r/OnePiece • u/Kirosh2 Lookout • Dec 21 '23

Current Chapter One Piece: Chapter 1102 Spoiler

Chapter 1102: "The Life of Kuma"

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There is a break next week technically

Ch. 1102 Official Release (Mangaplus): 24/12/2023

Ch. 1103 Scan Release: ~30/12/2023

Please discuss the manga here and in the theory/discussion post. Any other post will be removed until 24h after the release.

Please also remember to put the chapter number in the title for any future post talking about this chapter.

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1.8k

u/ShukiNathan Chopper the Cotton Candy Lover Dec 21 '23 edited Dec 21 '23

Egghead is officially a top 3 arc for me, it's been absolutely amazing so far.

Kuma better get his sense of individuality back cause god damn if there's a character in this series deserving of a good ending it's him.

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u/RodasAPC Void Month Survivor Dec 21 '23

August 2022: alright, small arc. in and out. 20 chapters max.

December 2023: 😭

1.0k

u/Nome_de_utilizador Dec 21 '23

"Damn, Wano was so fucking long, time for a quick lore heavy arc with no stakes before we switch to the next big arc"

The small arc: 😭😭😭😭

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u/Yorunokage Dec 21 '23

It's honestly insane how lore dense this arc is while also being very long

I mean, more or less every chapter has been a bombshell

43

u/LeapYearFriend Dec 22 '23

i think oda very concretely decided he going to start gearing towards the end of one piece from the end of wano. that was our last big "okay let's introduce a bunch of new interesting shit!" arc of the series. it's probably why he 180 backtracked on having people like yamato or carrot join the crew. because he felt like he would've be able to give them enough screen time to do the character justice AND wrap up everything in the time frame he was comfortable with.

everything since then has been clean up duty. every loose end gets tied up. lore bombshells we've been alluding to for the last 20+ years. we're just getting banger after banger after banger now because oda's, for lack of a better word, no longer holding back. this is the END GAME.

3

u/thedrq Dec 23 '23

And when it isn't a more bombshell it's an emotional bombshell like this one

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u/Flumpski Dec 21 '23

It’s fucking heavy alright 😭

18

u/YaIe Dec 21 '23

This was me and suddenly there was a summoning circle and a demon spider monster appeared, exploding the head of one of its "allies" because it looked at it

3

u/evilmojoyousuck Dec 21 '23

sabaody flashbacks of the straw hats getting annihilated by kuma

1

u/Ok_Donut_9887 Dec 21 '23

It has never been mentioned that Egghead will be a small arc. Shorter than Wano for sure, but still…

5

u/flabahaba Dec 22 '23

It was never stated by any official sources but most of us just assumed for whatever reasons

1

u/FuggyGlasses Dec 21 '23

Egghead brought Wano's waterfalls

1

u/QuiJonGinn Dec 22 '23

if only Wano was this pace

1

u/Vorticity1848 Dec 22 '23

And Oda skipped a whole storyline in this arc (defeating the clones)

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u/javierm885778 Dec 21 '23

I don't know why people keep thinking arcs will be that short lol.

Even Zou, without a big conflict in the present, was 23 chapters long.

29

u/SunEmpressDivine Dec 21 '23

I think it’s the breaks that make everything feel longer. There are 52 weeks in a year, so even accounting for Jump’s Christmas and Golden Week breaks, if One Piece didn’t have one every 2-3 chapters then a 20 chapter arc would’ve been long over by now.

Also pre time skip long arcs were like, 60 chapters and not 100+ so Egghead so far is competitively short

10

u/javierm885778 Dec 21 '23

I don't see how that's related to the length? I'm talking about people saying Egghead would be 20 chapters long, when that makes no sense with how Oda paces arcs since like Arabasta.

The rate at which the chapters come out doesn't change how long the arcs are.

8

u/SunEmpressDivine Dec 21 '23

Oh I was adding my thoughts onto yours lol. Before the arc really started, people thought Egghead would be short, similar to Zou, Jaya, or LRLL. 20 chapters is short for a One Piece arc. It might just not feel like it week to week

3

u/javierm885778 Dec 21 '23

Yeah, before it started it might have made sense.

