Hancock Boa

"Pirate Empress" Hancock Boa

**Hancock Boa**, also known as "**Pirate Empress**", is both a fictional character and tritagonist from the *J-Stars'* *Fairy One Piece Tail* series created by Hiro Mashima and Eiichiro Oda.

She is the captain of the Kuja Pirates and was the only female member of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, or former pirate captains who serve under but not necessarily respect the World Government, prior to the organization's disbandment.

She is the current empress, known as the "**Snake Princess**" (蛇姫, *Hebihime*), of Amazon Lily and rules over the island and the Kuja tribe with her two younger sisters, Sandersonia and Marigold. She is considered by many to be the most beautiful woman in the world.

Despite resenting the Navy for her past enslavement, which she keeps a secret even from her kinswomen, she accepts the position to protect her people. While as a Warlord, her love for Luffy has caused her to turn against them many times, thus putting her status at risk.

"*Whether I kick a kitten... Tear off your ears... Even slaughter innocent people... The world will never cease to forgive my actions! Why, you ask? That's right, I'm... Beautiful!!!*"

—Hancock Boa, justifying her actions to Vice Admiral Momonga.

## Appearance & Biography

*Voice Actor*: Lydia Mackay (English), Kotono Mitsuishi (Japanese), Not Known (Arabic), Not Known (Basque), Not Known (Brazilian), Not Known (Catalan), Not Known (Chinese), Not Known (Dutch), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (French), Not Known (German), Not Known (Greek), Not Known (Hebrew), Not Known (Hungarian), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (Norwegian), Not Known (Polish), Not Known (Portuguese), Not Known (Romanian), Not Known (Russian), Not Known (Serbian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (Swedish), Not Known (Thai), Not Known (Brazilian Portuguese), Not Known (Castilian Spanish), Not Known (European Spanish), Not Known (European Portuguese), Not Known (Latin American Spanish), Not Known (Latin Spanish)
*Voice Actor (Young)*: Not Known (English), Kanae Itō (Japanese), Not Known (Arabic), Not Known (Basque), Not Known (Brazilian), Not Known (Catalan), Not Known (Chinese), Not Known (Dutch), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (French), Not Known (German), Not Known (Greek), Not Known (Hebrew), Not Known (Hungarian), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (Norwegian), Not Known (Polish), Not Known (Portuguese), Not Known (Romanian), Not Known (Russian), Not Known (Serbian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (Swedish), Not Known (Thai), Not Known (Brazilian Portuguese), Not Known (Castilian Spanish), Not Known (European Spanish), Not Known (European Portuguese), Not Known (Latin American Spanish), Not Known (Latin Spanish)

### Appearance

Hancock is considered the most beautiful woman in the world. She has a well proportioned figure compared to her abnormal and huge sisters. She is very tall and slender with long black hair that extends past her waist with locks of hair that frame her face down to her chin and shows off her high forehead, dark blue eyes with long, voluminous eyelashes and pale skin. She has a narrow waist and very large breasts.

Her extraordinary beauty is noted by many throughout the world: one of the Risky Brothers claims that her beauty is in second place of the mermaids, while others like Margaret and Hannyabal claim she is the most beautiful woman in the world. She is also almost always seen with Salome, her large Snake Weapon, which is usually seen smiling despite wearing a skull.

Even though Hancock normally looks either calmly beautiful or cute (in an attempt to "apologize" for her actions), she can look very intimidating and angered with her eyes bulging madly and her teeth bared, as seen when Smoker attacked Luffy at Marineford.

Before Hancock fell in love with Luffy and when she is not around Luffy, her eyes tend to look emotionless, but when she is around Luffy, her eyes show much more emotion, making her look like a girl in love.

Along with her sisters, on her back is the slave mark of the Celestial Dragons, something that she was so intent on keeping secret and was willing to petrify anyone (other than her sisters and Elder Nyon) who saw it.

In order to make sure it was never seen, she and her sisters concocted a lie that what was really on the sisters' backs were pairs of Gorgon eyes which would petrify anyone who sets eyes on them. Hancock uses this "curse" as an excuse for her and her sisters' Devil Fruit abilities.

