Jun
Two best father figures in One Piece
A father, at the core of the meaning, is a provider, guide, nurturer, source of love and support for the children and an inspiration to them. It’s not just about the financial aspect or the physical and emotional present need for the wellbeing of their children, it’s also about preparing them to face the challenges life and the world will put in their paths. Fatherhood is one of the hardest missions in life.
Fathers are sometimes undervalued for the roles in their child’s life.
In One Piece we often see fathers and father figures who really had major impacts on their child. We can of course cite several characters like, Dr Hiluluk as father figure to Chopper, Whitebeard as a foster father to his “children”, the former marine and bounty hunter Daddy Masterson who retired to be with his little daughter. But, as far as best fathers goes, there are two individuals who truly and fully rose for the role a father is meant to play in his child’s life, Bartholomew Kuma and Kyros.
Bartholomew Kuma
This character was persecuted because of his race “Buccaneer” that deemed him a slave by the World Nobles and he lost his parents because of that. Even before losing his parents, Kuma wanted to give up on life but his father inspired him to aspire to a better future through his fate in the Sun God Nika. Kuma was very religious and aspired to become a hero, like the legendary warrior of Liberation Nika, and save people from suffering and oppression. After losing his parents, Kuma met the first two people who changed his life, Ivankov and Ginny. They freed Kuma from his physical slavery and lived with him. Ivankov left shortly after but Ginny stayed and grew up with Kuma who eventually became a pastor and helper/healer for his fellow citizens. Despite his tormented childhood as a slave Kuma never resented the World Nobles and he was always a really kind and thoughtful person in nature. Eventually, Ginny and Kuma fell in love. Ginny admitted her feelings but Kuma never told her his because he wanted to protect her from his enslaved race as a buccaneer. Even so, just living together in happiness was the greatest joy for both Ginny and Kuma.
Sadly their love story had a very tragic ending! Ginny was captured, enslaved by celestial Dragons, married by force, experienced on, contracted a deadly illness and eventually died shortly after having been released from her slavery due to her disease. But in all that tragedy, Ginny gave birth to a daughter who became her light, Bonney. During the last years of her life, Ginny was unable to see or contact Kuma or anyone she knew before her capture. Before her death she was able to go back to the place she lived with Kuma and finally contact him and tell him her last wishes about her daughter.
Kuma’s fatherhood began after the death of the woman he loved, Ginny. Bonney wasn’t just a child Kuma was asked to take care of, she was the daughter he never had with the woman he loved who was taken from him. Kuma became like the father he had, inspiring his child to hope for a better future and believe in the God of Freedom. Kuma raised Bonney in the same church he lived with Ginny. They were happy living there just as happy he was with Ginny. He taught Bonney to not let life’s circumstances prevent her from enjoying everyday happy moments.. He taught her to enjoy life as much as she could, despite her illness and not being able to go out under the sun. He worked and traveled, near and far, while trying to find any cure to cure his daughter disease while always caring hope. He taught Bonney to be strong in the face of bullying and discrimination. Kuma gave his body to science in exchange for his daughter’s wellbeing by making a deal with Dr Vegapunk and Saint Saturn. The world called him a revolutionary and a tyrant but Kuma was just a man in service of his community and his loved ones who was victim of nobles who seeked to be imprisoned because of his powers or enslave him because of his bloodline. Kuma was just being the best father he could to his beloved daughter regardless of what the world thought of him and what he had to sacrifice. Kuma was a boy seeking freedom and peace for himself and everyone around him. In return, his daughter wanted him to be free and happy as well and wished to live with her father. In order to see her wish come true, Bonney had to go out into the Big World to find her father. She traveled the seas in quest of her father not to let the world know how great of a father and person he was but just to be with him and to live a happy life together like they used at their home church.
Even though Kuma was little by little becoming a cyborg who almost lost his mind and personality, Kuma never stopped being a father and prioritizing his daughter’s safety. In her absolute time of need he sensed the danger and teleported all the way to her to save her even though his mind should have been long gone. From the moment he never stopped. Even though Bonney was only twelve years old, she challenged the world for the sake of her father, for his freedom and his happiness.
Kyros
This character is honestly the best father who went above and beyond for his daughter all his might.
For a long time he fought he wasn’t worthy. He came from the bottom, became a gladiator, fought his way up for his freedom, then he became captain of the Royal Army and fought for his King and his country. After finding love, he abandoned everything to be a loving husband to his wife Scarlett and father to his daughter Rebecca. Even after becoming a father, Kyros thought his hands were too tainted by blood to hold his daughter with them so he wore gloves before holding her in his arms. He was a great doting husband and father, as human.
Even after he lost his left leg, he was transformed into a living “toy”, his wife was murdered and he was forgotten by his daughter he never stopped being a “father”.
As a simple one-legged living toy, for ten years, he did all sorts of jobs he could to provide for his daughter, never missing her birthdays, always being there for hew how he could and should. He even had to fight off wild animals and kidnappers to save his daughter. Kyros and Rebecca didn’t have much but they had each other and always managed to get by. After seeing that his toy body was starting to fail, he taught his daughter how to protect herself without hurting others. He didn’t just teach her how to fight and protect herself physically, he showed her through his own hard work the resilience to face hardship. Kyros raised his daughter to become a strong person who could defend herself when he would no longer be alive, without ever abandoning her. He prepared his daughter in every way possible, for her to live her life as a kid and as an adult.
When we see Rebecca grown up in her teens, hated by most citizens of Dressrosa, for something that she had nothing to do, she had no resentment towards her fellow citizens. Rebecca was mentally capable of warding off strong opponents, never losing focus on what she wanted and she needed to do. She lived and fought for her benefactor the Toy Soldier who raised her and who she loved without remembering that he was her real biological father.
Can you imagine doing all Kyros did, not as a toy but as a one legged human being?
The hardships and personal losses these two characters, Bartholomew Kuma and Kyros, went through, and yet they became such inspiring examples of fatherhood in the One Piece story, that is what separates them from all the other fathers and fathers figures. They taught their daughter to be strong and determined. Both fathers faced and fought the world for their daughter’s sake without ever giving up to ensure their well-being even at the expense of their own. They taught their daughter to not be afraid to face the future in their absences. Both daughters never stopped loving their father and they faced the world for their sake. The mutual love and self-sacrifice between these two father-daughter bonds is the strongest and most inspiring in the One Piece story.
Any father who can raise his child the way Kyros and Kuma did and have that child turned up like Rebecca and Bonney did should be proud of such accomplishment.
