"You may not know this, Kuma... but I respect you. I know about your sacrifice, I know what you did so your daughter could live... and I respect that."
Mentioning Bonney brought a brief smile to the giant's face.
"That's why I don't want a kind man like you to disappear quietly because of the World Government's intervention."
I stood up, slowly approaching the imposing cyborg.
"You have two options here: continue what you're doing... or return to the Revolutionary Army's hideout. After all, your services as a spy will no longer be needed, since the World Government will be exterminated in a year or two."
I spoke calmly, waiting for his decision.
"... I have a task to fulfill. I need to protect this ship."
I had expected this answer. I would not try to stop him.
"Well... then at least allow me to give something back to you."
I closed my eyes for a few seconds, and a strange aura, invisible to others, began to emanate from me. It penetrated Kuma's body like a divine whisper, repairing invisible cracks, rebuilding something much more precious than metal or circuits: his mind.
Through the Sphere of Truth, I asked for everything that made up Bartholomew Kuma—every memory, every moment, every fragment of the man who existed before the machine. I received everything, and in a smooth flow, I returned it to its owner.
"That's all you are... but since you still have a mission to fulfill, I'm going to seal those memories away in a safe corner of your subconscious."
When I opened my eyes, I saw real emotion there—not the empty gaze of an automaton, but the soul of a father, a husband, a friend. Kuma remembered Bonney, Ginny, conversations with his father, days of stolen freedom... and even though he was born a slave, these were memories he treasured. Tears began to flow, and the gentle giant wept. He wept heavily, truly, like someone who rediscovers himself after years of being lost.
It's not over yet, Kuma...
A slight smile touched my lips as I connected with the divine energy pulsing through every fiber of my being. While Kuma drowned in the ocean of her own memories, I plunged into the underworld of this universe, searching for a specific soul. The truth? If the woman weren't mine, I wouldn't spend a second trying to bring her back. I'm hypocritical enough to admit that. I only do this on rare occasions—or when one of my women asks me to.
Women I love.
Out of pure altruism? No. If that were the case, Stella would have returned to Gild Tesoro's arms long ago.
It didn't take me long to locate that lost soul in the underworld of One Piece. This dark place, forgotten by God and practically invisible to the rest of the world, is a pattern in universes where the underworld is never properly explored.
The soul I was looking for was hers—Ginny's. I rescued her from that abyss, opening a small portal directly over her essence, pulling her out. She appeared before me, almost transparent, fragile, like a breath of life that refuses to disappear.
Kuma, sitting there on guard, watched silently, his emotions now more stable, without making a sound. He knew I was doing something important, beyond his momentary understanding.
"I brought someone to keep you company, Kuma," I said, knowing he couldn't see Ginny. In fact, no one but me, Big Mom, or Brook can see and control souls in this spectral world. Others may sense a presence, an aura, with Observation Haki, but nothing concrete.
"Now you have a safe place inside yourself," I explained, "a mental world. There, your body can rest while your mind lives on. It's a refuge, a space that's yours alone."
"That's all the gifts for today. When you are truly free, I will return to give you the last one."
I started to walk away, but Kuma called me back, his voice monotonous, yet charged with a subtle and new emotion.
"Thank you, Jason."
"You're welcome," I replied with a smile. "Go inside, into your mental world. There's a surprise waiting for you."
In the blink of an eye, I disappeared, and the reality around Kuma shattered, bringing him back to the real world. He stood still, staring at where I had vanished, a genuine, peaceful smile appearing on his face. He closed his eyes, feeling for the first time the strange and comforting space called the "mental world."
==
When Kuma opened his eyes, he found himself in a place shrouded in shadows. The sky was heavy and cloudy, the sun barely able to break through the thick veil of gray clouds, and the light that escaped cast a cold, distant glow on the desolate ground.
"So... this is my mental world."
Kuma's voice echoed faintly in the emptiness. He had never heard of such a thing, but the name alone explained enough—a reflection of one's own mind.
