Cover Page: Germa 66's Ahh... An Emotionless Excursion, Vol. 18: "Caesar's hallucination gas!!"

Caesar's gas causes Katakuri and Oven to hallucinate and fight each other.

As Marco returns to Sphinx with the aid of the Red Hair Pirates, Amazon Lily is in recovery from the recent invasion. During the invasion, the Marines unleash their newest Pacifista model: Seraphim, with the intent to arrest Boa Hancock along with the Blackbeard Pirates invading to steal her devil fruit power. Hancock is saved from being killed by Blackbeard when Rayleigh had arrived to mediate the situation. However, a newspaper had been released stating that Koby is now a prisoner of the Blackbeard Pirates.

Near Whitebeard's homeland Sphinx, the Red Hair Pirates have dropped off Marco, who decides to fly all the way back to the island. Marco thanks Shanks for the ride as he asks once again if Marco really doesn’t want to join his crew. Marco confirms and even adds that he considers himself too old and worn out to play babysitter to a great pirate like him, a statement shared by Shanks’ fellow officers and to his own personal frustration.

As Marco bids goodbye, he thinks back to before the Straw Hats left Wano, and how surprised Luffy (and Sanji) were that Yamato chose not to join them. Yamato tells them that Ryokugyu's attack made him realize that Kaidou's downfall means more people like the Admiral will try to invade Wano, so he can’t turn his back on them, especially if he does leave, he’ll continuously worry about them. Luffy ultimately accepts Yamato’s wishes as Zoro recommends he be careful as to not hurt Momonosuke's pride, to which Yamato says he will find another reason to stay. Overhead, Marco calls to Luffy and tells him that he will be hitching a ride with a nearby ship. Luffy tells Marco he didn’t get a chance to thank him for saving him during the Summit War. Marco accepts his thanks and says that Ace would be proud of how far he had come before saying that the times belong to him and the other youngsters of his generation.

Meanwhile, on Amazon Lily, Gloriosa remarks how deep into the island men were able to invade their home and how damaged the town is, with the mountain having lost about half of its entire structure. Boa Hancock says that as long as she remains on the island, the Marines won’t stop hunting them, to which she remarks that she should go marry Luffy now, which annoys Gloriosa since Hancock is always thinking about that.

As it turns out, a few weeks prior, during Koby and the Marine’s attack on the Kuja Pirates, the attacking Marines decided to deploy their new Pacifistas, the Seraphim, which seem to take the form of children, keeping some of the Kuja Pirates from fighting back. During the attack, though, Blackbeard’s ship was spotted, with Blackbeard himself creating a Kaishin to shove the Marines away. Blackbeard then appears with Catarina Devon and Vasco Shot accompanying him, where he announces that he has come for Boa Hancock’s Mero Mero no Mi, unwilling to let the Marines acquire it. Devon muses how nice Hancock’s head would make as a trophy and Blackbeard tells her that she can have her way with her after they take her powers, with Shot saying they could have more fun with her if she was alive.

Vice Admiral Yamakaji is asked if the Marines should engage the Blackbeard Pirates, but he says they need to wait for word from HQ, only for most of the Marines to get blown away by Blackbeard. He barges his way into the island and demands Hancock show herself, while Koby, who was already on the island, asks Hancock to surrender if she wants them to leave. Hancock refuses and steps out to confront the opposing sides, just as Blackbeard gets a call for help from his subordinates. He sees the attacker and, to his shock, discovers not only is it the new Pacifista, but it has all the traits of a Lunarian, and who’s sword strike was what cut the island’s mountain in half. Blackbeard starts fighting the Pacifista and is forced to use Black Hole to swallow everything, while Hancock uses Slave Arrow to petrify several Marines, including Helmeppo and Yamakaji. The Pacifista continues attack as Koby demands it stop to protect the petrified Marines, but just as Hancock is about to use Perfume Femur, Blackbeard grabs her by the throat and nullifies her powers, as both their new bounties are revealed to be 1,659,000,000 for Hancock and 3,996,000,000 for Blackbeard.

Blackbeard acknowledges that Hancock’s reputation is well-earned, especially since she was able to petrify Devon and Shot among his crew. While Koby tries to figure out what to do with all of the Marines down, Blackbeard tells her that he’s had his eye on her Devil Fruit for a long time. She retorts that her beauty is what makes her powers formidable, and even if he kills her, those who have been petrified will remain so forever, fully confident that whoever inherits her power won’t have the same capacity as her. Blackbeard then speaks to Koby and says that they are now at an impasse, while also stating that he did him a “favor” at Rocky Port which allowed him to oust Ochoku and take Hachinosu for himself.

Blackbeard asks Koby if he thinks Hancock will turn everyone back to normal if he unhands her, and Koby says that if she didn’t, it would be a headache for him. Hancock says she will turn everyone back to normal if they both leave, but Blackbeard refuses, reasoning that she won’t keep up her end of the bargain due to her charms. At this point, Blackbeard decides to kill Hancock, which Koby objects to, but thankfully, he is stopped by the arrival of Silvers Rayleigh, who apologizes to Hancock for coming late while admitting he didn’t expect the extent of the damage seen. He also says to a shocked Blackbeard that even though he was once Whitebeard’s apprentice, he doesn’t like him. As he draws his sword, he asks Hancock to release everyone while he makes sure to de-escalates and that everyone leaves the island.

In the present day, Hancock thanks Rayleigh for saving her as Shakuyaku, who not only accompanied Rayleigh, but is also revealed to be the former empress of Amazon Lily from two generations ago and the former captain of the Kuja Pirates, says that Vegapunk's modifications to Marine Ships means that the Calm Belt is no longer a safe place for them. Gloriosa says that she genuinely thought they were finished, and Rayleigh even adds that they were lucky, as it was his reputation that ended the conflict, and that he won’t be able to beat Blackbeard head-on due to his old age. Rayleigh then says that the Marines are aiming to use the new Pacifistas to replace the Seven Warlords of the Sea, with Boa Marigold and Boa Sandersonia remarking that the two that were deployed didn’t have a scratch on them, and even one of them looked like Hancock as a child.

As for the Marines, they reveal that Koby was captured by Blackbeard, leaving his current fate unknown.

Chapter Notes: