One of the most powerful Devil Fruits to exist, the Paw-Paw Fruit is still shadowed in mystery. Just recently in the manga, it was revealed how Kuma manages to get his paws on it, but what does it do? This Fruit has one of the most wild varieties of powers for any of those featured so far in One Piece, and it still has a lot more to do in the story.
Warning that this article contains spoilers for One Piece through chapter 1089. Catch up on MangaPlus or Viz before reading further!
What is the Paw-Paw Fruit?
A mysterious Devil Fruit that changes its users’ hands into paws, giving them interesting powers along with it. One aspect of the Paw-Paw Fruit is the absorption of human feelings and emotions, drawing out everything from pain to happiness. Of course, that isn’t the only thing that the Paw-Paw Fruit has, and it’s probably one of the best Devil Fruits for long-distance travel anywhere in the One Piece world.
Kuma can pick any destination he wants to, and if he hits someone with the paw pads on his hands, they’ll fly right there. They can be flying for a while though, and it really is dependant on just how far they’re going. Some may fly for days, while some could just have a short ride of a couple of minutes. It’s all dependent on where he’s going. Kuma uses all these combined to become one of the most powerful Warlords of the Sea ever, and even a Revolutionary.
Pain Absorption
The Paw-Paw Fruit can pull the emotions and injuries from others, no matter how big or small they may be. When Kuma does it, he takes the pain drawn out forms into a massive paw bubble. This carries everything absorbed inside it, whether it be suffering, joy, or pain from injuries. The massive bubble will stay for a time, though. Kuma also says that if it’s left for too long it will return to whoever it was taken from. He shows just how much good it can do while running his church in the Sorbet Kingdom.
Kuma would absorb the pain from everyone that he helps in the Sorbet Kingdom every Sunday. He only takes the most basic of illnesses and pains though, and when he takes them all on, it does an incredible amount of damage. It makes the “Nothing happened.” moment in Thriller Bark even cooler in retrospect though, considering Zoro stands up to a ton of pain. This could also play into how Kuma defeats St. Jay Garcia Saturn on Egghead Island soon.
Teleportation Powers
The teleportation abilities of the Paw-Paw Fruit are one of the most important plot points in the story. It’s first seen on Thriller Bark when Kuma meets Perona, asking her where she wants to go on vacation. Instead of waiting for a reply, he pops her off to the Muggy Kingdom. Here Dracule Mihawk is quite surprised when she shows up. After that, he has the infamous meeting with Zoro. However, the teleportation power of the Paw-Paw Fruit comes back into the Sabaody Archipelago.
Kuma pulls up to Sabaody as a backup for the Marines, attacking in reaction to the massive pirate presence. He’s secretly the hero of the Sabaody Archipelago arc, even though it seems that he’s the end of them briefly. Instead, he sends them off to places where they can each train their skills, getting them ready for the New World to come. Even while being turned into a weapon of mass destruction, he has the interest and mission of everyone’s liberation at heart.
Who Has the Paw Paw Fruit?
Bartholomew Kuma is the current holder of the Paw-Paw Fruit, which he gained at the young age of just 14. Kuma is actually one of the Buccaneer tribe, a race of incredibly strong, large people whom the World Government tries to wipe out. They nearly succeed too, taking Kuma and his father as slaves before eventually killing his father. Kuma continues as a slave for years, causing enough issues until he’s finally dropped at God Valley for extermination. It’s here that he becomes the strong warrior he is today, and saves hundreds while doing it.
They steal the Paw-Paw Fruit, originally intended as a prize for the winner of the extermination event. Kuma’s able to use it to get hundreds of them out. He sends them all to the Sorbet Kingdom where Kuma grew up. Here, he and Ginny start to reopen the church that his father ran. Now Kuma becomes a preacher beloved by all in the land. Until darkness again comes to the Sorbet Kingdom, and the king places Kuma and Ginny in captivity.
Kuma’s Motivations
While they’re able to escape, it leads to Kuma shuttering his church for years to join up with Iva and Dragon. They officially form the Revolutionaries, and make it their mission to free everyone who has known suffering like they have. Kuma’s mission is absolute, and though it’s not obvious at first, he’s a critical ally of the Straw Hat Pirates throughout the entire story. Even when they don’t know it, Kuma is working behind the scenes to save their lives at many points.
He joins the Revolutionary Army to free others from slavery like he was in. Then, when he joins the Warlords, it’s to get inside information for the Revolutionaries to fight with. Kuma works undercover the entire time he’s a Warlord of the Sea, even allowing himself to be turned into a weapon of war in order to ensure he can protect the Straw Hats. Everything he does, from the fight for liberation to his Paw-Paw Fruit powers, he does in the name of liberation, and of Nika.
The Pain of Bartholomew Kuma
The character with the Paw-Paw Fruit who can absorb pain has been through more pain than any other. Kuma goes through so much throughout his life. Even watching his family be killed to seeing his own daughter taken from him. Even as a weapon, after he’s been programmed as a Pacifista, he continues to live. Although it becomes the worst life possible- rental slave for the Celestial Dragons.
All of this has brought Kuma to where he is now in the story, returning to Egghead Island. The place where he first became a machine, and where right now, he plans to save his daughter Jewelry Bonney. There was a bubble on Egghead full of Kuma’s own memories of pain, and it looks like he’ll have a major part in the fight against Saint Saturn. Kuma’s Paw-Paw Fruit is going to be a major player in that battle, too.
While it’s not the easiest Devil Fruit to explain, the Paw-Paw Fruit is critical to One Piece. Without it, the Straw Hats would have never escaped Sabaody to return stronger later. The Revolutionaries would never have been founded without the escape from God Valley. All of this, and even more freedom yet to come, is brought by the Paw-Paw Fruit of Bartholomew Kuma.
