Bartholomew Kuma. A great Warlord. A greater father.
And there we have it. The life of Kuma fully revealed to us. What I absolutely love is how Kuma continued to secretly pursue his personal agenda behind the World Government’s back. Not only by helping out the Revolutionary Army (As shown in a previous chapter), but by putting his faith in Monkey D. Luffy by giving him a chance to survive in order for him to reach his full potential.
Dragon going to Roguetown. Kuma helping Luffy in secret. Gotta say I love that Luffy has had help from others along his path to become Pirate King. It makes his journey more believable that someone so young could even hope to achieve such a difficult goal.
Can anyone explain to me why the heck Kuma didn’t meet up with Bonney? Because I can’t for any reason think of why he couldn’t just touch base with his daughter then send her to Dragon for protection. Newsflash Kuma: Bonney’s a pirate. Whether or not St. Saturn turns her into a slave, if Bonney’s captured by the Navy or government agents, she’s royally screwed no matter what. May as well, reunite with her and tell her the truth. Oh well, it all worked out in the end, sorta.
We get a mention of Kuma having a self-destruct device implanted within him as well as Dr. Vegapunk mentioning a neural pathway that can give someone a dual personality. Wow! Two important Chekhov’s guns in one chapter! Does this mean that Dr. Vegapunk did indeed install a neural pathway inside Kuma? And does that pathway allow Kuma to keep a sliver of his old self? And, will the DILF Warlord ultimately choose to self-destruct to save his daughter as well as the man he believes can change the world? I’m not sure. But, expect big things to happen once Kuma arrives on Egghead Island.
This was a great chapter! Kuma/Bonney’s flashback was great. The worldbuilding. The drama. Other than Kuma not reuniting with Bonney, all the events that happened from their perspective makes sense. Hmm… I wonder what will become of Bonney after this arc? Will she join the Straw Hat Pirates or their fleet? Maybe become a Revolutionary? In any case, I hope Bonney’s getting a proper education. How are you suppose to stick it the World Government when you can’t even read at a 5th Grade level?
Mammoth Base Opera Castle 
3 replies on “Forget Me Not RoboCop [One Piece 1102]”
Someone had proposed the idea of Bonney joining the Revolutionary Army instead of the Straw hats. How she’d make it to them in time for Throne Wars is anyone’s guess, but I think- with all that she’s seen- that’s a pretty logical course of action for her.
THAT BEING SAID: I’m not one to turn down a new Straw hat idea. I know 1 of the Vegapunks(probably Lilith) will join the crew by……….. let’s say end of Elbaf. Though by then it’ll likely be time for Throne Wars- or at the very least time to face Blackbeard. ‘Cause I think Imu will be the final opponent for Luffy(at least one of them since I think he and Shanks are going to fight for the One Piece). So any new Straw Hat at this point has to COME IN “Like That-” they have to be strong from OFFSET. And I think Bonney has shown us that she’s a very capable, very versatile combatant.
But she has her own crew to worry about at the same time. I don’t know what happened to them, but I think she’d be looking around for them and vice versa. It’s like……….. there’s a lot of reasons it works and a lot that it doesn’t.
Man, Egghead is just a GREAT ARC of this story; it’s THE BEST Post Time Skip without a doubt, but it’s up there with like Thriller Bark, Alabasta, Skypiea in terms of enjoyment.
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Lilith doesn’t strike me as someone with enough personality and uniqueness to be a Straw Hat but we’ll see.
Bonney wanted to find/fix her dad and find Nika. Once those are resolved (most likely in this arc with Kuma either surviving for dying), I wonder if she’ll either follow Luffy (join the crew or fleet) or follow Kuma’s desire to change the world (Revolutionary Army)? But with Bonney actually being a kid, I’m starting to doubt she’ll join the crew.
I’ve always thought Blackbeard would be the final antagonist. Now, I’m not so sure. But unlike Luffy VS Blackbeard, I think there are other characters who may fight Imu instead of Luffy like Dragon and/or Sabo. Heck, I’ll even throw Blackbeard into the ring as a possible Imu opponent considering his ultimate goal may be more than just finding the One Piece.
Shanks fighting Luffy? I just don’t see that happening. Like with the Warlords, I don’t think Luffy has to defeat every Emperor. Of course, that means someone else will have to defeat Shanks. And, if the story is moving toward Luffy VS Blackbeard for the One Piece, then if Luffy isn’t taking down Shanks, it’s gonna be Blackbeard.
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Blackbeard vs Imu? Actually, that’s not a bad idea; Imu DOES have Blackbeard on his sh!tlist along with Luffy, Shirahoshi, and Vivi. And it would probably work well as a parallel his role in Marineford: Him coming in at the 11th hour to take out the Top Dog on the battlefield, usurping their spot and stealing their power. It worked SO VERY WELL for him the first time- “if it ain’t broke, then don’t fix it!”
I mostly think of Shanks as an obstacle for Luffy- that Final “Wall” to climb to make it to One Piece. Whether they go to Laugh Tale before or after Throne Wars is up to Oda; I once heard that Oda said “When the One Piece is found- the story ends.” So I see Shanks as the FINAL Opponent in the story before we see what the One Piece is in the penultimate chapter.
Not to mention Luffy said he’d having a crew “Stronger” than his. So I see it happening to where the Straw Hat’s and the Red Hairs have a Full on battle, and the end of the fight sees Luffy returning the straw hat to Shanks when he admits defeat. Something to that effect.
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