He knew that this was the mirror of his subconscious. A place shaped by his emotions... or the absence of them.
Since becoming a cyborg, his emotions had been fading—and now the world before him was as bleak as his inevitable future.
But this was not a natural world. Jason had created this space, a refuge within Kuma's mind, to protect his consciousness and memories from being completely erased.
For hours, he walked across that endless terrain. Each step sounded like a distant echo, without direction. There was nothing—no life, no color, no purpose. Only the silent wind and the sound of his own thoughts.
Then, a memory pierced the silence.
Jason's words.
"I left a surprise for you, Kuma."
Moved by this memory, Kuma closed his eyes and activated his Observation Haki. A flash appeared in his perception—a soft glow, hidden beneath a distant hill.
He moved forward.
The path was silent, but as he drew nearer, the glow took shape—first a spark, then a humanoid outline. When he finally reached the top, he saw a warm light expanding before him, molding itself into a translucent body.
Kuma's heart, even though metallic, seemed to beat for an instant.
The figure solidified: a woman about 5'7" tall, with short pinkish hair and a gentle gaze. She opened her eyes slowly, confused, observing the dark world around her as if awakening from a long dream.
"G-Ginny?"
Kuma's voice trembled.
She turned at the sound of the call, and when she saw who was standing before her, her lips curved into a familiar smile—a smile that seemed to bring light to that desolate world.
"Kuma-chi..."
But the smile faded in an instant, replaced by a look of astonishment. Her memories came flooding back. When the memories returned, Ginny almost fell to her knees.
Fragmented images overlapped in her mind—the dark days of childhood, when she was just a slave; the turbulent years of adolescence, the founding of the Revolutionary Army alongside Kuma; the laughter, the small victories, the warmth of times that seemed impossible to return to.
Then came the nightmare.
Being forced to marry a world noble. Two years of golden hell, until she was turned into a guinea pig by one of the Elders. That was where she contracted that cursed disease.
She was sick. And... she had a daughter.
"K–Kuma-chi, where am I? W–what are you doing here? Where's my daughter? D–did you die too?"
The questions came out shaky, rushed, as if her own soul feared the answers.
But Kuma didn't answer right away.
The gentle giant just watched her, his gaze heavy and his eyes teary.
When he opened his mouth, his voice came out choked up.
"G-Ginny... I-I'm sorry I didn't get there in time..."
Kuma fell to his knees. The sound of metal hitting the ground echoed across the empty field, and for the second time that day, tears streamed down a face that had long seemed incapable of crying.
"K-Kuma-chi, don't cry..."
Ginny ran to him and instinctively reached out her hand—but stopped, hesitant, afraid she would pass right through him like a ghost. Still, the touch happened.
Soft. Warm. Real.
She gasped, her eyes widening in amazement.
She could feel him.
If they were dead, that wouldn't be possible.
They were... alive. Somehow.
Ginny's vision began to blur, tears rising like an inevitable tide.
"K–Kuma-chi... d–don't cry... I–I... I–waaaaah!"
She collapsed, sobbing, and the sound of them crying together spread like an echo of liberation.
Then, something changed.
The once gray sky began to brighten, the wind blew gently, and Kuma's dark world was tinged with color. The clouds disappeared, revealing a deep blue sky.
Flowers sprouted from the dead ground, and the grass sparkled with a vibrant green that had never existed there before.
At the top of a hill, under a flowering tree, two broken souls—separated by death and united by hope—finally met again.
And for the first time, Kuma's mental world was no longer dark.
==
After the tears dried and the weight of grief dissolved, only a gentle silence remained between them.
It was time for Kuma to speak.
He took a deep breath, his gaze lost on the horizon of his own mental world—now illuminated, but still full of dark memories.
"Ginny... there's a lot you need to know."
And then he began.
Kuma told her everything—without hiding anything.
He talked about the time after her death, about how he had devoted every second of his existence to caring for Bonney, the daughter Ginny had left behind.
