Video version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uapi0s443NE

Kuma’s Timeline

To start things off, I’d like to outline a timeline of Kuma’s life, because while the chapters have been providing the dates, it may be hard to put things into perspective, so let’s quickly summarize Kuma’s life until now.

Kuma was born 47 years ago, whereas Ginny was born 51 years ago, being 4 years older than him. 43 years ago, at age 4, Kuma was enslaved, and would remain one for the next 5 years until the God Valley Incident 38 years ago, where they would escape with Ivankov and end up living in the Sorbet Kingdom.

30 years ago, King Bekori rose as the king of Sorbet, which was around the same time Oden joined the Whitebeard Pirates for reference. 25 years ago, around the time when Roger found the One Piece, Ginny, age 26, asks Kuma, age 22, to get married, but he refuses. At this same time, Dragon also gets his first bounty as a member of the Freedom Fighters, having quit the Marines.

Marine Dragon

To touch on this for a moment, this is something that was widely speculated about, but it makes a lot of sense that Dragon was a member of the Marines. Obviously, being Garp’s son, it makes sense that just like Luffy, he tried making Dragon a Marine, and this may even explain why he felt so insecure about failing to turn Luffy into one too. However, at some point, Dragon did leave the Marines after seeing how much real justice they lacked, forming the Freedom Fighters. This explains better his dialogue with Vegapunk, where the latter told Dragon to remember how there are still some reasonable members among the Marines, which Dragon agreed with.

It’s likely Dragon may have met with the likes of Kuzan, who joined the Marines 30 years ago, and I’m sure he realized his father, while misled, still had good intentions at heart. By the same token however, Dragon likely met Borsalino and Sakazuki, who had joined the Marines 32 years ago. With Sakazuki in particular, it is beyond evident that a grudge developed between the two, as Sakazuki would continuously refer to Luffy as the “son of Dragon”. It’s likely that Sakazuki did not take well to Dragon’s betrayal, something that is reflected in Dragon’s very epithet, being “hangakuryuu”. This term was mistranslated in some translations as the “insurgent serpent”, but the correct translation is the “traitorous dragon”, which alluded at how Dragon betrayed and rebelled against the Goverment.

There’s also the question of just how far Dragon made it and it’s even possible that he may have made it as far as Marine Admiral or at least Admiral Candidate due to a specific pattern. You see, the Marine Admirals and Admiral Candidates all sport specific codenames, which combine a color with an animal from the Eastern Zodiac. Akainu is “Red Dog”, Kizaru is “Yellow Monkey”, Aokiji is “Blue Pheasant”, Fujitora is “Purple Tiger”, Ryokugyu is “Green Bull”, and for the admiral candidates, Chaton is “Brown Pig”, Momousagi is “Pink Rabbit”, and Kurouma is “Black Horse”. This leaves us with the Zodiac animals of the goat, the rat, the snake, and the dragon. The goat could have perhaps been Sengoku’s codename when he was an Admiral before becoming Fleet Admiral, but what interests us is the dragon, as that could’ve been the position taken by Dragon himself, or at least the one he may have been expected to take before he prematurely quit the Marines.

Speaking of the Freedom Fighters, we also get to see their symbol, which appears to be some sort of weird sword or cross-like item. Part of this symbol would be incorporated into the latter flag of the Revolutionary Army, depicting a dragon, though I do wonder what it’s actually meant to be.

Eitherway, back to the timeline, 22 years ago, the same year of the Ohara Incident, Bekori tried to divide the Sorbet Kingdom, but the country was liberated by Dragon, who recruited Kuma, forming with him the Revolutionary Army. This is the same event we were told happening earlier in Egghead after the Ohara Incident. We then jump to 14 years ago, when Ginny, age 37, is captured and given as a “bride” to the Celestial Dragons, and the Revolutionaries are unable to rescue her. Two years pass to 12 years ago, where Kuma goes and assists a Revolution in Toumi in the South Blue. that has been going on for three years. In this scene, Ivankov mentions that they are busy assisting the wounded in the Goa Kingdom, and this is because this is happening at the same time as Luffy’s flashback, literally right after the burning of the Grey Terminal, where we saw Dragon, Ivankov, and Kuma rescuing those who were escaping the burning Terminal. In this case they received this report, so right after that scene in Luffy’s flashback, Kuma used his powers to land in the South Blue and help liberate Toumi.

In fact after this scene in Luffy’s flashback, when Dragon rescues Sabo, Kuma is not seen present on the ship anymore, as he had already departed for Toumi, though he was seemingly present later when Sabo finally woke up. And we do see later in the chapter how, while he helped raise Bonney, he also trained Sabo in the meantime. This scene we also got to see in the anime and while it wasn’t in the manga, it was revealed this scene was based off of Oda’s notes, making it canon as we see here.

By the way, the location of “Toumi” is likely a pun, as in Japanese it can mean “a certain sea”, basically just a random location. In the liberation of the country, Kuma is called “the Hero of the people”, which refers to his desire of becoming a superhero like Nika he expressed earlier in his flashback.

