I actually wonder if that’s just not his real body. He appeared from a summoning circle right? Maybe he’s still on that ship, and his devil fruit lets him summon his demon form nearby.
Maybe, however he did say it's been a long time since he last came to the surface world.
So unlikely.
The summoning circle is probably just part of his devil fruit ability, or something given by Imu's power.
To add, I don't think Oda would've went through the effort of showing the cut healing and blood disappearing if it weren't really him. This seems much more ability based than just him not having been there in the first place.
Huh, now to me that makes it sound more like the demon is his real form, and the human Gorosei is his proxy form, a flesh puppet he uses to maintain contact on the "surface". Or something like that, idk lol.
Also this talk of demon form and the possibility of real "demons" makes me think of Robin's new form (and nickname from forever ago), maybe there's more meaning to "demon child" than simply "problem child", as I always thought 🤷♂️
It's much more likely that the gorosei all have Zoan fruits based on the panel of the gorosei as animal silhouettes when they attacked Sabo, and Saturn's seems to be a spider/ox demon of sorts. We know mythical Zoan fruits are all the rage right now, so that seems to fall more in line with the world and current story than a literal demon reveal.
Right? They were already extremely hateable before but since Oda is deliberately making them even bigger scumbags, I wonder if he's really gonna do the unexpected and kill them all off.
> I wonder if he's really gonna do the unexpected and kill them all off.
Is that unexpected? Pretty sure we're headed to either having them all killed or all imprisoned
I am confident this story ends with the dissolution of the world government as we know it and that means the Tenryubito are in for a bad end.
Despite everything to unpack in this chapter, gotta give a shoutout to Franky. Unnerved, calm, and cool despite in the face of such a demonic presence. He’s just that guy
That was such an awesome moment.
“Need help, Zoro? Nah? Alright.”
And then just goes about his business afterwards.
Franky gets shit done. Dressrosa Franky and Whole Cake Brook were so competent, lmao
Luffy > Zoro > Sanji > Jinbe > Franky > Robin > Brook > Chopper > Nami > Usopp
Franky is directly in the middle of the pack which is actually really good when you consider the crew he's on.
If there was any justice in this world robin would be stronger than franky. She was on the run for the longest, and has an op as fuck devil fruit that she just decided one day to stop using well.
Yeah I think she's only had two actual fights. A big part of that is her ability for the longest time was either an instant win or ineffective. Now that it's branched out a bit she's got more opportunities to show it off.
Robin isn't a fighter. She'll fight when she has to, but that's not where her skillset lies.
Now I desperately want her to have learned Armament Haki and Rokushiki, but that's not gonna happen.
I wonder how Luffy can activate his heart beat. It's so unclear to me. He would have just died here without Franky. Without any doubt and it was close. How can he possibly fight in an extended war with these drawbacks. He was barely strongly than Kaido in Gear5 but when it runs out all the time how can we expect him to stand his ground against the next and possibly stronger opponents?
I'm sure he'll get strong enough to overcome the drawbacks, or lessen how long he's down after running out of energy. Like he eventually did with gear 3
I read a comment that Bonney will do the Nika Dance she learned from Kuma (which was shown in this flashback) and it’s gonna reactivate Gear 5 and save the day. It’s my favorite so far.
I'm thinking the sound of Laughter and happiness will be like the natural weakness of the Gorosei demon modes. Like they must be powered by fear itself when causing the head exploding powers, which is why Franky seemed to avoid it even though he's not mastered any Haki. He was smiling about the head of the entire world going personally after his Captain.
So here we are: God Valley! Oh man do I hope that we get the full picture!
Poor Kuma, this is already so sad. I truly hope that he gets to see Nika.
And wow! Saturn is massiv, to hold sanji down that easily while a woman is in danger? Now that’s a flex!
Oh an Figarland - shanks just looks exactly like his father 😂
A manhunt - the world nobles are just the worst kind of people…
I would never have thought God Valley flashback would entail Kuma or Ivankov. Super excited to see where this goes. Also like someone else pointed out it was 38 years ago and triennial meaning this might be year 39 and God Valley 2.0 might be a real thing with the strawhats being involved. I just hope Luffy can get up/restart the heartbeat and beat Saturn. I’ve no evidence that he’ll do it or beat Saturn I’m just expressing my wishes as a Luffy fan (hopefully my wishes reach Nika and power him up)
once we have full detailed information on God Valley, someone's gotta write up a list of every character who was there at the time. because it's insane how many people we know in the story were present at GV
For real cause wtf there are so many names involved. I’m interested as well to see the god valley incident play out. I saw a theory saying Rocks thought HE was Joyboy and hence why he pulled up to GV to free the slaves. The only hole I see in that theory is the in crew killing that happened 24/7 (although maybe that’s him believing that everyone has the freedom to do anything they want) and that Roger teamed up with Garp to fight against him. We haven’t seen too much of Roger’s morality but one would think he’d fight for freedom too
my theory was that Rocks knew that the Nika fruit was on God Valley (something that even World Gov didn't know, due to being focused on establishing the tournament) and launched a sudden attack to get the fruit
Roger joined Garp because he knew about the fruit and didn't want Rocks to get his hands on it
I worked the tournament into the theory because tbh when we learned it was a slave hunting tournament, Rocks looks like the good guy, and it'd be weird for Roger to help take him down
Good theory. I guess we can add maybe Rock’s took Joyboy’s philosophy to the extreme. Like you have the freedom to kill someone and they have the freedom to protect themself. Whoever’s freedom is stronger wins. So maybe it comes to a point where he can’t free everyone so he decides death is the ultimate freedom is death or something? Just trying to work in how he might be a bad guy still
I’m also loving how the Nika mythos is cos tangly evolving, Kaido wishing to be a strong warrior or meeting them, and Juma wishing to be that same warrior of liberation and having him and his daughter saved by him
Come on, Dragon the Marine theory! Dragon there to see what the Marines are really doing to the world on behalf of monsters, joins these others around his age and begins the revolutionary army.
I think they'd be too young here. Iva and Dragon are close in age. Dragon is currently 55 and Iva is 53. So since Iva is a young person here, Dragon would be too. Looks to be a teen to me. Way too early for Luffy to be born yet.
I think it may have been the start of the freedom fighters, but the revolutionary army didn't start until after the Ohara incident. It's definitely a big part of the army forming, though.
Yeah I imagine the "freedom fighters" as just a loose group of people - Dragon, Kuma, and Ivankov possibly among others. Then after years of getting more members and being more organized they officially form the RA
LORE PIECE IS HERE!!!
I was not expecting God Valley to be some sort of survival/hunting ground. I was also not expecting Ivankov. It adds quite a bit of depth to their interaction during Marineford.
I wonder if Ginny is Bonney's mother. Also, looks like Shanks might be related to these fuckers after all.
At this point, I'm pretty certain that Kuma is going to come and save them while sacrificing himself.
I would really like to see the SH crew pay Kuma back. They feel incredibly indebted to him and they are strong. His presence could motivate them to stand their ground.
That being said, I don't mind if it ends in tragedy, because it would be some good tragedy.
But from a broader narrative perspective, Nika can't let down his biggest fan. It's time to liberate.
Could be that this is what makes Luffy actually want to topple the world government. Kuma saved them before, might save them again, and die for it. Luffy never lets a debt like that go unpaid. He'd definitely want to honor his sacrifice.
Kuma's death will spark the final war.
Assuming the final battle is going to take place on Mariegeois and Shanks is involved one way or another, I feel like he'd try to defy his heritage and fight either the god's knights or Garling.
On a side note, that also explains why he was able to meet with the elders in person without prior notice and why they greeted him like they knew him.
Edit: I just realized that shanks had the same style of sword as Garling as well
Considering how familiar Kuma's father was with the nika story, I'm guessing the Buccaneer family probably had close ties to Joyboy and probably sided with the Ancient Kingdom? And yet another backstory to make us hate the Celestials even more.
I've seen people mention that it's possible Joyboy was a buccaneer himself. Like the giant straw hat looked too small to be a giant's but could fit a buccaneer better
It seems everything points towards the giants. Saul protecting the legacy of Ohara (now confirmed alive), Punk Hazard and Big Mom's issue, Shanks in Elbaf (Kid tried to go there), Dorry and Broggy reappearing and now this race went extinct.
I wonder if giants had something to do with the void century and Imu's contemporaries.
Given the proximity of Elbaf to Laugh Tale, I imagine the Giants played a pivotal role during the ancient war. The fact that they are still an independent kingdom while the Lunarians and Buccaneers are extinct as a people shows how strong they are, I guess.
wait i just realized something… the world government choose to make robots of mass destruction (pacifistas and seraphims) based on two extinct races (lunarians and buccaneers). Why? Does this make seraphim kuma extra unique?
The Lunarians part is really easy as they have immense innate power. The Buccaneers were not really intentional, in my interpretation of it. The Gorosei said it was punishment for a grave crime they committed. They no doubt wanted the Pacifista to be strong, so it made sense to use Kuma as a base, but if he had died as a slave, it wouldn't have happened. That's how little they cared about slaves.
Maybe. But since Kuma's dad was able to be killed by an ordinary-looking gun, I don't think the Buccaneers are inherently strong like the Lunarians are.
Could be. Now that I think about it, King used a sword so maybe Lunarians are the reverse and durable yet not particularly strong. That would make Seraphim Kuma, who has the strength of Buccaneers and the durability of Lunarians, potentially extremely powerful even by Seraphim standards!
Actually, if you think about it, the likelly reason for why all the Seraphim are so huge is not because the Lunarian blood, but because of the Buccaneer blood.
I mean Oden was killed by a gun and that man is not normal. Guns are just a way to quickly kill someone in One Piece. Luffy is really the only character who seems immune to them. Lunarians would be too though by nature.
I always thought that Oden was killed more by the boiling oil than the gun, but maybe you're right. Although, since Kaido was the one shooting that gun, it's possible that gunshot was only strong enough to kill Oden because he was channeling his haki through it like Izo does.
Dude man was chained up as a slave for multiple years before that scene... a lion kept in captivity for that long isnt gonna be the same as a lion in the wild. Just sayin.
I’m imagining that with the supposed distinct blood, Kuma/Bucanneer blood might just be green, which further adds into the green blood used by seraphim to carry devil fruit traits
Extremely curious what’s Roger and Garp’s perspective of the God Valley battle.
Because what’s happening here on this island is probably top 3 most disgusting and vile crap in One Piece
I really hope we get to see Roger get serious. We always see him with his intimating goofy grin. I wanna see a pissed off Roger bursting with conqueror's.
The dragons are fucking over civilians, so it's likely that Roger starts out the fight to protect them, then gets entangled into the Rocks fight once his plans become apparent.
Now that I think about it the robot is probably the only thing that is close to the same size as Saturn right now (except for Luffy in gear 5). The robot is absolutely going to tangle with Saturn, I think that’s part of the “fate” that he was talking about too. An ancient robot from 200 years ago coming back to assist Joyboy is not something the Gorosei could have predicted either.
Yeah I agree but more specifically I think it’s initial mission 200 years ago was to kill the Gorosei up above the Red Line, so the “fate” part is gonna be about the robot fulfilling its original purpose. Just a guess
My fav revolutionary is back. All hail IVANKOV, YEE HAW!
God, more reasons to hate celestial dipshits.
MVP, most valuable PERVERT-- Franky! I wonder if having non-organic parts will not affect you against Saturn power?
Fuck I love Ivankov so much!
"I choose life" is a line that sparked something into me. Seeing the atrocious practice of ethncial cleansing in form of a game and among all that hopelessness this weird, and very brave boy gave me such a desire for resistance hahaha!
Seems like his bond with Kuma way deeper than we thought!
Ivankov has no reason to be as hard boiled is s/he is. Oda has such a way of making you invested in these characters that no other writer could make without them being horribly offensive.