#### The Young Past Days

In Volume 63, Oda drew the Warlords as children. Hancock is shown wearing a small laced top with exotic swirl patterns leaving her mid-riff exposed. Her only other piece of clothing is a small loin cloth around her hips.

As a young child, she looked quite similar to how she does now, but the only difference is that only her side-locks went past her shoulders and were worn in beads. During her escape from Mary Geoise, she wore rags and her hair was tied in pigtails.

#### Pre-Timeskip

When first introduced, she wore a revealing red blouse that showed much of her chest and a loose sarong that exposed her long, slender legs with the green symbol of the Kuja adorned on it, along with a white cape sporting epaulettes more commonly found on the jackets of high-ranking Marines, and red high heel pumps.

##### Outfits

Her attire changes frequently. She then wore a qipao with a hooded cloak which she used it to cover Luffy until they arrived at Impel Down and then took it off during the battle against Whitebeard.

During the Battle of Marineford, she wore a purple dress with Kuja designs on it and purple high heel pumps. Upon her return to Amazon Lily, she reverted to her original outfit (with the exception of her cape). In all her outfits, she has worn a pair of golden earrings that resemble snakes and high-heeled shoes; her attire is also adorned with the emblem of the Kuja, with an exception of when Hancock fell ill due to her Love Sickness, during which she wore a red blouse.

In the ~~3D~~2Y special, she wears a purple dress with gold trim, and a great light purple image of her Jolly Roger at the bottom.

#### Post-Timeskip

After the timeskip, her attire looks the same as when she was first introduced, except it is colored blue (although it remains red in the anime).

##### Outfits

During the *Cidre Guild* and *Stampede*, she wears a black dress with one of the sleeves and a half chest area in white and with images of her Jolly Roger on the part of the skirt, in addition to a purple sash at the waist, and a black cape with a pink interior and with golden shoulder pads.

* Hair Color: Black
* Skin Color: Not Known
* Eye Color: Black
* Age: 39 (debut), 41 (after timeskip)
* Birthday: Not Known
* Height: 250 cm. (8'2")
* Weight: Not Known
* Bounty: 81,000,000 berries

## Personality

Hancock is a very complex woman. At first glance, she appears to be selfish, pompous, spoiled, and used to having her own way. She can also act arrogant and cruel, usually justifying her less-than-admirable actions with her unmatched beauty, causing her to think that she can get away with anything because the world will forgive her (and save for the handful able to resist she is largely successful in this approach, with gleeful suitors of both genders happily forgiving her every transgression). She also made it seem that she did not think much of the Kuja tribe either as she commented to Elder Nyon that she did not care if the island was destroyed or not, since everyone would forgive her anyway because she is beautiful.

Because of her beauty and strength, she is used to seeing men and women, young and old alike, fall instantly in love with her. As a result of this, people forgive her when she acts cutely apologetic or reminds them of her beauty. However, when Luffy came along and displayed a complete immunity to her charms, she initially felt that she could not bear the existence of someone completely invulnerable to her powers, and would collapse dramatically whenever insulted.

This feeling has eroded away, though, as she deeply loves Luffy in spite of his immunity to her. Even after the two year timeskip, Hancock continues to be in love with Luffy as much as before despite that the latter openly rejected a wedding proposal from her. Even though Luffy repeatedly turns down her marriage proposals, Hancock is not discouraged by this and with every rejection she seemingly becomes more determined to marry him.

It was revealed the reason for Hancock's lies and attitude towards life was that because of her horrible past, she did not want to ever show weakness again to anyone. She harbored a great fear of getting close to anyone, other than her own sisters, and would even go as far to deceive all of the other Kuja. This caused her surrogate mother, Elder Nyon, to fear that Hancock had truly turned as cold as ice. It wasn't until Hancock confessed everything to Luffy that she finally showed emotion, breaking down in tears after reliving her painful memories.

