#DOES IVANKOV EVEN KNOW THAT BONNEY IS KUMA'S CHILD?!?!?!

[tuxxydo]

Okay, I have one reason Bonney can't join the straw hats and it's because the Revs are literally her extended family that she never met; especially Ivankov.

Ivankov is literally Ginny's (half????? step?????)sibling. Ve's alive and well—and yet—Bonney has never MET VER....

[kookoofufu]

Spoilers for Chapter 1097

I've read the unofficial TCB fan translation of chapter 1097 (thank you @hades876!), here be spoilers. Oda is cooking once again 🔥

This chapter goes over the next 24 YEARS of Kuma's life from childhood in the Sorbet Kingdom to working as a humble pastor to becoming a leader in the revolutionary army. Oda continues to skip a lot but we get very very interesting details.

The thing that gets me is Kuma taking on the pain and suffering of the townsfolk to help them at just 17 years old. It's unclear how long he's been doing it, and he continues doing so for another 8 years. He also implies this happens every time he repels pain, so it makes me wonder about the previous chapter when he repelled the pain of the boys Ginny hit. Did he take their pain too? If so, his little smile is heartbreaking.

This chapter also makes me side-eye Bonney as Kuma's biological daughter. Kuma seems very worried about his child having Buccaneer blood, to the point of not marrying Ginny. Once again, Kuma is sacrificing his own happiness for the sake of others.

The Sorbet Kingdom is interesting because it seems Kuma never became king, instead giving Sorbet over to the people after he, Ivankov and Dragon overthrew King Becori. I bet the World Government pinned Becori's crimes on Kuma - maybe after capturing him? In that case I think Kuma will give himself to the WG to save Ginny given his self-sacrificial nature.

Kuma joins Dragon and Ivankov 22 years ago post-timeskip. The manga mentions this, but for context, Roger's execution was two years ago and Ohara's destruction literally just happened. Ginny joins the revolution, Dragon confirms he was a Marine, Kuma visits Sorbet sometimes. Then Oda skips another 8 years and Ginny gets captured lmaoooo

At this point, I think Luffy is around 5 years old? He hasn't even met Shanks yet! Dragon also gets his tattoo in this 8-year span. The design is three X's. Before his tattoo he had three X's on his trousers and three stars on his shirt. His ship has three X's. What does it mean???

I desperately want to know the adventures they had during this 8-year span, but I guess that story is for a spinoff.

Another reason Bonney may not be Kuma's biological daughter is the timeline: she would need to be born in this 8-year span to be an adult/teen now, but there's no mention of her. Would Ginny and Kuma continue being in the Revolutionary Army if they had a daughter? Plus, Kuma and Ginny don't seem to be together, Ginny just got captured, and she probably dies. So how could she give birth to Bonney? Mysterious....

[danwhobrowses]

One Piece Chapter 1098 - Initial Thoughts

Who's ready to feel sad again this week?

If the answer was no then...well...yeah, sorry Another One Piece chapter is out and we are ready to get hit by the cast iron hammer of trauma

brace yourselves

Spoilers for the Chapter, Support the Official Release too

We'll start with the elephant in the room, I didn't want to believe comments that the chapter looked unfinished because I didn't want to also worry about Oda's health, but the chapter is very unkempt. The cover even has a message of Oda apologizing

I'm sure I'm not alone, but I feel like nobody would've thought less of Oda just delaying the chapter to make it look polished if he so wished, I am curious about the reasoning though because usually he's ahead on these things, did the sent draft get damaged or corrupted or something? I wonder if we'll ever know

But the cover page is Brook jamming with an Electric Eel, no continuity relevant covers like last time

It appears that during the Goa fire incident another uprising is looking dire, stretching the army thin

Kuma decides to go and solo it though, on a mission and acting recklessly after news of Ginny's kidnapping

Oh, oh no. It's much worse. Captured as a prisoner for being a Revolutionary would've been one thing, but Ginny was kidnapped because a Celestial Dragon wanted her as a bride

And we all can guess what that will mean...

