One Piece Confirms [SPOILER]'s Real Age

The following contains spoilers for One Piece Chapter 10908, "Bonney's Birth," by Eiichiro Oda, Stephen Paul and Vanessa Satone, available in English from Viz Media.

The One Piece fandom has had a sneaking suspicion about Jewelry Bonney for a long time. Her age-altering powers have led people to believe that she used these abilities on herself in order to transform into a twenty-something woman. This could mean that Bonney's age differs from what she's been telling people. Some believe that Bonney was an older woman who was using her coveted power to stay young and beautiful forever. Alternatively, Bonney could be a little girl who uses her power to make herself older in order to begin her pirate voyage sooner.

One Piece chapter 1098, "Bonney's Birth," finally confirms the latter theory to be the truth, at least the first part of it. Bonney was only born ten years before the start of One Piece, which makes her 12 in the story's present. It's also been confirmed that Bonney is the biological daughter of a Celestial Dragon, not Bartholomew Kuma. Seeing the theory confirmed may be satisfying for some, but now fans need to figure out what to do with the information. Bonney's origins need a way to influence her character arc and her role in One Piece's overarching story to be relevant.

Evidence That Bonney Is A Child

Fans found a few potential signs that Bonney wasn't what she made herself out to be. Of course, this evidence remained inconclusive until more was revealed about the Big Eater's backstory. Now that the truth is out, these hints can be looked back on as clever foreshadowing. One of the first signs of Bonney's true age is her Devil Fruit power. Bonney can make herself and others as old or young as she wants. The former means that she can use her powers to become a twenty-something woman. More evidence of Bonney altering her age comes from out-of-story material. Bonney is listed as 22 and 24 before and after One Piece's time-skip. However, those numbers were only estimates because of her Devil Fruit powers. This implies that Bonney was much younger (or older) than she made herself out to be.

Fans have also been tipped off by the way that people talk about Bonney. Characters like Dr. Vegapunk, Admiral Kizaru, and St. Jaygarcia Saturn refer to Bonney as a child and treat her as such. However, these are all men who are at least in their late-fifties who are talking about a girl who deceives everyone into thinking that she's in her twenties. It's entirely possible that these older men treat Bonney as a child because she still is one, at least relative to their ages.

Another potential clue comes at the start of the Egghead Arc when the Straw Hats save Bonney from drowning in Chapter 1060, "Luffy's Dream." When they fish the Supernova out of the water, Bonney is mysteriously in her child form, but she returns to her adult state once she's back on dry land. Fans suspected that the seawater undid Bonney's powers and revealed her age. Bonney's personality during this incident is also worth noting. Many point out how Bonney has the attitude, patience, and demeanor of a bratty, immature child. She also gets pretty emotional at the thought of harming a Pacifista that resembles her "daddy." However, this could all be attributed to Japan's standards for ideal women, who must be cute and youthful like a little girl, or beautiful and refined like a mature woman. Bonney could have aimed for the latter kind of beauty since she was still, presumably, in her early twenties.

The best evidence to rebuff the Bonney-child theory was when she fainted in Chapter 1067, "Punk Records." Most Devil Fruit users' abilities come undone when they're knocked unconscious or faint. The latter was exemplified when Sugar's Hobby-Hobby powers came undone when Usopp made her pass out from fright; Bonney similarly fainted when she was swarmed by insects attracted to her laser sword. If her powers were anything like Sugars, then passing out should have undone her powers and turned her back into a child. Instead, she remained in her adult form until she regained consciousness in Chapter 1070, "The Strongest Form of Humanity."

How the Bonney-Child Theory Was Confirmed

The best sign that Bonney wasn't born 24 years ago came in Chapter 1097, "Ginny." This chapter covered significant events from Kuma's life 30, 25, 22, and 14 years before the present. He was notably proposed to by Ginny, who would (presumably) give birth to Bonney in the future. If Kuma had said yes, this would have put the two on schedule to conceive Bonney. However, the clergyman was worried his Buccaneer blood would lead his wife and child down a path of pain and suffering. It would be like the enslavement he and his parents were forced to undergo. If Kuma and Ginny got married and had Bonney anyway, it wasn't revealed in Chapter 1097. This was a possibility, but if Kuma were the father, his backstory would have been the place to present the birth of his biological daughter.

