One Piece knows where to prod people to make them hurt the most. Time and again, the franchise has opened up nostalgic wells of angst to make fans tear up, and the anime decided to guide fans towards yet another spring. After all, it seems one of Monkey D. Luffy’s allies is in danger, but there are plans to save the pirate nonetheless.
Recently, One Piece put out its latest episode, and it was there fans met up with Sabo. The hero snuck into the Reverie to launch an all-out war against the World Nobles and the Marines as they’ve all gathered for the rare event. Unfortunately, Sabo gets distracted by a rather disturbing reveal, and it has to do with Kuma.
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As it turns out, Kuma has been subjugated by the Celestial Dragons and turned into a plaything of sorts. Sabo is angry to see the ex-Revolutionary Army reduced to such a state, and he makes it known. In fact, Sabo tries to save Kuma from the gang on instinct alone, but it is then the commander is told of a plan to save Kuma.
When Sabo is pulled back by Morley, the soldier joins Karasu and Lindbergh in warning their leader. It turns out that Kuma is too far gone to save from the Celestial Dragons as he wouldn’t be able to return to his old self. Between the rulers and the Marines, the poor pirate has endured unfathomable torture, but the gang can end Kuma’s suffering at the least. The only way to free Kuma will be to destroy the power system keeping him in chains, so Sabo becomes even more determined to declare war than ever before. Saving Kuma may not be possible, but they can hopefully free the former Shichibukai before long.
So, are you ready for Kuma to return home…? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!
Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece first began serialization in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in 1997. It has since been collected into over 80 volumes, and has been a critical and commercial success worldwide with many of the volumes breaking printing records in Japan. The manga has even set a Guinness World Record for the most copies published for the same comic book by a single author, and is the best-selling manga series worldwide with over 430 million copies sold. The series still ranked number one in manga sales in 2018, which surprised fans of major new entries.
