Highlights
- Oda continues to excel at crafting incredible flashbacks in One Piece, with the Egghead Island arc featuring an exceptionally well-written and tragic storyline.
- The flashback explores the horrific life of Kuma, from being enslaved as a baby to suffering abuse and witnessing the deaths of his parents. Eventually, he escapes and joins the Revolutionary Army.
- Ginny, another character in the flashback, endures even worse abuse as a slave, orchestrating an escape and later falling back into slavery. Her tragic story intertwines with Kuma’s, adding further depth and darkness to the narrative.
One Piece has had its fair share of incredible flashbacks and fans have absolutely enjoyed the vast majority of them over the years. Oda is a master of flashbacks and no author does them half as good as him and that goes without saying. Recently, in Wano, Oda drew what is the very best flashback in the entire series which focused on the life of Kozuki Oden. Fans believed that the flashback couldn’t be topped by any other in the story, however, Oda has yet again surpassed expectations in the Egghead Island arc, as he drew yet another incredibly well-written flashback.
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However, this flashback isn’t like any other seen in One Piece. It is written very well but at the same time, horrific. It is filled with sadness and tragedy and there is no flashback in One Piece that comes even remotely close to this one in terms of shocking events and the tragic nature.
Kuma’s Tragic Life As A Slave
As fans know already, this entire flashback that is currently going on in the Egghead Island arc of One Piece is based on the life of Kuma. Kuma had his memory removed from his body and stored inside a lab on Egghead Island. When Bonney came to Egghead Island, she was seeking answers and she received them when she stepped into the memory bubble. This bubble was full of pain for Bonney and right after she witnessed everything that her father and her mother went through, she broke down and couldn’t stop crying for the entire night and understandably so. The flashback is then shown to the fans when Bonney is about to be executed by Saturn. Fans get to see the birth of Kuma in the Sorbet Kingdom where he is revealed to be the child of the Buccaneer race.
As soon as he is born, information about his birth is leaked to the outside world and the Celestial Dragons somehow hear of it, and Kuma, along with his entire family, is enslaved. In fact, Kuma is put in chains as a mere baby and that is absolutely horrifying. Both of his parents are enslaved as well and are abused in all kinds of ways. Kuma grows up in slavery for many years and he witnesses his parents die one by one. His mother falls first and passes on. It is unknown what the circumstances leading to her death were. However, both Kuma and his father break down when they hear this news.
Then, when Kuma hears about the legend of Nika from his father, he loses his second parent as he’s shot right through the head for making too much noise. This, once again, goes to show that Kuma was forced to live a horrific life. Kuma continued life in chains in Marijoa for many years. He was beaten and abused every single day by his masters but, finally, he received a chance to escape when he finally went to God Valley. The characters who stretched out a helping hand to him were none other than Ivankov and Ginny. After teaming up with them, Kuma successfully managed to escape from the island and resumed life in the Sorbet Kingdom once again.
Ginny’s Life And Death As A Slave
While Kuma is the primary focus of the flashback and certainly a tragic character that is being explored with each passing chapter, he is certainly not the only character who experiences great tragedy in this flashback. Ginny is another character who fans get to see a great deal of in this One Piece flashback and arguably, she has things even worse than Kuma. Ginny is revealed to be a slave of the celestial dragons right from the very young age of 9. She is enslaved for 4 years and put through all sorts of abuse. On the day of the God Valley Incident, Ginny finally manages to escape the grasp of the celestial dragons. Ginny doesn’t wait for anyone to save him. She orchestrates the escape herself. In fact, Ginny becomes the architect of every slave’s escape on that day since it was she who leaked information to the outside world about the presence of Devil Fruits.
She wanted to cause a commotion on the island so they would have the opportunity to steal the powerful Devil Fruits that are the rewards and escape from the island. That is precisely how the plan went on and Kuma ended up eating the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi. With the power of this Devil Fruit, Kuma saved 500 lives that day and this also included himself, Ginny, and Ivankov. He sent his own group to the Sorbet Kingdom, where Ivankov parted ways with this group and left for the seas to explore freedom once again.
Meanwhile, Kuma and Ginny continued their life on this island and worked towards a better life. For the very first time, they ate fulfilling meals and didn’t have to sleep on an empty stomach. For the very first time, these two characters experienced love and joy and what safety meant. However, things in the Sorbet Kingdom didn’t stay that way forever. The evil king of the kingdom and his corrupt policies made Kuma, along with many others, to rebel. They were subsequently imprisoned and this led the freedom fighters to the island. The evil king of the kingdom was overthrown and Kuma and Ginny were freed. Both of these characters then ended up joining the Freedom Fighters and with their inclusion, the Freedom Fighters turned into the Revolutionary Army. It is said that Kuma turned into the third pillar of the Revolutionary Army and Ginny became the commander of the East Army of the revolutionaries.
For Ginny, life was getting better, until it didn’t. She was eventually kidnapped and returned to slavery in Marijoa. She was forced to marry one of the Celestial Dragons and all sorts of abuse were thrown her way once again. Ginny was beaten and abused both physically and sexually and eventually, she contracted a terrible illness that then led to her being freed from her slavery. Essentially, the Celestial Dragons had no more use for her so they let her go. However, this wasn’t before she was made to bear a child. This child turned out to be none other than Bonney. Ginny contacted Kuma one last time before she ended up dying and that is when Kuma said his goodbyes to the most significant person in his life and she ended up passing away. He then decided to raise Bonney on his own.
While one might think that this is the end of the most tragic backstory in One Piece, it certainly isn’t because fans already know that Kuma also returns to slavery once again, just like his best friend and potential life partner, Ginny. Kuma has chains around his neck again and he is then known as the invincible slave. He spends many years in slavery and he is also made into a mindless cyborg for unknown reasons. Kuma loses every single thing that is valuable to him, from his life experiences to his memory.
The only thing that he managed to preserve was Bonney. Eventually, Kuma was freed by the Revolutionary Army, however, at the end of the day, he is barely alive anymore and it is highly likely that he will end up dying a very tragic death as well. There are no winners in this flashback, which is rare as far as One Piece flashbacks go. Undoubtedly, this is the darkest flashback that Oda has drawn in the story and it still hasn’t ended, which means that it could potentially get even worse.
One Piece is available to read via Viz Media. The series can be read by the fans officially and for free on the Shonen Jump and the Manga Plus app. The release date for the next chapter of One Piece, One Piece 1098, is set to be November 12, 2023.
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