User blog comment:Yatanogarasu/Sabo: Dead or Alive?/@comment-110.233.173.16-20100627021547

Oh, and one more thing - One Piece is serialized in a SHONEN magazine, meaning that mangakas would face serious heat and criticism if they showed the death of a young child, especially when that method involved being blown up. Hence Kuina's and Sabo's offscreen "death". Just because we readers didn't see it doesn't mean that it's not true.