Deep down, Hancock is a rather-sensitive and vulnerable woman who is afraid and concerned about how other people (especially the other Kuja) might react to the truth of the shameful past that she and her sisters share. She is also much more soft and compassionate towards others when she opens up. That part of her was only first shown for the first time in several years in front of Luffy and she has not only befriended but more importantly fallen deeply in love with Luffy, even agreeing to venture to the land of her suffering, from her days of a slave, at his request for his brother.

Hancock has also shown to be very sly and crafty when the situation demands it. This was particularly evident when she aided Luffy and Natsu into discreetly breaking through Impel Down's outer defenses, as well as manipulating the great prison warden, Magellan, to her whims before relaying a secret message to Luffy's brother Ace, whom Luffy was trying to rescue. She has also proven to be a very skilled liar who is excellent at fabricating stories, and her confidence leads her to never consider the consequences of her actions. An example of this is when she takes advantage of her beauty in Impel Down floor 6 to drive the prisoners mad, making them disrespect Magellan and causing enough trouble to speak to Ace freely without anyone noticing. Despite this, Hancock can be somewhat ignorant as she frequently mistakes many of Luffy's actions as romantic.

All of her arrogance seems to vanish when Luffy is on her mind, though. Whenever he is in her presence, she is quick to turn shy, barely able to meet him in the eye and gleaming over every action he takes. Even when he is not nearby, merely thinking of him causes her to blush and truly smile in a way that the other Kuja have said is unusual of her.

Despite the conceit she shows to her enemies and the facade she puts on for her people, she does show genuine care for people close to her. This was seen when she flew into a fit of rage and kicked Smoker away from Luffy after he had tried to kill him. Ignoring the possible consequences of her actions, she openly and publicly declared Luffy to be her beloved, effectively choosing her love over her title (and her people's treaty). During her fury, she showed none of her usual calm arrogance. This is seen again, to a lesser extent, when she screams at Aokiji for stabbing Luffy with an Ice Saber. Her anger is enough to make even Jimbei to cower in fear, albeit slightly and in a comedic manner.

Due to her suffering as a slave and how the first man she ever saw painfully burned her back with her slave mark, Hancock is very discriminating and judgmental towards men. She refused to listen to Luffy's story about how he was sent to her island or give him any mercy even after Margaret pleaded on his behalf. When she gave him the option to leave the island or help un-petrify Margaret and her friends, Hancock believed he would act selfish to save himself and was speechless when he showed his selfless nature. After falling in love with Luffy, Hancock seems to have lessened her judgmental nature towards men as she allowed Law and his crew to dock at the edge of her island and chose to lift her country's law to some extent and permitted Jimbei to wander on the island without watch.

Because of the horrors she endured from the World Nobles, Hancock became a very bitter and cold woman, caring nothing for others (except her sisters) and usually maintains a tough and aloof demeanor. She maintain this attitude due to her belief she should be strong for her people and out of fear of being taking advantage of again. After falling in love with Luffy, she's become a lot more sympathetic and kinder. She now smiles more often and has started to treat her fellow Kuja's with much more kindness and respect and has even decided to do work with them such as helping them make food for Luffy rather than just order them around as usual.

While referring herself, Hancock uses "warawa" (ワラワ)—an antiquated pronoun that signifies nobility—instead of the more common "watashi" (私).

In spite of her arrogant behavior, Hancock has several running gags. The first is that when she looks down on people, she leans backwards so she faces the ceiling (or the sky) above her, apparently looking down on people so much she's looking up.

Another is that she appears to dislike small animals, in which she angrily asks who left the animal in front of where she's walking before kicking it away, no matter how cute it is. A Kuja responsibly apologizes, while the offended animal snarls at her, and Hancock advises her to be more careful in the future.

She also tends to lose her temper whenever someone tries to keep her from spending time with Luffy, such as when she glared angrily at Jimbei for trying to eat some of the food she made for Luffy and when Rayleigh forbid her from seeing Luffy during his training, which prompted her to angrily pinch his nose.

Lastly, she often thinks about Luffy and mistakenly thinks that they are married or engaged and despite (or perhaps because of) repeatedly being told that they are not, Hancock is now very intent on becoming Luffy’s wife.

