An epic moment in One Piece’s newest arc sets up a perfect callback to one of Luffy’s biggest moments in the entire story.
Arguably Luffy’s biggest moment in One Piece, especially before the timeskip, is when the Straw Hat captain punched the Celestial Dragon Saint Charlos in Sabaody, defiling one of the “gods of the world”. Now, One Piece is about to bring back that moment as an epic callback, this time featuring Kuma and the devilish Saint Saturn.
The final moments of chapter #1103 of One Piece seem to imply that One Piece is about to make a deliberate callback to Luffy punching out Saint Charlos in the Sabaody Archipelago. Kuma has finally arrived to save his daughter Bonney, and he charges a punch against Saturn in the final panels.
Seeing that happen would be especially cathartic considering how tragic Kuma and Bonney’s flashback has been, and it would be an all-around great way of starting the second year of One Piece’s final saga.
One Piece Sets Up Kuma Delivering The Same Amazing Punch As Luffy
Chapter #1103 shows Kuma’s posture being very similar to Luffy’s when he punched out Saint Charlos in the anime and manga. The similarities are too great to be a coincidence, so it’s likely that the story is deliberately making a callback to Luffy’s big moment with Kuma. With how terrible the Celestial Dragons were established as being, it was incredibly gratifying to see Luffy not even hesitate to punch one, and the anime’s gorgeous take on the scene has served to make it even more iconic so many years later. In that moment, Luffy proved that not even the greatest power in the world can stop him from doing what he believes is right, and it was a major turning point in the story.
That idea makes even more sense when Kuma’s flashback is taken into account. In chapter #1102, it was revealed that Kuma started to believe that Luffy could become a hero capable of saving the world after Luffy punched Saint Charlos, so not only was it a big moment for Kuma, but it’s also something the narrative is going out of its way to call attention to again after so many years. With all of that taken into account, it would be very thematically appropriate for the story and Kuma, specifically, to make a callback to Luffy’s big moment, and it would be great if the story followed through on it.
One Piece’s Next Chapter Can Be Its Most Cathartic Ever
uma’s flashback has shown some of the worst crimes of the Celestial Dragons, making them even more despicable villains, and Saturn himself is responsible for much of the tragedy that befell Kuma’s family. If Kuma punched Saturn in the same way Luffy punched Saint Charlos, it would be the ultimate catharsis for all the tragedy Kuma’s had to suffer through because of Saturn. If One Piece follows through on its callback of one of Luffy’s best moments, then that could make chapter #1104 one of the most cathartic chapters in the entire series.