But it quickly became clear it was a huge arc. It didn't have the features that made arcs like that short, the most important being how self contained the setting is.

Egghead started with Vegapunk, and quickly added Bonney. That alone meant it wasn't self contained, even more so when we found out Vegapunk was split into seven bodies. The introduction of the Seraphim and CP0 only made it more evident it would be long.

And I still see people saying we were close to the ending all over. When they said they were leaving people were saying it'd happen within 5 chapters lol. As usual, a lot of people really love underestimating how long arcs will be. Hell, during Zou I remember people saying the arc would end within 10 chapters since Jack had already left. And how to forget people saying the raid was near its end when Luffy got to the roof in chapter 1000.

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u/newbatthis Void Month Survivor Dec 21 '23

Seriously. Who told Oda to deliver all these onions.

7

u/omaewakusuyaro Dec 21 '23

Ikr we all thought we were gonna go to elbaf soon

But when you think about it this is vegapunks island and this character has been a mistery for like 700 chapters before so it makes oda takes his time doing it properly

6

u/Mad-Oka Dec 21 '23

The only way one piece can have short arcs is if there's no villain in the arc(like Zou). The strawhats alone are 10 members, add to that how many arc-specific characters Oda introduces, there's no way an arc is gonna be less than 45 chapters.

3

u/CelioHogane Dec 21 '23

"Bitch you thought" Oda sensei - 2023

2

u/[deleted] Dec 21 '23

🤣🤣😭😭😭

2

u/samidjan Dec 22 '23

when people saying this chapter would be like Thriller Bark or Sabaody Arc, they didn't realize it was both arcs but from Kuma's POV

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u/MrLKK Dec 21 '23

This chapter really made it feel like Kuma's truly dead. I was hoping for this too, and still am, but this chapter makes me feel like he's gone.

Then again, Vegapunk did mention that personality switching circuit think kinda outta nowhere.

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u/Deadtaor33 Pirate Dec 21 '23

The sneaky self-destruct put in by Saturn has got to be a Chekovs Bomb that will blow up in his face lol

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u/ThatFlyingScotsman Dec 21 '23

Android 16 style self destruct button but it’s actually still there and works, just to cap off the Red Ribbon vibes of Egghead.

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u/GriffinFlash Dec 21 '23

"Vegapunk removed the bomb!"

Kuma: !!!

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u/Piccolito Dec 21 '23

Kuma will hug Saturn and selfdestruct just like A16

2

u/littenthehuraira Dec 21 '23

Red Ribbon vibes

I was getting Frieza spaceship vibes as well.

2

u/Kingdarkshadow Dec 21 '23

So Bonney will use user unlock her temporal domain where she is a saiyan?

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u/AFineDayForScience Dec 21 '23

Speaking of chekov, why mention the personality switch if that wasn't going to make another appearance? Kuma's consciousness will get one final send off watching Bonney sail away with Nika. It's OP. The happiest possible ending is usually the most likely possible ending (with the exception of plot devices like Ace's death).

Saturn has to die, Kuma's story has to end happily (by our standards, not Kuma's), and the Strawhats have to gain something from the Arc. Vegapunk is too old to come along, Bonney's crew is essentially disposable for plot purposes, and Bonney wants to see the world. Bonney is the next Strawhat.

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u/Worthyness Dec 21 '23

I also have a hard time believing Vegapunk couldn't outsmart Saturn. Sure Saturn can be a genius science person too, but he doesn't have a devil's fruit that makes a person so incredibly smart that his tech is centuries beyond the current era

7

u/littenthehuraira Dec 21 '23

Yeah, feels almost certain. Though I feel like a lot of Vegapunk's smartness is told, not shown. He's supposed to be the smartest person in One Piece but he doesn't realize a lot of things. Then again, Oda has to make his character more grounded.