## Relationships

### Friends/Allies

* Straw Hat Pirates
	+ Luffy D. Monkey
	+ Jimbei
* Fairy Tail
	+ Natsu Dragneel
	+ Erza Scarlet
* Mermaid Heel
	+ Millianna
	+ Araña Webb
	+ Beth Vanderwood
	+ Risley Law
* Yukino Aguria

### Family

* Sandersonia Boa (young sister)
* Marigold Boa (younger sister)

### Enemies

* World Government
	+ Marines
		- Aokiji
		- Smoker
* Alvarez Empire
	+ Neinhart
	+ Larcade Dragneel

## Powers and Abilities

Hancock is widely considered to be extremely powerful by friend and foe alike. Ruling beside her sisters, Hancock has power over Amazon Lily and the rest of the Kuja tribe. As the empress and captain of the tribe, Hancock is the strongest Kuja warrior. Kuja believe that "strength is beauty", and since all members of the tribe state that she is the most beautiful in the world, they believe she is immensely powerful, and the strongest among the entire tribe.

It is to be noted that only the strongest Kuja warriors are allowed in the country's pirate crew, Hancock and her sisters were strong enough to be there when they were small children, although it is possible they were just apprentices like Shanks and Buggy. Her strength is so great that it has even been acknowledged by the Fleet Admiral of the time, Sengoku of the Marines.

Gloriosa believed that there was little chance for Boa Hancock to die in the Marineford War because of her great strength. Even former Admiral Kuzan commented on her skills, stating she is not to be underestimated. Further testament to her strength is how she was one of the three Warlords who managed to leave the war without sustaining any injuries.

The fact that she can earn a 81,000,000 berry bounty after her first campaign as a pirate further supports her capabilities. This is shown when she had managed to take down several Pacifistas single handedly without much effort, where it took the whole Straw Hat crew (before their two-year training) to take down just one, which left them greatly worn out.

### Physical Abilities

Noted as the the strongest warrior of the infamous Kuja Tribe, Hancock has immense physical strength. She could perform extraordinarily powerful kicks of super-human strength that can easily break stone (in the form of petrified opponents) as well as take down numerous powerful Marine officers and New World pirates with incredible ease, and she could knock away Smoker, an extremely strong and powerful Marine, with a single Haki enhanced kick. Her strength is supplemented with tremendous speed and agility, able to land an extremely fast barrage of powerful kicks on numerous Marines and New World pirates at once. Hancock has enough physical power to deal a blow to the awakened form of Douglas Bullet, that while left him otherwise unharmed, it was strong enough to be felt.

She has tremendous skills in hand-to-hand combat, supplemented with her Devil Fruit abilities. She could easily take down numerous powerful and skilled Marine officers as well as powerful pirates from the New World. Similar to Sanji's fighting style, Hancock's fighting style seems to personally emphasis on powerful and versatile kicks, whether from kicking in-the-way cute animals or her enemies. Her kicks supplemented with her Devil Fruit powers allow Hancock to destroy several Pacifistas at once single-handedly.

### Deception, Trickery, and Charisma

Hancock is extremely skilled in the arts of subterfuge and deception, managing to disguise Luffy inside her coat without eliciting much suspicion across an entire boat voyage and inside Impel Down, as well as being the sister to propose spreading the tale of the "Gorgon curse" to prevent her subordinates from discovering the humiliating brand of enslavement on their backs over a period of decades. Hancock is also highly intelligent, sly, and crafty when the situation demands it, being able to buy Luffy time, using her charms, after overhearing Magellan's plan to halt his infiltration and managed to manipulate events on Level Six of Impel Down by creating a commotion between the residing prisoners and a "protective" Magellan to speak to Ace in private and not attract any attention, as well as stealing the key to Ace's handcuffs for Luffy prior to his arrival, knowing it would be useful.

