One Piece chapter 1098 dropped recently and it was quite easily one of the most heartbreaking chapters in the entire story. In fact, the dark themes that One Piece tackles are focused on in great detail in this chapter, and some of the beloved characters are subjected to terrible fates. The character who ended up with the worst cards dealt was none other than Ginny.
Fans have come to adore Ginny over the course of the Kuma flashback and, unfortunately, towards the end of the last chapter, she was kidnapped. In One Piece chapter 1098, it was revealed that Ginny met a terrible fate for 2 years before she finally died. However, Dragon could have potentially rescued her and ended her misery but he chose not to, for various reasons.
Ginny's Kidnapping - How Ginny Was Captured
Ginny was focused on quite a lot in the Kuma flashback. Fans know her to be an exceptionally important character both to Kuma and Bonney. On the island of God Valley, 38 years ago, Ginny managed to escape from the Celestial Dragons. Having been a slave for 4 years, Ginny suffered quite a lot before finally escaping and tasting freedom for the first time. She built herself up to be a very powerful and respectable woman, strong enough to become the East Army commander of the Revolutionary Army. However, before that, Ginny was focused on protecting Kuma while he protected the people of the Sorbet Kingdom.
Ginny ended up joining the Revolutionary Army shortly after the fall of the King of the Sorbet Kingdom. When the King announced policies that essentially reduced the size of the kingdom and threw the old population unable to pay the taxes into an area that was basically for them to die in, Kuma protested against him. He fought against the kingdom and its armies and was eventually imprisoned. Hearing of Kuma's imprisonment, Ginny and many others rebelled as well and they were captured too. News of the evil King of Sorbet Kingdom spread all over the world and this led the Freedom Fighters to make their move.
They certainly did that and liberated the country from his evil rule. This also led both Kuma and Ginny to join the Freedom Fighters. With their inclusion in the group, the Freedom Fighters turned into the Revolutionary Army and they expanded their operations from there onward. Dragon continued to improve his army as well as its strength over the course of the next few years and, eventually, the Revolutionary Army reached a respectable level of strength.
One Piece: Why The Kuma Flashback Is The Most Tragic Yet
Kuma's flashback is one of the most tragic in One Piece.
On one fateful day, Ginny, shortly before preparing to go meet Kuma for the first time in many years, was attacked by a group that ended up giving her up to the Celestial Dragons. Apparently, one of the Celestial Dragons had his eyes on Ginny. He wanted to make her his wife and of course, Ginny wouldn't want that. As such, they kidnapped her and forced her to marry this Celestial Dragon. When the fans saw Ginny being kidnapped, the first conclusion they jumped to was that Ginny would be rescued by the members of the Revolutionary Army. Much to their surprise, the Revolutionary Army did absolutely nothing.
Why Dragon Didn't Save Ginny
Fansfully expected Dragon, Kuma, and Ivankov to rescue Ginny. For one, they knew exactly what happened to her and where she was but, despite that knowledge, they chose to do nothing. Now, this is rightly upsetting to the fans, given that Ginny was a very beloved character and one who had suffered quite a lot already in her life. There is certainly a reason as to why Dragon did not save Ginny. Essentially, Dragon is the leader of the Revolutionary Army and, for him, freeing all the slaves of the world is important. When Ginny was kidnapped, the Revolutionary Army was not at its peak and certainly would not have been able to defeat the Celestial Dragons. Going to Marijoa would have been a risk in that regard and had Dragon failed, the entire revolution would have died.
So, Dragon decided that it would be smarter to wait it out and, as sad as it is, let Ginny be. Dragon didn't want to place a higher value on the life of Ginny when compared to any other slave and, in his mind, the proper time to free Ginny and every other slave would be in a few years, when the Revolutionary Army would be much stronger and ready to attack Marijoa. Of course, these were his reasons, however, fans are entitled to their own opinion and do not have to necessarily agree with what he had in mind. Dragon was not objectively wrong when he decided this, however, there were certainly other approaches following which Ginny could potentially have been saved.
Could Dragon Have Saved Ginny?
The answer to whether Dragon could have saved Ginny or not is absolutely yes. Dragon is one of the most powerful men in the entire world and the man who ended up becoming the World's Worst Criminal. Even at the beginning of his time as the leader of the Revolutionary Army, Dragon would have been very strong. His commanders were strong as well and fans absolutely know what he, Kuma, and Ivankov were capable of. Dragon rightfully did not want to declare war on the Celestial Dragons because it would have been stupid to do so when they weren't ready.
However, he could definitely have launched an infiltration mission into Marijoa to free Ginny and countless other slaves. This isn't unheard of. To put that into perspective, Luffy launched a small infiltration into Whole Cake Island to free Sanji and he succeeded in doing so, without waging an all-out war against Big Mom and at the same time, this only helped boost his reputation even further, while Big Mom was believed by the world to be the loser of this encounter. Luffy wasn't ready to fight Big Mom at this point in the story, however, the value he placed on Sanji's head was far greater and Sanji would then go on to help the Straw Hat Pirates since his fighting prowess was equal to thousands of other fighters.
Similarly, Fisher Tiger, a former slave, climbed all the way up to Marijoa and freed his fellow Fishmen, along with multiple human slaves as well. In fact, he even torched the city of the Celestial Dragons before successfully escaping from there. If Fisher Tiger could free so many slaves, so could Dragon. Essentially, the strategy here would not have been to declare all-out war as that would have been stupid. However, the group could easily have infiltrated into Marijoa, especially when they had an ability as useful as that of Kuma.
They could have been inside within a matter of minutes, and hours at best, and freed multiple slaves, along with Ginny. The army would then have fallen back and this would have been a great victory for the group. The fact is that there was certainly a way to save Ginny, and even though it was risky, It was certainly possible. Instead, Dragon chose to take a more pragmatic approach, which one certainly can blame him for, even if it was the safest route in front of him. Someone who was more of a risk-taker would take a different approach and likely succeed anyway.
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 1098, is set to be November 12, 2023.