One Piece
Bonney revolutionizes ‘One Piece’ and Eiichiro Oda pulls another character out of his sleeve with Luffy’s Gear 5
Chapter 1118 of the One Piece manga puts all the pieces together and shakes up everything we thought we knew about Bonney with a vignette that will go down in history.
Warning: This article contains spoilers for ‘One Piece’ manga chapter 1118.
Those who haven’t read the chapter will complain that we spoiled it for you in the title, and those who have had the pleasure will say “that’s not exactly how it is”. If you are one of the former, stop reading immediately. And if you are one of the latter, allow us the license of the headline to preserve the innocence of the former. We already know that Bonney didn’t activate the Gear 5, but… Well, wait, are we really sure about that?
We just experienced a moment reminiscent of the uncertainty (and excitement) when Kaido stopped Luffy’s heart at the top of Onigashima. Or in other words, a scene as fundamental to ‘One Piece’ as the one in which we saw the future King of the Pirates activates the awakening of his fruit. Do you remember those days? People thought and theorized that Luffy was melting; that his power wasn’t really rubber but tree resin (and that he was going to set his hair on fire because of it). We even feared that Nika was the Fruit Demon and had possessed Luffy or changed his personality. What a time and what fun it is to follow the ‘One Piece’ manga up to date!
What we mean is that whatever we say today could be gone tomorrow. It will take a long time to understand what has just happened, and the only question to ask is what exactly is the power of Bonney’s fruit. Because it became clear long ago that it goes far beyond changing age. We know from her current appearance that she can do that even at 12 years old, but we’ve also seen her swell her arm to deliver blows as devastating as Luffy’s in Gear 3. So?
During the battle against the Five Elders of the Gorosei, St. Jaygarcia Saturn said that Bonney didn’t even have devil fruit, but was the result of the government’s dark scientific experiments to create people with powers without needing them. He claimed she was a failure because her resulting ability, the ability to materialize any possible future in her body, was useless. Poor Saturn. The fish is caught by the mouth (spider in this case).
So Bonney has managed to materialize a future in which she is Joy Boy (accept the term Joy Girl, if you will). How did she do that? By seeing Luffy in person. This is why Oda recently explained the relationship between Joy Boy, Nika, and Luffy. They all shared the same fruit and motivation, and it was only when he reached his full potential that Bonney could not imagine that she was the heir to such a lineage of liberators. Some may say that Oda just pulled it out of his hat (see how we throw the stone with the headline and then play dumb), but the truth is that everything seems to have been planned for quite some time.
Just think, Oda not only casually explained who Nika and Joy Boy are, but also dedicated one of the hardest flashbacks in ‘One Piece’ to Kuma, Bonney’s father, whose dream it was to meet Joy Boy. Isn’t it nice that he raised Joy Girl? Doesn’t it complete a wonderful cycle? Also, we’ve seen Bonney try Gear 5′s attacks throughout Egghead’s arc to no avail... until Luffy himself in Gear 5 helped her realize her worth and materialize her form. Check out these vignettes where “Nika’s Power” is thrown.
The questions raised by all of this are many: Is Bonney as strong as Luffy in Gear 5? More so? Can the two of them take on the Five Elders alone? Bonney has all the motivation in the world. Let’s not forget that they raped and killed her mother, enslaved her father, and experimented on her. Here’s hoping for the 2 vs. 5 (well, vs. 3, the Zoro vs. Nusjuro, and Sanji vs. Mars we don’t want to miss). How ironic that the Gorosei only fears Nika and accidentally created a second Nika. But even though Oda has made the World Government a most incompetent institution, it would be rare for them to lose such an important battle here.
But what if… What if it wasn’t really Bonney’s thing, but that Luffy could affect people as well as the environment? What if he could turn his entire crew into Gear 5? The number of theories and heart attacks the community will suffer trying to explain and justify each one.
By the way, when were we supposed to go to Elbaf? We don’t want Oda to tell me again that ‘One Piece’ is coming to an end because it breaks our hearts. The series is in one of the best moments of its history, and we don’t want it to end. Let’s see who’s the smart one who missed chapter 1,119 now…