Video version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1Mnd01i9ZI

Queen Dowager Connie

The chapter opens where the last one left off, with what is described as an incident that would go down with the name “the one-man revolution” (一人革命), liberating the country from Bekori’s tyranny. Bekori himself cites the reason behind his burning of the Southern side of the kingdom as being inspired by a certain kingdom in the East that employed a similar tactic. This is obviously referring to the Goa Kingdom, Luffy’s hometown, where the burning of the Gray Terminal had happened 6 years prior, with the king burning the people of the Grey Terminal when a Celestial Dragon visited to eliminate what he saw as the filth of the country. Kuma was in fact there during the Grey Terminal Incident, so he already saw firsthand this horror and wanted to avoid it from repeating again.

As a result of this, Kuma is made king of Sorbet, though he only accepts the position publicly and lets the former king previous to Bekori rule in his place, being King Bulldog. His name is very clearly derived by his bulldog-like face, while his successor King Bekori’s name can mean “suck up” in Japanese, in reference to how he sucks up to the Celestial Dragons.

Bulldog in turn has a mother, being the Queen dowager, or in other words the widow queen of the former ruler Bulldog’s father. This finally explains the Conney mystery from the Reverie, where Bonney turned into the form of Queen Dowager Connie from the Sorbet Kingdom to gain access into Mary Geoise. In reality though, Conney and Bonney aren’t related at all, they just happen to have very similar faces… and well, similar names, which we see in this chapter as Bonney practices imitating Conney, a tactic she would later employ. However, it seems Bonney and Conney got quite close after a while, as Conney ended up giving her hat to Bonney, which she would wear across the pre-timeskip until she got captured, sort of in a discount version of the Luffy-Shanks moment.

This is due to the fact that Bonney has now eaten the Toshi Toshi no Mi, which an elder identifies from one of the devil fruit encyclopedias. We’ve already been told by Vegapunk that there technically have been different devil fruit illustrated encyclopedias, and we have seen a few within the series, such as the “Akuma no mi Zukan”, or “Devil Fruit Encyclopedia” that Sanji read as a kid, the book of “Genesis” Ivankov showed to Sabo, or this one which instead has “DEVIL FRUITS” written on the cover in English, though it’s possible these could just be different editions of a similar book.

Despite her power though, Bonney’s disease has not receded as some of us thought it might, with the sapphires having begun to spread more around her cheek and above her eye, forcing Kuma to keep looking for a cure.

However, on the news Kuma has instead been publicized as a despot, with the news article reading as the “Ruler of Evil”, framed as a rebellious dictator who took the country by force and became a tyrant, thus giving way to his famous epithet of Bartholomew Kuma “the tyrant”. It’s likely that Saturn had a hand in spinning the story this way, as we see him being informed of the news before they hit the newspaper, so it makes sense it was him who tried to make Kuma’s life more difficult, as after all he likely did remember Kuma from God Valley as the one buccaneer slave that escaped who must be captured and stopped. And if we take into account what we speculated last week about Saturn potentially being the one who spread the disease to Ginny to begin with, then it makes sense that he serves as Bonney’s archnemesis who has been behind the downfall of all her family. He is even seemingly responsible for killing Kuma, but we’ll get more into that later. If we look at the person making the report to Saturn though, he appears to have the silhouette that was shared with one of the God Knights, which also happens to look very similar to the silhouette of… oh no

Kuma accepts his fate, but decides to take down Bekori with him, who evidently lost an eye in the incident against Kuma, but now Kuma finishes him for good. Just as we were told in the past, this makes him a full-fledged pirate and finally gets him a bounty, which would go up to 296,000,000 belly. This, in case you didn’t know, was actually a pun all along, as the first two digits of his bounty, two and nine, can be read as “nikyu”, the name of his fruit, meaning that Oda was already foreshadowing his powers from the moment that Kuma was first introduced.