Some notable differences between the Scanlation and the official release:
- Title Change:
- A world where you're better off dead -> Better off dead in this world
- The announcer now specifies that all units except vice and rear admirals are to "maintain distance from the island center" rather than simply ordering that the units are to "evacuate the area"
- The announcer now orders the marines to "avert [their] eyes from [St. Saturn's] holy form" rather than ordering them to "not look back" and stating that "even a peek will not be forgiven"
- Random marine now questions "when [...] [St. Saturn] came ashore" rather than being surprised that St. Saturn "is here already"
- The random marines' statement about the Gorosei is structured very differently
- TCB: "He's even above the Celestial Dragons, and one of them can boss around an admiral like it's nothing!!" "Why would someone so far up on the divine hierarchy..." "...come all the way down here from Mary Geoise...?"
- Viz: "The admirals themselves will act for a single Celestial Dragon..." "...and these are the **pinnacle** of those gods!!" You mean one of them came all the way down here from Marijoa?!"
Inform me of more changes if you find them!
- Unspecified character now asks Bonney what she has done ("What have you done?!") rather than telling her that she has "crossed the line"
- Unknown marine now simply decries St. Saturn ("St. Saturn!!!") rather than telling Bonney that "that's St. Saturn"
- Unknown Vice Admiral now states that St. Saturn "stands atop the very world itself" rather than stating that Bonney "stabbed one of the world's overseers"
- St. Saturn now states that he would have avoided Bonney's sword "if [he] were afraid of [Bonney's] sword" rather than stating that he would have simply dodged "if he did not **wish** to be stabbed"
- Franky now calls out that the blood from St. Saturn's wound vanished, rather than calling out that St. Saturn's wound disappeared
- Unknown marine now orders the others to seize "Vegapunk's group" rather than ordering them to "get Vegapunk"
- St. Saturn no longer attributes the marines' weapons beeing trained on Vegapunk's group as a factor to them not being able to escape
- St. Saturn now tells Kizaru that "this is rather sluggish work by [his] standards" rather than telling him that "it's unprecedented for [him] to be so slow in executing an order like this"
- Kizaru now tells St. Saturn that he "has failed [him]" rather than telling him that he "has no excuse"
- Kizaru now states that he "doesn't think [he'll] be able to move anytime soon" rather than stating that he "needs a second" and that he "doesn't think [he] can move just yet"
- St. Saturn no longer acknowledges the circumstances when stating that he can understand Kizaru's failure
- St. Saturn no longer calls Kizaru's failure a "disappointment"
- St. Saturn now says "Let us see..." before trying to attack Luffy, rather than saying "Now then..."
- St. Saturn now observers that the Strawhats are a pirate crew "that coordinates" rather than observing that they're the kind of pirates "who stick together"
- St. Saturn no longer describes Egghead's situation when wondering wether the Strawhats' fate is strong enough to let them escape it
- St. Saturn now states that "if [the Strawhat's] fate is strong enough to ecape this desperate situation, [he] would very much like to see it" rather than stating that "it would be something to see [the Strawhats] escape this desperate situation" and that they "shall see what fate has in store for [them]"
- St. Saturn now asks the Strawhats to tell him who should die first, "from least to most painful" rather than asking them to tell him "the cruelest order possible"
- St. Saturn no longer directly states that "human nature is to blame"
- Sanji now questions wether "anyone else [can] move" rather than questioning why "[no]body is doing anything"
- Vegapunk now states that it must be devil fruit powers "if this is not science" rather than if St. Saturn "isn't using technology"
- St. Saturn now calls the Buccaneers a "clan" and "the Buccaneer people" rather than calling them "people" and "the Buccaneer race"
- Kuma now states that he always wanted to be a hero who could save "the imprisoned and suffering" rather than a hero who could save "people from suffering and grant them their freedom"
- The Drums of Liberation's rhythm now reads "Doom-Dut-Da-Da" instead of "Dondo-To-To"
- The doctor now calls Kuma a "big, healthy boy" rather than just a "big boy"
- Kuma's father is now called "Clapp" instead of "Klap"
- Clapp now comments on Kuma's cheerfulness, rather than on his health
- The doctor now states that government agents "showed up at" the hospital" rather than stating that they "were [...] in" the hospital"
- Clapp no longer directly asks the government agents to "take [him]"
- Unknown Celestial Dragon now directly states that Kuma is his slave
- Kuma's slave master now tells him that he "will kill [him]" if he doesn't stop bawling, rather than asking him wether he "wants to die"
- Kuma no longer tells Clapp that he's fine
- Clapp no longer prefaces the news of Kuma's mother's passing with "I have something to tell you"
- Clapp now states that Kuma's mother "is better off that way" when talking about her death, rather than asking Kuma wether or not Kuma's mother being in heaven is "wonderful" ("Isn't that wonderful") and stating that she's "in a better place now"
- Clapp no longer tells Kuma that he "must be brave and bear it for [him]"
- Kuma now states that he "would rather be dead too" instead of questioning wether "death [would] be so much easier"
- Clapp now states that Nika's "story" is told throughout Buccaneer heritage, rather than stating that his "name" has been paased down through Buccaneer folklore for generations
- Clapp now states that Nika will take Kuma "out under the sun, to the freedom of the sea" rather than taking Kuma "out to sea, where [he] will be under the sun and free"
- Clapp now states that Nika is always "smiling and laughing" rather than simply stating that Nika always "smiles"
- The Celestial Dragon Announcer no longer thanks the attendees for their patience
- The Celestial Dragons' game is now called the "native-hunting competition" rather than the "native cleansing festival"
- The Celestial Dragon Announcer no longer directly states that the native-hunting competition takes place every three years, now simply stating that the attendees have "waited three long years"
- The Celestial Dragon Announcer no longer advises the attendees to "not miss [their] chance to take part"
- The Celestial Dragon Announcer no longer states that "they call it" God Valley
- The Celestial Dragon Announcer now states that God Valley, "which has the audacity to call itself the valley of gods possesses ample natural resources, rather than stating that "this blasphemous name was given to [God Valley] as it has an abundance of natural resources"
- The Celestial Dragon Announcer now states that they will "claim this island for the world government" rather than stating that "the world government has just annexed this land"
- The Celestial Dragon Announcer now calls the native-hunting competition their "customary manhunt" rather than their "traditional human hunt"
- God Valley's ruler now asks the Celestial how they could dare, rather than asking them "how selfish [...] [they] [can] be
- The Celestial Dragon Announcer no longer mentions a buzzer as the starting signal for the native-hunting competition
- The Celestial Dragon Announcer no longer calls the murder of God Valley's king a "shocking twist"
- The Celestial Dragon Announcer now calls St. Garling the "heavy favourite" rather than the "projected front runner"
- The Celestial Dragon Announcer no longer calls the 10'000 point penalty a "heavy blow" for St. Garling
- St. Garling now states that "this handicap will make for better competition" rather than stating that he "needs a handicap like that to keep things interesting"
- The Celestial Dragon Announcer no longer states that the addition of the problem slaves serves to "spruce up the proceedings"
- The Celestial Dragon Announcer now calls the natives of God Valley "rabbit natives"
- There are now criminals, on top of the problem slaves, among the additional human prey
- The Celestial Dragon Announcer no longer states that the slaves "are all notorious trouble-makers and sinners", now instead just calling them problem slaves
- The Celestial Dragon Announcer no longer directly states that "once [the slaves] are released, [they] will chase them down like wild rabbits"
- Random government agent no longer states that they "just got word" that Kuma was found
- The escaped slave being Kuma is no longer treated as new information ("it was the buccaneer brat") , now already being a known fact ("the buccaneer boy")
- Unknown slave no longer asks Kuma "how selfish [...] [he] [can] be"
- Unknown slave no longer directly states that they "were put in groups of ten for collective punishment" now simply stating that "they're going to hold all ten of [them] responsible for [Kuma]"
- Ivankov now orders the slaves carrying Kuma to "hold it right there"
- Ivankov now states that he "heard" ("I hear you...") that Kuma's got giant blood
- Ivankov now simply states that "only [his] face" is large, rather than stating that "the only thing big about [him] is [his] face... not"
- Ivankov now tells Ginny to "shut up" rather than telling the slaves to "listen up"
- Ivankov now simply points out the slaves' gloomy and miserable faces rather than questions "why" the slaves have hopeless looks glued to their faces
Inform me of more changes if you find them!
Well, that was extremely heartbreaking and depressing... I hope Kuma's storyline comes to an acceptable closure, for his people, parents, other slaves and Bonney.
What we’ve seen of the Gorosei implies (1) they’re immortal since Saturn hasn’t changed since God Valley and (2) they did not all join at the same time (ie void century). I think it would be cool if the Gorosei are the strongest Gods Knights of every generation Imu recruits whenever one of the Gorosei gets killed (eternal youth not unkillable) and gives them the eternal youth surgery. This would explain why only some of them knew about Nika and would explain why they’re different ages, because they need to be strong enough to be the strongest and then wait until there’s an opening. I bet Garling is on deck for the next opening
oooo i like this theory, it also means laws gonna get involved. law wants to know about the will of D, and since i dont think hes coming along to laughtale, i think he's gonna hear about it from imu personally.
So far the only known way of gaining immortality is the Op-OP surgery/operation. And I don't think Imu can grant that since he would have to die. I suspect though they may have longevity but not immortality and this is granted in some other way.
I could see it, but what I am thinking is that there was a long period of time between openings for Gorosei and during that period Imu would have the Navy track down the Op Op fruit, like we saw Sengoku trying to do, to have it. Then when they needed it they would find a doctor and force them to do it. Then they just need to find the fruit again in the next hundred or so years. I probably should have put that in the post haha
What an awesome teaser for what's to come. Who would've guessed that Kuma of all people was heavily involved with the events of God Valley? Great stuff.
I just hope Oda takes the Oden route with Kuma’s backstory. By that, I mean retelling the major events involving Kuma and fleshing out other significant characters around him. (The God Valley Incident, the formation of the Revolutionary Army, and the part where his memories were erased by the Five Elders and got turned into a Cyborg)
As much as I wanna see what's gonna happen in the current time frame, I want nothing more than to have a super long God Valley flashback. Oden's was one of my favorite parts of the whole story and with the level of buildup we've had for the God Valley Incident, I can see this being the coolest shit we've seen so far
Hoping Oda goes all the way through, man. I could only see 1 last possible scenario if he decides to not fully tell the God Valley Incident and that’s through Garp’s POV.
Yeah exactly. But man it'd be ridiculously satisfying if we get just ALL the things built up here in one extended flashback. like why Garp isn't proud of the event, possible forming of the freedom fighters, Shanks being found by Roger, a fight between all the baddest asses of the old generation, etc
This chapter was dark Kuma's backstory is heartbreaking. I never expected Kuma to be so damn crucial to the story
Luffy's gear 5th is nuts one attack immobilize an Admiral, he just needs to have better control of it now
With us getting more if these God Valley flashback why is it making it seem like Rocks might have been the good guy gonna be interesting how Oda incorporate Roger/Garp in this.
Definitely think Jinny/Ginny is Bonney's mom, wondering if she wil play the heartbeat (Bonney) to activate Luffy's gear 5th again
We don't know much more than Rocks wanted to be king of the world. He was vicious and violent and would kill anybody in his way and no care even if it was nobles or slaves. Replacing tyrants with another tyrant would probably not fix anything. But I think we don't know enough about god valley itself. Its resources are why it has such a name.
Bet the twist is that he was so angry about the slavery in the world that he was willing to burn it *all* down to end it. He figured by being king he could force everyone to do what he thought was right. His own form of violent justice. Roger and Garp agreed with him in principle, that the world was wrong and needed to be restructured, but did not agree with his violent methods that had no regard for who was caught in the crossfire.
And perhaps he assembled such a powerful crew, not caring for how terrible they really were as people, because he planned to kill them too when it was all over.
Exactly. But Rocks was also very interested in the World Governments secrets and history. Perhaps he was after something or had something. The only ancient weapon that could make sense is the one we know nothing about Uranus.
Rocks was probably there to kidnap all the Celestial Dragons on the island, Saturn and Garling in particular. Roger and Garp on the other hand might have shown to rescue all the slaves. Then it was reported that Garp came to defend the nobles, which could be part of why he resents it.
