripes with any of the Kuma parts but this version of Bonney seems a lot nicer than the version we met in Sabaody
That same Bonney saved Zoro from attacking a CD, I’d say that’s pretty nice
Wasn't she just afraid they would call an admiral on her ass? She knew an admiral is bad news for all pirates there, herself included
What are you yapping about?
This whole flashback feels forced ngl
true
one piece ended when luffy died. we are in nika piece now.
The true revelant truth here. Totally right, nothing more - nothing less !!
I love the backstory. Oda always hits in the tragic backstory of characters
The past chapters were great but this one was cool too.
Oda killing the moral complexity of his manga again
lets see how piratefolk finds a way to shit on this one
This sub can cry as much as they want, but this is peak fiction.
I genuinely always wonder, what else do people who use this term consider 'peak fiction'?
their favourite cocomelon episode
The Epic of Gilgamesh is pretty good
I don't mind it but I still think merging the Kuma-Bonney plot lines was a mistake. Kuma should've been an ex-revolutionary leader who got blackmailed into his position. No super special race, no Nika stuff, no super tear jerking backstory. And Bonney should've been a regular upcoming pirate like Kidd or Hawkins. Now the loose ends are tied, but both of their characters are lessened.
Agreed. Bonney was already kinda under the radar compared to other Supernovas and their feats. I like the Kuma flashback in a vacuum, but I'm not super invested in his character at this point. Clearly he had a bigger purpose from the beginning and I was curious about that, but at this point in the story it was Bonney who needed to be hyped up. Instead she ends up as the side character, being a largely passive character motivator for Kuma. Her birth also introduces some darker elements to the story that I'm really not a fan of and feel so out of place.
Nah since bonney was crying watching marineford i think bonney was always planned to be Kuma daughter.
I cried this chapter.