Just as This Bites! has had many amusing moments due to the One Piece manga, several instances become a lot more brutal in light of Oda's canon version of things.
- Sanji wanting the Clear-Clear Fruit (allegedly to spy on women) becomes an outright Tear Jerker when he mentions how he wanted the power to disappear as a child. Given his childhood, it's hardly surprising.
- In the Skypiea arc, Scratchmen Apoo reached out to Cross and became one of the first members of the Zodiac of the Damned. This makes canon events all the more brutal as it's revealed that Kaido's appearance on the Kid Pirates' base (which is likely the last Cross saw of Kid, Hawkins, and Apoo before being pulled into the OP world) was actually because Apoo was a subordinate of his, and he never intended to honor his alliance with Kid and Hawkins.
- Even more, Cross mentions to Kid in Skelter Bite that pirates with esoteric effects like Apoo have a better chance against Luffy than straight-forward fighters like Kid. In chapter 980, we see Apoo keeping Luffy and Zoro on their toes without making hand contact until Kid sucker punches him in payback for betraying him.
- The non-canon 2019 Halloween Special omake has Merry having a living nightmare being stuck in a wrecked version of her ship form and within a Derelict Graveyard. Chapter 71 shows her Paw-Paw-assisted flight has stranded her in a real one. And not just ANY old Derelict Graveyard, but the biggest, most famous one: Davy Jones' Locker!
- At the end of the Skypiea arc, Cross gave a Dude, Not Funny! to Soundbite when the latter heard that one of the Ancient Weapons was named Uranus, followed by commenting to Robin that he assumed by the name that Uranus was sky-based and the strongest of the three. In Chapter 1060, Im, the secret ruler of the World Government, destroys Lulusia Kingdom with a mysterious force from the sky that's hinted to have been Uranus.
- It also gives horrific new meaning to Cross warning Soundbite that the World Government would rain actual hellfire down on the Straw Hats if Soundbite didn't keep his mouth shut about the Ancient Weapons.
- Going with Oda's hints that there's a connection between Bartholomew Kuma and Jewelry Bonney, during Sabaody Revolution, after Kuma sends Luffy flying, he and Bonney share a silent look before he vanishes, with him about to go through the final stage of his robotization process. In Chapter 1062, the nature of their relationship is revealed in that Kuma is actually Bonney's father, which adds another solemn layer to the moment as it means Kuma took one last look at his daughter just before he effectively died.
- On a heartwarming side of it Kuma, having been unable to see Bonney in person due to the terms of his deal with Saint Saturn, was given an opportunity to see her face to face for the first time in two years. On a harsher side of things looking for Kuma was the reason Bonney went out to sea, so finally seeing her father only for him to disappear in front of her makes it even sadder.
- In Sabaody Revolution arc, there are two cases of this:
- Sentomaru’s dehumanizing comments about Kuma, his insistence on calling him "it" and "PX-0", are all the more unpleasant to read after the Egghead arc reveals Sentomaru was actually one of Kuma’s few true friends. It gets harsher in a different way if you consider that Sentomaru might have been convinced that his friend was completely gone even if his body still moved.
- Cross's statement about the real reason why Rayleigh wasn't hunted down by the Marines despite the World Government had known his location for years due to his reputation (and also his overwhelming strength that had Admiral Kizaru sent flying all the way from Sabaody to Mariejois and confirmed this to the Five Elders about it) is this as in canon, Rayleigh reveals that he was getting older and weaker at his current age and it's only his reputation that made Blackbeard back off and withdraw from Amazon Lily.
- During the Enies Lobby arc, upon hearing over the SBS what happened to Saul during the Ohara incident, the Giant Marines that respected him flew into a rage, with Kuzan being ordered to deal with them, as a way of making the situation a cruel irony for Kuzan. Unfortunately, this ends up becoming brutal when it's revealed in Chapter 1066 that Kuzan didn't kill Saul and that he was still alive.
- During the Egghead Island arc of the manga, it's revealed that Stussy, the member of CP0 introduced during the Whole Cake Island arc, is actually in allegiance to Vegapunk out of loyalty for him creating her. Unfortunately, this means that her alliance with the Straw Hats will be a strained one in TB! as during the Amazon Lily arc, she attempted to not only assassinate Hancock but also frame Luffy for it.
- At the end of the Alabasta arc, after Cross inadvertently got a bounty put on Vivi, Cobra said that he didn't blame him, commenting that something much worse could've happened in the future. In the canon manga, Cobra was murdered by Imu and the Five Elders during the Reverie, with Sabo being framed for it, while Vivi was forced to go on the run and take shelter with "Big News" Morgans. In other words, Cross' actions really were the lesser of two evils.
- On the other side of things, Chapter 1085 shows that Alabasta was always going to end up turning against the World Government, so like with other cases, Cross just sped up the timetable.
