—Real World—
Shichibukai Meeting Location
Bonnie had actually become an accomplice of the Celestial Dragons in the future, joining the so-called God's Knights as their Deputy Commander. People who knew her—or knew of her mother's tragic fate—could not accept this development whatsoever.
Although the girl's harrowing experiences had been briefly described in the Sky Screen's broadcast, the facts remained undeniable and disturbing. She'd mistakenly recognized a thief as her father, joined the very organization that had persecuted her mother to death.
After all, Ginny—Bonnie's biological mother—had been captured, enslaved, raped, and ultimately killed by Celestial Dragons. And now her daughter served them willingly?
The contradiction was unbearable.
Bartholomew Kuma's originally stoic expression—that icy facade he'd maintained throughout decades of Revolutionary Army service, through countless battles, through unimaginable personal sacrifices—could no longer remain intact at this moment.
The gentle man who'd been ironically nicknamed "Tyrant" felt something break inside his chest. His massive frame began shaking with suppressed emotion.
He grabbed the book he'd been reading and held it up before his face, desperately trying to conceal the tears streaming down his cheeks. Trying to prevent others from witnessing his complete emotional collapse.
But in front of the assembled Seven Warlords of the Sea, the man's profound sadness could not be hidden at all.
His shoulders trembled. His breathing became ragged. The book shook in his enormous hands.
This was a father watching his daughter's future spiral into darkness, knowing he'd caused it through his own choices.
Doflamingo—who delighted in laughing at others' suffering, who found genuine pleasure in psychological torture—would certainly not miss this opportunity to attack a vulnerable colleague.
The former Celestial Dragon's signature grin widened beneath his sunglasses. His voice carried cruel amusement:
"Big Bear! I never imagined that your precious daughter is actually a Celestial Dragon herself! And in the future, she'll become Deputy Commander of the God's Knights—one of the most prestigious positions among our former people!"
He paused deliberately, letting the words sink like poison into an open wound.
"For a girl to climb to such heights... I, a former Celestial Dragon who was cast out, genuinely envy her success. She achieved what my entire family lost. Isn't that deliciously ironic?"
Doflamingo—sometimes called Heavenly Yaksha for his cruel elegance—rubbed salt into the bear's wounds without any hesitation whatsoever. This was the first time he'd discovered that the stoic "Tyrant" possessed such a simple, exploitable weakness.
Fatherly love. Paternal guilt. The most human vulnerability wrapped in a revolutionary's hardened exterior.
The cunning Doflamingo combined the information revealed on the Sky Screen and rapidly deduced the larger conspiracy.
There must have been involvement from the Five Elders. They'd threatened Bartholomew Kuma using Bonnie's life as leverage—the ultimate hostage scenario. That pressure had transformed the former Revolutionary Army commander into an unpaid worker for the God Clan.
First agreeing to the Pacifist transformation. Then accepting the gradual erasure of his consciousness. All to keep his daughter safe.
Doflamingo didn't sympathize with "Tyrant Bear's" experience in the slightest. Instead, he admired Bonnie's decisive killing style in the future broadcasts. After experiencing various forms of despair—her mother's death, her father's transformation, the Revolutionary Army's abandonment—she'd realized this turbid world was fundamentally beyond salvation.
Based on the principle of "if you can't beat them, join them," Bonnie had reclaimed her identity as a Celestial Dragon and become deeply involved with the God Clan. Though notably, she'd given up the Celestial Dragon surname—replacing it with the symbolic "X" that rejected their legacy entirely.
This might seem contradictory or hypocritical to outside observers. But Doflamingo recognized it as the only way to stay sober in this turbid world. Pragmatic survival over idealistic martyrdom.
The girl had learned what he'd learned decades ago: power mattered more than principles.
Crocodile didn't care about the melodramatic love-hate relationship between Kuma and the Celestial Dragons. Emotional complications bored him.
What he cared about most was identifying how many unknown projects Dr. Vegapunk had developed behind the scenes. What other weapons existed beyond what they'd seen?
"What's the point of crying over your daughter's choices?" Crocodile asked bluntly, his voice carrying the cold pragmatism that defined his worldview. "All you accomplish through tears is revealing weakness. If you want different outcomes, you make others cry instead."
He leaned forward slightly, cigar smoke wreathing his scarred face.
"Now tell me something actually useful: How far has the Seraph Project led by Vegapunk actually developed? What stage is it currently in?"
