One Piece Chapter 517

Cover

The CP9 Mission Report, Part 24: Departure from St. Poplar
The CP9 departs from St. Poplar with the help of a ship. Kaku is comfortable in the lookout, Jabra balances with one leg on the top of a mast, Owl rejoices while Blueno and Kalifa look back at St. Poplar and Kumadori dances on the railing. Lucci sits at the stern and lets Hattori fly.

Storyline

Amazon Lily, harbor: Boa Hancock and her crew are arriving. Her subordinates are euphoric about the return of their princess. The crew also immediately informs the bereaved that some goods have been captured. The crowd cheers Ran and Daisy, two crew members. A little girl dreams that she too will become a member of the Kuja pirates when she grows up. Boa Hancock is described as even more beautiful than before after her shore leave. Hancock is then taken directly to her provided wagon. When she asks if anything worth mentioning has happened, she gets a negative response.

Meanwhile, the ship is unloaded and strict records are kept of what the Kuja pirates have captured. Besides food and alcohol, this includes a surprising amount of weapons. Ran then explains that they ran into a world government ship and the weapons are from there. They also captured two merchant ships and a pirate ship. The village elder Nyon now turns to Ran and asks if they also captured books. Ran can only offer her the newspaper that Vice Admiral Momonga threw at the crew.

Amazon Lily, Kuja Fortress: the Empress is met by her subordinates. As a change in the palace, Hancock recognizes a statue made of clay and wants to know from Enishida, a servant, what it is doing here. Enishida explains that the children of the village dedicated this statue to her and a lot of work went into it because it was even painted. Hancock carelessly destroys the statue and is enraged that her likeness has been recreated out of clay and dirt. Enishida is told to remove the remains immediately and mop the floor, as this statue disrupts the aesthetics of the room.

Hancock now wants to be informed why the village’s warrior women were not seen at the docks. Enishida explains that a vicious monkey showed up and the warrior women are taking care of it. Hancock is satisfied with this explanation and asks for some shirozake, an alcoholic drink also called white sake.

Nyon, who appears abruptly, also demands some sake. Boa Hancock wants to know what Nyon was doing here, this is her room after all. The other Amazons wonder how Nyon got in here. She only replies that she has the right to enter this room at any time, to which Hancock replies with a simple “throw her out”. Nyon then asks to be heard and apologizes for her brashness. She further elaborates that she knows about the World Government ship off the coast. She speculates that Hancock is needed. The latter affirms that she is needed for the war against Whitebeard. Nyon demands that she leave to protect the island. Hancock counters that she is afraid and plays on her charisma, to which Nyon at first falls in and thinks she is cute, but then comes to her senses.

Nyon now explains why it’s inevitable that Hancock will join the World Government in the fight against Whitebeard. Amazon Lily is presently protected solely by her title as Samurai of the Seas. She says that it used to be enough that the Calm Belt was around her, but ever since the World Government built ships that can be used to cross the Calm Belt, only the title of Snake Princess protects the island. If the World Government stripped her of the title, the island would be open to anyone. Hancock is supposed to think of the young and old as well, whereupon she says that this is only about Nyon’s own safety. She denies this, however, because she thinks that she has already lived her life. Nyon now wants to predict what the future will bring, which is too much for Hancock and she orders the servants to throw Nyon out. Nyon’s time as Gloriosa, Empress of Amazon Lily, has been up for a very, very long time! Even if the island were destroyed on Hancock’s whim, all would forgive her because she was beautiful. At this, Hancock leans backwards in mockery to symbolize that she is looking down on everyone from above.

Hancock then goes on to accuse Nyon of being a traitor because she left Amazon Lily as empress to set sail. At some point she returned and was at the mercy of the then reigning Empress. The latter let Nyon back to the island. Nyon counters that this is why she lives in seclusion in the village. Hancock recommends that she do the same again. Nyon has no right to talk to her like that. But her efforts have made Hancock think. Nyon now hopes that Hancock will decide to join the fight, in the process the snake princess just says she was joking and throws her out of the palace by her own hand. Nyon falls down many floors, but lands perfectly, as she is still a Kuja warrior. The horrified staff quickly change their minds when Hancock innocently says that Nyon just slipped through her fingers.

A bell rings and bath time is announced for Hancock. All the Amazons leave the fortress. Huge sheets are stretched to shield the fortress. No one will be allowed to enter the fortress. An eight year old girl wants to know why no one is allowed in the castle now and Ran tells her the story of the three Gorgon sisters. These used to work together to defeat Gorgon, a terrible monster who turned everything in her eyes to stone. But Gorgon cursed the sisters, so those eyes became visible on the sisters’ backs, turning anyone to stone who sees the sisters’ backs. That’s why everyone always covers their backs.

Amazon Lily, Jungle: Kikyo and the other warriors are on the lookout for Luffy, but he is nowhere to be found. Marguerite is now worried that he has escaped back to the village, since he wanted a ship.

Amazon Lily, Fortress Wall: Luffy is balancing on the stone wall, contemplating his next move. He wants to borrow the ship, but wouldn’t have any of it because Nami isn’t there. So the Kuja would have to drive him to the Sabaody Archipelago somehow. He decides he would just have to ask. Using all his brain power, he determines that he would have to speak to the leader to do so, and he is mostly in the tallest building. He decides to try the tallest building and jumps down from the high wall.

Back in the jungle: the Amazons run back to the city as fast as they can. Fearing that Boa Hancock might already be there, they rush off to avoid the worst.

Luffy, meanwhile, lands on the tallest building and tries to keep his balance, however the roof gives way and he collapses. The Kuja warriors, who have arrived by now, are horrified to see the roof collapse. Luffy, meanwhile, lands and feels that he has fallen into hot water. Instinctively, he screams for help, afraid he’s going to drown. He then finds that he can stand and catches sight of Boa Hancock’s back. Instead of turning to stone, he just points to the back and says he’s seen this before. Hancock seems beside himself.

Miscellaneous

The comic book character Anpanman, nationally famous in Japan, makes a hidden cameo appearance in female form in this chapter.