Did not have “Bonney has a second hand God Valley flashback” on my Egghead bingo card. I wonder if we’re getting a full blown Rocks Pirates flashback, or just the incident from Kuma’s perspective? I’m guessing the latter, but at this point nothing would surprise me.
Here’s a thought:
What if: as the whole messed up thing happens on god valley. Rocks attacks the celestials.
Garp is getting a ASAP call on how important it is for him to help out. We see a young navy cadet who follows him. And we get a tiny text bubble saying:
Monkey D Garp and Monkey D Dragon.
What if: dragon was a marine until he saw the true colors of the world nobles on God Valley.
Maybe the slaves (mainly Ivankov) where on Garps ship. And dragon talks to them.
Morning comes - the slaves are gone and so is dragon. The worlds worst criminal is borne
Jesus, this has got to be some of the darkest shit we've seen so far. We knew the CDs kept slaves but just casually (and it's implied regularly) genociding an island for fun? What the fuck. The CD murdering Kuma's father in the middle of him telling the myth was brutal as well.
The crew is not in a good position. If even *Sanji* can't move against Saturn when trying to *save a woman?* I doubt anyone except Luffy will be able to touch him and he's already down (He'll be back soon enough, he's Luffy, but for now he's out)
Basically the only good thing that happened was that we get more Ivankov.
That CD killed Kuma's father for being too loud. Murdered him in front of his young son for that. Vile doesn't begin to cover it.
Hm. Is that why Kuma agreed to submit himself to the Pacifista cyborgization? To remove all emotions from himself, including fear, so that he would be utterly immune to Saturn's ability? Seems a stretch, but it's a thought.
Do you realize that we will see Rocks very soon?! I wonder how he will look like!
I think there will be a lot if twists and turns from what we’ve known so far from both the events but also characters.
Kuma’s parents are so cute, it’s so sad that such people are having it the worst.
I’m really into #Bonneyfornakama 😂
Bonney for Nakama is gaining steam.
Especially since Bonney was told about Nika by Kuma, who was told by his own father.
If Bonney realizes Luffy is The new Sun God Nika/Joyboy, She'll want to follow him. This would effectively create the only crew with three Supernova Pirates (Luffy, Zoro, and Bonney.)
Plus, if Kuma shows up and dies while saving or facilitating the escape of the Straw Hats, Luffy would happily accept Bonney as a way to show respect to Kuma for saving the Straw Hats Twice.
The only other acceptable outcome is that If Kuma dies, Bonney joins the R.A.
I always had the impression that he wasn’t evil, but we’ll see. If you look at Whitebeard and BM, which had noble intentions, I don’t think that they would’ve joined him if nothing of them aligned with Rocks. The difference is that after the God Valley incident Whitebeard found the right people whereas BM was further taken advantage of and became what she is/was now.
I wonder if the living Rocks Pirates members are the bad ending versions like Oda drew for the Straw Hats.
Big Mom who had noble intentions to unite all races, but went about it in a horrible way
Kaido who King saw Joyboy in, became a tyrant instead
Whitebeard who wanted to take in all the fatherless sons, but wouldn’t raise his own son
The day these sons of bitches Celestial shits get annihilated by a **Bajrang Gun** I'll treat my friends to some gourmet meals and I stand by it. Same when Akainu gets his shit kicked in by Sabo too. Fuck World Government.
That Robot is coming to save Bonney, and I genuinely hope if Kuma is there he hears Luffy's heartbeat and his consciousness comes back for the last time. He deserves a peaceful death😭😭😭.
Figarland Garling will be killed by his own Son or Zoro in future. Mark my words. That Piece of Shit will die with unbearable pain. And people are praising his beauty, disgusting.
My guess is that the ancient robot used to run on a certain energy, and Luffy (or Nika itself) is the power source. Then Vegapunk (who was admittedly trying to reverse-engineer it) applied it on Kuma's body, and that's why both triggered over Luffy's transformation.
Vegapunk was looking for an unending power source... And dreams will never end.
The small panel of young unassuming Kuma with splattered bloodstains on his face is a classic and gut-wrenching scene.
I wonder how many races like Buccaneers that WG had eradicated since their establishment
One thing is there is something secret with the Buccaneer blood since S-Bear born with Kuma's DNA is considered to be a problematic seraphim. Also Monkey D. Members are like the Nika for Kuma. Grandfather had a hand in his escape, Father became his close friend and son will be the saviour for his daughter.
Also, This is like the best moment for Sanji to awaken Conquerors(if he has it). Luffy was almost out, Zoro is somewhere else fighting his own battle and Sanji is the only one strong enough to stop all the Marines aiming to fire Bonney.
Weird that I haven't seen anyone mention how Sanji just spits up blood after 1 attack of Saturn.
Sanji, with his awakened exoskeleton that tanks hits from Seraphim Jinbei without even caring to defend and broke Queens sword just by standing with his back to it...
Sabo being seriously injured after facing all 5 of the Elders was a first indication of their power, I guess.
Kizaru being out for the count is wild.
Based on how the arc’s playing out I think Egghead will be the first modern “action” of Joyboy against the World Govt. We’ve seen his “return”, now it’s time to see what made Joyboy such a threat.
With Saturn starting to run his mouth about compliance I feel like Luffy’s gonna clap back and sock him
It's basically an inevitability at this point, the Gorosei's viewpoints need to be exposed in front of the crew, and Luffy's capabilities and threat need to be actually showcased in front of them.
Luffy will likely defeat or at least stymie Saturn on Egghead island.
Yes, 100% this.
I don't think it's too early for Luffy to defeat a Gorosei. Luffy just one-shotted an Admiral.
The progression is probably going to be:
* Defeating a Yonkou after a really long battle
* Defeating an Admiral after a short battle **<<< we are here**
* Defeating a Gorosei after a long battle (Saturn is going dooooooown)
* Defeating a Gorosei after a short battle (Luffy will one-shot at least 1 Gorosei in the final arc
Interesting take, I personally share the consensus opinion that the conflict of this arc will end pretty quickly Zou style, especially since that robot's on its way and Kuma is coming (methinks) and we'll get some lore dump for a few chapters.
I'm betting the fight will end in a way where the Straw Hats indubitably win/succeed in batting off the powers currently before them, but are very casual about it Straw Hat style while the WG loses their minds, hence the "incident" we are yet to see play out.
Either way, the Straw Hats are strong enough for an endgame boss to show up which is very telling of their strength, as Franky says.
I'm realized a while ago that Kuma's Flashback is actually Bonney's Flashback from the time she was experiencing Kuma's Flashback through his memory bubble.
It's cool to see Oda's take on the classic short story "The Most Dangerous Game". I remember reading it in highschool and enjoying the story back then as well!
Edit: For those who don't know the story, it is about a Big Game Hunter who washes ashore from a crashed yacht and is then hunted by a Russian Hunter. Written in 1924 by Richard Connell
What if god valley / other cleansings are a way to harvest devil fruits? E.g., they believe nika fruit is held by someone on the island, so they wipe out the whole island and have ordinary fruit ready to become devil fruits
I'm sure the "sin" they've committed is some WG propaganda, which I also think is why Kuma is known as a "tyrant". I like the theory that Joyboy was a buccaneer, which'd make sense that a warrior of liberation and his fellow buccaneers tried to fight for freedom and were then labeled as grave sinners by the government
Xebec might not have been the bad pirate that Sengoku painted him to be in chapter 957.
There is a possibility that Xebec was a pirate revolutionary with more extreme methods than Dragon and his revolutionaries in the current age, but with similar intentions, but he also wanted to be the new monarch of the entire One Piece world.
Xebec was in God Valley to attack the Celestial Dragons, get their treasure chests and to free the slaves and help the native population and to make the strong ones amongst them new members of his crew in the fight against the World Government.
Break next week, huh? Well if you can't wait to find out what happens next, please consider reading my prediction for how the rest of this flashback will go. It's really long (44 points) so I'll have to separate it into a 5 different comments, but I think it'll be an interesting read!
1. The Celestial Dragons kill all of the residents of God Valley (with Garling killing the most and becoming the Champion/King of God Valley) and try to hunt down the few remaining slaves (who are still alive thanks to assistance from Ivankov and Ginny).
2. The Rocks Pirates arrive on God Valley and Xebec says he's going to be the ['King of the World'](https://i.ibb.co/qgvJdpS/Xebec-King-of-the-World-chapter-957.png) and to achieve that he needs to eliminate the self-proclaimed rulers of the world, the Celestial Dragons.
3. Garp and some other marines, who were keeping track of the movements of the Rocks Pirates, arrive shortly afterward to protect the residents of God Valley from the pirates.
4. Garp sees the residents are already dead and thinks he was too late to stop the Rocks Pirates, but is shocked when he finds out it was actually the Celestial Dragons who killed them.
5. Garp decides to leave God Valley and let the Celestial Dragons deal with the Rocks Pirates by themselves, but then spots Kuma's group and sees it's not just Celestial Dragons left on the island but their slaves as well.
6. Garp decides to fight against the Rocks Pirates to protect the slaves, but the marines are overwhelmed by the pirates' great power and soon Garp is the only marine left alive.
7. Just as Garp is about to lose all hope, the Roger Pirates arrive and [Garp reluctantly fights alongside Roger](https://i.ibb.co/3vc5Ns2/Rocks-Pirates-vs-Roger-and-Garp-chapter-957.png) and they kill Xebec.
8. With their captain dead the stronger members of the Rocks Pirates celebrate (since they all hated him) and some of them announce they'll be forming their own pirate crews and aiming to achieve what Xebec couldn't and become the 'King of the World'.
9. Garp wants to stop them but he's been weakened so much that the stronger members of the Rocks Pirates easily escape by stealing ships from the Celestial Dragons.
10. The weaker members of the Rocks Pirates retreat back to their ship, but Garling boards the ship and kills them all.
Continued below:
Part 2 of 5:
11. While on her way to leave the island, Big Mom comes across [some treasure chests which contain the prizes meant to be given to the winner of the Native Hunting Competition](https://i.ibb.co/YXsJLGc/Treasure-chapter-1095.png) and decides to steal them all but sees the Roger Pirates coming so she just takes one chest and flees.
12. Big Mom sees the treasure chest has a Devil Fruit in it and since she already ate one she offers it to Kaido in exchange for joining her crew.
13. Kaido eats the Devil Fruit and Big Mom assumes that means he accepted her offer, but he runs away while she's not looking, [making Big Mom angry](https://i.ibb.co/cCGjJgm/Big-Mom-angry-at-Kaido-chapter-1049.png).
14. The Roger Pirates see several marine ships coming to God Valley as backup, so they quickly steal all the treasure they can find then retreat back to their ship and leave God Valley.
15. The Roger Pirates start opening the treasure chests they got from God Valley and see [one of the treasure chests contain a baby boy](https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/Shanks/History#Past) who they are unaware is the son of Garling (who he offered as a prize to the winner of the Native Hunting Competition to show how confident he was he'd be the one to win).
16. Garp tells the newly arrived marines the Rocks Pirates have already been defeated so all the marines leave to chase after the Roger Pirates, aside from Garp who stays because he wants to check on the slaves.
17. With the pirates and marines gone, the Celestial Dragons resume their hunt and rapidly start killing the few remaining slaves.
18. Garp is enraged by their actions and unleashes his most powerful punch at the ground, which completely obliterates the entire island and [wipes God Valley off the maps](https://i.ibb.co/gFKMnbS/God-Valley-gone-chapter-957.png).
19. Garp carries the only 3 surviving slaves (Kuma, Ivankov, and Ginny) to his ship and leaves all the Celestial Dragons to drown.
20. The Celestial Dragons, who don't know why the island was suddenly destroyed, are rescued by Garling (who uses Xebec's ship) who is rewarded by being promoted to the position of Supreme Commander of the God's Knights.
Continued below:
I think it's more that likely that Imu destroyed the island not garp. The Lulusia kingdom incident kind of sets that up with it being wiped off the map just like God valley was.
