Summary:
Kuma watches Luffy perform his Gomu Gomu no Ax attack on some rocks, completely crushing them and scaring the local wildlife. Reminiscing about his time with the Dragon, Kuma mentioned how the Dragon seemed to be intimately familiar with the land, and when he went to stretch his legs, he found a remote village with a young boy living there who reminded him of the Dragon. However, the dragon tells Kuma if he keeps talking about it, he might as well kill him himself, confusing Kuma. The dragon says that the child is their parent’s weak point. Kuma quickly realizes what he means and drops the subject. Meanwhile, Luffy is impressed with his new move and decides to save him when he faces a super strong enemy after he gets his crew to protect her. The Den Den Mushi on Kuma then starts ringing and he teleports away before Luffy notices him. Luffy comments that he felt a super strong presence, but he doesn’t mind in the end.
Kumo’s mission was to destroy a pirate crew that had raided a nearby merchant ship. But first he stops to check on the merchants and decides to escort them safely to the hospital first before going after the pirates. When he does, he instead tells the pirates to surrender, and they nervously return all the cargo they stole to avoid further trouble. All the while, Kuma continues to write letters to Bonney, who eagerly waits for him to read them. Unfortunately, she did not receive any of them. Gyogyo says he might have forgotten because of work or the News Coos are doing their job incorrectly. Either way, Conney says a letter will appear one day. Unbeknownst to everyone, Alpha withholds the newspaper and Kumo’s letters, giving the paper to Bonney while tearing up Kumo’s letters in disgust. At the moment, Kuma sends about ten letters a month.
Alpha arrives to give Bonney her medicine, though she is surprised to see her on top of a clearly beaten Gyogyo. He gives her the medicine (which is actually a bad-tasting placebo) when Gyogyo asks Conney why he’s keeping quiet about Bonney’s powers, and Conney says it’s safe. Meanwhile, in Lab 08, Dr. Vegapunk has successfully removed his brain from his head, and now all he has to do is blow it up and the lab itself. Stussy, who was with him, comments that he likes his new look, and Kuma, who was also there, asks what will happen when he loses his individuality, which makes Stussy wonder what’s worse: a human without free will, or the clone that has her, prompting Dr. Vegapunk to remind her that he considers her human.
Dr. Vegapunk tells him that without his personality, he won’t hesitate to hurt anyone if he’s told to, even a child. However, he has about a year left to complete the procedure, so he should still have some free will. Kuma starts writing another letter and says that he wants to let Bonney know how much he loves her until the very end, which Stussy finds very sweet. In the letter, Kuma wishes Bonney a happy ninth birthday, which he will celebrate with his family at Sorbet. At night, he doesn’t get the letter and starts crying.
After half a year, Bonney is completely cured of Sapphire Scales. Kuma also continues to help the Revolutionary Army whenever he can, but leaves without a word. Dragon says they have to respect Kuma’s wishes to keep them uninformed. As for Bonney, Alpha keeps refusing to let her out, saying she has to stay put until her tenth birthday, even though it went against Vegapunk’s estimate. It turns out that Conney overheard Alpha revealing herself to be a government agent, which made her even more suspicious that she wouldn’t let Bonney go free. Conney then comes up with a plan to smuggle Bonney out of the country and have her set sail to find Kuma, sending Gyogyo and his friends to search with her.
The plan involved Bonney transforming to look like Conney and leaving with some luggage, with Alpha none the wiser. He’s basking in the outside world when he reaches his friends who are showing off their new ship made to look like a pizza. However, Alpha finds out about the deception and starts chasing her, planning to beat Bonney to within an inch of her life and tie her up and kill any of her accomplices. Bonney captures her and uses her Distorted Future move to make her look like Nika based on the stories Kuma told her. He knocks Alpha out with a giant fist, allowing her and her new crew to set sail.
Word eventually gets to the World Government that Bonney has escaped, and eventually Bonney makes a name for himself as an infamous pirate in the new era.