Chapter 1097 of One Piece continues the flashbacks from the past few chapters, an in-depth look at the younger days of Bartholomew Kuma. It’s incredible to finally learn about this figure who’s been playing support in the background for so long, and he has a tragic life to back up his actions. Kuma’s entire story is slowly unfolding, so what important details about it came out this week?
Warning that this article contains spoilers from One Piece through chapter 1097. Catch up on Viz or MangaPlus before reading further!
What Happens in One Piece Chapter 1097?
Flashbacks to the life of Bartholomew Kuma make up the entire chapter, with multiple jumps through time. The first shows him taking over his father’s old church back in the Sorbet Kingdom, and he runs it as the pastor now. In doing so, he also heals the locals every Sunday, using the Paw-Paw Fruit to draw out their illness and pain.
The real shock comes when at the end of every Sunday, after taking the pain and exhaustion of everyone, he takes it all in himself. It makes the “Nothing Happened” moment in Thriller Bark even more impactful, and time skips forward once more. Now Ginny is telling Kuma he should marry her, but he refuses. Meanwhile, the Freedom Fighters, which Iva formed with Monkey D Dragon, are making big news before they finally arrive at the Sorbet Kingdom. Just in time, as the current king has some terrible plans for the Southern Sorbet Kingdom.
Ivankov Takes Off
Iva leaves the Sorbet Kingdom not long after the three arrive there after the God Valley Incident. He’s determined to go off for a life of piracy, changing lives across the seas and bringing freedom to others. This is before he even has his Devil Fruit, but he’s got the strength and determination to rival anyone he comes up against. This leads to a prolonged absence for Iva, which is hopefully explored later.
In the meantime, Kuma and Ginny start to see articles about Dragon and Iva in the paper. Iva has been busy, meeting Dragon and together forming the Freedom Fighters. They’re incredibly strong, and stirring up trouble for the World Government at every possible turn is their main mission. Kuma thinks Dragon is the coolest guy on earth too, believing fully in his mission despite being stuck in the Sorbet Kingdom.
Kuma the Pastor
While he’s in the Sorbet Kingdom, Kuma takes over his father’s old church, becoming a pastor by the age of seventeen. The old people of the kingdom love him, and visit every Sunday. Kuma uses the abilities from his Devil Fruit to pull out their ailments. Any sort of injury or illness, not too severe, Kuma can pull out with the Paw-Paw Fruit. Every part he takes is added to a massive bubble. This bubble takes on the form of a Paw, just like the previous ones seen in Thriller Bark and Egghead.
Since the reveal of Kuma’s motives to keep the Straw Hats alive, he’s been becoming more and more developed. This next moment where he takes on the pain of every single person he treats, every Sunday, establishes his selflessness. Kuma is a character constantly working for the good of others. Now he’s about to have a huge moment on Egghead Island in the present.
The Paw-Paw Fruit
There has to be something else to the Paw-Paw Fruit that grants it such strange powers. So far it’s proven to fly targets to a far-off point, take emotions and memories out, and just cause general destruction. This Devil Fruit might just be what’s used to save the day though, especially not that Saint Saturn is running loose on Egghead in full Awakening. The “Nothing Happened” moment in Thriller Bark might play a huge part in the coming battle on Egghead Island.
Luffy was last seen absolutely exhausted, beaten down from his battle against Kizaru, who was in the same position right now. Assuming that Kuma can get to Egghead and reliably take the pain and exhaustion from Luffy, healing him, he could be back in the fight. Then it becomes the question of where the pain will go, but that’s going to be a subject further down.
Sorbet Kingdom
The Sorbet Kingdom is turning into a massive problem by the time Kuma and Ginny are older. The king is an egomaniacal little man with a penchant for listening in on citizens without their knowledge. Even worse, he wants to be a Celestial Dragon. The thing is, the Sorbet Kingdom is already rather poor, and mostly can’t pay their Heavenly Tribute to the Dragons. The king chooses a terrible method for fixing the issue, while keeping himself and the North Kingdom wealthy.
He cut the kingdom in half, creating the North Kingdom and the South Kingdom. Due to the South Kingdom being in such terrible poverty, they have a massive population. It’s population which determines how much tribute they pay to the Celestial Dragons. While the Northern Kingdom is mostly just a few affluent aristocrats, so they now have to pay very little tribute. Kuma and Ginny are soon taken as slaves along with many other South Sorbet citizens, but eventually, both end up locked away in a dungeon. They plan to fight back, but before they can, a familiar, big face comes to help them out.
How Does Kuma Meet Dragon?
Thanks to Iva hearing the news of Sorbet Kingdom’s misery, the Freedom Fighters show up on the island to help. They take down the tyrannical ruler of the kingdom, calling him a cheap Celestial-wannabe, and tell Kuma to join them. Dragon at this point doesn’t have his face tattoo, but Kuma’s addition officially helps them to become the Revolutionary Army. Together, they set out across the seas of the world, with Dragon’s goal to train up a scattered fighting force all over that can eventually rise up for each other.
One big theory was finally confirmed in this chapter- Dragon is a former Marine. It’s been speculated for years now that he has the experience of a soldier, especially since he’s able to found and lead such a massive organization. Now we have that confirmation, but it’s still unclear what rank he was as well as what led him to defect. One thing is for sure, his line about being in the Marines and “not finding the justice I was looking for” was badass.
Ginny Captured
Now that the Revolutionaries are an official organization, Ginny joins up along with Kuma. She’s determined they’re going to take the World Government down, and wherever Kuma goes she wants to follow. Near the end of the chapter, she’s seen working on a mission with her small regiment somewhere in the seas. Ginny is excited, talking about how she can’t wait to see Kuma again. This is the last scene of her, as things flash forward a few days to Kuma when he gets some terrible news.
Ginny has been captured by the World Government, and nobody knows what they want or where they are. Obviously they want to take down the Revolutionaries by kidnapping a core member, but will Ginny be able to escape? There’s no confirmation yet whether Ginny is actually the mother of Bonney or not. The history of Kuma is just starting, so that confirmation is due in the next few chapters.
How Will Kuma Save the Straw Hats?
There are a few options for Kuma to save the Straw Hats, and one may involve a combination of others. The first is using his transportation power to smack the Straw Hats all to the same place, likely Elbaph. Then there’s the other possibility that relates back to “Nothing Happened” on Thriller Bark, and the recent flashbacks of chapter 1097. Kuma giving it all to himself, as well as showing others could receive it like Zoro, is the biggest clue.
Kuma could take all that pain and exhaustion from Luffy, if not every Straw Hat there. This would put them all into fighting shape, and Luffy bring back Gear Fifth so Kuma could finally see Nika. Then if Kuma wants to give them a fighting chance, he can push that bubble of pain right into Saturn. That would be the best place for it, instead of taking it on himself. It could do massive damage to the Gorosei member, and possibly give Luffy his edge to defeat his first one.
Likely, there are a few more flashback chapters to come in the story before Egghead Island picks back up. Things are going hard in the present day, but it’s these flashbacks like Chapter 1097 that really give weight to the characters involved. Whatever Kuma ends up coming through for, it’s going to change the world of One Piece in a massive moment.