Hancock is also a master seductress, she could use her beauty and charm to get whatever she wants. With only Luffy as an exception, both men and women have been shown to be susceptible to her charms which therefore allows her to manipulate people as she desires. Though it might be a secondary effect of her Devil Fruit ability, Hancock is incredibly charismatic, to the point where her claims that she's able to get away with anything because she is beautiful has so far been shown to be true, with her antagonistic actions during the Marineford war seemingly unnoticed despite her openly attacking Marines and declaring her love for Luffy. She even convinced Marine officers to give her all their provisions, which they were prepared to happily do. In Impel Down, she used her charms to convince Magellan to take her down to Level 6 in order to buy Luffy more time, and at Level 6, she used her charms once more to cause a ruckus in order to pass a message to Ace.

### Culinary Expertise

Prior to the timeskip, Hancock was bad at cooking, but became skilled in cooking meat which is Luffy's favorite dish over the course of two years.

### Marksmanship

Hancock is also adept in long-range combat and is capable of using her Devil Fruit powers to strike her enemies from a long distance. She has shown great accuracy in using Pistol Kiss in which she accurately shot Luffy who jumped from the Kuja Palace from a very far distance. With the Slave Arrow, she shot down multiple New World Pirates at once, petrifying them in the process.

### Devil Fruit

*Main article:* *Love-Love Fruit*
The **Love-Love Fruit** (メロメロの実, *Mero Mero no Mi*, literally meaning "Fruit of the Love-Love"), a Paramecia-class Devil Fruit, which was force fed to Hancock by the World Nobles, as a form of sick entertainment, allows her to turn anyone charmed by her into stone and back again.

Those who are seduced by Hancock are susceptible to a range of techniques used by the Devil Fruit which turn people into stone, from short to long-range attacks. Anyone with "dirty thoughts" will be turned into stone as long as they do not have a means to block it out either emotionally like with fear or pain, or simply out of ignorance. Hancock can also turn anything to stone with physical contact as shown when she kicks down large numbers of Marine officers and New World Pirates during the Marineford War petrifying parts of their bodies in the process.

Hancock can use her petrification abilities for devastating offense as shown when she petrified the incredibly tough metal alloy of the Pacifistas into stone, making them much more vulnerable to damage and breaking, allowing Hancock to easily destroy all the Pacifistas, a feat which is extremely difficult when relying solely on pure brute force. Other than that, she has the same standard weaknesses as all Devil Fruit users.

As part of the secret to keep the shame on her back secret, Hancock made the Kuja tribe believe that the power to turn people to stone was a curse given to her by killing a Gorgon monster.

#### Techniques

The named techniques that are used by Hancock that involve her Devil Fruit are as follows:

* **Love-Love Beam** (メロメロメロウ, *Mero Mero Merō*; literally meaning "Falling-Down Drunk Sweet Wind"): Hancock's signature technique, she forms a heart with her hands and fires a heart-shaped beam from them. Anyone with "impure thoughts" (lust) towards Hancock hit by this beam will be turned into a stone statue. Any affected persons' body can be destroyed, due to the fact that it is stone. The pun in this technique is that those who are vulnerable to this technique essentially become slaves to it.

* **Awaken** (目覚めよ, *Mezameyo*; literally meaning "Awaken"): Hancock blows a kiss at a target that was previously turned to stone, which causes small hearts that wash over them and restore them to their normal state. The pun here is that all accounts from former real-life slaves who refer to freedom as an "awakening"; also too are the "slaves" of the **Love-Love Beam** essentially "awakened" from the "slavery" of petrification stasis. The added imperative at the end of this phrase is not unlike an order being given; another reference to Hancock's dark past.

* **Pistol Kiss** (ピストルキス, *Pisutoru Kisu*): Hancock is able to use a projectile-like move by blowing a kiss, creating a heart-shaped bullet to fire at her victim by aiming it with her index finger, which she uses together with her Armament Haki to hurt the foe. The pun here is that the kanji for gun (銃) is part of the phrase "jū no tsutsu" (銃の筒), meaning "gun barrel", which Hancock's index finger is essentially serving as, in order for this technique to work. It is unknown if this attack carries the same petrifying properties as the rest of Hancock's attacks, as it has only been used once against Luffy, who has no lust towards Hancock.