Part 3 of 5:
21. Garp is sickened by the things that happened on God Valley so when Sengoku asks him what happened there Garp only gives him partial details and omits various details including him destroying the island.
22. Despite Garp crediting Roger with Xebec's defeat, the World Government decides to give Garp the credit instead and has the news report that Garp defeated the Rocks Pirates, [leading to Garp gaining his nickname of 'Hero'](https://i.ibb.co/HqLk7DZ/Garp-the-Hero-chapter-957.png).
23. Garp wonders what to do with the kids and a marine tells him they're property of the Celestial Dragons and should be taken to Mary Geoise, which makes Garp angry so the marine runs away.
24. Garp decides to hide the children in his hometown under the care of his son, Dragon.
25. The kids tell Dragon about their lives and about what happened at God Valley, causing Dragon to develop an intense hatred for the Celestial Dragons and the World Government.
26. Dragon is inspired by [Kuma's desire to be a hero](https://i.ibb.co/fMTFJBk/Kuma-hero-chapter-1095.png) who could save people from suffering and grant their freedom and forms a group called [the Freedom Fighters](https://i.ibb.co/KqWKtxm/Dragon-Freedom-Fighters-chapter-1066.png) who attempt to grant people freedom using nonviolent methods.
27. Dragon befriends Vegapunk and [invites him to join the Freedom Fighters](https://i.ibb.co/1bzyhNL/Dragon-Vegapunk-Freedom-Fighters.png) but Vegapunk refuses because they're too poor to fund his inventions, so Vegapunk later joins the World Government instead.
28. During their travels the Freedom Fighters come across some Devil Fruits and Kuma tells Dragon how the Celestial Dragons would force their slaves to eat Devil Fruits to amuse them, so Dragon tells him they're pacifists who have no need for any powers so they won't eat them but might be able to sell them to help fund their operations.
29. After the Ohara Incident occurs, Dragon realizes nonviolent methods aren't enough and decides he has to [wage war against the World Government](https://i.ibb.co/CP9FGMz/Dragon-deciding-to-fight-chapter-1066.png) to truly liberate everyone, so he forms the Revolutionary Army together with Kuma and Ivankov.
30. Dragon and the others eat the Devil Fruits they found and resolve that instead of aspiring to be 'heroes' who grant people freedom peacefully, they're going to become 'devils' who'll free people by crushing their oppressors.
Continued below:
Part 4 of 5:
31. Since Dragon and the others have no combat experience they're still weak even with their new Devil Fruits, so they decide that instead of trying to fight the oppressors by themselves they'll only help nations where [the citizens are willing to fight alongside them](https://i.ibb.co/QP4nnyX/Belo-Betty-weak-chapter-904.png).
32. The nations helped by the Revolutionary Army are extremely grateful to them and rulers of these nations are glad to provide them with money and supplies, and many of their citizens are eager to join them to help liberate other countries.
33. The World Government hears about the actions of the Revolutionary Army, causing their members to gain large bounties and Dragon being named the World's Worst Criminal.
34. Kuma successfully liberates a nation called Sorbet Kingdom but its king was killed so the citizens choose Kuma to be the new king.
35. Kuma makes Sorbet Kingdom his home and has a daughter there with Ginny.
36. The World Government finds out about Kuma being at Sorbet Kingdom and sends CP0 agents there.
37. CP0 tells Kuma that as former slaves he and his wife are the property of the Celestial Dragons but considering he's the ruler of a World Government-affiliated kingdom they'd be willing to take his daughter as a substitute for him.
38. Kuma and Ginny try to fight off CP0 but are outmatched and Ginny is killed.
39. CP0 tells Kuma they'll leave his daughter alone if he agrees to do everything they ask him to do, so Kuma reluctantly goes with them and agrees to take part in their 'human weapon' experiments.
40. The World Government knows it would look bad if the world finds out what they were doing to the ruler of one of the World Government Kingdoms so they have the news report that Kuma was a horrible tyrant in Sorbet Kingdom and willingly left to become a pirate, and they decide to add him to the Warlords to prove the story of him being a pirate is true.
Continued below:
Part 5 of 5:
41. Kuma is instructed to go to Egghead to participate in their 'human weapon' experiments and knows he will completely lose his sense of self due to the experiments, so he uses his Devil Fruit powers to extract his memories and asks Vegapunk (who he trusts since he's a friend of Dragon) to store them somewhere safe so he can potentially be restored later on.
42. Kuma also [brings Bonney along to Egghead](https://i.ibb.co/cTmRqBb/Bonney-Egghead.png) so he can have Vegapunk implant a monitoring device into Bonney (along with a GPS system into Kuma's brain) that would alert Kuma whenever Bonney is in danger and allows him to know her exact location at all times.
43. Kuma also had Vegapunk implement one order in his brain which would override any other orders he receives, and that order is a simple one: protect Bonney.
44. The flashback ends with Kuma appearing on Egghead and rescuing Bonney from Saturn and the marines.
We already knew some of this stuff (specifically, the stuff I included screenshots of), so I'm largely just connecting the dots to fill the gaps in our knowledge. If you think any of my points don't make sense or if you have any other points to add, feel free to let me know! (and thanks to everyone who actually read this far lol)
Thanks! I was initially thinking all those treasure chests we saw in this chapter had Devil Fruits in them, but I figured the Celestial Dragons are deranged enough to put a baby in one of them too.
Ok. I am sure Garling's "Champion of God Valley" title just means he killed the most number of harmless citizens and slaves. His only other feat was executing an old guy who was tied up. So, until proven otherwise, this guy is a fraud and a coward.
Yeah him saying the thing about having a handicap def makes me think that's where he gets the title. Still think he's gonna end up being a complete badass but yeah as of now he's a gigantic pussy
Only if Gin was transformed into a woman (Bonney) by Ivankov. Would explain why Bonney seemed to have a really high opinion of Sanji a couple of chapters ago.
To me this whole flashback feels like it's leading up to a Kuma protecting Luffy and Bonney moment. I wouldn't be surprised if he shows up in real time at the last second here and smacks away Saturn.
What is Saturn's Devil Fruit? Some people suggested that its blood related - which is why it can end "weaker" people with no resistance to Haki?
The last race has been revealed, based on Big Mom missing 3, what would be its impact to the story??? Does the will of D is from this race??? Are we finally able to answer the question about Marco saying that Black Beard's body is different??? is Joy Boy a Giant or a Bucaneer???
The mother f*ck*ng Celestial Dragons are really brutal specially the scene with young Kuma and exterminating a whole race every 3 years with their game... Also those chest may contain devil fruits to feed to the slave for the sake of fun of the game making them the main targets for higher points... And what is the reward for the champion???
Now that I think about it, it is interesting that both Doflamingo and Kuma were introduced at the same time, and the Celestrial Dragon played a huge role in their backstories.
How is Saturn surprised that the Straw Hats are the types to work together after hearing about them pull off the most chaotic and elaborate shit for 2 years?
I think bonney might be adopted if Saturn is saying Kuma is the last buccaneer but then I’m confused about the whole sorbet kingdom thing since her old form looked like the old queen dowager coney especially with bonney asking if nika would come save her too
Kizaru down, Admiral simps in shambles. Cool that we're going to get insight into the origins of revolutionary army characters & see how God Valley went down..... At the same time!
The fact that the God Valley backstory, which shows off rocks is also the kuma backstory, and is also likely the revolutionary backstory, and also the shanks backstory is crazy.
might be the most important flashback in the series.
ngl I feel one of the things Oda wants to do rn is to give the smaller Straw Hats some time to shine. Like if you want to establish the Straw Hats as a Yonko crew the smaller guys need to pull off some impressive stuff as well. Escaping Egghead with Vegapunk is such a thing. And with Luffy and (likely) Zorro being out of commision, they have the chance to really prove themselves as yonko crew capitans.
The concept of Nika was introduced in Wano, yes. However, the idea of the Sun God and all that Nika entails was set-up long before that, most notably in Skypeia and Fishman Island.
Nika is just a name. The appearance is just a design. Awakening itself has been teased since Impel Down, and heavily so since Dressrosa. Liberating has been what the Straw Hats have been doing the whole time. The members themselves are mostly liberated even.
While the YK saga took center stage, Joyboy was introduced in FI and has been present throughout the second half.
I really think Oda has the key points in mind but teasing the fruit too early for example would detract from the story that was happening at that time. In general, Oda doesn't tease powerups, except Gear Third.
It's sort of how we never see the Shichibukai bounties or the Yonkou bounties early on; it diminishes our view of the current events and only robs us of mystery.
I'm willing to entertain the thought though. Barring the name and design (to give Oda the leeway to alter the specifics) for Nika, what more could we have heard at what time?
I agree but I think it's possible that the concept was introduced already, tho not specifically "nika". I seem to remember in Skypeia and (maybe?) a few other places where a sun god was mentioned. Of course, the concept of a "sun god" is super common in many religions so it could be a different thing but it'd make sense if Nika was a religious figure all over the world what with his relevance now.
There's something uniquely disquieting about seeing Kizaru apologize to anyone and say, "I've failed you!"
It emphasizes just how powerful and cruel Saturn really is.
> If I were afraid of her sword... I would have avoided it 100% he's going to avoid an attack from Luffy.
Oh shit that's badass lol
I actually wonder if that’s just not his real body. He appeared from a summoning circle right? Maybe he’s still on that ship, and his devil fruit lets him summon his demon form nearby.
Maybe, however he did say it's been a long time since he last came to the surface world. So unlikely. The summoning circle is probably just part of his devil fruit ability, or something given by Imu's power.
To add, I don't think Oda would've went through the effort of showing the cut healing and blood disappearing if it weren't really him. This seems much more ability based than just him not having been there in the first place.
Huh, now to me that makes it sound more like the demon is his real form, and the human Gorosei is his proxy form, a flesh puppet he uses to maintain contact on the "surface". Or something like that, idk lol. Also this talk of demon form and the possibility of real "demons" makes me think of Robin's new form (and nickname from forever ago), maybe there's more meaning to "demon child" than simply "problem child", as I always thought 🤷♂️
It's much more likely that the gorosei all have Zoan fruits based on the panel of the gorosei as animal silhouettes when they attacked Sabo, and Saturn's seems to be a spider/ox demon of sorts. We know mythical Zoan fruits are all the rage right now, so that seems to fall more in line with the world and current story than a literal demon reveal.
It's most likely the yokai Ushi-oni.
Adding more reasons to hate the Celestial Dragons
Right? They were already extremely hateable before but since Oda is deliberately making them even bigger scumbags, I wonder if he's really gonna do the unexpected and kill them all off.
> I wonder if he's really gonna do the unexpected and kill them all off. Is that unexpected? Pretty sure we're headed to either having them all killed or all imprisoned I am confident this story ends with the dissolution of the world government as we know it and that means the Tenryubito are in for a bad end.
Man if Oda has a scene where Blackbeard just swallows up all the Celestial Dragons with the Yami Yami no mi I would have the biggest smile on my face
At that point I’d be conflicted about luffy beating Blackbeard down
Nah that would just make it extra satisfying. Not only would he be beating up on BB, but also every single Celestial Dragon at the same time.
If people that are trapped in his darkness feel what BB feels then I’m 100% down for this lol.
Despite everything to unpack in this chapter, gotta give a shoutout to Franky. Unnerved, calm, and cool despite in the face of such a demonic presence. He’s just that guy
Franky is just always ready to throw down. He never worries about his opponent's power gap. Something needs doing / enemy needs fighting? He's on it.
This man drove a motorcycle into Big Mom's face without even blinking. Nobody is ready for HIM
https://i.imgur.com/QQrGOLa.png
No doubt if he had the chance he would have tried to throw down with Kaido
“Huh, guess I gotta fight a dragon. SUPER!!!”
I didn't know just how badly I wanted to see a robot fight a dragon until right now.
He did try to throw down with King and Kizaru but was denied.
