 One Piece finally confirmed one of the most ear-rise speculations about one of the most intriguing characters in the series. Monkey D-Dragon, the leader of the revolutionaries, the worst criminal in the world, was a former Marine. And not only this, Oda may have indirectly revealed how exactly Bonnie, Kuma and Ginny are all related, a darker history for Kuma that may just blow all our minds. But let's start at the beginning, shall we? So continuing with Kuma's backstory, we find ourselves still at Sorbet Kingdom, but eight years after the God Valley incident, where Kuma is now a pastor at the ripe age of 17. And I do want to distinguish him as a pastor here, not a priest, meaning that he is still able to have conjugal relationships, which is important if we're thinking about parentage for Bonnie. But the focus of this period in Kuma's life is the intense sacrifice that Kuma was making while continuing his role as the people's hero. Since discovering that he can use his devil fruit to rid away people's pain, he has been continuing to do so, but what is now confirmed is that all of this pain that he has been taking away, he has actually been taking it on himself. We are by now very familiar with how this aspect of Kuma's ability works, because we saw Kuma use his powers so that Zoro could take on Luffy's pain back in Thriller Bark, one of the most iconic moments in the series. And here is Kuma doing this himself every single week. And for me, it's moments like these that we can really appreciate the depth of One Piece. Like I said, Zoro's Nothing Happened moment was already an iconic moment on its own. But now with this added layer, knowing that Kuma knew first hand what Zoro was putting himself through, the empathy that he must have felt for Zoro, the admiration and the respect, and then going even further than that, the sense of relief or assurance that Kuma must have felt about Luffy, the son of one of his most closest comrades, being the captain of such a reliable and sturdy crew, and then for Luffy to be the sun god Nika, the warrior of liberation that Kuma has been admiring his whole life, the role model that he's been pursuing in his own actions, it all just feels so full circle. And I do think that one of the greatest strengths about such a long running series like One Piece is that we have these multiple layers that make each moment feel so much more than it already seems. Kuma protecting the sunny as another example. That was something that already meant a lot, especially given we knew of his relationship to Dragon. But then going on to find out that the attacks that Kuma must have endured during the time skip is something that he's learned to withstand over the years as a martyr, taking on all the pain of innocent civilians back at Sorbet Kingdom. Again, just brilliant storytelling. And as we get these additional details, Kuma increasingly seems like a very strong contender for the most tragic backstory in One Piece. You could just imagine that Kuma has never had a single week of complete peace or being at 100% health because he's been exchanging his own to free others of their suffering. And the thought that despite the immense physical pain that he is clearly enduring, this act has been giving him inner peace and happiness, knowing that he's putting his hands of liberation to good use. And I know I said this last time, but Kuma is just such a pure wholesome character, it makes my heart ache. And something that I do want to focus on here while I have the chance is to point out something that is so tragic but also so heartwarming in this scene. The incredibly sweet life and relationship between Ginny and Kuma also feels my heart as much as my heart hurts for him. Although there is the tragic element of Kuma's martyrdom and only Ginny being aware of his sacrifice. And I do have that uneasy feeling in my stomach because I do know how ultimately the story ends for Kuma. And I do strongly suspect dark times ahead for Ginny, so I do have to take comfort in the fact and revel in the thought that for at least 8 years, Kuma and Ginny had a relatively peaceful and happy life together. And the chapter does let us witness their relationship grow stronger as the years go by. Ginny goes from cute to hot, and naturally their relationship has developed to the point that Ginny asks Kuma to marry her, which Kuma refuses for a very understandable reason, a very Kuma reason might I add, in that again, Kuma's sacrificing his own happiness to make sure that others don't suffer. I completely understand his reasoning. After witnessing his own father, who must have carried so much guilt at what happened to Kuma and Kuma's mom because of his Buccaneer heritage, Kuma doesn't want any scared about Ginny suffering that same fate. And again, how can an individual just be so selfless, so pure, so wholesome? Or better yet, how did a young man at the healthy age of 22 resist freaking Ginny? At the age of 17, when normal people his age were partying, Kuma chose God and pain, and now turning down Ginny, I think martyrdom is the wrong word to use. Kuma is more like the face of masochism. But in all seriousness, again, it just makes my heart feel so heavy. Kuma may not be Nika, but it's only fate that's stopping him from not being considered the legendary God himself. Because this is the recurring theme or the recurring cycle throughout the chapter. Kuma's sacrificing himself over and over again, leaving us with heavy hearts, but then