* **Slave Arrow** (スレイブ･アロー, *Sureibu Arō*): Hancock breathes in deeply and kisses out a heart; similar to her **Pistol Kiss**, but much bigger. She then pulls the heart back with a hand and, with a pop like that of a bubble, hundreds of arrows (all of them tipped and fletched with a stylized heart design) are fired and barrage her opponent(s) before petrifying them; the sheer number of arrows unleashed makes this move particularly difficult to evade. This technique not only petrifies anyone and anything that it hits, but somehow manages to freeze them in place, regardless of whether or not they were in motion or not, to the extent that she even stopped cannonballs in their tracks. The pun in this technique is that, although the kanji used here (虜) may mean "imprisonment", it can also mean "captive", as in someone being captivated by love.

* **Perfume Femur** (パフューム･フェムル, *Pafyūmu Femuru*, literally translated as "Aromatic Leg"): Hancock does a handstand and spins around in order to deliver a series of kicks. Anything she strikes, whether animate or inanimate, instantly turns into stone and, in turn, breaks from the sheer force of her kicks. Unlike her other attacks, only the immediate area around the point of contact turns to stone, not the entire object. The pun here is that when *Hōkō*, the actual pronunciation of the first two kanji symbols, is written another way (奉公), it can mean "apprenticeship" in the sense of "indentured servitude".

* **Perfume Femur Magna** (パフューム・フェムル・マグナ, *Pafyūmu Femuru Maguna*; literally translated as "Grand Aromatic Leg"): A single strike and stronger version of Perfume Femur. Hancock runs towards her target and delivers a powerful flying kick. Presumably possesses the same petrifying properties of Perfume Femur, but its effects were never shown due to the size of the target. It was first seen used against Douglas Bullet in his island-sized golem form, being one of the few attacks able to making him recoil, however, dealing not critical damage.

### Haki

*Main article:* *Haki*
Hancock is one of the very small number of people in the world who can use all three types of Haki.

#### Observation Haki

Hancock possesses the ability to use Observation Haki.

#### Armament Haki

Hancock is highly skilled in Armament Haki which she can combined with her kicks to bypass a Logia's intangible defenses as she kicked away Smoker, a physically powerful Marine with sufficient force to release his stranglehold on Luffy, whom Smoker pinned to the ground.

#### Conqueror's Haki

Hancock possesses Conqueror's Haki, which she can use to knock out a weak-willed people with a massive burst. Her exact level of mastery has yet to be demonstrated.

### Weapons

*Main article:* *Salome*
She carries with her an extra large white snake with red marks on its body named Salome, that wears a skull with blue hair jutting out of the back and a constant smile. However, aside from using it as a throne as well as to elevate herself above the battle, changing itself into a spiral shape while doing so, she has yet to use it in actual combat.

It has the ability to track and sense things on the ocean floor, which was shown when it was able to sense Whitebeard's earthquake before it arrived and when it helped Hancock follow Law Trafalgar's submarine.

## Battles

### Canon

* Hancock vs. Momonga and his crew
* Seven Warlords of the Sea and the Marines vs. Whitebeard Pirates and their allies
	+ Hancock vs. Pirates vs. Marine Officers
	+ Hancock vs. Smoker
	+ Hancock vs. Pacifistas
* Hancock and Kuja Pirates vs. Marines

### Non-Canon

* Hancock Boa and Luffy vs. Sebastian (interrupted by Perona)
* Hancock Boa vs. Nightin
* Hancock Boa and Luffy vs. Cidre Guild
* Hancock Boa vs. Guarana
* Hancock Boa vs. Guarana and Ginger
* Hancock Boa, Luffy, Law Trafalgar, Crocodile, Sabo, Smoker, Buggy, Usopp and Rob Lucci vs. Bullet Douglas

## Early Versions

* Hancock's earliest seen design appeared initially on the front cover of a 1999 issue of Shonen Jump and later was reprinted in Color Walk 2. When the Straw Hats entered the Grand Line, Oda was asked by his editing department to draw villains that would appear from then on. He agreed to and drew their backs for the Shonen Jump cover. While some parts of Hancock's appearance have definitely changed since then, Oda fully intended at the time for the design to be her.
* It is revealed in one of the data books that Hancock apparently used to be older than her current version. She was supposed to have a more "evil-based theme" and a scarier look. She also had tattoos on her face and did not have any bangs in the beginning. It is unconfirmed why Oda changed her appearance so much, though it could have been to make her eventual transition to an ally more believable.