Bonney instead, who is being looked after by Bulldog and Conney, is forced to wait for her father’s return in Sorbet, where we can see they are repairing the royal palace after Kuma destroyed it in the revolution. Conney can be seen serving like what seems to be pizza, which would become Bonney’s favorite food. Bonney claims that at age 10, when her disease will go away, she will go out to sea and become a pirate like her father. This actually lines up as when she would turn 10 would be during the pre-timeskip, when Bonney did indeed become a pirate and a Supernova, though again we’ll touch on that later.

Kuma’s World Tour

Kuma instead travels the world to find a cure for Bonney’s disease. Within the South Blue, he first travels to the Torino Kingdom, a country known for its deep study of medicine, but unfortunately the inhabitants aren’t aware of a cure. The island’s name by the way, is derived from the famous city in Italy, Torino, but is a pun as in Japanese it can be read as “Kingdom of Birds”.

He then travels to Kuraigana, the abandoned Shikkearu Kingdom, where Mihawk would later use it as a base. Just three years prior, the island had been engulfed in a great war that had killed all its people, leaving only ruins left. The island and kingdom’s names are a pun once more, as they translate to “it’s gloomy” and “it’s damp” respectively.

He then travels to Karakuri Island, or Mechanical Island if translated, in what is known as the country of Bulgemore. Though translated in many different ways so it’s not exactly sure what it could be translating to, but bulgemore could refer to the scientific concept of a cosmic bulge Einstein researched into, given Vegapunk’s connections to the scientist.

He then travels by Tequila Wolf, the bridge slaves have been building for the past 700 years. A lot of people have questioned the meaning behind this bridge’s construction, but I have one of two beliefs. Either one, it’s a bridge meant to connect the East Blue and the Grand Line, as we were told the bridge did exist within East Blue, but Oden also saw the bridge within the Grand Line between Water 7 and Fishman Island, so it makes sense the bridge was built to get over the Calm Belt. Alternatively, the other option is that there’s no real reason. It may just be one of the whims of a Celestial Dragon as we’ve seen time and time again.

Kuma then travels to Weatheria, where he meets Haredas, and the Boin Archipelago, where he meets Heracles. As you’ve most likely realized by now, the connection between all these locations is that it’s where the Straw Hats were sent during the timeskip, as Kuma had visited this places and had gotten acquainted with all their people.

• He learned of the Torino Kingdom’s medical knowledge, so he sent Chopper there to further his medical studies
• He likely knew that his fellow Shichibukai Mihawk was living on Kuraigana, so he sent Zoro there as he likely knew well the personalities and determination of both of them by that point
• He knew that Haredas studied the weather, and since Nami is the navigator, she sent her there to study weather
• He knew Heracles was skilled with plants and thought Usopp could use them as part of his arsenal
• The other location he visits could perhaps be the poverty-filled country of Harahettania, or “Hungeria”, where he sent Brook, as it appears to be torn by war

What about the others though? Well when you think about it, it makes even more sense. Kuma sent Franky to Vegapunk’s hometown because Vegapunk was his friend. He sent Sanji to Ivankov’s hometown because he was his friend as well. And the same goes for sending Robin to Tequila Wolf where the Revolutionaries were currently liberating it.

As for Luffy being sent to Amazon Lily, it’s possible Kuma may have found out about Rayleigh’s connection to Hancock, and thus sent Luffy there so that Rayleigh could reach him and help train him, just as we saw happen, with Rayleigh even citing what Kuma told him to do.

In his travels Kuma even meets Jeet and Abdullah, the two ruffians from the Corrida Colosseum who would end up joining Luffy’s fleet under Luffy, who were originally bounty hunters, and thus went after Kuma’s bounty.

Kuma and Dragon

Eventually though, he meets with the Revolutionaries again, meeting once more Dragon, Morley, a younger 28 year old Belo Betty, and Lindbergh’s deputy commander Tamagon.