Bonney’s Father

During this time 12 years ago, Ginny manages to return to Sorbet after she was discarded by the Celestial Dragon that took her in as her wife. As we’ve seen before with St. Charlos, Celestial Dragons are free to marry anyone they want as concubines, being able to freely use them however they may want, even to the point of leaving Ginny with a child. This topic has been explored previously in the series, such as the Boa Sisters’ trauma towards men because of how the male celestial dragons treated them, or the countless slaves who were tarnished in much the same way by the world nobles, but I appreciate how Oda has always approached this topic with a lot of tact, showing it for the horrifying atrocity that it is.

This is all the more narratively ironic, because the time when we were introduced to Charlos making a random civilian her wife, just as another Celestial Dragon did with Ginny long before, Bonney actively protected Charlos from Zoro. This was to avoid an Admiral being summoned, but it’s all the more painfully ironic in retrospective.

Still, this would technically make Bonney a Celestial Dragon, though I’d imagine she wouldn’t be considered one due to not being a pureblood, simply being the child of a concubine. We also finally get the confirmation that yes, indeed, Bonney is still a kid, having been born 12 years ago, but simply amplifying her age through her fruit, which was revealed in the most recent SBS to be the Toshi Toshi no Mi, the Age Age Fruit, which lets her freely manipulate her age and that of others. This was beyond obvious at this point, as several characters stated several times that Bonney is just a child, and the term used in Japanese isn’t even one used to refer to young people, but actual literal children, which makes sense as even up until now she is still 12 years old. Oda mentioned that her biological appearance was that of a 22 year old, but also mentioned how this was only her apparent age, not her real age. This explains why she turned back into a kid when in contact with water, likely showcasing her real age. Different fruits react in different ways to water, like Luffy’s fruit not losing his rubbery properties, but some do deactivate the powers, like in Moria’s case or in Bonney’s case.

This also explains why she is so emotional and reactionary, acting more like a reckless kid rather than an adult, as she’s only pretending to be one. To put it into perspective, currently Bonney is younger than Ginny was during her first appearance at God Valley, where she was 13. This also explains why Bonney isn’t a buccaneer, making Kuma potentially the actual last member of their tribe, even extinct if he truly is dead right now.

All of this however does put into question just who exactly is Bonney’s biological father. Is it some random Celestial Dragon meant to show how corrupt this system is or… could it actually be someone we know? Well when you think about it, there’s a horrifying truth that comes to mind.

In her final moments, Ginny was affected by a horrible disease, one that killed her in order to save Bonney’s life. Kuma goes through several doctors, trying to see if any of them can identify her disease, with one of them even comparing it to White Lead Poisoning but deeming it to not be the same thing. Of course, if you remember, White Lead Poisoning refers to the condition that affected the people of Flevance from Law’s flashback, where they were poisoned by the amber lead the country mined, which resulted in white patches across the body that would kill those who came into contact with it gradually.

In this case however, a doctor identifies it as the Sapphire Scale Syndrome. This disease results in blue sapphire-like stones growing on the skin when in exposure of sunlight, whether it’s off the sun or reflected from the Moon. This is a terminal disease that even if halted, will continue to spread, reaching death in just a few years. What is interesting however is that the doctor mentions how this disease has become very rare in present years, but used to be more common in older times. And if we put all pieces together, which character is able to spread rare diseases?

As we’ve previously mentioned, St. Saturn has a devil fruit, or devil power of sorts, that lets him turn into a Gyuuki, or ushioni, a yokai from Japanese mythology that is a demonic mix between a cow and a spider. But one of its characteristic powers is not only the ability to hurt people with their gaze alone, but also the ability to spread diseases. So what if Saturn was the one who spread the disease to Ginny, and later Bonney? Could Saturn have been Bonney’s biological father, or maybe simply involved with her biological father in a way that he ended up poisoning his mother?

This could explain why Bonney has such a deep-seated grudge against Saturn, as not only did he seemingly result in Kuma’s death according to what she mentioned a few chapters ago, but may even have been involved in the death of her mother.

Furthermore, in astrology, each of the planets of the solar system is associated to a type of gemstone, and Saturn’s gemstone is, you guessed it… the blue sapphire. It all adds together.

It’s also worth mentioning that it’s interesting there’s a disease that results in an allergy towards sunlight. This is actually a real disease, as there are some real life conditions that result in damaged skin when exposed to sunlight, some in rare cases that can even be close to lethal, just without the blue sapphires of course. However, it’s fitting within the world of One Piece to have a disease that makes you allergic to sunlight, particularly when so much of Nika’s people were tied with the imagery of the sun and sunlight. It the desire of the people of the D. clan was truly to live under the same sun, then it is quite the curse to never be able to walk under sunlight once again, which may again suggest this is a disease deployed by the likes of Joyboy’s enemies like St. Saturn, to make them avert to the sunlight they like so much.

