Highlights
- Oda clarifies Kuma's Nikyu Nikyu no Mi abilities, requiring Kuma to have visited a location to send someone there.
- Kuma's potential awakened abilities could be even more powerful, possibly affecting surroundings without direct contact.
- Fans await the possible awakening of Kuma's devil fruit and its implications on his strength and abilities.
One Piece volume 109 has been relentless in terms of revealing important bits from the story pertaining to important characters. Given that the story is currently in the Egghead Island arc and that volume 109 is more so focused around the backstory of Bartholomew Kuma and Bonney, a lot of questions have been surrounding these individuals. Fans have seen Oda being asked about Bonney's devil fruit, and of course, even her pirate crew, the Bonney Pirates.
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At the same time, Oda has also been asked about Kuma, and his very own Devil Fruit powers. As fans know, Kuma’s devil fruit is the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi, which is a Paramecia type of fruit. Its abilities have been questioned by certain fans in the SBS corner that came with volume 109 of One Piece, and Oda has done brilliantly to answer and clarify how this devil fruit works in the first place.
Kuma's Devil Fruit Power Debut
Kuma's Devil Fruit Ability Was Introduced Before The Timeskip
Bartholomew Kuma's powers were first revealed to the fans in the Thriller Bark arc. Fans know that this devil fruit is incredibly powerful and certainly one of the most overpowered Paramecia type of devil fruits. Back during the Thriller Bark arc, the first thing that fans saw Kuma do was blow Perona away. With just a swipe of his palm, Perona simply vanished from in front of him. Later, Kuma mentioned that he had the ability to deflect just about anything at varying speeds, which can even go up to the speed of light, given that is able to create Ursus Shock by compressing air at the speed of light.
Clearly, Kuma possesses a very powerful ability and, essentially, nothing can touch him. Everything that hits his palms can and will be deflected, and that is what makes him a truly powerful paw human.
Kuma was able to send Perona away using his ability, and she ended up in Kuraigana Island. Later on, fans also got to see Kuma fight against Zoro, and he sent attacks like pad cannon at him, which he had trouble dealing with. His abilities were great enough to deflect all of Zoro's flying slashes, and it truly made him unbeatable at the time. Even when Zoro tried his strongest attacks on Kuma, they simply did not work, such was his overall power.
Later on, in the Sabaody Archipelago arc, fans got another display of Kuma's ability. This time, more focus was thrown on Kuma's ability to send people flying. It was here that fans got a clear idea of how this fruit worked. Essentially, Kuma could deflect people and send them to various locations. He did this with the Straw Hat Pirates and essentially split them up. Kuma split every single member of this crew up, and sent them to different locations across the world.
This travel took the members of the Straw Hat Pirates days, if not more, but they all landed at their destination safely, given that a paw-shaped bubble was surrounding them, cushioning their landing. Fans saw Luffy land on Amazon Lily, along with other individuals landing somewhere else.
How Kuma's Nikyu Nikyu no Mi Works
Kuma's Nikyu Nikyu no Mi Can Take People To Places He Has Visited
Clearly, the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi is one of the most overpowered fruits that fans have seen in One Piece, and this is precisely what has led many fans of the story to question how exactly this fruit works. Particularly, fans are wondering how Kuma is able to send people to different places. There need to be certain rules established here, as Kuma could simply send people anywhere otherwise. This is exactly what Oda has addressed in his recent SBS corner, after being asked by a fan. The fan wanted to know whether Kuma can simply send people anywhere or if he has to know the place to be able to send them there.
To this, Oda answered that Kuma cannot send people just anywhere. He needs to have visited the place himself, or at the very least, know where it is. Essentially, every place that Kuma sent people to are ones that he has visited himself.
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This further strengthens the idea that Kuma sent every Strawhat to a particular location for a reason, because he knew that they would benefit greatly from these places. Here is what Oda had to say about Kuma's powers:
Question: Oda-sensei! Are the places where Kuma's Paw-Paw ability can fly you to limited only to the places that Kuma personally visited?
Oda: Yes! That's right! Because in the past, Kuma traveled around the world!
As is evident from Oda's answer, Kuma has a lot of locations where he can send people to and this is simply down to the fact that he traveled all across the world and jotted down all the places in his Bible. This Bible was meant to be for Bonney to explore the world together when she turned 10. Of course, Bonney and Kuma have not had the adventure that they wanted together yet, but Kuma still kept every location that he visited in his book. As such, he has a wide array of places that he can send people to, just as he sent the Straw Hats to diverse locations.
What Will Kuma's Nikyu Nikyu no Mi Awakening Be Like?
Kuma's Nikyu Nikyu no Mi Could Become Even Stronger
Of course, fans might be wondering what the Awakening of Kuma's devil fruit is going to be. Clearly, if this devil fruit is ever awakened, it might just go on to become one of the most overpowered ones in the entire series. That is not to say that Kuma's fruit isn't already overpowered, but it could reach unprecedented levels later down the line. Essentially, following traditional paramecia logic, Kuma should be able to give his powers to his surroundings. Kuma might simply not even need to make direct contact with things to deflect them or to send people flying. This would mean that anyone stepping within a certain zone would simply be deflected by Kuma in the blink of an eye and they wouldn't even know where the deflection came from.
All attacks thrown at Kuma would be deflected without him even lifting a finger. This would make this devil fruit absolutely overpowered, and an ability that cannot be countered by many. Kuma would become one of the most monstrous pirates in terms of overall strength, and that is certainly something that fans would love to see.
Hopefully, fans will get to see the Awakening of that Nikyu Nikyu no Mi later down the line. As things stand, Kuma is still in possession of this devil fruit and he has a certain level of control over his soul, as seen recently. If Kuma is somehow cured fully, then, fans can expect him to make use of this fruit once again, and potentially even go on to awaken it, which would then give fans a proper showing of what this terrifying ability can do at its very best.
One Piece is available to read via Viz Media. The series can be read by the fans officially and for free on the Shonen Jump and the Manga Plus app. The release date for the next chapter of One Piece, One Piece 1120, is set to be July 14, 2024.
