One Piece 1100 Review: The Best Jolly Roger

One Piece, Chapter 1100: Thank You, Bonney

So in spite of all the number theories... 1100 ended up being a rather simple 'how did we get here' chapter. The Marines arrived and are pretty keen on co-opting the whole operation. We get a younger Kizaru decked out in a very spiffy hat to basically oversee the conversation between Vegapunk, Kuma and, via den-den mushi, Saint Saturn. There's a repeat of the whole 'I'm just doing my job' sentiment that Kizaru would show in the present day, with Vegapunk being rather pissed off that Kizaru's basically enforcing the arm of the law. 

And... I really don't want to get into the specifics of the actual deal with Kuma, but basically everything that we expect would happen did happen. And the sad thing is... this is honestly Saturn being nice. Or pragmatic, I guess. He wanted a symbol, so he turned Kuma into that symbol -- a Shichibukai privateer that would obey everything the government asks of him. He really could've just ordered Kuma and Bonney murdered, and that would be the end of it. But he's making a lot of demands to force Kuma to give up his individuality, and there's a lot of hoops he jumps just to get Vegapunk to also basically heel. 

But a combination of wanting someone ostensibly loyal to the government to be the template to this 'Clone Army', as well as Ace apparently taking out one of the Shichibukai members before this means that there's a slot for Kuma. It's... it's very interesting that after Ace refused that Shichibukai offer, apparently at some point he met whoever got inducted instead of him and beat that person up! Or killed him, more like! It's nice to see that Ace is actually supposed to still be a badass. This is a short little mention, but I do really appreciate it. 

Two very good panels here, with the angry Vegapunk face really showing just how much he realizes how fucked up all this 'FOR SCIENCE' thing is. It's a bit more subtle, but he's finally realized that he's got a heart and he's got principles. And, of course, we get another great face of Kuma's happy-sad crying at the realization that, yes, Bonney can get cured. Even Kizaru seems to be a little touched, pulling down the rim of his hat. 

Saturn also holds Bonney hostage, basically up until Kuma's modifications are complete -- Bonney's cure would take one and a half years, while Kuma's modifications would take two. I do kind of feel that it's partially Vegapunk wiggling the numbers just to allow Kuma some time to be with a cured Bonney, but Saturn can't even give him that. Kuma bargains for a single request -- that Bonney be allowed to grow up and spend that quarantine time in Sorbet Kingdom, in the church, instead of the soulless government science factory. 

And... we get a montage. And what a heartbreaking montage it is, because, like it keeps being pointed out... this is the end of Kuma. This is us counting down the seconds to when Kuma finally loses his humanity. They play around a lot, even with Vegapunk and Sentomaru... and, shit, even Kizaru does the Nika dance with them in one of the panels. At around this point we also get to see Vegapunk in his office basically rattling in anger about how he wished there were five more of him, which would be the genesis of his Satellites. In the midst of it all, we see Bonney being cured, Kuma turned into a cyborg, and an adorable scene of Bonney scribbling her daddy's face. 

And then Bonney is mostly cured, and the treatment just needs some time to fully take charge. Kuma brings Bonney back to Sorbet and the church, but even the long arm of the government has reached there. After a brief recap of some of the Sorbet citizens... turns out that the doctors and nurses are actually CP-8 agents, specifically a lady called 'Alpha' that acts like a haughty nurse, but goes straight-up sadistic in front of Kuma, crushing a rock and noting how fragile kids can be. Some really heavy scenes, too, of Kuma thinking to himself about how he'd really love to take his daughter out on all of the islands that they had planned to go. CP-8 and Alpha set up a whole damn checkpoint system around the church, ostensibly for security but it's really a prison to keep Bonney in. Kuma makes what he knows to be the final farewell to Bonney, patting her on the head and telling her 'thank you' and that he's so glad that Bonney was born. 

And then the rest of the story is another great 'all around the world' montage as Bartholomew Kuma, the Tyrant, is announced as a Shichibukai. We get an absolutely great shot of Doflamingo's face in shadow as Sugar announces the news to him. Robin and Crocodile react to it. Dracule Mihawk doesn't really give a shit. Among all of the reactions to the Shichibukai at the time of the series' start... we get... fucking Alvida and Koby. That's so random! I love it. We don't get anyone else that's not a Shichibukai otherwise. Then we get to see Ace, Whitebeard, Jinbe, Marco and Blackbeard reacting to it, including a zoom-in to Jinbei's disapproving face. And Hancock also doesn't give a shit, with Rocks-pirate member Grandma Nyon informing her. And there's Moria and Perona reacting to it... before the final shot of the Revolutionary members Dragon, Sabo, Koala and Hack. 

It's always really nice to see the greater world of One Piece, and how many other characters react to a certain type of news. Again, I do feel like it's particularly great worldbuilding to involve characters that are dead in the present day of the story like Whitebeard and Ace. 

And we get to see Kuma on his boat... with the jolly roger being the goofy drawing that Bonney made on the flag. God bless you Kuma. This bit is extremely wholesome, and I absolutely am tickled to imagine that this big, badass 'Tyrant King' Bartholomew Kuma is wandering around putting down the World Government's enemies while sailing a goofy-ass boat like this. 

And in a twist that I don't think anyone would see coming, turns out that Kuma's stop... is Luffy's home town? This is approximately a year or so before Luffy sets sail, and before the fateful year that all the Supernova stuff happens (which coincides with Bonney and Kuma's own deadlines) and we even get to see a young, pre-sail Luffy run around chasing around tigers and stuff. Unexpected! Now the question is if Kuma's going to this island to see Dragon's son... or is he tracking the Nika Nika/Gomu Gomu Fruit? 

Random Notes:

• Drake, who hasn't became "Red Flag" X-Drake, is part of Kizaru's crew! I wonder when Kizaru zapped him in Sabaody if Kizaru actually knew that Drake defected under Marine orders!
• Vegapunk's giant, non-Punk-Record'd head is very uncomfortable to look at. 
• Is the nameless Shichibukai that Ace defeated and/or killed the same one that killed Zephyr? Or is this me doing another pointless exercise in trying to wiggle-room the non-canon Oda-written movies?
• There are a couple of timelines going around with one year, six months and whatnot, but basically Bonney is cured around half a year before the beginning of One Piece's pre-timeskip year, which would be when she turns ten and the big deadline for Kuma's flashback.
• Love that Bonney just casually calls Sentomaru 'that weirdo'. 
• Making a cameo is a ship called 'Umit Cargo Ship'. "Deep Ocean" Umit is one of the underworld brokers we saw at Big Mom's tea party. 
• It seems like Bonney is introduced to her trademark favourite food pizza in Egghead. 
• It's brushed through pretty quickly, but I think most of the translators seem to think that thanks to the kanji used, Alpha (Arufa) is connected to Kalifa.
• Crocodile and Robin are talking about the Rainmaker ship from the Alabasta arc, with the implication that cowboy hat Robin's about to murder a bunch of people that witnessed that ship.