Kuma’s first, short flashback in One Piece reveals that the former Warlord of the Sea had a tragic childhood as a slave of the Celestial Dragons.
Warning: SPOILERS for chapter #1074 of One Piece
One Piece starts unveiling the past of one of its most mysterious characters, Bartholomew Kuma, and his first, short flashback reveals that the former Warlord of the Sea had a tragic childhood as a slave of the cruel Celestial Dragons.
One Piece has a huge cast of characters, but few are as mysterious as Kuma. A former Commander in Dragon’s Revolutionary Army, Kuma has, for yet unknown reasons, become a guinea pig for the experiments of the World Government, letting Dr. Vegapunk modify his body, turning him into a soulless cyborg and the prototype for all the Pacifista. The mystery of Kuma’s past grew even more after the recent revelation that he is the former king of the Sorbet Kingdom, and that the pirate Jewelry Bonney is, in fact, his daughter.
As A Kid, Kuma Was A Slave Of The Celestial Dragons
During her attempt to force Dr. Vegapunk to turn her father back into a man, Bonney has discovered that Kuma used the powers of his Devil Fruit to leave behind, in Vegapunk’s lab, a storage of his memories. Against Vegapunk’s advice, Bonney accesses the memories and, in chapter #1074 of One Piece, she and the readers get a first glimpse at Kuma’s mysterious backstory. In the sequence, a young Kuma, crying and hurt, is found by a mysterious group of people who beat him up and carry him back to a “horrible place“. From the silhouettes of the people waiting for Kuma there, and from the details of the buildings, it’s strongly suggested that he was a slave of the Celestial Dragons, the nobles who rule over the entire world from Mary Geoise.
A few years ago, Eiichiro Oda shared his drawings of the Seven Warlords of the Sea as kids. Japanese fans immediately noticed that Kid Kuma’s design was based on that of Ninomiya Sontoku a Japanese real-life figure who became successful despite being born poor, as he educated himself while working as a farmer. This image, however, clashed with the later revelation that Kuma was a king, but it is now clear that he was not born noble. Kuma’s mysterious backstory as a slave would explain why he later joined the Revolutionary Army, an organization dedicated to destroying the World Government and the Celestial Dragons. It also explains why, as punishment for helping Luffy and the Straw Hats in Sabaody, Kuma was enslaved by the Celestial Dragons: as a former slave, this must have been the cruelest form of punishment for him.
One Piece Still Has To Explain Why Kuma Let Vegapunk Transform Him Into A Cyborg
Many mysteries still surround Kuma. The biggest question is why he let the World Government turn him into a cyborg, but only Vegapunk has the answer to it. Still, while fans wait for a full flashback, the revelation of Kuma‘s past as a slave and his ties with the Celestial Dragons shed some light on one of One Piece‘s most mysterious characters.
One Piece’s Zoro Vs. Kuma is Reimagined By Acclaimed Marvel/DC Artist
In an awesome piece of fan art, Marvel and DC Comics illustrator InHyuk Lee presents his interpretation of a pivotal One Piece Zoro duel.
A new piece of One Piece fan art reimagines Zoro’s emotionally intense confrontation with Bartholomew Kuma, which not only helped the Straw Hats Pirates avoid annihilation but also proved why Zoro is the best first officer Luffy could have ever hoped to have in his crew.
In a recent post to his personal Twitter account, Marvel and DC Comics illustrator InHyuk Lee dropped a gorgeous piece of fan art depicting the scene from One Piece‘s Thriller Bark arc where Zoro takes on the fearsome Kuma all by himself. With a hulking Kuma towering above Zoro, the image immediately gives viewers an idea of the odds that Zoro faced in trying to stop Kuma. Moreover, Kuma’s seeming indifference to Zoro, one other most dangerous swordsman on the Four Seas, suggests One Piece’s Kuma doesn’t feel threatened in the least by Zoro.
InHyuk Lee Does Justice to One Piece’s Zoro Vs. Kuma
In the story arc, which occurs in One Piece 483-485, Kuma is hired to take out the Straw Hat Pirates by the World Government who see them as a growing threat. Soon after commencing his attack, the Straw Hats are quickly overwhelmed. Believing he had incapacitated everyone on the crew, Kuma attempts to kidnap Luffy for transport back to One Piece’s World Government. However, before he’s able to grab Luffy, Kuma is confronted by Zoro, the lone member of Luffy’s crew able to recover from his attack. Understanding that the odds are against him, Zoro doesn’t hesitate to put himself on the line so that Luffy and the rest of the crew can escape.
Zoro’s confrontation with Kuma is a key point of the One Piece story. It showcases Zoro’s loyalty by revealing just how far he’s willing to push himself for Luffy and his crewmates. Zoro’s focus on self-improvement makes him normally quite aloof and cold towards his fellow Straw Hat Pirates in One Piece. However, if anyone ever doubted he cared for them, this confrontation with Kuma would be proof-positive that he does. Rather than kill him, Kuma promised not to hurt Zoro if he agreed to feel all the pain that Luffy endured in his fight against Moira. After tasting just a sample of it, Zoro nevertheless agreed to the terms and suffered as a result.
In his mesmerizing artwork, Lee really captures the intensity of the situation Zoro is in. A man of lesser resolve would likely run away from the challenge or simply pretended he was dead and have let Kuma take Luffy away. But Zoro takes the challenge on without reservation, thereby proving himself to be one of the very best heroes in One Piece worthy of the epic status Lee’s artwork invokes.