Dragon mentions how Ivankov and Inazuma were captured, which would lead to them being sent to Impel Down, while he serves Kuma a bottle of alcohol, similar to the bottle we saw him serving to Sabo just a few chapters ago. Dragon then mentions that Kuma should pay a visit to Vegapunk, mentioning how his former laboratory got just destroyed in an accident and so he had to transfer. This is referring to the Punk Hazard Incident where Caesar set off his weapon upon the island, leading Vegapunk to start using Egghead more actively as his research lab. We see this in the form of the Marine Science Group 8th Laboratory, what would later become Egghead Island, where the island is still coated in winter, as Vegapunk had not yet developed the Island Aircon. Punk Hazard was known as the 6th laboratory as indicated by the big number written on it, so it makes sense this is the 8th laboratory as indicated by its 8th number respectively. This indicates to us that 2 years have passed of Kuma as a pirate, as the Punk Hazard Incident was 4 years ago, making Kuma currently 43 and Bonney 8.

As Dragon and Kuma part ways, Dragon mentions “Let the winds of fate take their course, friend”. This of course is Oda simply being cheeky at this point, as it’s beyond evident that Dragon has powers that are related to wind. In Loguetown, he used a massive gust of wind to assist Luffy. His ship is known as the Viento Gramma, a combination for the name of the ship Fidel Castro used in the Cuban Revolution with the Spanish word for “wind”. During the Gray Terminal he used a large gust of wind to dissipate the fire and when he rescued Sabo, we literally saw him arriving flying onto the ship and turning into wind in one panel. This would suggest he has a wind Logia, though it’s also possible he may have some mythological Zoan with wind abilities. At the very least though, it’s clear that his powers are connected to wind in some form. This would even put more stock into the theory that Dragon may have been an Admiral or Admiral Candidate since most of the mare powerful Logia users.

Kuma and Vegapunk

Kuma comes back to take Bonney which he takes to the 8th Laboratory, what would later be Egghead, something that Bonney briefly mentioned in Chapter 1062 that she came to the island as a kid, though stating that it was a normal laboratory back then. As I mentioned before, this was yet another hint towards Bonney’s true age as Vegapunk had only started adopting this island as his laboratory 4 years ago, meaning that Bonney’s time “as a kid” had to have been very recent, when she was still 8.

Vegapunk himself still had his brain all intact and had not created his satellites, though this is something that we were already aware of, as during the flashback of the Punk Hazard Incident, we could see how his silhouette still fit that of the massive head, and Bonney had mentioned how she had seen Vegapunk with his entire head, which again had to have been 4 years ago. We also get to see Bonney hanging out with Sentomaru, who had been operating as Vegapunk’s bodyguard ever since he was a kid.

Vegapunk brings up the concept of using artificially created stem cells, which finally addresses the artificial organs that we had seen in Chapter 1075. Vegapunk further develops an interest in Kuma when he finds out he’s a Buccaneer and wishes to study him further. This was already mentioned in Chapter 1064 when Bonney mentioned that Kuma agreed to become a Shichibukai in exchange for Vegapunk to study his Buccaneer body and clone it, which we see happening here. Fascinated by his strength, Vegapunk wants to clone Kuma and create several clone soldiers that will utilize the laser technology he studied from Kizaru years prior to create laser beams that will be able to stop any pirate.

Vegapunk agrees to help Bonney in exchange for this, showcasing once more Vegapunk’s personality as a scientist that has good intentions, but lets his naivety and massive greed for knowledge get in the way of his ethical choices. In this case, it seems like Vegapunk’s plan was to clone Kuma’s bloodline element samples and to create a series of clones that would help bring peace. Kuma describes himself as just a “weak-willed pacifist”, a name Vegapunk takes a liking to, deciding to name these future soldiers as “Pacifistas”, bringing everything full circle. Vegapunk even describes the Pacifistas as the “Warriors of the Future”, using the exact same terminology as the “Warrior of Liberation” Joyboy, likely meant to parallel Kuma’s desire to become a Warrior who can liberate people just like Nika.