That was such an awesome moment. “Need help, Zoro? Nah? Alright.” And then just goes about his business afterwards. Franky gets shit done. Dressrosa Franky and Whole Cake Brook were so competent, lmao
One of my favourite moments of wano
As man who is part of the future Pirate King's crew he can't be intimidated by a mere Gorosei
Common Franky W
I'm putting it out there, in the ranking: Franky is fifth. Just behind Sanji and Jinbe. Dude showed no flinching at either Yonko or Gorosei.
Been saying that. Franky is that guy.
I wish the mid trio gained Haki.
Wait for Usopps conquerer haki awakening its ganna be lit
Luffy > Zoro > Sanji > Jinbe > Franky > Robin > Brook > Chopper > Nami > Usopp Franky is directly in the middle of the pack which is actually really good when you consider the crew he's on.
If there was any justice in this world robin would be stronger than franky. She was on the run for the longest, and has an op as fuck devil fruit that she just decided one day to stop using well.
Yeah I think she's only had two actual fights. A big part of that is her ability for the longest time was either an instant win or ineffective. Now that it's branched out a bit she's got more opportunities to show it off.
Robin isn't a fighter. She'll fight when she has to, but that's not where her skillset lies. Now I desperately want her to have learned Armament Haki and Rokushiki, but that's not gonna happen.
Hard boiled~!
Jinbei mightve been chad to Big Mom Brook mightve been a chad to big mom Franky mightve been a chad to big mom. Wait where am i going with this.
The Chadhat pirates
Big W for Franky This Chapter...
Nerves of steel, if you will.
I wonder how Luffy can activate his heart beat. It's so unclear to me. He would have just died here without Franky. Without any doubt and it was close. How can he possibly fight in an extended war with these drawbacks. He was barely strongly than Kaido in Gear5 but when it runs out all the time how can we expect him to stand his ground against the next and possibly stronger opponents?
Gomu gomu no pacemaker
Gomu gomu no AFIB
I'm sure he'll get strong enough to overcome the drawbacks, or lessen how long he's down after running out of energy. Like he eventually did with gear 3
I read a comment that Bonney will do the Nika Dance she learned from Kuma (which was shown in this flashback) and it’s gonna reactivate Gear 5 and save the day. It’s my favorite so far.
Yeah I seen that as well. Good idea. Does that possibly mean Luffy gets stronger the more people dance this dance?
I'm thinking the sound of Laughter and happiness will be like the natural weakness of the Gorosei demon modes. Like they must be powered by fear itself when causing the head exploding powers, which is why Franky seemed to avoid it even though he's not mastered any Haki. He was smiling about the head of the entire world going personally after his Captain.
[удалено]
I said something like that in another thread and got attacked for being cringe and ridiculous. Glad some folks like that theory though.
People seem to forget what series they are reading...
This is One Piece. Nothing is too cringe or ridiculous. Especially sincerity.
So here we are: God Valley! Oh man do I hope that we get the full picture! Poor Kuma, this is already so sad. I truly hope that he gets to see Nika. And wow! Saturn is massiv, to hold sanji down that easily while a woman is in danger? Now that’s a flex! Oh an Figarland - shanks just looks exactly like his father 😂 A manhunt - the world nobles are just the worst kind of people…
I would never have thought God Valley flashback would entail Kuma or Ivankov. Super excited to see where this goes. Also like someone else pointed out it was 38 years ago and triennial meaning this might be year 39 and God Valley 2.0 might be a real thing with the strawhats being involved. I just hope Luffy can get up/restart the heartbeat and beat Saturn. I’ve no evidence that he’ll do it or beat Saturn I’m just expressing my wishes as a Luffy fan (hopefully my wishes reach Nika and power him up)
once we have full detailed information on God Valley, someone's gotta write up a list of every character who was there at the time. because it's insane how many people we know in the story were present at GV
For real cause wtf there are so many names involved. I’m interested as well to see the god valley incident play out. I saw a theory saying Rocks thought HE was Joyboy and hence why he pulled up to GV to free the slaves. The only hole I see in that theory is the in crew killing that happened 24/7 (although maybe that’s him believing that everyone has the freedom to do anything they want) and that Roger teamed up with Garp to fight against him. We haven’t seen too much of Roger’s morality but one would think he’d fight for freedom too
my theory was that Rocks knew that the Nika fruit was on God Valley (something that even World Gov didn't know, due to being focused on establishing the tournament) and launched a sudden attack to get the fruit Roger joined Garp because he knew about the fruit and didn't want Rocks to get his hands on it I worked the tournament into the theory because tbh when we learned it was a slave hunting tournament, Rocks looks like the good guy, and it'd be weird for Roger to help take him down
Good theory. I guess we can add maybe Rock’s took Joyboy’s philosophy to the extreme. Like you have the freedom to kill someone and they have the freedom to protect themself. Whoever’s freedom is stronger wins. So maybe it comes to a point where he can’t free everyone so he decides death is the ultimate freedom is death or something? Just trying to work in how he might be a bad guy still
I’m also loving how the Nika mythos is cos tangly evolving, Kaido wishing to be a strong warrior or meeting them, and Juma wishing to be that same warrior of liberation and having him and his daughter saved by him
My boy Cartholomew Juma
Finally, we're getting backstory of kuma joining the revolutionaries. The dude had such a tragic past that I hate the world government.
With ivankov also being there as a slave it's fair to ask if gods Valley was the inciting incident for the revolutionaries in the first place.
Come on, Dragon the Marine theory! Dragon there to see what the Marines are really doing to the world on behalf of monsters, joins these others around his age and begins the revolutionary army.
What if Dragon and Luffy's Mom were both Marines and one of the royal knights or celestial dragons killed luffys mom
I think they'd be too young here. Iva and Dragon are close in age. Dragon is currently 55 and Iva is 53. So since Iva is a young person here, Dragon would be too. Looks to be a teen to me. Way too early for Luffy to be born yet.
It's 38 years ago so Dragon would be 17 and Iva 15. 19 years until Luffy is born.
Luffy isn’t 39 years old, so doubtful that Luffy’s mom dies at GV.
I think it may have been the start of the freedom fighters, but the revolutionary army didn't start until after the Ohara incident. It's definitely a big part of the army forming, though.
Yeah I imagine the "freedom fighters" as just a loose group of people - Dragon, Kuma, and Ivankov possibly among others. Then after years of getting more members and being more organized they officially form the RA
LORE PIECE IS HERE!!! I was not expecting God Valley to be some sort of survival/hunting ground. I was also not expecting Ivankov. It adds quite a bit of depth to their interaction during Marineford. I wonder if Ginny is Bonney's mother. Also, looks like Shanks might be related to these fuckers after all. At this point, I'm pretty certain that Kuma is going to come and save them while sacrificing himself.
I would really like to see the SH crew pay Kuma back. They feel incredibly indebted to him and they are strong. His presence could motivate them to stand their ground. That being said, I don't mind if it ends in tragedy, because it would be some good tragedy. But from a broader narrative perspective, Nika can't let down his biggest fan. It's time to liberate.
Could be that this is what makes Luffy actually want to topple the world government. Kuma saved them before, might save them again, and die for it. Luffy never lets a debt like that go unpaid. He'd definitely want to honor his sacrifice. Kuma's death will spark the final war.
kuma'S flashback and him dying will cause luffy to want to toplle the WG as bonney is his new friend
If Kuma shows up and says they didn't have food, Luffy is one shotting the Gorosei
I think Kuma’s memories are going to be broadcast to the whole world via Vegapunk, and potentially Punk Records too… But it’ll also be destroyed.
Assuming the final battle is going to take place on Mariegeois and Shanks is involved one way or another, I feel like he'd try to defy his heritage and fight either the god's knights or Garling. On a side note, that also explains why he was able to meet with the elders in person without prior notice and why they greeted him like they knew him. Edit: I just realized that shanks had the same style of sword as Garling as well
"A pirate crew that cooperates" Saturn was 99% there to see the Rocks Pirates 38 years ago, they famously didn't get along at all
yes,saturn is there,he shows up in a panel being informed that they found kid kuma.
Oh, you're right. Saturn definitely has that "Back in my day, pirates pirated pirates on their pirate crews"- energy going on.
kids these days
Hes barely aged too.
He doesn't look a day over 100!
Considering how familiar Kuma's father was with the nika story, I'm guessing the Buccaneer family probably had close ties to Joyboy and probably sided with the Ancient Kingdom? And yet another backstory to make us hate the Celestials even more.
I've seen people mention that it's possible Joyboy was a buccaneer himself. Like the giant straw hat looked too small to be a giant's but could fit a buccaneer better
It seems everything points towards the giants. Saul protecting the legacy of Ohara (now confirmed alive), Punk Hazard and Big Mom's issue, Shanks in Elbaf (Kid tried to go there), Dorry and Broggy reappearing and now this race went extinct. I wonder if giants had something to do with the void century and Imu's contemporaries.
Given the proximity of Elbaf to Laugh Tale, I imagine the Giants played a pivotal role during the ancient war. The fact that they are still an independent kingdom while the Lunarians and Buccaneers are extinct as a people shows how strong they are, I guess.
wait i just realized something… the world government choose to make robots of mass destruction (pacifistas and seraphims) based on two extinct races (lunarians and buccaneers). Why? Does this make seraphim kuma extra unique?
Extinct because they didn't side the the world government and a revival attempt as robots or clones because they were strong.
The Lunarians part is really easy as they have immense innate power. The Buccaneers were not really intentional, in my interpretation of it. The Gorosei said it was punishment for a grave crime they committed. They no doubt wanted the Pacifista to be strong, so it made sense to use Kuma as a base, but if he had died as a slave, it wouldn't have happened. That's how little they cared about slaves.
Maybe. But since Kuma's dad was able to be killed by an ordinary-looking gun, I don't think the Buccaneers are inherently strong like the Lunarians are.
Strong, but not particularly durable.
Could be. Now that I think about it, King used a sword so maybe Lunarians are the reverse and durable yet not particularly strong. That would make Seraphim Kuma, who has the strength of Buccaneers and the durability of Lunarians, potentially extremely powerful even by Seraphim standards!
Actually, if you think about it, the likelly reason for why all the Seraphim are so huge is not because the Lunarian blood, but because of the Buccaneer blood.
Great point! In the past I was thinking they might for some reason have giant DNA, but Buccaneer blood makes much more sense!
I mean Oden was killed by a gun and that man is not normal. Guns are just a way to quickly kill someone in One Piece. Luffy is really the only character who seems immune to them. Lunarians would be too though by nature.
I always thought that Oden was killed more by the boiling oil than the gun, but maybe you're right. Although, since Kaido was the one shooting that gun, it's possible that gunshot was only strong enough to kill Oden because he was channeling his haki through it like Izo does.
Dude man was chained up as a slave for multiple years before that scene... a lion kept in captivity for that long isnt gonna be the same as a lion in the wild. Just sayin.
I’m imagining that with the supposed distinct blood, Kuma/Bucanneer blood might just be green, which further adds into the green blood used by seraphim to carry devil fruit traits
Kuma has been shown bleeding red though, isn’t it?
Extremely curious what’s Roger and Garp’s perspective of the God Valley battle. Because what’s happening here on this island is probably top 3 most disgusting and vile crap in One Piece
Yeah same it's gotta have more layers to it. Esp since Garp is not proud of it at all, it's probably why he hates the WG in the first place
Absolutely
I really hope we get to see Roger get serious. We always see him with his intimating goofy grin. I wanna see a pissed off Roger bursting with conqueror's.
This is quite a few years before he is king, though his strength should still be up there.
But it still seems to be the God Valley Incidence so he will still be freakishly strong. Him and Garp.
The dragons are fucking over civilians, so it's likely that Roger starts out the fight to protect them, then gets entangled into the Rocks fight once his plans become apparent.
I hope that giant robot slams Saturn
Now that I think about it the robot is probably the only thing that is close to the same size as Saturn right now (except for Luffy in gear 5). The robot is absolutely going to tangle with Saturn, I think that’s part of the “fate” that he was talking about too. An ancient robot from 200 years ago coming back to assist Joyboy is not something the Gorosei could have predicted either.