## Anime and Manga Differences

### Amazon Lily Arc

In the anime, after Hancock returns to Momonga's ship to join the war against Whitebeard, she takes the blame for Luffy's stomach growling. When he accidentally groped her while climbing higher up on her body while under her cloak and causing her to blush, she let Momonga pass it off as a fever. When Luffy accidentally sneezed, due to Hancock's long hair brushing against his nose, Hancock once again took the fall by saying that the night air wasn't good for her body, and despite Momonga suspecting the sneeze sounding like that of a man, she managed to bluff her way out by offering a full-body search, to which Momonga passed.

The anime also elaborates on her daydreams, such as Hancock imagining herself and Luffy kissing. She also has a tendency to imagine Luffy as a bishounen when she daydreams. She also seems to have taken on Nami and Robin as rivals in love when she learns that they are in Luffy's crew, despite the fact that she had not even met them yet (but seems to know what they look like as shown in her imagination). She becomes jealous simply thinking about the fact that he has women in his crew, going so far as to daydream about Luffy choosing them over her. Of course, this makes her vow that she refuses to lose to them. There are also daydream sequences added in the Marineford Arc. After Luffy hugs her at Marineford, Hancock visualizes Luffy and herself at a wedding ceremony with the Kuja tribe as the guests. Then she imagined Luffy and herself on a honeymoon where she was preparing meals for Luffy.

### Impel Down Arc

Her visit to Impel Down was also further elaborated, silently telling Ace that Luffy was also in Impel Down trying to save him, in a tone that apparently only Ace could hear (Jinbe had to be told about it later).

All of these are technically not differences but additions; they all follow actions believable to her character. The main purpose of this was to lengthen the time shown with Hancock and Luffy on the Marine ship, before going into the Impel Down arc. This was done to show the "Friends' Whereabouts" filler over four episodes rather than over one and a half chapters in order to slow down the anime plotline so that it did not catchup to the manga. There had not been enough time in the plotline to insert any fillers since before the Sabaody Archipelago Arc, as the anime plotline was progressing ahead quite quickly.

### Marineford Arc

During the pinnacle of the war, she stopped bazooka-wielding soldiers from targeting Luffy, under the claim that they would hit Garp as well, in which she added that he would be her grandfather-in-law when she and Luffy marry. How she knew of this heritage is unknown, as the world did not receive this knowledge until after the war, and there was no indication that she got word of this beforehand in either the manga or the anime. After Ace had been set free, Hancock Boa appears behind Jimbei, Kingdew, and Blenheim while she did not in the manga.

### Return to Sabaody Arc

Boa Hancock's dress is colored red in the anime instead of blue, like in the manga.

## Translation and Dub Issues

In the English manga serialization in the American Shonen Jump magazine, Hancock is edited to wear a shirt with her blouse in order to hide her cleavage. However, this is only for the magazine serialization.

