Things are getting rather heated in the One Piece manga, especially after that lore dump. Despite the cacophony of events and revelations in the Egghead Arc, one character is hogging the spotlight. You’ve probably guessed it from the title, and it is indeed Jewelry Bonney.
If you have no idea why, then you may want to veer off from this article. After all, there will be major spoilers from the latest manga chapters below.
Bonney’s Nika form opens a lot of new possibilities
Jewelry Bonney’s Age-Age Fruit is a Paramythia Devil Fruit that allows its users to manipulate their targets’ age. By aging or de-aging herself and her opponents, she gains physical advantages over them. It also allows her to slip past settlements and various securities. However, it turns out that Bonney’s age manipulation goes beyond the present timeline. In the manga, she just transformed into Gear Five Luffy by pulling from what she refers to as a distorted future.
This then raises the question of the limits of her fruit’s abilities. If Bonney can access potential futures, then it is highly probable that she can also manifest the futures wherein she acquires the power of other Devil Fruit users. Even if it is limited to Human-Human Fruit abilities, it still offers her various options. For instance, there is Sengoku’s Human-Human Fruit, Model: Buddha.
However, I don’t want to go overboard and say Bonney’s Devil Fruit tops Luffy’s Devil Fruit. There are certainly limitations to her power, though the specifics are yet to be revealed. For now, we can only speculate to what they are. What we do know is that she cannot sustain her Nika form for long periods of time, as it takes an enormous amount of energy.
Another important query is whether she can actually utilize Nika’s power — affecting reality and the environment — or whether her transformation is limited to copying the physical form. Personally, I think the latter is true. One Piece often puts limitations on its Devil Fruit abilities, especially those that are otherwise overpowered. For instance, Kozuki Toki’s Time-Time Fruit may allow her to travel into the future, but she can’t go into the past. She also cannot alter her location during her traversal.
Even with that limitation, the Age-Age Fruit still jumps up in the ranking of the strongest Devil Fruits in the series. Simply by imitating the Human-Human Fruit, Model: Buddha’s form, she can gain impeccable defense. Similarly, the Human-Human Fruit, Model: Onyudo’s gigantic physical will bolster her physical abilities. Of course, there are also Nika’s rubbery attributes.
Bonney may be the next Straw Hat
Luffy’s transformation into Nika has forced the Five Elders themselves to make a move. One reason for that is the threat that his power poses to the World Government, and another reason is the fruit’s connection to the Void Century.
This puts Bonney in a precarious position. Her newfound abilities, while incredibly powerful, also make her a high-priority target for the World Government. The Five Elders, who already see Luffy as a significant threat, will likely not take another individual wielding similar powers. Bonney is then forced to seek refuge from the Straw Hat Pirates. After all, the World Government has the entire Egghead locked down. The only way out is through the path created by the Straw Hat Pirates and the Giants.
There are two ways to do this. Bonney can either ally herself with the Straw Hat Pirates, as Kid and Law did or join the crew altogether. I think the latter is more probable for a number of reasons. Unlike Law and Kid, Bonney’s crew is primarily made of fishermen who wanted to protect her. That being said, their combat abilities are also far from Kid and Law’s troupes. Facing the World Government may simply lead to their demise.
Now, here’s the thing. Bonney has already learned of Kuma’s past in Egghead. She realized her tragic backstory, as well as the sacrifices everybody made for her. There’s the predicament. On one hand, she likely wouldn’t want to sacrifice her crewmates for her goal. On another hand, she wouldn’t want to let the World Government get away after what they have done to her father, Bartholomew Kuma. The best course of action she can take is to join the Straw Hat Pirates. By doing so, she gains the Straw Hat Pirates’ support and protection while also offering her abilities to aid their cause. Basically, it’s a win-win situation.