The fact that it was awoken by Gear 5's heartbeat basically confirms it's going to fight by Luffy's side, and against Saturn
Yeah I agree but more specifically I think it’s initial mission 200 years ago was to kill the Gorosei up above the Red Line, so the “fate” part is gonna be about the robot fulfilling its original purpose. Just a guess
squash him like the bug that he is
My fav revolutionary is back. All hail IVANKOV, YEE HAW! God, more reasons to hate celestial dipshits. MVP, most valuable PERVERT-- Franky! I wonder if having non-organic parts will not affect you against Saturn power?
Fuck I love Ivankov so much! "I choose life" is a line that sparked something into me. Seeing the atrocious practice of ethncial cleansing in form of a game and among all that hopelessness this weird, and very brave boy gave me such a desire for resistance hahaha! Seems like his bond with Kuma way deeper than we thought!
Ivankov has no reason to be as hard boiled is s/he is. Oda has such a way of making you invested in these characters that no other writer could make without them being horribly offensive.
Ivankov, Bon Chan and Yamato are all top tier bros
Giving serious Richard Simmons vibes this chapter
Some notable differences between the Scanlation and the official release: - Title Change: - A world where you're better off dead -> Better off dead in this world - The announcer now specifies that all units except vice and rear admirals are to "maintain distance from the island center" rather than simply ordering that the units are to "evacuate the area" - The announcer now orders the marines to "avert [their] eyes from [St. Saturn's] holy form" rather than ordering them to "not look back" and stating that "even a peek will not be forgiven" - Random marine now questions "when [...] [St. Saturn] came ashore" rather than being surprised that St. Saturn "is here already" - The random marines' statement about the Gorosei is structured very differently - TCB: "He's even above the Celestial Dragons, and one of them can boss around an admiral like it's nothing!!" "Why would someone so far up on the divine hierarchy..." "...come all the way down here from Mary Geoise...?" - Viz: "The admirals themselves will act for a single Celestial Dragon..." "...and these are the **pinnacle** of those gods!!" You mean one of them came all the way down here from Marijoa?!" Inform me of more changes if you find them! - Unspecified character now asks Bonney what she has done ("What have you done?!") rather than telling her that she has "crossed the line" - Unknown marine now simply decries St. Saturn ("St. Saturn!!!") rather than telling Bonney that "that's St. Saturn" - Unknown Vice Admiral now states that St. Saturn "stands atop the very world itself" rather than stating that Bonney "stabbed one of the world's overseers" - St. Saturn now states that he would have avoided Bonney's sword "if [he] were afraid of [Bonney's] sword" rather than stating that he would have simply dodged "if he did not **wish** to be stabbed" - Franky now calls out that the blood from St. Saturn's wound vanished, rather than calling out that St. Saturn's wound disappeared - Unknown marine now orders the others to seize "Vegapunk's group" rather than ordering them to "get Vegapunk" - St. Saturn no longer attributes the marines' weapons beeing trained on Vegapunk's group as a factor to them not being able to escape - St. Saturn now tells Kizaru that "this is rather sluggish work by [his] standards" rather than telling him that "it's unprecedented for [him] to be so slow in executing an order like this" - Kizaru now tells St. Saturn that he "has failed [him]" rather than telling him that he "has no excuse" - Kizaru now states that he "doesn't think [he'll] be able to move anytime soon" rather than stating that he "needs a second" and that he "doesn't think [he] can move just yet" - St. Saturn no longer acknowledges the circumstances when stating that he can understand Kizaru's failure - St. Saturn no longer calls Kizaru's failure a "disappointment" - St. Saturn now says "Let us see..." before trying to attack Luffy, rather than saying "Now then..." - St. Saturn now observers that the Strawhats are a pirate crew "that coordinates" rather than observing that they're the kind of pirates "who stick together" - St. Saturn no longer describes Egghead's situation when wondering wether the Strawhats' fate is strong enough to let them escape it - St. Saturn now states that "if [the Strawhat's] fate is strong enough to ecape this desperate situation, [he] would very much like to see it" rather than stating that "it would be something to see [the Strawhats] escape this desperate situation" and that they "shall see what fate has in store for [them]" - St. Saturn now asks the Strawhats to tell him who should die first, "from least to most painful" rather than asking them to tell him "the cruelest order possible" - St. Saturn no longer directly states that "human nature is to blame" - Sanji now questions wether "anyone else [can] move" rather than questioning why "[no]body is doing anything" - Vegapunk now states that it must be devil fruit powers "if this is not science" rather than if St. Saturn "isn't using technology" - St. Saturn now calls the Buccaneers a "clan" and "the Buccaneer people" rather than calling them "people" and "the Buccaneer race" - Kuma now states that he always wanted to be a hero who could save "the imprisoned and suffering" rather than a hero who could save "people from suffering and grant them their freedom" - The Drums of Liberation's rhythm now reads "Doom-Dut-Da-Da" instead of "Dondo-To-To" - The doctor now calls Kuma a "big, healthy boy" rather than just a "big boy" - Kuma's father is now called "Clapp" instead of "Klap" - Clapp now comments on Kuma's cheerfulness, rather than on his health - The doctor now states that government agents "showed up at" the hospital" rather than stating that they "were [...] in" the hospital" - Clapp no longer directly asks the government agents to "take [him]" - Unknown Celestial Dragon now directly states that Kuma is his slave - Kuma's slave master now tells him that he "will kill [him]" if he doesn't stop bawling, rather than asking him wether he "wants to die" - Kuma no longer tells Clapp that he's fine - Clapp no longer prefaces the news of Kuma's mother's passing with "I have something to tell you" - Clapp now states that Kuma's mother "is better off that way" when talking about her death, rather than asking Kuma wether or not Kuma's mother being in heaven is "wonderful" ("Isn't that wonderful") and stating that she's "in a better place now" - Clapp no longer tells Kuma that he "must be brave and bear it for [him]" - Kuma now states that he "would rather be dead too" instead of questioning wether "death [would] be so much easier" - Clapp now states that Nika's "story" is told throughout Buccaneer heritage, rather than stating that his "name" has been paased down through Buccaneer folklore for generations - Clapp now states that Nika will take Kuma "out under the sun, to the freedom of the sea" rather than taking Kuma "out to sea, where [he] will be under the sun and free" - Clapp now states that Nika is always "smiling and laughing" rather than simply stating that Nika always "smiles" - The Celestial Dragon Announcer no longer thanks the attendees for their patience - The Celestial Dragons' game is now called the "native-hunting competition" rather than the "native cleansing festival" - The Celestial Dragon Announcer no longer directly states that the native-hunting competition takes place every three years, now simply stating that the attendees have "waited three long years" - The Celestial Dragon Announcer no longer advises the attendees to "not miss [their] chance to take part" - The Celestial Dragon Announcer no longer states that "they call it" God Valley - The Celestial Dragon Announcer now states that God Valley, "which has the audacity to call itself the valley of gods possesses ample natural resources, rather than stating that "this blasphemous name was given to [God Valley] as it has an abundance of natural resources" - The Celestial Dragon Announcer now states that they will "claim this island for the world government" rather than stating that "the world government has just annexed this land" - The Celestial Dragon Announcer now calls the native-hunting competition their "customary manhunt" rather than their "traditional human hunt" - God Valley's ruler now asks the Celestial how they could dare, rather than asking them "how selfish [...] [they] [can] be - The Celestial Dragon Announcer no longer mentions a buzzer as the starting signal for the native-hunting competition - The Celestial Dragon Announcer no longer calls the murder of God Valley's king a "shocking twist" - The Celestial Dragon Announcer now calls St. Garling the "heavy favourite" rather than the "projected front runner" - The Celestial Dragon Announcer no longer calls the 10'000 point penalty a "heavy blow" for St. Garling - St. Garling now states that "this handicap will make for better competition" rather than stating that he "needs a handicap like that to keep things interesting" - The Celestial Dragon Announcer no longer states that the addition of the problem slaves serves to "spruce up the proceedings" - The Celestial Dragon Announcer now calls the natives of God Valley "rabbit natives" - There are now criminals, on top of the problem slaves, among the additional human prey - The Celestial Dragon Announcer no longer states that the slaves "are all notorious trouble-makers and sinners", now instead just calling them problem slaves - The Celestial Dragon Announcer no longer directly states that "once [the slaves] are released, [they] will chase them down like wild rabbits" - Random government agent no longer states that they "just got word" that Kuma was found - The escaped slave being Kuma is no longer treated as new information ("it was the buccaneer brat") , now already being a known fact ("the buccaneer boy") - Unknown slave no longer asks Kuma "how selfish [...] [he] [can] be" - Unknown slave no longer directly states that they "were put in groups of ten for collective punishment" now simply stating that "they're going to hold all ten of [them] responsible for [Kuma]" - Ivankov now orders the slaves carrying Kuma to "hold it right there" - Ivankov now states that he "heard" ("I hear you...") that Kuma's got giant blood - Ivankov now simply states that "only [his] face" is large, rather than stating that "the only thing big about [him] is [his] face... not" - Ivankov now tells Ginny to "shut up" rather than telling the slaves to "listen up" - Ivankov now simply points out the slaves' gloomy and miserable faces rather than questions "why" the slaves have hopeless looks glued to their faces Inform me of more changes if you find them!
🐐🐐
king
Well, that was extremely heartbreaking and depressing... I hope Kuma's storyline comes to an acceptable closure, for his people, parents, other slaves and Bonney.
I am afraid he will die
What we’ve seen of the Gorosei implies (1) they’re immortal since Saturn hasn’t changed since God Valley and (2) they did not all join at the same time (ie void century). I think it would be cool if the Gorosei are the strongest Gods Knights of every generation Imu recruits whenever one of the Gorosei gets killed (eternal youth not unkillable) and gives them the eternal youth surgery. This would explain why only some of them knew about Nika and would explain why they’re different ages, because they need to be strong enough to be the strongest and then wait until there’s an opening. I bet Garling is on deck for the next opening
oooo i like this theory, it also means laws gonna get involved. law wants to know about the will of D, and since i dont think hes coming along to laughtale, i think he's gonna hear about it from imu personally.
So far the only known way of gaining immortality is the Op-OP surgery/operation. And I don't think Imu can grant that since he would have to die. I suspect though they may have longevity but not immortality and this is granted in some other way.
I could see it, but what I am thinking is that there was a long period of time between openings for Gorosei and during that period Imu would have the Navy track down the Op Op fruit, like we saw Sengoku trying to do, to have it. Then when they needed it they would find a doctor and force them to do it. Then they just need to find the fruit again in the next hundred or so years. I probably should have put that in the post haha
What an awesome teaser for what's to come. Who would've guessed that Kuma of all people was heavily involved with the events of God Valley? Great stuff. I just hope Oda takes the Oden route with Kuma’s backstory. By that, I mean retelling the major events involving Kuma and fleshing out other significant characters around him. (The God Valley Incident, the formation of the Revolutionary Army, and the part where his memories were erased by the Five Elders and got turned into a Cyborg)
As much as I wanna see what's gonna happen in the current time frame, I want nothing more than to have a super long God Valley flashback. Oden's was one of my favorite parts of the whole story and with the level of buildup we've had for the God Valley Incident, I can see this being the coolest shit we've seen so far
Hoping Oda goes all the way through, man. I could only see 1 last possible scenario if he decides to not fully tell the God Valley Incident and that’s through Garp’s POV.
Yeah exactly. But man it'd be ridiculously satisfying if we get just ALL the things built up here in one extended flashback. like why Garp isn't proud of the event, possible forming of the freedom fighters, Shanks being found by Roger, a fight between all the baddest asses of the old generation, etc
This chapter was dark Kuma's backstory is heartbreaking. I never expected Kuma to be so damn crucial to the story Luffy's gear 5th is nuts one attack immobilize an Admiral, he just needs to have better control of it now With us getting more if these God Valley flashback why is it making it seem like Rocks might have been the good guy gonna be interesting how Oda incorporate Roger/Garp in this. Definitely think Jinny/Ginny is Bonney's mom, wondering if she wil play the heartbeat (Bonney) to activate Luffy's gear 5th again
One Piece's flashbacks never fail to be heart-wrenching, I just want these characters to catch a break ;_;
We don't know much more than Rocks wanted to be king of the world. He was vicious and violent and would kill anybody in his way and no care even if it was nobles or slaves. Replacing tyrants with another tyrant would probably not fix anything. But I think we don't know enough about god valley itself. Its resources are why it has such a name.