Judging from the timeline, Bartholomew Kuma had already accepted Vegapunk's transformation process. He'd become a true cyborg—part flesh, part machine, with his humanity gradually being stripped away.
Perhaps it wouldn't be much longer before he lost independent consciousness entirely and became the cold machine they'd witnessed in future broadcasts.
Practically speaking, among all the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Kuma possessed the deepest connection with Dr. Vegapunk. He should know considerable inside information about various projects.
They could cross-reference his knowledge against the Sky Screen's revelations to verify credibility. How much of what they were seeing was accurate versus propaganda or misdirection?
Bartholomew Kuma wiped away his tears with one massive hand, the gesture almost childlike despite his enormous frame.
Now reduced to a semi-cyborg state, he could no longer control his emotions freely the way fully human people could. The machine components interfaced poorly with organic neurology. Sometimes feelings overwhelmed his dampeners.
He could still pretend to be stoic when necessary, but maintaining the facade required tremendous effort.
He knew he didn't have much time remaining as a conscious being. If he didn't speak certain truths now, they would become eternal regrets. Unspoken apologies haunting circuits that had once been a human heart.
He felt sorry for Bonnie. Sorry for Ivankov—his comrade who'd trusted him completely. Even more sorry for the Revolutionary Army colleagues who'd treated him like family.
In the future, Bonnie had become a verifiable female tyrant who'd risen to power by stepping on the corpses of Revolutionary Army members. Hunting them systematically. Killing the very people who'd once tried to help her.
Bartholomew Kuma bore partial responsibility for this outcome. He hadn't educated his daughter properly about the world's complexities. He'd also deliberately avoided her during crucial developmental years, preventing the formation of stronger bonds.
These failures had ultimately led his daughter onto a path of no return.
"The brief account about Bonnie shown on the Sky Screen is all factually accurate," Kuma stated quietly, his deep voice carrying resignation. "In order to cure her illness—the same disease that killed her mother—I reached a cooperation agreement with Dr. Vegapunk."
He paused, gathering strength to continue the confession.
"Under the direct supervision of Saint Saturn, one of the Five Elders, we developed humanoid weapons based on my body as the template. The designation 'Pacifista' was my own suggestion—I wanted them to represent peace rather than war, though I recognize the irony now."
The Pacifista and Seraph projects using the Big Bear model as foundation were already in their final research stages. By combining Lunarian bloodline factors with genetic material stolen from the Seven Warlords of the Sea, then enhancing everything with synthesized Green Blood, they'd eventually achieve the experimental results shown in future Sky Screen broadcasts.
Kuma even admitted directly that he was about to lose consciousness permanently. After completing this final mission for the Five Elders, Bartholomew Kuma would become a speechless ornament exactly as the broadcast had depicted—a living weapon without will or awareness.
A father reduced to furniture. A revolutionary transformed into the World Government's property.
After hearing this pathetic confession, Boa Hancock erupted with righteous fury.
She'd never witnessed such profound cowardice in her life. The father and daughter had both been systematically persecuted by Celestial Dragons in the most horrific ways imaginable. Yet instead of resisting, instead of fighting back with every ounce of strength they possessed, Kuma had simply accepted his fate?
Worse—he'd become an accomplice to the evildoers. Helped them build weapons. Allowed them to use his daughter as leverage.
"As a father, you are absolutely betraying your daughter!" Hancock's voice cut through the room like a whip crack. "Your self-righteous martyr attitude makes me physically sick! If Bonnie becomes the monster we witnessed in those broadcasts, you—Bartholomew Kuma—must bear the primary responsibility for creating her!"
The Empress had identified the core issue with surgical precision.
If Bartholomew Kuma had returned to the Sorbet Kingdom in the South Blue at any point during this process—if he'd prioritized his daughter over his Revolutionary Army obligations—the World Government couldn't have stopped him without deploying top-tier warriors.
With the abilities granted by his Nikyu Nikyu no Mi (Paw-Paw Fruit), it would be nearly impossible to suppress him without sending Admiral-class combatants. Regular government agents would be serving themselves up as cannon fodder.
The reality was different. The letters to his daughter had never been delivered. Government handlers had systematically destroyed all correspondence, ensuring father and daughter remained separated for five critical years.
Bonnie could only rely on her own desperate efforts and help from sympathetic strangers to go to sea searching for her father, seeking explanations for his abandonment.
However, she'd suffered two catastrophic blows from reality when she finally found him. Her father was a lobotomized cyborg. The Revolutionary Army had abandoned both of them.