Kuma does successfully help the Toomi uprising succeed for the army, but Kuma has being running himself rugged

2 years pass and a ragged ship sails the sea with a crying baby Bonney

Ginny is alive, contacting Baltigo to talk to Kumachi

Something feels off though, the Celestial Dragons aren't ones for simply letting people go, especially if they're sick, usually it's a bullet

The forlorn face of Ginny's Den Den Mushi does hide a more darker truth, maybe even one Oda's not fully telling us

Of course, Kuma clocks onto the fact that Ginny's sick, and it turns out that Ginny isn't gonna be able to make it to Baltigo

Kuma wants to be with her, but she doesn't want him to see her in her state at death's door, asking Dragon and Ivankov to look after Kuma

Kuma's already gone though, rushing to the Sorbet Kingdom to the one place he knew she'd go, but in turn missing her last declaration of love for him

Kuma arrives to the right place, but time has run out

Ginny's illness is something we've not seen, her skin hardened and crystallized in contact with the sun, a risk she willingly took to cross the ocean and get home, leaving a baby Bonney in the safest place she knew

It's heartbreaking stuff as Kuma reminds himself of all the times he had with her; he did everything right, everything selflessly, and he still lost everything

Kuma's a better man than me though; if I learned that the woman I loved and lived with for over a decade got kidnapped and spent the last 2 years being the enslaved plaything of the worst creatures imaginable only to come back dying of a disease that deprives her from the light and dies before I got to see her I would've gone full Shinra Tensei on Marejois

Still, Kuma will not let Ginny's death be in vain, and will raise Bonney well

Of course, since Kuma is gigantic, he struggles being delicate with a child, seeking advice from the elderly people

Bonney was a glutton since birth

A brief wholesome montage of Kuma being a good dad to make sure this chapter didn't get super dark

Until it's layered in with Kuma having to fight with the Revolutionaries at the same time

He did put an iron cage over Bonney's cot too so he didn't smush her

And a brief Sabo training cameo

Time passes but the two kids find the church boarded up and Kuma locked inside

And right where her piercing is, blue stones form on Bonney's face

Doctors aren't sure what it is, but it's clear Bonney inherited Ginny's condition, we can only confirm it's not White Lead Poisoning like Law had

As a result, Kuma quits the Revolutionary Army to tend to her

For a guy who quit raising his child to be a Revolutionary, Dragon seems more than understanding seeing Kuma quit the Revolutionaries to raise his child

Seven years ago, Bonney is 5 years old, meaning her true age is likely 12

Local kids bully her, calling her a vampire and running into the daylight to escape her

Bonney is still foul mouthed for someone raised by a pastor, giving the boys the finger as well

Kids aren't too smart though, trying to use a cross on her, while she lives in a church...

Bonney threatens to chase after them, but is stopped by Kuma, who worries even if she wasn't being serious

Bonney is at least aware that her facial stones are part of an illness, but Kuma still tries to uplift her, calling them her Jewels

I guess that's where the Jewelry comes from

Kuma asks Bonney where she'd like to go when she's better, leading her to talk about the Sky Islands

It's a bit obscure, but it seems the book she read it from is Kuma's bible

Bonney also feels like they could meet Nika up there, so they settle that as her 20th birthday, for her 19th she'll go to Fishman Island

Bonney's disease finally gets a name though; Sapphire Scale, feels like a Game of Thrones Greyscale kinda deal, it's allegedly incurable

It's super rare, but the stones grow when they touch any natural light, sun or moon, and even then avoiding the light just slows the disease

The doctor gives Bonney 5 years, traumatizing Kuma more

Bonney only partly overheard the conversation too, taking 'it'll be over on her 10th birthday' as the disease will pass by then

Kuma goes along with it though, you can't tell a child they're gonna die after all but he also feels the guilt of giving her so much hope

A year later, King Becori returns with fire

This time instead of making borders, he's gonna burn the south down himself

Oda please, it's sad enough

and it's gonna be 12+ weeks since we last saw Nico Robin too I haven't forgotten about that

The unfinished panels didn't hamper the chapter as much as it might have had the story quality not been strong, there was only a couple of panels I just had to look a bit harder at to distinguish.