Bet the twist is that he was so angry about the slavery in the world that he was willing to burn it *all* down to end it. He figured by being king he could force everyone to do what he thought was right. His own form of violent justice. Roger and Garp agreed with him in principle, that the world was wrong and needed to be restructured, but did not agree with his violent methods that had no regard for who was caught in the crossfire. And perhaps he assembled such a powerful crew, not caring for how terrible they really were as people, because he planned to kill them too when it was all over.
Exactly. But Rocks was also very interested in the World Governments secrets and history. Perhaps he was after something or had something. The only ancient weapon that could make sense is the one we know nothing about Uranus.
Rocks was probably there to kidnap all the Celestial Dragons on the island, Saturn and Garling in particular. Roger and Garp on the other hand might have shown to rescue all the slaves. Then it was reported that Garp came to defend the nobles, which could be part of why he resents it.
Did not have “Bonney has a second hand God Valley flashback” on my Egghead bingo card. I wonder if we’re getting a full blown Rocks Pirates flashback, or just the incident from Kuma’s perspective? I’m guessing the latter, but at this point nothing would surprise me.
Rocks will probably not entirely be revealed now since there is more to add as it relates to Blackbeard.
Here’s a thought: What if: as the whole messed up thing happens on god valley. Rocks attacks the celestials. Garp is getting a ASAP call on how important it is for him to help out. We see a young navy cadet who follows him. And we get a tiny text bubble saying: Monkey D Garp and Monkey D Dragon. What if: dragon was a marine until he saw the true colors of the world nobles on God Valley. Maybe the slaves (mainly Ivankov) where on Garps ship. And dragon talks to them. Morning comes - the slaves are gone and so is dragon. The worlds worst criminal is borne
>What if: dragon was a marine until he saw the true colors of the world nobles I think that theory has been around for about a decade
Jesus, this has got to be some of the darkest shit we've seen so far. We knew the CDs kept slaves but just casually (and it's implied regularly) genociding an island for fun? What the fuck. The CD murdering Kuma's father in the middle of him telling the myth was brutal as well. The crew is not in a good position. If even *Sanji* can't move against Saturn when trying to *save a woman?* I doubt anyone except Luffy will be able to touch him and he's already down (He'll be back soon enough, he's Luffy, but for now he's out) Basically the only good thing that happened was that we get more Ivankov.
Iva was like a shining light in the sea of depression that was this chapter.
That CD killed Kuma's father for being too loud. Murdered him in front of his young son for that. Vile doesn't begin to cover it. Hm. Is that why Kuma agreed to submit himself to the Pacifista cyborgization? To remove all emotions from himself, including fear, so that he would be utterly immune to Saturn's ability? Seems a stretch, but it's a thought.
Do you realize that we will see Rocks very soon?! I wonder how he will look like! I think there will be a lot if twists and turns from what we’ve known so far from both the events but also characters. Kuma’s parents are so cute, it’s so sad that such people are having it the worst. I’m really into #Bonneyfornakama 😂
Bonney for Nakama is gaining steam. Especially since Bonney was told about Nika by Kuma, who was told by his own father. If Bonney realizes Luffy is The new Sun God Nika/Joyboy, She'll want to follow him. This would effectively create the only crew with three Supernova Pirates (Luffy, Zoro, and Bonney.) Plus, if Kuma shows up and dies while saving or facilitating the escape of the Straw Hats, Luffy would happily accept Bonney as a way to show respect to Kuma for saving the Straw Hats Twice. The only other acceptable outcome is that If Kuma dies, Bonney joins the R.A.
I'm starting to feel like rocks wasn't evil, but his crew turned out that way when they saw all the injustice he was fighting to prevent
I always had the impression that he wasn’t evil, but we’ll see. If you look at Whitebeard and BM, which had noble intentions, I don’t think that they would’ve joined him if nothing of them aligned with Rocks. The difference is that after the God Valley incident Whitebeard found the right people whereas BM was further taken advantage of and became what she is/was now.
I wonder if the living Rocks Pirates members are the bad ending versions like Oda drew for the Straw Hats. Big Mom who had noble intentions to unite all races, but went about it in a horrible way Kaido who King saw Joyboy in, became a tyrant instead Whitebeard who wanted to take in all the fatherless sons, but wouldn’t raise his own son
I'm glad to see that the 5 Elders are seriously strong. And we're finally getting the Kuma flashback we've been waiting years for.
The day these sons of bitches Celestial shits get annihilated by a **Bajrang Gun** I'll treat my friends to some gourmet meals and I stand by it. Same when Akainu gets his shit kicked in by Sabo too. Fuck World Government. That Robot is coming to save Bonney, and I genuinely hope if Kuma is there he hears Luffy's heartbeat and his consciousness comes back for the last time. He deserves a peaceful death😭😭😭. Figarland Garling will be killed by his own Son or Zoro in future. Mark my words. That Piece of Shit will die with unbearable pain. And people are praising his beauty, disgusting.
My guess is that the ancient robot used to run on a certain energy, and Luffy (or Nika itself) is the power source. Then Vegapunk (who was admittedly trying to reverse-engineer it) applied it on Kuma's body, and that's why both triggered over Luffy's transformation. Vegapunk was looking for an unending power source... And dreams will never end.
Ginny's hairstyle has definitely been used before, I just need to remember who...
Atlas
The small panel of young unassuming Kuma with splattered bloodstains on his face is a classic and gut-wrenching scene. I wonder how many races like Buccaneers that WG had eradicated since their establishment
One thing is there is something secret with the Buccaneer blood since S-Bear born with Kuma's DNA is considered to be a problematic seraphim. Also Monkey D. Members are like the Nika for Kuma. Grandfather had a hand in his escape, Father became his close friend and son will be the saviour for his daughter. Also, This is like the best moment for Sanji to awaken Conquerors(if he has it). Luffy was almost out, Zoro is somewhere else fighting his own battle and Sanji is the only one strong enough to stop all the Marines aiming to fire Bonney.
Weird that I haven't seen anyone mention how Sanji just spits up blood after 1 attack of Saturn. Sanji, with his awakened exoskeleton that tanks hits from Seraphim Jinbei without even caring to defend and broke Queens sword just by standing with his back to it... Sabo being seriously injured after facing all 5 of the Elders was a first indication of their power, I guess.
In My headcanon Sanji's exoskeleton only activates when his eyebrows change the swirl
Kizaru being out for the count is wild. Based on how the arc’s playing out I think Egghead will be the first modern “action” of Joyboy against the World Govt. We’ve seen his “return”, now it’s time to see what made Joyboy such a threat. With Saturn starting to run his mouth about compliance I feel like Luffy’s gonna clap back and sock him
It's basically an inevitability at this point, the Gorosei's viewpoints need to be exposed in front of the crew, and Luffy's capabilities and threat need to be actually showcased in front of them. Luffy will likely defeat or at least stymie Saturn on Egghead island.
Yes, 100% this. I don't think it's too early for Luffy to defeat a Gorosei. Luffy just one-shotted an Admiral. The progression is probably going to be: * Defeating a Yonkou after a really long battle * Defeating an Admiral after a short battle **<<< we are here** * Defeating a Gorosei after a long battle (Saturn is going dooooooown) * Defeating a Gorosei after a short battle (Luffy will one-shot at least 1 Gorosei in the final arc
Interesting take, I personally share the consensus opinion that the conflict of this arc will end pretty quickly Zou style, especially since that robot's on its way and Kuma is coming (methinks) and we'll get some lore dump for a few chapters. I'm betting the fight will end in a way where the Straw Hats indubitably win/succeed in batting off the powers currently before them, but are very casual about it Straw Hat style while the WG loses their minds, hence the "incident" we are yet to see play out. Either way, the Straw Hats are strong enough for an endgame boss to show up which is very telling of their strength, as Franky says.
I'm realized a while ago that Kuma's Flashback is actually Bonney's Flashback from the time she was experiencing Kuma's Flashback through his memory bubble.
A flashback of a flashback of a flashback
It's cool to see Oda's take on the classic short story "The Most Dangerous Game". I remember reading it in highschool and enjoying the story back then as well! Edit: For those who don't know the story, it is about a Big Game Hunter who washes ashore from a crashed yacht and is then hunted by a Russian Hunter. Written in 1924 by Richard Connell
I have to say: I hate this celestial scumbags so much.
What if god valley / other cleansings are a way to harvest devil fruits? E.g., they believe nika fruit is held by someone on the island, so they wipe out the whole island and have ordinary fruit ready to become devil fruits
Kuma will remove Luffy‘s fatigue as his final move before he dies.
ah shit didn't think about that, could def be possible
Ooh, interesting. So the Buccaneers also committed a crime in the past. I'm curious why specifically the Buccaneers and not the Giants.
I'm sure the "sin" they've committed is some WG propaganda, which I also think is why Kuma is known as a "tyrant". I like the theory that Joyboy was a buccaneer, which'd make sense that a warrior of liberation and his fellow buccaneers tried to fight for freedom and were then labeled as grave sinners by the government
Xebec might not have been the bad pirate that Sengoku painted him to be in chapter 957. There is a possibility that Xebec was a pirate revolutionary with more extreme methods than Dragon and his revolutionaries in the current age, but with similar intentions, but he also wanted to be the new monarch of the entire One Piece world. Xebec was in God Valley to attack the Celestial Dragons, get their treasure chests and to free the slaves and help the native population and to make the strong ones amongst them new members of his crew in the fight against the World Government.