## Etymology

* Given that all members of the Kuja tribe are named after flowers, it is possible that her first name comes from the scientific name for the snowberry, a plant known for its showy flowers, symphoricarpos chenaultii hancock. Her family name, Boa, comes from the boa, a group of constricting snakes.
* She shares her name with Thomas Hancock, the manufacturing engineer who founded the British rubber industry. This similarity relates to her relationship with Luffy, who has the power of rubber.
* Her character has several references to Greek mythology:
	+ Her tribe, the Kuja, being a nation of all-female warriors, is heavily based on the Amazons. And her relationship with Luffy starting off with malice but later turning into friendship and later love (on Hancock's half) which is a reversal of the Amazonian queen Hippolyta's relationships with Heracles and (in some versions) Theseus, both of which started off friendly but ended rather adversely.
	+ Similarities to Medusa include the ability to turn people into stone (although the methods are very different), the general snake theme, and most obviously, both are one of three Gorgon sisters (though Medusa was the youngest, as opposed to Hancock who is the eldest). In some versions of the myth, she was turned into a monster against her will by Athena; similar to how Hancock was forcefully fed her Devil Fruit by the tenryubito.
	+ She is also very similar to Calypso; they both have an island inhabited by only women, they are irresistible to most men, and they are quite shocked that their respective hero (Luffy and Odysseus) can resist their charm and ask for a boat to leave (although Odysseus did take part in lovemaking with Calypso for quite a long while before his departure). The situation involving Luffy being the first one to ever *really* resist Hancock's charms caused the latter to fall in love with him also mirrors how Odysseus' resistance to Circe's charms eventually caused her to fall hopelessly in love with him too.
	+ She is also similar to *Penthesilea*. They are both empresses of amazon warriors, they were slaves when they were young, and they later escaped with their two sisters. Penthesilea was also a talented archer, which may be a reference to Hancock's usage of her Devil Fruit powers.
	+ Her ability to seduce men is similar to the sirens, who would seduce and lure sailors to a watery doom; only Sirens used their voice rather than their physical beauty.

## External links

* Boa – Wikipedia article about the animal associated with Hancock due to her name.
* Medusa – Wikipedia article about the mythological Greek gorgon who turned people into stone
* Siren – Wikipedia article about the mythological creature who seduces sailors with her voice and sends them to their doom.
* Femme fatale – Wikipedia article on femme fatales.
* Hancock Boa *Heroes Wiki*
* Hancock Boa *One Piece Wiki*

## Notes & Trivia

* In *Chapter 97*, Nami can be seen dressing on clothes, one of which is identical to Hancock's prototype design.
* She is the only Seven Warlords of the Sea to not be voted in the 4th Japanese fan poll. This is due to her character not being introduced at the time.
* In the 5th Japanese fan poll, Hancock ranked as the tenth most popular character in *Fairy One Piece Tail* which made her the second most popular Warlords (aside from Law Water D. Trafalgar), the second most popular female character (Nami being the first), and the fifth most popular "non-Straw Hat" character in the series. She is also the only character on that poll's top ten list who had made no major appearance in a recent arc.
	+ In the 6th Japanese fan poll, Hancock ranked as the tenth most popular character again in *Fairy One Piece Tail*, making her the second most popular female character (Nami being the first) and the most popular of the Warlords and the fifth most popular "non-Straw Hat" character of the series. She again is the only character to maintain in the top ten list while having no major appearance in a recent arc.
* Hancock is the first female character in the series capable of using all three forms of Haki.
* Hancock and Big Mom share a number of similarities.
	+ They are both the only female members of their respective groups (Seven Warlords of the Sea and Four Emperors).
	+ They both have Devil Fruit abilities that are connected to their target's emotional state (lust and fear).
	+ They are the only known females who possess Conqueror's Haki as well as the only known females who can use all three types of Haki.
	+ They both wield unique living weapons (Hancock uses Salome and Big Mom uses Zeus, Prometheus and Napoleon).
	+ They are both recognized as the rulers of their own country (Empress of Amazon Lily and Queen of Totto Land).
	+ They were both considered "goods" in the Underworld slave trade. However while Hancock was sold to the World Nobles, Linlin was saved by Carmel's disappearance.
	+ They both suffer from unique sicknesses (Love Sickness and blinding food craving rages).
	+ They both already had high bounties at the start of their pirating career.
	+ They were both defeated by Luffy in a way that he did not actually defeat them (Luffy unintentionally made Hancock fall in love with him, while Linlin was humiliated due to Luffy’s actions towards in her territory).
* Her favorite food is hot pot.
* Her blood type is S.

### SBS-Based Trivia

* Hancock's birthday, September 2, comes from her native tribe's name since 9-2 can be derived from ku-ja.
* Hancock is the most difficult human character for Oda to draw.