One Piece Kicks Off the Anime’s Saddest Flashback in Newest Episode

One Piece has officially kicked off the saddest flashback arc in the anime to date with the newest episode of the series. One Piece is now working its way through the second half of the Egghead arc, and following another surprise break earlier this month, the anime has returned with one of the biggest flashbacks in the Final Saga. Flashback arcs serve as key pieces of the One Piece series that help to flesh out the current events, and often come ahead of an arc’s climax to give everything just a bit more emotional juice before things really get going.

Before the Egghead Arc can really get into the climax for Luffy and the others, there are some important pieces of the puzzle that need to be put in place for the connection between Bartholomew Kuma and his daughter Bonney. She had previously believed Dr. Vegapunk was the reason Kuma was turned into a cyborg, but it’s clear as of the latest episode that she’s turned all of her attention to St. Saturn. Now as the newest episode officially starts a new look into Kuma’s past, we’re about to find out more about this mother and daughter.

One Piece Episode 1129 Begins Revealing Kuma’s Past

One Piece Episode 1129 picks up right after Bonney launched a direct attack on St. Saturn, and her attack does nothing to the Elder. Not only does he immediately heal from the damage, but he’s able to grab her and threaten her directly while keeping everyone else at bay with his power. Then it cuts away from the current events to kick off a new look into Bartholomew Kuma’s past. Born to a happy couple, it’s explained that Kuma actually shares the blood of a dangerous clan known as the Buccaneers. And because of that blood, Kuma and his family are soon taken into slavery.

Separated from his mother and father, Kuma is forced to work for a cruel Celestial Dragon master. Even when there’s a brief bit of hope in a later reunion with his father, Kuma discovers that his mother has died. Meaning the last time he had seen her was when they were both in chains, and Kuma can’t hold back the tears. His father tries to cheer him up by telling him the legend of Nika the Sun God and dances for him, but then is killed right in front of Kuma.

RELATED: One Piece Hiatus Is Painful for Fans Who Know What’s Coming Next

What’s Next for this Kuma Flashback?

As teased by the end of the episode, this look into Kuma’s past is really only just beginning. There have already been some big teases about Kuma’s place in the world through this first episode, and there are going to be even bigger reveals as the anime continues to tell more of this flashback story. It also needs to eventually tease Kuma’s connection with Bonney as well, and thus there is a lot of ground to cover. But this is also a look into just how cruel the Celestial Dragons can really be.

Kuma lived a terrible early life, but is teased to later lead a happy life together with Bonney. It’s yet to be revealed how the two dots will connect, but eventually fans know that even after all of this, he eventually becomes a robotic weapon for the Marines. So even with all of this sadness, the real cruelty and tragedy of what happens to him has still yet to come. So One Piece fans better get ready to cry as new episodes debut with Netflix and Crunchyroll.