the chapter also providing us with pockets of wholesome relief. We see this happen again with the cruelty of King Bekori, who has a new plan to split up Sorbet Kingdom in half as a way to avoid the celestial tribute, which also involves those in the poor southern half, the new lawless area, being considered less than human, close to making them slaves again. And this time, this not only results in only Kuma being jailed, but also Ginny, as well as a ragtag group of friends, two of whom are the same kids that Kuma first used his pain absorbing powers on, and those two being the same two companions that we've seen with Bonnie. But again, this tragedy also brings a moment of relief and a moment of celebration and a hurrah, because they all get saved by none other than the Revolutionary Army, or I guess I should say the precursor to the Revolutionary Army, the Freedom Fighters. A detail that I found very cute in this chapter was that Kuma had heard of Dragon before, and was a fan even before they had met. One of my low-key favorite panels in this chapter was when the Revolutionary Army came to free Kuma in the captured group, and Kuma was borderline fangirling at Seeing Dragon. I missed those panels when I was first reacting to the chapter live, and afterwards, when I was rereading the chapter again, I just couldn't with that scene. It brought tears to my eyes. But oh my god, how hype was the Revolutionary Army conception panel? It's so powerfully simple, but definitely a moment that makes you feel like your witnessing history take place right in front of your eyes, and I guess in some way that is exactly what is happening. But especially when you have narration voice going on in your head like I did, absolutely goosebump material. And when you actually study the panel a little bit more closely, it's also full of very fun and curious little details. For example, the woman at the front is wearing Sarbo's hat, and so maybe she was the chief of staff in the Freedom Fighters, but next to her is a man who looks very similarly dressed to Shiryu. Meanwhile next to Ginny, we see someone who looks very much like Sanji. Whereas Ginny herself looks very similar to the pose that the young kid at Elba, the loofy lookalike, the pose that he was making back in Chapter 1076. In fact, this entire panel looks very similar to that panel of the red-haired pirates with their Elba fleet members, what with the two giants Kuma and Aiva at the back. Oda has obviously figured out a structure to get us excited, and he's running with it. And it is working, because again, that was just such a hype panel. Of course, one of the most exciting parts about this whole section is the confirmation that Dragon was in fact a part of the Marines, and this is a fan theory that has been speculated on for so long that it almost feels very natural that this was confirmed. In fact, the reveal itself feels very nonchalant. It's a quick comment that almost feels like it's not that significant, but this casual remark is perfect given the context, where like Chapter 1096 with the tease of the God Valley incident, this is Kuma's story. And so Dragon isn't our focus. But also, it is still another one of those reveals that makes you think back on all of these other moments in the series with new added meaning. Like Garp's frustration during his training sessions with Kuzan, because not only did Dragon become the leader of the revolutionaries, but he was once a Marine. And Garp may have even felt like he failed as a father to instill hope that change can be brought from within the system, failing as a father and as a Marine. And some other scenes like Akainu's obsession with Luffy being Dragon's son, which if we want to unpack would actually have to speculate quite a bit, so I will leave that for now. And there is so much to be said and to speculate on about Dragon's past. But like I said, this is Kuma's story, and so we'll get to Dragon another time. But for the purposes of this chapter discussion, going back a bit, seeing Kuma against the Royal Army was a very exciting development, because we now see another side to Kuma that this flashback hadn't really showcased up until this point. His backstory had really focused on Kuma's cure and helping and nurturing side. And while all of his actions, even in this chapter or even in this moment, are still motivated by his desire to protect and help people, we see much more intimidating and threatening side of Kuma. Dragon comments that he really went on quite the rampage, implying the damage that Kuma left while fighting the Royal Army. And I was actually curious as to how they even managed to get Kuma into a jail sale at all, because there was no one there I would imagine with notable strength to subdue him. And I guess we could just say that it was multiple people, but I get the feeling that Kuma got arrested on his own accord, probably in exchange for letting the rest of the citizens go. And I think this is a duality to Kuma's character that will become increasingly important as his story continues. A man with an incredibly pure and kind heart, willing to engage in acts of terror and aggression for the sake of his people. And on that note, the exchange between Kuma and Ginny while in jail says a lot about Kuma's decision to join Dragon, because Kuma can rebel and fight against King Bekori and all the soldiers, but to do so is actually picking a fight with the world government itself. And in that case, who better to