The following article contains spoilers for chapter 1102 of One Piece.
One Piece was crazy good this week. In fact, One Piece has been crazy good for a while now. After Wano, it was almost as if no one could have imagined exactly how much better the series could get, but, of course, Eiichiro Oda never disappoints.
Since the Egghead arc started, we’ve been bombarded with information. While we’ve come to learn a lot about mysterious characters and events – Vegapunk, Ohara, Imu, and the five Elders – since chapter 1074, the story has been focusing on Kuma and Bonney. The pirate has finally accessed her father’s memories – for better or for worse.
The flashback is likely reaching its final stages, and with chapter 1102, we’re hit with the realization that everything Kuma did only made him a gentle giant – including the protection of the Thousand Sunny.
Why did Kuma protect the Sunny?
Kuma asked Vegapunk to program him to protect Sunny because he saw Luffy as the potential savior of the Seas. For two years, while the Straw Hats grew stronger, their treasured ship, the Thousand Sunny, was protected and defended by Kuma – who had been the one to send them flying to different places.
This contradictory progression of events always confused fans, but we finally got to know what happened in chapter 1102. While Kuma had accepted becoming a human weapon, he still had his free will – until Saturn forced Vegapunk to strip Kuma of his humanity during the time skip. However, Kuma’s last request was that he be programmed to protect Sunny until one of the Straw Hats arrived.
We know that it took two years for them to meet up again, and during that time, Kuma not once wavered on his task, defending the ship with teeth and claws. All because he was disappointed that he wouldn’t see the Straw Hats’ growth, and because he saw Luffy’s potential to become everyone’s savior, including Bonney’s.
The new One Piece chapter will be released on Viz Media and Manga Plus on December 24.
