Oda Drew The Darkest Backstory In The Series
Kuma’s story might be the single bleakest backstory Oda’s ever written. This backstory is highlighting the cruelty of the Celestial Dragons over again. Kuma’s entire life has been cursed by these demons. Him and his parents became slaves, his father was relieved at the death of his mother due to the immense torture they were going through. He was hunted like a rabbit along with his friends and other slaves.
When he finally made it out after God Valley with his friends and found peace in a village, he was still shackled in the jaws of the Celestial Dragons. He sacrificed his life, taking the pain of the villagers every week so they could work to pay the King and the Celestial Dragons their taxes.
Traumatised by his race and existence, he refused to marry, and worked the best he could to liberate people with the Revolutionary Army only to find that his childhood friend and love had been kidnapped, and assaulted. Ginny’s story is equally soul gutting. The helplessness Ginny, Kuma and the Revolutionary Army must have felt and the efforts they must have made were unsaid and unwritten but everyone felt their despair in those panels.
Kuma heard from Ginny again after all odds, only to find that she’s terminally ill and is glad to be so, much like his father. He rushed to find her, unable to hear her declaration of love, and finds her dead, all due to the cruelty of the monsters that rule the world. You and I both shudder to think what he must have felt in those moments and what he continued to feel since.
He raises Bonny, leaving everything behind, tending to her illness. Since Bonny is currently twelve, and has a devil fruit, Kuma likely made a sacrifice to the World Government for the sake of his family, again becoming a slave to the World Government.
His entire life, he has been haunted by the Celestial Dragons and the trap they have laid. His kind soul deserves better.
Remembering the panel where the Celestial Dragon was riding a broken and beaten Kuma, is so much more heart shattering and gut wrenching now. Till the end he has not been able to escape the clutches that began at his birth.
The story of Kuma is a device to highlight how many lives have been affected so. How many people with their infinitely complex hardships have endured at the hands of the Celestial Dragons. I hope everyone gets the redemption at the hands of the freeest pirate alive.
*by superesteev