- TB! giving T-Bone, the Marine Vice Admiral aboard the Sea Train in the Water 7 arc, an Adaptation Expansion, complete with a Dark and Troubled Past connected to Vergo, ends up becoming this when in Chapter 1082, he ends up being Killed Offscreen, and in a Dropped a Bridge on Him manner.
- During Marineford Misery, Rob Lucci comes to Luffy's aid, solidifying his position as a semi-ally. Unfortunately, this differs from the manga as Chapter 1091 shows that the canon Straw Hats' Enemy Mine with Lucci was only temporary and he's still their adversary to the end.
- During the Road to Sabaody Archipelago, the Straw Hats are informed of the World Government decision to find the homeland of Jeremiah Cross in the East Blue and inflict a Buster Call upon it. The crew broke down laughing because all of them know that is just a wild goose chase. Sadly this particular twist takes a dark turn since canon has revealed that every three years, the Celestial Dragons hold a population extermination tournament on an island not affiliated with the World Government. How massive will be the outcry when the general public learns of this?
- Also during that arc, a funny side story was written about how Sanji, wanting to appease Jewelry Bonney, incapacitated the other Supernovas so that she could have his cooking to herself. While initially something fans had been wanting to see for some time, it instantly becomes regrettable when Bonney's Vague Age is finally revealed and that she was actually ten years old when she became a pirate, a Rewatch Bonus even foreshadowing it by having Sanji notably toned down whenever he interacted with her, as if Oda knew it would look bad in the long run if Sanji acted like a Chivalrous Pervert to someone eventually revealed to be a minor. Naturally, the side story ended up getting deleted from existence.
- Now that canon has revealed how kind and humble Kuma really was, it makes his interactions with Cross tragic. Kuma was the type of person who would have fully supported the message of love and tolerance conveyed through SBS and would have been the most enthusiastic to participate in the Sabaody Revolution. Unfortunately, when we see him in Sabaody, he is only there to break Cross's spirit and to separate the Straw Hats. While those same flashbacks show that "cruel to be kind" has always been part of his philosophy where necessary, it comes across less as that and more that Cross was right that all that remains of Kuma is a machine operating on cold logic. It is mitigated as Chapter 1102 gives a Once More, with Clarity to the separation of the Straw Hats from Kuma's point of view, with him internally remorseful for what he had to do, but knew the Straw Hats weren't ready for the New World yet. As such, it gives the impression that Kuma's speech to Cross, who had been getting a bit cocky since Enies Lobby, was a much needed reality check.
- Although, Kuma was responsible for the hell that the Straw Hats suffered on Thriller Bark, first by waking up Moria and letting him loose, followed by being unnecessarily sadistic with Zoro in making him choose between his captain and fellow officer. But then again, with his philosophy of "cruel to be kind", it can be seen as more of a Scare 'Em Straight situation.
- Also - well, Kuma literally worships Nika. So Luffy being angry with him, after he starts separating the Straw Hats - well, the bearer of Nika's Fruit is personally angry with Kuma, despite knowing full well what he's doing is needed.
- Kizaru losing it and deciding to kill the Supernovas - all of them - after Luffy, Law, and Kidd manage to seriously injure him becomes a lot harsher when you remember that Bonney is one of the Supernovas, and that she and Kizaru knew each other in the past, with Kizaru, in canon, outright offering her the chance to escape Egghead and actually caring for her. Blinded by Rage or not... ouch.
- On a similar note is how his "Unclear Justice" is depicted, with him being defined by Moral Sociopathy and not batting an eye when he's asked to do something morally repugnant, since he's ultimately following the law, even going as far as cracking jokes towards Aokiji in the middle of battle. The Egghead arc demonstrates that he's actually a very moral individual trying to hide behind a façade of apathy, particularly regarding his old friends, it's just "Unclear Justice" forces him to obey orders no matter how much he doesn't like it, becoming an Apologetic Attacker suffering Conflicting Loyalty when he goes through with killing Stella.
- Bonney's willingness to hurt kids is pretty heartbreaking, even ignoring the fact that she's still one herself, knowing her backstory. As we see from Kuma's memories, not once in her life has she ever had a single friend her own age due her Sapphire Scales disease. In fact, she was seen as a freak by the local children, often leading to her having to beat them up to get them to leave her alone.
- At the end of Marineford Misery the Supernovas celebrate saving Ace and claiming the New Era, Bonney among them. Unfortunately, later chapters reveal that Bonney's reason for going out to sea was to find her father Kuma, and seeing that he had been turned into a mindless cyborg is what lead to her angrily setting sail for the New World after the War in canon. While the change does save her crew from being captured by Blackbeard, it also gives a retroactive Angst? What Angst? to her actions in TB!.
- Dr. Vegapunk's biggest fear when he learned that Bonney became a pirate was that she would be arrested or killed by a Pacifista, who looks just like her father. In this story, she actually sees her father one last time on Sabaody before his mind is erased.