He said that the girl had grown up strong... but that fate had been cruel. Bonney had inherited the same disease that had taken Ginny from him.
Ginny covered her mouth with her hands, her eyes filling with tears.
"No... not her too..."
The pain in her voice was almost physical.
But what came next shattered her completely.
Kuma told her about the deal he made with Saturn.
About the sacrifice.
About how he traded his own body and soul for the chance to save Bonney.
About the fate that condemned him to be slowly destroyed, from the inside out.
Ginny cried again, tears falling uncontrollably.
But she stopped when he said, his voice firm and calm:
"Even knowing the end... I would do it all again. If it was to protect Bonney... I would do everything the same."
She looked at him silently. This was the man she loved—the same man who once believed in freedom, and who now carried the world on his shoulders without complaint.
Kuma continued.
He told her that Bonney had become a pirate, one of the feared Supernovas of the worst generation.
Ginny listened silently, only asking a few questions between sobs, trying to understand what had become of the world she had left behind.
And then he talked about the present.
About the day the world changed forever.
"Ginny... not long ago, a man appeared. A single man who turned everything upside down in one afternoon."
She stared at him, confused.
Kuma then recounted the events: the incident in Sabaody, the execution of a Celestial Dragon, the confrontation with an Admiral, the public call to the Gorosei—and the attack.
Ginny paled with every word.
"Y-you're saying that an unknown man appeared in Sabaody, executed a Celestial Dragon in front of everyone, called out a Navy Admiral, defeated him and crippled his arm... then called the Gorosei and publicly attacked them with a spear?"
Her voice trembled. It was like hearing an impossible story.
Kuma just nodded.
"And... and this same man who declared he will destroy the World Government... appeared in front of you, did something with his hands, created this world in your mind, and pulled me from the afterlife? He said he will resurrect me when all this is over?"
"...That's right."
The silence stretched on for several long seconds.
Ginny stared into space, trying to understand.
Even Kuma himself, as he repeated the words, felt the weight of disbelief.
If someone else had told him... would he believe it?
He sighed, looking up at the clear sky of his own mental world.
"He also said he wasn't Joy Boy... but could he be the god Nika?"
Ginny's question hung in the air like an ancient whisper, and the silence that followed seemed to hold even the wind.
Kuma stood motionless, reflecting.
The name "Nika" awakened something deep in his soul—something that even the steel and circuits of his body could not erase.
He knew who Nika was.
The god of the sun.
The liberator from chains.
The symbol of hope for slaves who, generation after generation, believed that one day he would return to free them.
And now... Ginny was talking about Jason.
If Jason wasn't Joy Boy... then could it be Nika himself?
The idea sounded absurd—but at the same time, it made Kuma's heart race.
A chill ran down his spine.
He had never heard of an Akuma no Mi capable of doing what Jason did. No devil fruit, not even among the legendary ones, possessed such power.
And most importantly — he saw Jason walking on water, which indicated that he was not a Devil Fruit user, just like Nika.
Jason had pulled Ginny's soul from the world of the dead and sealed it within his mental world — something that defied the laws of life, death, and even the soul.
'That... that's impossible.'
But it was real.
Ginny was there, alive, breathing, feeling his touch.
Kuma thought of the few fruits that had any connection to souls:
Big Mom's, capable of transferring fragments of life... and that of the Straw Hat crew's skeleton, which returned the soul to the body after death.
But both had clear limitations.
Time. Cost. Sacrifice.
Jason, however... showed none.
No sign of wear, no apparent price.
'So what is he?'
Kuma closed his eyes.
The memory of Jason overwhelmed him—the calm gaze, the imposing presence, the power that distorted even reality.
"If he's not Joy Boy..." Kuma murmured, his voice deep and thoughtful, "...then maybe Nika really has returned. Only this time, under another name."
Ginny looked at him silently, her heart racing.
Deep down, she felt the same way.
Jason's presence... was like sunshine.
And for the first time since the death, they felt hope again.