Unfortunately for Kuma, Bonney isn't his child. Fourteen years before the present, Ginny gets abducted by a Celestial Dragon and forced to become his wife. Two years later, she returns to "the lower world" with baby Bonney; fans shudder to think of how she was conceived. The Big Eater's mother dies of Sapphire Scales, which leaves Kuma to look after her daughter. Tragedy aside, this confirms that Bonney was chronologically ten years old when she debuted in One Piece. Bonney should be 12 by the series' present. What's curious about this is that Bonney contracts the same disease as her mother, Sapphire Scales. The doctor who confirms this also says that Bonney won't live past ten. With this information, the new question that replaces Bonney's age is how she manages to live long enough to see her manga debut.

A common guess among fans is that Bonney's Devil Fruit powers save her. If she is supposed to die at ten years old, then the use of her Devil Fruit ability to make herself into an adult might allow her to bypass this fate. This way, Bonney won't have to worry about her disease anymore, even if she turns back into a child. A few more theories have been crafted regarding how Bonney survives her Sapphire Scales. Some suggest that Kuma has passed the illness on to someone else with his Paw-Paw powers. Others speculate that Dr. Vegapunk was involved and that he might have even been the one to give Bonney her Devil Fruit. Whatever the answer is, it has to have happened by the time Bonney shows up in Sabaody, before the Straw Hats, since she was ten by then. Bonney might have even started her voyage around the same time as Luffy, albeit after she's aged herself up. There shouldn't be any One Piece contradictions here, as long as Bonney's "cure" is found before this point in the story.

How The Bonney News Will Influence The Story

The truth about Bonney's origins might say a little more about her father than it does about her. If these two are related by blood, this would make Bonney the successor to the Buccaneer race, which presumably committed a great crime in the ancient past. Ordinarily, things in the ancient past that the World Government condemns as sinful or as threats to humanity (the Ancient Weapons, the Ancient Kingdom, the Poneglyphs) are also expected to be what will end their corrupt rule and, in this regard, save the world. This may also apply to Zunesha, Joy Boy, and of course, the Buccaneers. If Bonney is Kuma's biological daughter then she will be responsible for fulfilling the destiny of her people and doing her part in what will likely be One Piece's climactic final arc.

Now that Bonney is confirmed to be a Celestial Dragon's daughter, the duty of the Buccaneer tribe rests on Kuma, who remains their sole survivor. However, Kuma can only do this if he finally gets the happy ending that Bonney has been fighting for. This means that Kuma must live past the Egghead Arc and maybe even get his humanity restored. If Kuma dies, so does whatever power the Buccaneers have, which has left the World Government so frightened. As for Bonney, her Celestial Dragon heritage won't do her any favors. This flashback arc leaves the ongoing series with St. Saturn as he orders the Marines to shoot Bonney dead. If the Godhead of Science and Defense doesn't see a reason to keep this noble-blooded girl alive, nobody in the World Government will.

Bonney also likely considers the Celestial Dragons to be her enemies for what they did to the person who she still views as her father. Bonney is already fighting the one who commissioned Vegapunk to make the Warlord into a mindless cyborg. She may also eventually fight the World Noble who turns out to be her biological father. If Bonney is the daughter of a Holy Knight (like Shanks), then this could create further implications for whom the rest of the Holy Knights are and who will have to fight them. The knowledge that Bonney is a child also confirms why everyone who personally knows her treats her like one. This should affect how people feel about Bonney and why they act the way that they do while in her presence. In the case of Dr. Vegapunk and her crewmates who know Kuma, they're protective of her because they rightfully still see her as a little girl. Her enemies, like Kizaru and St. Saturn, think little of Bonney for the same reason. This could cause one of them to underestimate Bonney and take a hit for it as a result. This also questions whether the Straw Hats will treat Bonney any differently when they find out her truth, although they probably won't.

In any case, those who guessed that Bonney was a child can give themselves a pat on the back and continue to trust their instincts. What was once deemed circumstantial evidence can now be viewed in hindsight as hints to Bonney's ongoing story. The rest of how this twist will affect the plot should make itself clear as One Piece's story progresses.