21

u/Mahelas Dec 21 '23

Vegapunk is very technically smart but not very wise at all

15

u/AFineDayForScience Dec 21 '23

Even Vegapunk can't cure autism

7

u/AlexHitetsu Dec 22 '23

Sure Saturn can be a genius science person too, but he doesn't have a devil's fruit that makes a person so incredibly smart that his tech is centuries beyond the current era

Vegapunk's fruit doesn't make him smarter, it just allows him to store all that information in his gnoggin whithout forgetting anybof it

3

u/BrokenAstraea Dec 22 '23

They wouldn't need Vegapunk if Saturn could do all the science

7

u/LeapYearFriend Dec 22 '23

I'm not completely sold on Bonney being the next Straw Hat, but if she isn't, she 100% becomes a part of the Grand Fleet.

With how much Oda has been hammering in her dedication to Nika, it would make absolutely zero sense if she just voluntarily gave up on that whole yarn and was written out of the story in like two chapters.

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u/Splinterman11 Dec 22 '23

Isn't Kuma's personality already switched? For some reason he's beelining it straight to (presumably) Egghead right now. It's probably that switch was flipped at some point.

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u/filthyireliamain Dec 21 '23

OH MY GOD ITS KUMA FROM THE TOP ROPE

59

u/Druxun Dec 21 '23

What… WHATS THIS NOW?! Gecko Moria with a steel chair?! Oh the humanity!!

8

u/littenthehuraira Dec 21 '23

As Imu as my witness, he is broken in half!

3

u/javitheworm Dec 21 '23

That may actually be great. Kuma self-destructing in Saturn’s face to allow the crew and the others to escape. Very sad for Kuma dn Bonnie and the others but I can see it happening

3

u/FringGustavo0204 Dec 21 '23

I can see the pacificist Kuma hugging Saturn and then the self destruct pops. Poetic.

2

u/Deadtaor33 Pirate Dec 21 '23

Does a Pedro, but you know better lol

3

u/secret101 The Revolutionary Army Dec 21 '23

What about Vegapunk’s supposed personality switch? Even if it wasn’t used on Kuma, it’ll have to come into play eventually. Maybe York, BB, or even Cavendish?

3

u/kanelel Dec 21 '23

Maybe the self destruct button is actually the personality switch.

2

u/th5virtuos0 Dec 21 '23

Dude should have taken up on Vegapunk’s offer while he could

2

u/PsychoPass1 Dec 21 '23
  • the potential hidden switch to turn his personality back. Maybe a final Kuma / Jesus self-sacrifice moment parallel.

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u/modimusmaximus The Revolutionary Army Dec 21 '23

I don't know, I feel like with all the free will themes of this arc, there might be a slim chance that Kuma somehow shines through like how seraphim Boa could not help herself but fall for Luffy again. I think this was a beautiful sendoff it this was truely his death, but if Kuma regains consciousness for a second, I also am sure that Oda will make it work well with him being able to finally see his idol, Nika, and hear the drums of liberations.

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u/Future_Novelist Dec 21 '23

There's still something suspicious about that Kuma seraphim. And how he was considered a "problem child".

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u/VerdantVegetable Dec 21 '23

Yeah let's hope next chapter is Vegapunk telling Saturn he put the switch in Kuma and he's on his way here. Then he can flip him off while putting on sunglasses or something.

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u/SirCaesar29 Dec 21 '23

"I am a man of science too Vegapunk, I'd be able to tell!"

It will be extra fun when Saturn activates the self-destruct and Kuma instead regains consciousness

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u/Fish-In-Open-Waters Dec 21 '23

We can only hope. That would be so cool for Bonney

11

u/th5virtuos0 Dec 21 '23

“Well Kuma regains consciousness = The super war machine self destructed”

5

u/Alzusand Dec 21 '23

Please god let this be true. But vegapunk was crying a lot he probanly didnt do it he really just killed kuma.

2

u/TheTimn Dec 21 '23

Could you imagine if they got Willem Dafoe for the Saturn dub?