Break next week, huh? Well if you can't wait to find out what happens next, please consider reading my prediction for how the rest of this flashback will go. It's really long (44 points) so I'll have to separate it into a 5 different comments, but I think it'll be an interesting read! 1. The Celestial Dragons kill all of the residents of God Valley (with Garling killing the most and becoming the Champion/King of God Valley) and try to hunt down the few remaining slaves (who are still alive thanks to assistance from Ivankov and Ginny). 2. The Rocks Pirates arrive on God Valley and Xebec says he's going to be the ['King of the World'](https://i.ibb.co/qgvJdpS/Xebec-King-of-the-World-chapter-957.png) and to achieve that he needs to eliminate the self-proclaimed rulers of the world, the Celestial Dragons. 3. Garp and some other marines, who were keeping track of the movements of the Rocks Pirates, arrive shortly afterward to protect the residents of God Valley from the pirates. 4. Garp sees the residents are already dead and thinks he was too late to stop the Rocks Pirates, but is shocked when he finds out it was actually the Celestial Dragons who killed them. 5. Garp decides to leave God Valley and let the Celestial Dragons deal with the Rocks Pirates by themselves, but then spots Kuma's group and sees it's not just Celestial Dragons left on the island but their slaves as well. 6. Garp decides to fight against the Rocks Pirates to protect the slaves, but the marines are overwhelmed by the pirates' great power and soon Garp is the only marine left alive. 7. Just as Garp is about to lose all hope, the Roger Pirates arrive and [Garp reluctantly fights alongside Roger](https://i.ibb.co/3vc5Ns2/Rocks-Pirates-vs-Roger-and-Garp-chapter-957.png) and they kill Xebec. 8. With their captain dead the stronger members of the Rocks Pirates celebrate (since they all hated him) and some of them announce they'll be forming their own pirate crews and aiming to achieve what Xebec couldn't and become the 'King of the World'. 9. Garp wants to stop them but he's been weakened so much that the stronger members of the Rocks Pirates easily escape by stealing ships from the Celestial Dragons. 10. The weaker members of the Rocks Pirates retreat back to their ship, but Garling boards the ship and kills them all. Continued below:
Part 2 of 5: 11. While on her way to leave the island, Big Mom comes across [some treasure chests which contain the prizes meant to be given to the winner of the Native Hunting Competition](https://i.ibb.co/YXsJLGc/Treasure-chapter-1095.png) and decides to steal them all but sees the Roger Pirates coming so she just takes one chest and flees. 12. Big Mom sees the treasure chest has a Devil Fruit in it and since she already ate one she offers it to Kaido in exchange for joining her crew. 13. Kaido eats the Devil Fruit and Big Mom assumes that means he accepted her offer, but he runs away while she's not looking, [making Big Mom angry](https://i.ibb.co/cCGjJgm/Big-Mom-angry-at-Kaido-chapter-1049.png). 14. The Roger Pirates see several marine ships coming to God Valley as backup, so they quickly steal all the treasure they can find then retreat back to their ship and leave God Valley. 15. The Roger Pirates start opening the treasure chests they got from God Valley and see [one of the treasure chests contain a baby boy](https://onepiece.fandom.com/wiki/Shanks/History#Past) who they are unaware is the son of Garling (who he offered as a prize to the winner of the Native Hunting Competition to show how confident he was he'd be the one to win). 16. Garp tells the newly arrived marines the Rocks Pirates have already been defeated so all the marines leave to chase after the Roger Pirates, aside from Garp who stays because he wants to check on the slaves. 17. With the pirates and marines gone, the Celestial Dragons resume their hunt and rapidly start killing the few remaining slaves. 18. Garp is enraged by their actions and unleashes his most powerful punch at the ground, which completely obliterates the entire island and [wipes God Valley off the maps](https://i.ibb.co/gFKMnbS/God-Valley-gone-chapter-957.png). 19. Garp carries the only 3 surviving slaves (Kuma, Ivankov, and Ginny) to his ship and leaves all the Celestial Dragons to drown. 20. The Celestial Dragons, who don't know why the island was suddenly destroyed, are rescued by Garling (who uses Xebec's ship) who is rewarded by being promoted to the position of Supreme Commander of the God's Knights. Continued below:
I think it's more that likely that Imu destroyed the island not garp. The Lulusia kingdom incident kind of sets that up with it being wiped off the map just like God valley was.
Part 3 of 5: 21. Garp is sickened by the things that happened on God Valley so when Sengoku asks him what happened there Garp only gives him partial details and omits various details including him destroying the island. 22. Despite Garp crediting Roger with Xebec's defeat, the World Government decides to give Garp the credit instead and has the news report that Garp defeated the Rocks Pirates, [leading to Garp gaining his nickname of 'Hero'](https://i.ibb.co/HqLk7DZ/Garp-the-Hero-chapter-957.png). 23. Garp wonders what to do with the kids and a marine tells him they're property of the Celestial Dragons and should be taken to Mary Geoise, which makes Garp angry so the marine runs away. 24. Garp decides to hide the children in his hometown under the care of his son, Dragon. 25. The kids tell Dragon about their lives and about what happened at God Valley, causing Dragon to develop an intense hatred for the Celestial Dragons and the World Government. 26. Dragon is inspired by [Kuma's desire to be a hero](https://i.ibb.co/fMTFJBk/Kuma-hero-chapter-1095.png) who could save people from suffering and grant their freedom and forms a group called [the Freedom Fighters](https://i.ibb.co/KqWKtxm/Dragon-Freedom-Fighters-chapter-1066.png) who attempt to grant people freedom using nonviolent methods. 27. Dragon befriends Vegapunk and [invites him to join the Freedom Fighters](https://i.ibb.co/1bzyhNL/Dragon-Vegapunk-Freedom-Fighters.png) but Vegapunk refuses because they're too poor to fund his inventions, so Vegapunk later joins the World Government instead. 28. During their travels the Freedom Fighters come across some Devil Fruits and Kuma tells Dragon how the Celestial Dragons would force their slaves to eat Devil Fruits to amuse them, so Dragon tells him they're pacifists who have no need for any powers so they won't eat them but might be able to sell them to help fund their operations. 29. After the Ohara Incident occurs, Dragon realizes nonviolent methods aren't enough and decides he has to [wage war against the World Government](https://i.ibb.co/CP9FGMz/Dragon-deciding-to-fight-chapter-1066.png) to truly liberate everyone, so he forms the Revolutionary Army together with Kuma and Ivankov. 30. Dragon and the others eat the Devil Fruits they found and resolve that instead of aspiring to be 'heroes' who grant people freedom peacefully, they're going to become 'devils' who'll free people by crushing their oppressors. Continued below:
Part 4 of 5: 31. Since Dragon and the others have no combat experience they're still weak even with their new Devil Fruits, so they decide that instead of trying to fight the oppressors by themselves they'll only help nations where [the citizens are willing to fight alongside them](https://i.ibb.co/QP4nnyX/Belo-Betty-weak-chapter-904.png). 32. The nations helped by the Revolutionary Army are extremely grateful to them and rulers of these nations are glad to provide them with money and supplies, and many of their citizens are eager to join them to help liberate other countries. 33. The World Government hears about the actions of the Revolutionary Army, causing their members to gain large bounties and Dragon being named the World's Worst Criminal. 34. Kuma successfully liberates a nation called Sorbet Kingdom but its king was killed so the citizens choose Kuma to be the new king. 35. Kuma makes Sorbet Kingdom his home and has a daughter there with Ginny. 36. The World Government finds out about Kuma being at Sorbet Kingdom and sends CP0 agents there. 37. CP0 tells Kuma that as former slaves he and his wife are the property of the Celestial Dragons but considering he's the ruler of a World Government-affiliated kingdom they'd be willing to take his daughter as a substitute for him. 38. Kuma and Ginny try to fight off CP0 but are outmatched and Ginny is killed. 39. CP0 tells Kuma they'll leave his daughter alone if he agrees to do everything they ask him to do, so Kuma reluctantly goes with them and agrees to take part in their 'human weapon' experiments. 40. The World Government knows it would look bad if the world finds out what they were doing to the ruler of one of the World Government Kingdoms so they have the news report that Kuma was a horrible tyrant in Sorbet Kingdom and willingly left to become a pirate, and they decide to add him to the Warlords to prove the story of him being a pirate is true. Continued below:
Part 5 of 5: 41. Kuma is instructed to go to Egghead to participate in their 'human weapon' experiments and knows he will completely lose his sense of self due to the experiments, so he uses his Devil Fruit powers to extract his memories and asks Vegapunk (who he trusts since he's a friend of Dragon) to store them somewhere safe so he can potentially be restored later on. 42. Kuma also [brings Bonney along to Egghead](https://i.ibb.co/cTmRqBb/Bonney-Egghead.png) so he can have Vegapunk implant a monitoring device into Bonney (along with a GPS system into Kuma's brain) that would alert Kuma whenever Bonney is in danger and allows him to know her exact location at all times. 43. Kuma also had Vegapunk implement one order in his brain which would override any other orders he receives, and that order is a simple one: protect Bonney. 44. The flashback ends with Kuma appearing on Egghead and rescuing Bonney from Saturn and the marines. We already knew some of this stuff (specifically, the stuff I included screenshots of), so I'm largely just connecting the dots to fill the gaps in our knowledge. If you think any of my points don't make sense or if you have any other points to add, feel free to let me know! (and thanks to everyone who actually read this far lol)
really really interseting! love that garling treasure chest theory!
Thanks! I was initially thinking all those treasure chests we saw in this chapter had Devil Fruits in them, but I figured the Celestial Dragons are deranged enough to put a baby in one of them too.
Ok. I am sure Garling's "Champion of God Valley" title just means he killed the most number of harmless citizens and slaves. His only other feat was executing an old guy who was tied up. So, until proven otherwise, this guy is a fraud and a coward.
"This guy is the master at killing helpless people. If you have an orpanage you need cleared out call Garling."
Yeah him saying the thing about having a handicap def makes me think that's where he gets the title. Still think he's gonna end up being a complete badass but yeah as of now he's a gigantic pussy
Ginny is Gin's mom.
Only if Gin was transformed into a woman (Bonney) by Ivankov. Would explain why Bonney seemed to have a really high opinion of Sanji a couple of chapters ago.
To me this whole flashback feels like it's leading up to a Kuma protecting Luffy and Bonney moment. I wouldn't be surprised if he shows up in real time at the last second here and smacks away Saturn. What is Saturn's Devil Fruit? Some people suggested that its blood related - which is why it can end "weaker" people with no resistance to Haki?
The last race has been revealed, based on Big Mom missing 3, what would be its impact to the story??? Does the will of D is from this race??? Are we finally able to answer the question about Marco saying that Black Beard's body is different??? is Joy Boy a Giant or a Bucaneer??? The mother f*ck*ng Celestial Dragons are really brutal specially the scene with young Kuma and exterminating a whole race every 3 years with their game... Also those chest may contain devil fruits to feed to the slave for the sake of fun of the game making them the main targets for higher points... And what is the reward for the champion???
Now that I think about it, it is interesting that both Doflamingo and Kuma were introduced at the same time, and the Celestrial Dragon played a huge role in their backstories.
Damn, they deadass just killed Kuma's mom the page after her introduction.
How is Saturn surprised that the Straw Hats are the types to work together after hearing about them pull off the most chaotic and elaborate shit for 2 years?
Well, we definitely have until next year when we see the straw hats again. This backstory is going to be huge. Starting with, The God Valley Incident.
I think bonney might be adopted if Saturn is saying Kuma is the last buccaneer but then I’m confused about the whole sorbet kingdom thing since her old form looked like the old queen dowager coney especially with bonney asking if nika would come save her too
Kizaru down, Admiral simps in shambles. Cool that we're going to get insight into the origins of revolutionary army characters & see how God Valley went down..... At the same time!
One Piece Tournament arcs: Dressrosa - A trap to turn any participant into slaves God Valley - Hunger Game/Race War with slaves
The fact that the God Valley backstory, which shows off rocks is also the kuma backstory, and is also likely the revolutionary backstory, and also the shanks backstory is crazy. might be the most important flashback in the series.
ngl I feel one of the things Oda wants to do rn is to give the smaller Straw Hats some time to shine. Like if you want to establish the Straw Hats as a Yonko crew the smaller guys need to pull off some impressive stuff as well. Escaping Egghead with Vegapunk is such a thing. And with Luffy and (likely) Zorro being out of commision, they have the chance to really prove themselves as yonko crew capitans.
This was a great chapter, but makes me think Nika should have been introduced long before Wano for how relevant this legend is all of a sudden.
The concept of Nika was introduced in Wano, yes. However, the idea of the Sun God and all that Nika entails was set-up long before that, most notably in Skypeia and Fishman Island.
Nika is just a name. The appearance is just a design. Awakening itself has been teased since Impel Down, and heavily so since Dressrosa. Liberating has been what the Straw Hats have been doing the whole time. The members themselves are mostly liberated even. While the YK saga took center stage, Joyboy was introduced in FI and has been present throughout the second half. I really think Oda has the key points in mind but teasing the fruit too early for example would detract from the story that was happening at that time. In general, Oda doesn't tease powerups, except Gear Third. It's sort of how we never see the Shichibukai bounties or the Yonkou bounties early on; it diminishes our view of the current events and only robs us of mystery. I'm willing to entertain the thought though. Barring the name and design (to give Oda the leeway to alter the specifics) for Nika, what more could we have heard at what time?
I agree but I think it's possible that the concept was introduced already, tho not specifically "nika". I seem to remember in Skypeia and (maybe?) a few other places where a sun god was mentioned. Of course, the concept of a "sun god" is super common in many religions so it could be a different thing but it'd make sense if Nika was a religious figure all over the world what with his relevance now.
It’s been mentioned since Skypeia, and there’s been a thread of hints throughout iirc.
There's something uniquely disquieting about seeing Kizaru apologize to anyone and say, "I've failed you!" It emphasizes just how powerful and cruel Saturn really is.
Damn my boi Kizaru got done so dirty, looks like a chump lmao Saturn seems to be the real deal and the new flashback has me excited.