The Sun Church

Speaking of all this however, there’s an important detail in this chapter that heavily recontextualizes a lot of things and it’s the very small easy to miss detail that is the cross in Kuma’s church. Because it’s not just a regular cross, like the ones we’ve seen on Thriller Bark for example, but rather a cross with a sun emblem in it. But not just any sun, but the symbol that we’ve seen plastered in the flags and icons of all the allies of the ancient kingdom, or in other words, the symbol of the ancient kingdom and its D. clan, a detail that was essentially confirmed in One Piece Odyssey of all things.

This makes sense with the Buccaneers being allies of Joyboy and the ancient kingdom, but moreover what this tells us is that the church that Kuma’s parents preached in was actually a church devoted towards the Sun God. The entire religious belief of Kuma isn’t to some grander spiritualism or some other deity, but specifically the deity of Joyboy, the Sun God Nika. Which does bring into interest the Bible that Kuma always carried, because that may not be just some pagan Bible focusing on some random religion of the world, this Bible may very well allude at some of the details of the Void Century.

After all, we’ve kinda started to realize that a lot of the events of the Void Century do mirror our real world’s Christian Bible. The genesis of devil fruits is essentially the same as the tale of Genesis of Adam and Eve, as can be seen evident in the Devil Fruit book called “the book of Genesis” as well. We have the Country of God where the Lunaria resided which was this heavenly garden of Eden built around the Sun Tree Eve. But then the Sea Devil, which I personally believe to be Imu, tricked the people of the God Country into biting the fruits of the forbidden tree, thus making a deal with the Devil and resulting in their ultimate expulsion from the God Country. Nefertari D. Lili attempted to stop the Sea Devil, but was punished and banished as a result, much like the figure of Lilith in some variations of the tale of Genesis.

So could this Bible hold more secrets to the Void Century? Bonney actually picks up this book later in the chapter, and it does mention the Sky Islands, which likely were tied in some form in the Void Century, with Joyboy seemingly having connections to both Skypiea, Birka, and the Lunaria. The back of the Bible even features a certain symbol that Kuma would later incorporate into his outfit, which I wonder if it might hold some connection to the Void Century, though it generally seems to look more like a cross.

This book at least explains why Kuma knew about the Sky Islands and why he was able to send Nami to one of them. In fact, it seems that Kuma’s trademark phrase, “If you were to go on a trip, where would you want to go?” was taken from saying it to Bonney, whom he wanted to grow up healthy so the two of them could one day travel together.

In fact, it seems in general Kuma has been an incredible parent to Bonney, with some details such as turning her baby cot into a cage to avoid squashing her, just like one of the villagers suggested, or crafting a bear with his hat on it for her. One of the villagers even mentions her being a “big eater” like her mom, which makes Kuma happy since he did call Ginny a “big eater”, an epithet that Bonney would eventually inherit as her full pirate name.

But Kuma’s kindness didn’t stop there, as to cheer Bonney up, he called her sapphires “jewelry”, which now evidently paved the way towards her name becoming that of “Jewelry Bonney”, likely to hide her connection to Kuma where possible. And in fact it doesn’t end there, as the location of her sapphire stones is where she would later put her piercing, either to cover up a scar or simply as a symbol of pride.

But how did Bonney overcome her disease? Especially with it going terminal in the next five years? Well, we already have the answer and it’s pretty simple. It’s the result of Bonney eating the Toshi Toshi no Mi. Just like how Law was saved from his White Lead Disease by eating the Ope Ope no Mi and being able to operate on himself, Bonney’s fruit allows her to go beyond the current scientific understanding and save her own life, by essentially just letting her grow into a version of her future where she isn’t ridden by this disease anymore. So as scary as this might seem now, thankfully we already know a good future awaits for Bonney.

Kuma’s Future Past

But what about Kuma? What if the other possibility is the dark truth that he was able to remove the disease out of Bonney’s body, but was forced to take him on as a result, so he had no choice but to become a cyborg to survive? Which is why he didn’t want Bonney to look into his memories to not feel guilty.

But even beyond that, the nightmare isn’t over as the chapter ends with the burning of the Sorbet Kingdom, where King Bekori has returned and with a revenge, setting off a great incident. Well, this is almost certainly the event that would lead towards Kuma becoming the King of Sorbet, since it’s one of the only major events of his life that is still missing, likely taking Bekori’s place to save his people. Then, for some reason, he would come to be known as a “tyrant”, though at this point it’s beyond obvious it likely must’ve been for some good reason, leading to him being deposed and forced to escape to sea as a pirate. He would later be arrested, but would earn his freedom by forming a plan with Vegapunk to become a Warlord in exchange for a study into his body, as Vegapunk was fascinated with the properties of the Buccaneer body.

But then, what led to Kuma essentially removing his sense of self and becoming nothing more than a mindless machine? How exactly did Saturn end up giving the order to kill Kuma? For what purpose was the Pacifista Project created, and does a happy ending await this gentle giant? All of those answers will surely come to us very soon, as the final pieces of Kuma’s past will fall into place!