These betrayals had ultimately led to her becoming a butcher's knife in the Celestial Dragons' hands. It was hard not to sigh witnessing this trajectory.
Fate truly played cruel tricks on people. Or perhaps people played cruel tricks on themselves through cowardice disguised as sacrifice.
Jinbei—the Sea Knight who maintained diplomatic composure even in contentious situations—observed that his Shichibukai colleagues were focusing their collective firepower on Bartholomew Kuma.
This left him, a fish-man, somewhat isolated from the discussion. After all, everyone present knew that Jinbei had no personal connection to Admiral Kisame Hoshigaki.
The fish-man Admiral was a complete mystery to current Fish-Man Island residents and Jinbei himself.
There was no definite conclusion regarding Admiral Kisame's exact strength level. But judging from the posture and equipment shown in the Sky Screen broadcasts, he appeared to be a swordsman wielding an unusually heavy blade.
Seeing this detail, Dracule "Hawkeye" Mihawk—the World's Greatest Swordsman—felt genuine interest stirring.
This legendary duellist had encountered swordsmen from the fish-man species before. Unfortunately, most possessed only brute strength without refined technique. Some relied on having multiple arms to wield several blades simultaneously—an approach Mihawk dismissed as fancy tricks designed to intimidate rather than genuinely effective combat methodology.
"Why does Admiral Kisame have his sword wrapped in bandages?" Mihawk mused aloud, his perpetrating gaze fixed on the Sky Screen's frozen image. "There must be some significant reason behind concealing the blade. A living weapon perhaps? Or a cursed blade requiring suppression?"
He paused, a rare smile touching his usually severe features.
"I genuinely look forward to crossing swords with him someday. Testing whether his heavy blade style can challenge my supreme grade sword."
The massive blade Kisame carried on his shoulder was a rare model across all the seas. It was entirely possible that Admiral Kisame's weapon was extraordinarily heavy—requiring immense physical strength just to wield effectively.
Hawkeye Mihawk had never fought seriously against a swordsman specializing in heavy blade techniques. If fortune granted him such an encounter in the future, it would definitely provide valuable combat experience.
A worthy opponent was the rarest treasure for someone who'd already conquered his field.
"Doesn't anyone else find this strange?" Crocodile interjected, redirecting attention to a detail others had overlooked. "Kuma's daughter isn't marked as a Devil Fruit user in any of the broadcasts. Yet she can transform a CP0 agent into a helpless baby remotely—apparently at will."
He gestured toward the Sky Screen with his hook.
"This seems fundamentally unreasonable given everything we know about Devil Fruit mechanics. How is she accomplishing age manipulation without consuming a fruit?"
Everyone's attention immediately focused on this anomaly. Several of the Seven Warlords were genuinely curious about this secret.
Could Bonnie have obtained some kind of advanced technological product from Dr. Vegapunk that granted her such extraordinary power in the future? Some device that mimicked Devil Fruit abilities without the standard weaknesses?
Bartholomew Kuma quickly denied his colleagues' technological speculations.
"My adopted daughter Bonnie suddenly manifested the ability to freely manipulate ages one day when she was approximately eight years old," he explained carefully. "She could transform herself into a child, an adult, even an elderly woman in rapid succession. Humans she touched could be similarly affected—aged or de-aged according to her will."
The massive revolutionary's expression showed profound confusion even through his stoic mask.
"I initially assumed she'd accidentally consumed a Devil Fruit. The symptoms matched Paramecia-class abilities perfectly. But the Sky Screen's character notes deny this explicitly—she's not listed as a Devil Fruit user."
He gestured helplessly.
"What does 'Miss Multiverse' mean as a designation? Is Bonnie's ability somehow related to the multiverse itself? Does she draw power from alternate realities? I don't understand the implications."
The mystery hung heavy in the air.
If Bonnie possessed age-manipulation abilities without Devil Fruit consumption, what did that suggest about the nature of power in their world? Were there alternative sources of supernatural capability they didn't understand?
And what did "multiverse" mean in practical terms?
The Shichibukai looked at each other, recognizing they'd stumbled onto something far more complex than simple political intrigue.
[Jewelry Bonney has Devil Fruit powers, but she didn't eat a regular fruit; she received an extract of the Toshi Toshi no Mi (Age-Age Fruit) via injection from World Government scientist Jay Garcia Saturn as an infant, giving her the ability to manipulate ages, including her own and others'.]