Last week, in volume 52, shit really hit the fan. The supernovas showed up, which is a generation of rookie pirates that all have high bounties. This includes Zoro and Luffy but also has other interesting types like Jewelry Bonney, Eustass Kid and Trafalgar Law. After Luffy beat up a world noble, the crew fled the scene, fighting a robotic Bartholomew Kuma, known as PX-1 on the way. Despite their best efforts, Admiral Kizaru showed up alongside another pacifista and his nephew Sentoumaru. The crew was no match for this trio and things looked dire when Rayleigh showed up to save them. It still wasn’t enough and when the real Bartholomew Kuma showed up, he used his strange powers to make Zoro disappear.
I am hesitant to talk about the details I was looking for in the first chapter of this volume (if you know, you know), but I don’t think I can see many hints here of some of the future plans and relationships that Oda has set up for us. Perhaps he hadn’t planned for it yet. But I’ll shut up, if this is your first time reading this it’s not interesting for me to vaguely talk about chapters that came out over a decade later. Instead let’s talk about how little chance the crew stood against Kuma. Of course they were tired and already being attacked by other forces, but Kuma wiped out the entirety of the Straw Hat crew in a few moments. Sending each of them flying for three days and nights. We follow Luffy to the island where he ends up: Amazon Lily. Amazon Lily is an island that only has women living on it and it’s located in the calm belt. It’s led by the Pirate Empress Boa Hancock. With this arc, we’ve officially met all but two of the seven warlords. We don’t know much about Doflamingo yet, but he’s shown up here and there throughout the story, and Jinbe is still a mystery to us.
This is where we start our adventure on the island of women. Luffy is found and captured after he eats a bunch of strange mushrooms with no regard for his own safety and passes out. The women of Amazon Lily remove all the dangerous mushrooms that grew on his body and set him on fire to make sure they don’t regrow. Unfortunately for Luffy, they believe his family jewels to be a mushroom as well, since they have absolutely no idea what a man looks like. After a short clash, Luffy escapes his prison and hides out in the forest. In the meantime, the Kuja pirates return from their latest trip. A navy soldier is here to tell Hancock that she needs to come to Marineford but she refuses, turning all of his men to stone. After the pirates come back home, we learn a little bit about Hancock’s personality. She’s a cruel person who thinks very highly of herself. Of course there’s a hefty dose of trauma beneath all that cruelty that we will find out more about soon. For now, she sends everyone away as it’s time for her to take a bath. She’s told everyone in the village that she and her sisters have been cursed by a gorgon and that their backs have eyes that will turn anyone that lays their eyes upon them into stone.
During his bath time, Luffy comes crashing down through the ceiling, seeing what is on Hancock’s back. She quickly captures him and sentences him to death. In a large arena he fights a wild beast before fighting both of Hancock’s sisters. Hancock turns several of the women that helped Luffy into stone and he needs to defeat the two sisters while protecting the statues as well. Things look hairy for a little while, especially seeing as both sisters know how to use Haki, which Luffy does not, despite the random conqueror’s haki that slips out every so often. Despite being on his backfoot at first, he defeats the sisters eventually by using his Gear Second abilities and then rushes to protect the tattoo on the back of one of the sisters, so people don’t see it. After the stadium is evacuated Luffy asks for the women that have been turned into stone to be turned back and Hancock obliges, surprised that he would pick that request over getting his own ship. He is then invited to the palace while everyone else is evacuated.
Hancock reveals her background, showing the tattoo on her back. It’s very fitting of Luffy to be completely unamused by her naked form, instead being disappointed that there’s no food. The tattoo is the symbol of the Celestial Dragons, which they mark their slaves with. I shudder at the thought of what those poor sisters might have had to go through. It almost makes it okay for Hancock to have developed such a cruel personality. Almost, it’s still not okay to kick kittens and kill anyone who obstructs you. Regardless, we learn about Fisher Tiger, the leader of the Sun pirates, who climbed the red line with his bare hands and saved thousands of slaves from Marijoa. What an absolute legend. After this, it makes sense that Hancock despises the navy and only uses her position as one of the seven warlords to protect her people. When she learns that Luffy punched the color out of Saint Charlos, she’s shocked. It looks like he’s convinced them to help him and lend him a ship.
Before we end this volume, we also learn about the execution of Portgas D. Ace. Ace has been taken captive, which we already knew, but Luffy did not, and is currently in the underwater prison of Impel Down. In a week from now, he will be brought to Marineford and executed. The navy expects Whitebeard to show up to save his underling, so they’re bringing everyone there to prepare for war. Hancock is fully smitten with Luffy and when he asks her to sail him to Impel Down and help him stage a prison break in the prison that only one person has ever managed to escape from, she instantly says yes, to the surprise of everyone else. Wow, what a volume. From rock bottom on Sabaody Archipelago to realizing his crew is probably okay, and now learning that his brother is in grave danger. Things are moving fast and the next volume is officially the start of the Impel Down saga. If that doesn’t spoil what amazing things are about to happen, I don’t know what to tell you. Tune in next week for more One Piece as we sail from Amazon Lily to Impel Down and from the looks of the little preview we get to see an old friend return. The enemy of my enemy is a clown, I suppose. Thanks for reading.
Opal Kaharis 