However, it seems that someone is scheming beyond Vegapunk’s plans, as St. Jaygarcia Saturn has been overhearing the conversation through wiretap and feels that Vegapunk is wasting this opportunity, wishing to make more use out of these weapons. This makes sense as Bonney would later recall just a few chapters ago a dialogue between Saturn and Vegapunk, where Saturn gave the order to remove all personality and will from Kuma, turning him into a mindless robot. This is why Bonney accused Saturn of “killing” her father, as it was seemingly he who gave the order to remove all of Kuma’s personality, essentially killing him.

It’s likely that Kuma could not refuse the orders of the World Government, and the reason for it may have been due to the fact that they may have captured Bonney hostage. This is evident by the fact that Akainu mentioned that Bonney was previously captive by the World Government, meaning that Kuma may have been blackmailed to keep following their orders and giving up his life as otherwise they would have killed Bonney. This likely explains why Kuma ended up becoming the most obedient of the Shichibukai, being known for always following orders just as Moria put it back during Thriller Bark.

However, just as Akainu mentioned, Bonney would later escape from the Government, which would explain why Akainu was worried as she was likely their bargaining chip with Kuma. So at the age of 10, just like she promised, she became a pirate, being joined by Gyogyo and the other friends of Kuma and Ginny from the Sorbet Kingdom who joined her on her crew. Hoping to reunite with her father, when she found out about him becoming a mindless weapon, and seeing him being completely dead during the battle of Marineford, which prompted her to burst out crying, Bonney decided to go to the New World to take revenge against Vegapunk, blissfuly unaware that he wasn’t the one responsible for his death, rather Saturn was. She would later be captured by Blackbeard and sold off to Akainu, but managed to escape alone from her battleship, later heading to Mary Geoise to meet Kuma and save him with the Revolutionaries, and later heading to Egghead.

And as she confronted Vegapunk, just like he said, Kuma agreed to give his own life out of his own volition, likely because he was being blackmailed, but he promised to Kuma he would never tell Bonney the reason why. This is because Bonney IS the reason why Kuma did all these things. Kuma let the Pacifista project take place in order to save her life, Kuma ended up obeying the Government and even giving up his life all so that Bonney could live, and Vegapunk could only play along because Kuma likely asked him to do so for the sake of Bonney’s safety. So after confronting Kuma’s memories, Bonney finally found out the truth of the massive sacrifice her father undertook for her, and how Vegapunk had no other say in this and how the true culprit is St. Saturn.

However, does that mean that it’s all over here for Kuma? No, not necessarily, because just like we saw with Bonney, Kuma’s memories were preserved and isolated in a bubble. In a scene that we saw in Chapter 1072, we saw Vegapunk continuing to study Kuma. This was some time after the current chapter, perhaps some months or even a year or two, as Vegapunk had already chopped off his hair and Kuma had bandages on him, likely from the cyborg augmentations. Vegapunk speculated about how a certain doctor in the West Blue who studied dead people once theorized about the weight of the human soul. This was likely Dr. Hogback, but regardless Vegapunk believed that Kuma could take out his memories and preserve them as something separate. So it’s likely that in an effort to save him, Vegapunk took out all the memories from Kuma and preserved them so that one day he could hopefully restore them to his body, or some separate body or clone like the S-Bear.

Speaking of which, it may be easy to forget, but at the start of the arc, the S-Bear was being sent back to Egghead. And just like we saw with S-Snake, the personalities of the original hosts are still found within the bodies, so Kuma’s personality could still manifest within the S-Bear in some form. As Lilith had told us, you can’t override the natural greed of people. So perhaps S-Bear could serve as some key towards saving Kuma in the future if his body becomes too destroyed.

Even further than this though, is just saving Kuma’s life enough? I have to wonder if Vegapunk and Dragon legitimately didn’t have some kind of backup plan or intention for the Pacifista to turn them against the Government, but regardless, at the very least, it seems like some hope may remain for Bonney and Kuma to have their happy ending. At last, it looks like we can finally understand all of Kuma’s past!