Who Is Jewelry Bonney’s Dad in One Piece? Answered!

Whenever I’ve had the opportunity, I’ve often said in the past few months that Jewelry Bonney was going to play a big role in One Piece‘s final saga. As of the Wano Arc, Bonney and Urouge are the only members of the Worst Generation we’ve barely hung out with. But by placing Bonney at the center of Marijoa during the turbulent Reverie, Oda was teeing Bonney up for something big. The second that the manga sprung into the new post-Wano Egghead arc, my Bonney hunch was immediately proven right. She’s the new secondary protagonist for the arc. And now we even know who her dear ol’ dad is.

Spoilers for One Piece Chapter 1062 ahead!

Before we answer the question, I’d like to revisit Bonney’s fateful cameo during the Reverie arc. Bonney is able to get into Marijoa by passing herself off as an older woman named “Connie,” thanks to her especially absurd Devil Fruit power. The reason this works is that the real Connie, whoever she is, is the queen dowager — ie, a king’s widow — of the Sorbet Kingdom. Once in, Bonney immediately spots Bartholomew Kuma, who in his brain-dead state has been further reduced to one of the Celestial Dragons’ slaves. Bonney then gets incredibly angry and emotional. The scene begs two questions: what the hell is the Sorbet Kingdom, and who the hell is Kuma to Bonney?

We still don’t know much about the Sorbet Kingdom, except that Kuma was once its king. But we did definitively learn the answer to the latter question in chapter 1062. Kuma is Bonney’s dad.

Honestly, you could kind of see it coming from this scene. Especially when I re-read it in the manga, it seemed like Kuma was related to Bonney, or Bonney — a freaking pirate — really cared about her homeland. The former made more sense. Presumably, this all means that Bonney is the princess of the Sorbet Kingdom. Our third pink-haired princess since the time-skip! Hooray?

This also ties Bonney directly to perhaps the most complicated figure in all of One Piece. So now’s a good time as any for a Bartholomew Kuma Review. A Bartholo-view.

Bartholomew Kuma: The Story So Far

In a series known for its willingness to redeem characters who once played the villain, Bartholomew Kuma stands out for the sheer number of transmutations his identity has taken on.

We first meet Kuma as one of the Seven Warlords, known as “Kuma the Tyrant.” He just so happens to come to Thriller Bark to get Moria in line with Navy demands while Luffy and company are trying to take him down. Kuma makes himself known in the aftermath of that particularly intense battle, causing an explosion which bears strong resemblance to a mushroom cloud and nearly killing Zoro instead of definitely killing Luffy.

Kuma shows up again almost immediately, again doing the Navy’s bidding at Sabaody Archipelago. This time, his “Navy’s lapdog” vibe is even stronger, because he has allowed Dr. Vegapunk to fashion powerful robots in his image called Pacifistas. Kuma comes across as an even bigger asshole to the Straw Hats here: he is the one responsible for dissolving the crew before the time-skip, scattering them to disparate locations.

Except… it then becomes clear those disparate locations where custom-tailored to each individual Straw Hat with incredibly specific reasoning, all to seemingly help them become stronger. And then, during Marineford, it’s revealed that Kuma is actually an officer in the Revolutionary Army and was under cover. At the same time, we learn that Kuma sacrificed his own mental functions to complete the Pacifista project, making him an unthinking, unspeaking human weapon for the Navy. The Straw Hats realize that pre-Pacifista Kuma did them a favor after the time-skip, when Franky discovers that Kuma—as his “dying wish” against his programming—has been guarding the Sunny for two years. Next we see Kuma, he’s a Celestial Dragon slave.

So, basically, Kuma went from a really shitty, formidable bad guy to a mysterious good guy who is, in the present, kind of the bad guy we thought him to be originally. Very twisty. Now add to all this that Kuma was formerly a king and had a daughter this whole time. There’s an order of events here that deserves explanation, and we’ll probably get it via an exploration into Bonney’s backstory.

After getting saved from Marijoa, Kuma is back with the Revolutionary Army, but is still unresponsive. Meanwhile, we’re hanging out with Bonney for the foreseeable future as she confronts Vegapunk (who has split his consciousness in a manner exceedingly similar to Father from Fullmetal Alchemist) and eating snacks with her new best friends, Luffy and Chopper. Excellent.

Image credit: Toei Animation