One Piece Teases Bonney’s Biggest Secret

Albeit introduced with the rest of the Supernovas back on Sabaody, Jewelry Bonney has long been confined to the shadows, with fans almost having completely forgotten about her over the years. That said, One Piece’s Egghead Arc has unexpectedly brought Jewelry Bonney to the forefront of the series, with her and Kuma even taking center stage in One Piece’s latest opening and ending themes. The Egghead Arc has proven that Bonney is quite full of secrets, and the latest episode teases she may still be hiding another huge one.

In Episode 1127 of One Piece, Vegapunk Stella spots Bonney in the Fabriophase and heads out to save her, accompanied by Atlas, Sanji, and later Franky. Vegapunk declares that he’s coming to save her, claiming that he cannot leave “a little girl” like her behind to die. Vegapunk’s curious choice of words in this moment is one of the first real hints in the series that Bonney could be much younger than she lets on, a huge secret that One Piece’s anime is now gradually building up towards revealing.

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Vegapunk Hints at Bonney’s True Age in One Piece

Fans have suspected that Bonney could be hiding her true age for quite some time, as interestingly enough, this isn’t the first time a character in the series has referred to Bonney as a child in some way. St. Saturn was the first to do so when he mysteriously referred to Bonney as “just a girl” in Episode 1123 upon finding out that she was also present on Egghead.

That said, St. Saturn’s words still left room for ambiguity as the exact phrase used by Saturn in Japanese, “komusume,” can refer to any young woman, such as Nami or Robin. It is also easy to justify Saturn’s choice of words, given that he is visibly much older than Bonney by comparison. While Vegapunk is also arguably old enough to see Bonney as a child in comparison, he is much more direct with his words in Episode 1127, when he clearly calls Bonney a child. To be exact, in the latest episode, Vegapunk uses the phrase, “osanai ko,” which means young child when referring to Bonney. This wording even catches Sanji’s attention, who confusedly repeats what Vegapunk said.

Besides these subtle hints from other characters, One Piece has also alluded to Bonney being younger through her own Devil Fruit powers. As seen in Episode 1103 when Bonney turned Vegapunk into a child, as well as the latest episode where she turns multiple Marines into children, when Bonney uses her devil fruit to de-age people, they tend to drop colorful gems that represent the years of experience they lost. However, Bonney does not drop these gems whenever she turns herself into a child, implying that this may be her true form and that she has been making herself look older all this time. This would also explain why Bonney was in child form when the Straw Hats first met her outside Egghead as the sea water should have technically deactivated the effects of the Devil Fruit were she really an adult.

Other subtle hints in the anime so far include the latest opening theme for Part 2 of the Egghead Arc. One particular section of the opening depicts various stages of Bonney growing up from an infant, to a toddler, to the child form that fans have seen her adopt. However, the scene doesn’t depict Bonney as an adolescent or any stage between her child form and her adult form. Most importantly, if Bonney truly is a child masquerading as an adult, it is difficult to deny that her devil fruit, the Age-Age Fruit, is tailor-made for such a purpose, even though her motive for doing so is yet to be revealed in the anime.

One Piece’s Sanji Controversy May Grow Worse as a Result

While One Piece’s anime is yet to reveal Bonney’s true age, this secret is a huge reason for many of the franchise’s recent controversies. The biggest of these was when recent episodes of One Piece added anime-original scenes of Sanji fawning over Bonney and having heart-eyes for her. Knowing that Bonney is a child, many fans were put off by this scene, although it can be argued that this is only normal behavior for Sanji, who at this point in the series was unaware of the fact, unlike fans.

Toei has also been criticized for extending a scene of Bonney changing her clothes at the beginning of the Egghead Arc, as once again the fanservice put off fans who’d read the manga and already knew about her true age. Unfortunately, the controversy doesn’t stop there, as One Piece also recently released a very salacious figurine of Bonney as an adult in her skimpy Egghead outfit. Evidently, Bonney’s real age has stirred up quite a debate among One Piece fans, and these discussions will only get harder to navigate as the anime continues to reveal this particular secret.

One Piece is available to stream on Crunchyroll and Netflix.