Summary:
After the party, Luffy learns from Nyon that Hancock is a Shichibukai and that they were summoned as the Marines launch an all-out offensive against Whitebeard. When Luffy hears that they plan to execute his brother Ace in Marineford to lure Whitebeard out, he decides to rescue him from the Impel Down prison before he is transported away. The only hope of getting there in time is for Hancock to answer the call for the Shichibukai so Luffy can take a ride on her ship, but the Empress has just caught an illness and is in bed.
After telling Luffy all about his past, Hancock agrees to take him to the Sabaody Archipelago with his ship pulled by Yuda. He also invites Luffy to their banquet tonight and relax inside. As Luffy expresses how excited he is to see his friends again, Hancock looks back with a confused look as he realizes that he is still blushing. Nyon remarks to herself how amazed she is that Hancock trusts Luffy so much, and Hancock places a hand on her forehead, seemingly unsure of what he feels. At the banquet, Luffy eats everything around him and the girls find it suspicious. The Kuja Pirates have misunderstood their Serpent Princess’s actions and are preparing to attack Luffy. But before they can, Luffy, bored, starts singing Bink’s Sake and dances with a pan and spoon. It makes everyone laugh and the party begins. But the girls, who have never seen a man before, interrogate Luffy and touch him when someone pays a price to touch him, causing Luffy to scream that he is not to be seen. Several other girls are interested in Luffy and want to touch him, and he runs away despite seemingly being attracted to his rubbery body. He runs away with Marguerite to Elder Nyon’s house. While Hancock is alone on the balcony, Sonia and Mary look out and wonder what’s on her mind since she hasn’t eaten, wondering if she’s worried about everything with Luffy or if he’s calling her to war. Hancock picks up the glass and remembers how Luffy is about to leave tomorrow and realizes he’s crying for some reason, he starts crying even more, drops the glass and falls to the floor in pain, panting heavily. Her sisters are shocked and go to help her.
At her house, Luffy discovers that Hancock is a Shichibukai and admits his surprise. Nyon states that she became a Shichibukai when Hancock was eighteen when she became the Empress of Kuja and quickly gained a notorious reputation despite her young age, attracting the attention of the Marines and even the World Government who feared her potential as she gained a large reward after just one campaign. Hancock later decided to join the Shichibukai to protect his fellow Kujo by creating a contract to protect their homeland from the government and prevent them from entering. Nyon then reads on the paper about the war between the Whitebeard Pirates and the Marines and further surprises Luffy, with Nyon commenting on his lack of knowledge and then reading out the prisoners for execution, his brother Ace is about to be taken to be executed. Luffy is then horrified to read it, hearing that Blackbeard was the one who put Ace in prison and interrupts Nyon by revealing that he is his brother, shocking Nyon. Luffy asks if Ace will really be executed and Nyon says yes and wonders when. He says it’s in five days and it will be a week before he gets back to Sabaoda and Luffy says it will be too late by the time he reunites with his crew. He asks for another faster way and Nyon tells him that he is being held in Impel Down, a maximum security prison, and decides to go rescue Ace before reuniting with his crew. Apologizing to his friends after deciding to save Ace in Impel Down, he asks Elder Nyon how he can save Ace. Elder Nyon tells him that there is only one way to get to his brother in time, and that is to ask Hancock to take the marines’ call since the marine battleship can do it in time and Luffy goes to ask her with Nyon. When Luffy and Nyon come to question her, one of her subjects arrives and reveals that Hancock has contracted a deadly disease. Hancock has caught an unknown disease and is in a lot of pain for some reason.