1

u/itachi7898 Dec 21 '23

Woah. That would be amazing. Just want to see the face of that fucking basterd satan

28

u/hahache1456 Pirate Dec 21 '23

Do remember, Kuma was with Dragon for awhile after being rescued, it seemed they did some kind of tending to Kuma before he ran off, also do remember that Dragon and Vegapunk seem to have been in constant communication

The Revolutionary Army(or at least Dragon) already knows what happened to Kuma after the Summit War, why would they "tend"/act like that to Kuma if he was actually dead

10

u/JMooooooooo Dec 21 '23

why would they "tend"/act like that to Kuma if he was actually dead

Because putting him in broom closet would be uncool.

Don't get me wrong, I too hope Kuma will be back, but even if Kuma was fully braindead walking corpse, his friends would still want to stop WG from using his body to fight for them, and then since body is alive, treat it as such, so tend any wounds. There is simply nothing else they can do for Kuma.

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u/CRtwenty Marine Dec 22 '23

They were probably hoping they could find a way to restore his personality.

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u/Backupusername Dec 22 '23

Imagine if Lindbergh just found the "personality" switch that Vegapunk installed and set it back to ON.

4

u/zaxls Dec 21 '23

Its kinda ridiculous to me that Saturn thinks he can somehow outsmart the smartest scientist in the world lol.

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u/Serious_Pace_7908 Dec 21 '23

It’s Chekovs brain circuit switch that was surely just a throwaway line by Vegapunk and certainly doesn’t set up the next big event for Kuma who is coincidentally already going rogue and on his way to egghead for mysterious reasons.

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u/Purelybetter Dec 21 '23

but this chapter makes me feel like he's gone.

I felt like the opposite, actually. Him saying his powers create a copy of his memory, and that if its touched it'll "disappear". We know from his flashback things don't "disappear". Pain is temporary and passed on to whoever takes it on. Memories are not temporary, so I feel like he thinks it'll disappear because he can't experience gaining memories he already has.

Bonney popping his memory bubble also has a strong possibility of lining up, timeline wise, to when Kuma went wild. Just not enough evidence to tell us exactly when. Could be when he warped away from the Revolutionaries, or it could be when he fled from Akainu.

3

u/Xboxone1997 Dec 21 '23

Really hope that's the case

3

u/doesntgetoptions Dec 21 '23

I don't know if Vegapunk put that switch in or not, but I'm convinced Kuma's still in there somehow. I don't know who else could've put in a command to run to egghead to protect Bonney.

3

u/Future_Novelist Dec 21 '23

Maybe Kuma is in the seraphim that was deemed a "problem child".

1

u/Backupusername Dec 22 '23

One of the RA executives, the cat man, he's a tinkerer, right? And he was there working on Kuma after Sabo and friends rescued him from Mariejois? He must have flipped that switch! That's why Kuma woke up and took off for Egghead immediately!

1

u/Slammybutt Dec 22 '23

This chapter made me switch from "kuma has a bit of his own mind still" to "Kuma is 100% trying to get to egghead to protect the Sunny".

I think it'll turn into helping the straw hats, and maybe saying goodbye to bonny, but it's not going to be kuma saying those words, it'll be his robot mind that was programmed to.

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u/someinsanity01 Dec 21 '23

the memory bubble because bonney used it. I think Kuma is gone now for sure

19

u/th5virtuos0 Dec 21 '23

Not really. VP said he has a way to study it without touching it so who to say he doesn’t have a copy of it somewhere

20

u/Namisaur Dec 21 '23

But it clearly disappeared. I don't think he'd have a copy of it. He probably meant the way to study it was through a machine interface where it was stored, but Bonney touched the bubble instead, thus making it disappear.

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u/Puzzleheaded_Farm122 Dec 21 '23

You are forgetting PX-S Kuma exists and can do the same feat of copying OG Kuma's memories that are now residing in Bonney. It can also absorb OG Kuma's memories and lean to be more human since they are technically clones. Be funny and impactful. But I may be smoking some copium to deal with this heavy hitting chapter.