follow than the man leading the charge for such a cause? And I think understanding this would also be a major reason for Kuma to actually leave Sorbet Kingdom at all, because otherwise, I think Kuma would probably feel guilty at not being able to provide his weekly services. Because we do see that Kuma returns to Sorbet Kingdom from time to time, worried about the village. And this is again very interesting for me, because so far, this portrayal of Kuma is the exact opposite of a tyrant. The tyrant of Sorbet Kingdom is a very apt name for someone like King Bekori, but the hero of Sorbet Kingdom or the saint seems to be a much more fitting name for Kuma. And this is where I suspect that things will get very dark and very heartbreaking. From the beginning of the chapter, was this underlying thread that there are these extremely high taxes on the people of Sorbet Kingdom and the impact this was having on the elderly poor and how King Bekori was a ruthless ruler, imposing harsh penalties to satisfy the celestial dragons. And while Kuma, up until this point, for much of his life shielded and aided the citizens of Sorbet Kingdom, I think that what we're going to see in the next stages of his life are actually the opposite, or at least on the surface. Because we know that Ginny was captured at the end of this chapter, showing again another tragic event in that repeating cycle, but from now on, rather than the cycle of tragedy and wholesome moments, I anticipate a downward spiral into more tragedy and more darkness and sadness. Knowing that Kuma does at one point become known as a tyrant, his solution to freeing Ginny may be to strike a deal with the world government. Because, assumedly, I would imagine that following the Revolutionary Army's involvement at Sorbet Kingdom, King Bekori was usurped and the Kingdom might have become considered independent or openly in rebellion of the world government. So could you imagine if Kuma made a deal with the world government that he would become King of Sorbet in exchange for Ginny's freedom, and then he betrays Sorbet Kingdom by making them a world government affiliated country once again imposing things like taxes on its people. And because of his pure heart, I can't imagine him actually acting like a tyrant, but I can imagine that there would be some sort of misunderstanding that he doesn't clear up. Shouldering the burden of being thought of as cold and distant, similar to how he never revealed the pain that he was actually taking on by helping the villagers. And as for Ginny, one of the most obvious and odd details throughout this chapter is that as we witness Kuma's life, Jewelry Bonnie is nowhere to be seen. And now that could suggest or reveal a couple of things. For example, the fact that her devil fruit allows her to manipulate her age may mean that the reason why we haven't seen her so far in the backstory means that she is actually a young girl born in the last 14 years because at least at the latest point of the flashback, Bonnie hasn't been seen with either Kuma or Ginny. And this could be at least some good news because this would mean that Ginny survives to give birth to Bonnie in the future, but then I also think this chapter highly implies that Kuma isn't Ginny's biological father because I just can't see him deciding to marry Ginny and have a child with her after this chapter. But let me know what you think of this whole Ginny Bonnie Kuma situation. I've got some thoughts of my own that I want to share in another video, but I'd love to read what you guys think as well. I have to say I love Ginny's Revolutionary Army design, by the way. I think it might be one of, if not my favorite design out of all female characters in One Piece. I really think Oda cooked with her design. She feels so spunky, which is actually a theme going on with a lot of the women introduced during the Egghead Island arc. Lilith and Dole have this aura as well, actually. Oda really took in our comments about the One Piece classic princess design, and now we're in our cool girl era. I'm really hoping that Ginny's rescue mission allows us to see her in action. Initially I was just excited to see the three founding members of the Revolutionary Army getting their action on, especially because this might mean that we actually get to see Dragon in action and not just doing admin business and having to save their comrade would present the most perfect opportunity for Oda to do so. But of course there is also a good chance that Oda will just decide to tease us again and off-screen this, but overall great chapter. And one that is making Kuma one of the best written characters in this entire series. I do think we're getting to the tail end of the flashback so that we can go back to the current drama unfolding with Bonnie at the hands of Saturn, making the idea that Kuma is running to Egghead to save her seem very likely. But I guess we'll find out soon and potentially very, very soon. As soon as next chapter actually or next week, because as far as I know, there's no break and we get another chapter next week. So yay for us. But this chapter alone gave us plenty to think about so let me know what you think by leaving a comment below, like the video, please do subscribe, and we shall continue our one piece discussions. Thank you to all of our patreon and channel members for your continued support, and thank you for listening to another one of my ramblings. This is Joygirl and I'll see you again soon.