But yeah, the story. I can't say it's great because it's heartbreaking and soul-wrenching, so let's just say it achieved its intent. Ginny suffered a cruel fate and unable to be saved by Kuma, but I also feel like there's more to it than her simply being 'let go', escape is probable but I also fear that Sapphire Scale was an experiment.

There's so much traumatic irony too, a disease that deprives you of the sun, of the light, of the dawn, it feels like something the Gorosei would weaponize. Also the irony of Bonney stopping Zoro from killing a Celestial Dragon who was going to forcibly take a woman as one of his wives, I feel like Kuma wouldn't let her know the full story but that is a tragic bit for us. It also implies that Bonney is technically a Celestial Dragon herself, almost a bridge between both since Ginny was also a slave, it could explain why the Gorosei keep offering a bit of leeway to her too.

The worst part of it all is that I can't be certain that the clone theory is off the table for Bonney, Law survived his disease due to the Ope Ope no Mi, I don't think Bonney's fruit can provide the same assurances. Oda can go super dark if he wants to continue to rip chunks out of Kuma by having Bonney not make her 10th birthday after all, and then Vegapunk clones a Bonney without the Sapphire Scale disease in her DNA. I do hope not of course but it still sadly remains an option.

King Becori's return was an odd place to end though, this is either the point where Kuma becomes King, a pirate, a Warlord or all of the above, perhaps as King he gets World Government information to find a cure for Bonney. We'll find out in 2 weeks I guess, but Oda please,

There has to be a way to end the story with Kuma being happy.

[catflowerqueen]

One Piece Chapter 1063 review:

-It’s interesting that the Kuma policeman... thing… claimed that Luffy and co. eating the food was considered theft when Atlas herself seemed fine with it. Then again, she is supposed to be the “angry” one (I think) and has no real reason to warn a group of pirates about that sort of thing, so maybe she just didn’t care. In any case, it was cool to see Jimbei actually participating and having fun, too, even if it was still more in a “supervisory dad” position. The tropical shirt really does look great on him.

-…Oh, so they didn’t immediately realize it was Kuma who Bonney was talking about. I guess Tekking did bring that up in a recent video, but still… it’s rather surprising. At least they know now? But that isn’t the original Kuma… not that she has and easy way to tell that. Hopefully Luffy reached her in time to save her from the blast—and didn’t get too injured himself. Also, in that flashback, Kuma looks a lot different without the glasses. He also looks really familiar… almost like Cobra, maybe? I can’t pinpoint it, but I feel like we have definitely seen him somewhere before all of this went down. Also, child Bonney is so adorable.

-Hm… I wonder if Doc Q always had that fruit, or if it was acquired as part of Blackbeard’s hunt. Either way, his application of its uses is very… strange (though I have to admit that the pun was actually fairly amusing). And Law’s reaction specifically makes me think he would slap Ivankov if given the chance. Also, I feel like Blackbeard really is not thinking his plan through all the way—if he really is making all of his followers into fruit users, then that sets up a singular and well-known glaring weakness. Even just among the dangers of daily living at sea, if they don’t have a designated swimmer who could rescue anyone who fell over on accident, or was knocked over by the wind or something.

-And I had to frantically look up some of the old Skypiea info when I saw Stronger the horse just to make sure that the fruit he was using wasn’t the one Pierre had—thankfully, it’s not. Pierre was a bird who ate a horse-fruit, Stronger is a horse who ate a literal Pegasus-zoan. So it is just a case of two different fruits allowing for similar usage in powers. Gan Fall and Pierre are more than likely still fine.

-Still. This looks like an interesting battle. And I really hope Law makes it out of this okay, and that Blackbeard is not aware of the Immortality treatment, because the Op-Op fruit is definitely highly coveted, and I could see Blackbeard trying to take it along with the Poneglyph info.

-Luffy’s luck continues to be amazing in regards to Blackbeard’s shenanigans, since this is yet another instance of him dodging a bullet where the man is concerned. Hopefully Kid, at least, is having a better time of things.