3

u/Aspie_Astrologer Void Month Survivor Dec 21 '23

Yeah, it might have disappeared now but the "who's to say" was that VP watched the whole thing, so it's possible he just copied it all and created a personality switch in Kuma without needing that bubble anymore. 'He can clone people, he can probably clone physicalised memories too', essentially.

Could go further and picture he put this in all the Kuma clones so that any of them could become Kuma if the condition is triggered. Condition could be when they are ordered to self-destruct, or something to do with Bonney being threatened for the original Kuma (as seems to have been triggered when he launched himself to Marie Geoise)

1

u/somersault_dolphin Dec 21 '23

He was studying it so he had to extract it without damaging the paw bubble. It's not out of the question for him to compile Kuma memory he extracted and store it elsewhere.

7

u/BEENHEREALLALONG Dec 21 '23

Unless the Kuma is commanded to remove it from her?

33

u/IanPKMmoon Dec 21 '23

Do the Reverie chapters and other chapters about events in the world during Egghead also count as Egghead?

Also, Kuma got a good ending in his eyes. He was able to save Bonney and that's enough for him, what a man.

12

u/modimusmaximus The Revolutionary Army Dec 21 '23

Kuma, what a man you are.

7

u/th5virtuos0 Dec 21 '23

As a reward…

3

u/IanPKMmoon Dec 21 '23

Good dads do exist in the One Piece world

1

u/sunsoutgunsout Dec 21 '23

And with S-Bear, Kuma even becomes bird (crying)

4

u/Future_Novelist Dec 21 '23

Everything post-Wano is Egghead.

1

u/revisioncloud Dec 21 '23

Protecc Bonney at all costs

23

u/Mammoth_Ask3797 Dec 21 '23

I can see Vegapunk being a little snitch and built in the character switching device even though Saturn forbid it. Saturn will see that Kuma is back and activates the self destruct. But in that second Kuma warps over to Saturn and blasts him away, too.

9

u/Elite_Doc Dec 21 '23

Definitely wouldn't have mentioned it if he wasn't gonna use it for Kuma or the Seraphim. Wouldn't be surprised if happens like you said, or the self destruct also activates the self thing

2

u/Raderg32 Dec 21 '23

I doubt he would have cried that much if that were the case.

7

u/of_kilter Cipher Pol Dec 21 '23

Honestly? Top 1. Egghead is peak peice

4

u/jdbewls Citizen Dec 21 '23

One of the first themes we saw in this arc was that no matter how hard Vegapunk tried, his programming could not overwrite his creations true nature. Maybe the Kuma of the past won't be completely restored, but there is definitely some individuality in there still.

5

u/NeverFreeToPlayKarch Dec 21 '23

Vegapunk 100% installed that device he mentioned to Saturn. It was a 99% certainty until Saturn boldly proclaimed he couldn't be fooled.

6

u/s0ulbrother Dec 21 '23

Yeah Vegapunk is pulling a fast one on them. He 100 percent out the back up in. That dudes a man of science like the PM on my project is a dev.

2

u/Fit-Peak-7892 Dec 21 '23

Kuma better get his sense of individuality back

The panel where he stated that he only extracted like only a copy of his memories is a foreshadowing that may regain his sense of individuality.

2

u/OhtomoJin Dec 21 '23

You must have missed the self destruct panel lmao. Also the memories are gone once Bonnie touched them

1

u/Ramekink The Revolutionary Army Dec 21 '23

Its got to be inside the giant robot

1

u/Raydnt Dec 21 '23

Willing to bet Vegapunk put that brain switch in anyways

1

u/ohtooeasy Dec 21 '23

I wonder if Bonnys fruit can give his individuality back

1

u/Doomroar Dec 22 '23

I put it as the best arc post time skip

1

u/goody153 Dec 22 '23

if there's a character in this series deserving of a good ending

I'm afraid it's probably gonna end in a final tragedy.

1

u/Spezisaspastic Dec 24 '23

He is already missing half his face and was tortured for the last 2+ years. Don‘t think it is a good body coming back to.