The current Manga chapter of One Piece has brought tears to the eyes of many fans. It concludes a dramatic backstory, through which we get to know a character better. Not only the characters in the chapter had to cry, many fathers also had to sob at the sight of the last images.
Attention, Spoiler: The article summarizes the current events in the One Piece manga. If you still need to catch up on the chapter, come back at a later time.
What happens in the chapter? In this chapter, we experience the beginnings of Jewelry Bonney as a pirate and how Luffy and his crew fought years ago. The experiences are often told from the perspective of Bartholomew Kuma. He is Bonney’s surrogate father.
In order to free his daughter from an illness, Kuma struck a deal: he was to become a mindless cyborg that serves as a weapon for the World Government. In the last scenes of the chapter, we see the scientist Dr. Vegapunk flip the switch to erase his personality.
Dr. Vegapunk breaks down sadly. We also see his foster daughter Bonney, who has witnessed all these memories and is curled up on the ground in tears.
The experiences have yet to appear in the anime. You can see the trailer for the Egghead Island arc on MeinMMO:
Why is this so sad? Kuma had a difficult past yet was always a kind-hearted person who stood up for others. As a child, he and his parents were captured as slaves. His father was shot right in front of him, and his mother also died during that time.
The loving father had to serve as a trophy in a hunting competition during his childhood but managed to escape the cruel games. It was during this time that he met his first love, Ginny, who was abducted and died in Kuma’s arms upon her return due to an illness.
She left behind Bonney, who suffered from the same illness. Kuma took the little girl in and raised her as his own child. To heal her illness, he turned to Dr. Vegapunk, who was actually able to help Bonney. However, the price for this was his transformation into a soulless cyborg.
Just before his erasure, Kuma transferred all these memories into a paw-shaped bubble thanks to his Devil Fruit power. When Bonney touched this bubble, she had to witness all these terrible memories. Actually, Bonney was supposed to die due to her illness before her 10th birthday, but thanks to the healing, she was able to experience it. Therefore, Kuma wanted Dr. Vegapunk to wish her a happy 10th birthday.
The last scenes have been published by Twitter user gaaabbles:
How are fans reacting? On reddit, many fans write that they also shed tears at this chapter. User T0osuke even explains that he had to cry for the first time in the history of One Piece. He has a daughter himself and can relate to the pain of the last chapters.
His wife wouldn’t have been able to understand why an adult man would cry over a “comic.” But in the thread, many users agree with him:
- BuJiAiyoku: “I just finished reading it during my work break and had to cry. Luckily I work from home, so people don’t think I had a breakdown from work lol.”
- DandyReddit: “Man, Oda was particularly ruthless this week. I cried so much.”
- swaeless: “I don’t have kids, but I cried too.”
One user writes that it’s no wonder the manga is taking a break next week. The fans need to process what has happened in the chapter first.
