Spoilers for Chapter 1097
I've read the unofficial TCB fan translation of chapter 1097 (thank you @hades876!), here be spoilers. Oda is cooking once again 🔥
This chapter goes over the next 24 YEARS of Kuma's life from childhood in the Sorbet Kingdom to working as a humble pastor to becoming a leader in the revolutionary army. Oda continues to skip a lot but we get very very interesting details.
The thing that gets me is Kuma taking on the pain and suffering of the townsfolk to help them at just 17 years old. It's unclear how long he's been doing it, and he continues doing so for another 8 years. He also implies this happens every time he repels pain, so it makes me wonder about the previous chapter when he repelled the pain of the boys Ginny hit. Did he take their pain too? If so, his little smile is heartbreaking.
This chapter also makes me side-eye Bonney as Kuma's biological daughter. Kuma seems very worried about his child having Buccaneer blood, to the point of not marrying Ginny. Once again, Kuma is sacrificing his own happiness for the sake of others.
The Sorbet Kingdom is interesting because it seems Kuma never became king, instead giving Sorbet over to the people after he, Ivankov and Dragon overthrew King Becori. I bet the World Government pinned Becori's crimes on Kuma - maybe after capturing him? In that case I think Kuma will give himself to the WG to save Ginny given his self-sacrificial nature.
Kuma joins Dragon and Ivankov 22 years ago post-timeskip. The manga mentions this, but for context, Roger's execution was two years ago and Ohara's destruction literally just happened. Ginny joins the revolution, Dragon confirms he was a Marine, Kuma visits Sorbet sometimes. Then Oda skips another 8 years and Ginny gets captured lmaoooo
At this point, I think Luffy is around 5 years old? He hasn't even met Shanks yet! Dragon also gets his tattoo in this 8-year span. The design is three X's. Before his tattoo he had three X's on his trousers and three stars on his shirt. His ship has three X's. What does it mean???
I desperately want to know the adventures they had during this 8-year span, but I guess that story is for a spinoff.
Another reason Bonney may not be Kuma's biological daughter is the timeline: she would need to be born in this 8-year span to be an adult/teen now, but there's no mention of her. Would Ginny and Kuma continue being in the Revolutionary Army if they had a daughter? Plus, Kuma and Ginny don't seem to be together, Ginny just got captured, and she probably dies. So how could she give birth to Bonney? Mysterious....
