Boa Hancock

Boa Hancock (ボア･ハンコック, Boa Hankokku), also more known as as "Pirate Empress" (海賊女帝, Kaizoku Jotei), is both a fictional character and ally from the One Piece series. She is the captain of the Kuja Pirates and the only female member of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.

She is the current empress, known as the "Snake Princess" (蛇姫, Hebihime), of Amazon Lily and rules over the Kuja tribe with her two younger Gorgon sisters, Boa Sandersonia and Boa Marigold. She is the main antagonist of the Amazon Lily Arc.

She was first mentioned by the Risky Brothers at the end of the Thriller Bark Arc when comparing her legendary beauty to the beauty of mermaids. She is considered by many to be the most beautiful woman in the world. While she currently remains employed within the Seven Warlords of the Sea, her love for Luffy has caused her to turn against the World Government on a number of occasions, thus putting her status of Warlord at a riskful jeopardy. Her former bounty is 81,000,000 berries.

"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, It's because I am... BEAUTIFUL!!!"
 * —Hancock justifying her actions to Vice Admiral Momonga.

Appearance & Biography

 * Voice Actor: Lydia Mackay (English), Kotono Mitsuishi (Japanese), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (German), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (French), Not Known (Latin American Spanish)
 * Voice Actor (child): Not Known (English), Kanae Itō (Japanese), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (German), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (French), Not Known (Latin American Spanish)

Biography
Leader of the Kuja Pirates, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, and Princess of Amazon Lily on Maiden Island.

With the Love-Love Fruit, she can turn people to stone with her beauty.

She falls in love with Luffy and even worked with the Navy to help rescue Ace. After the Battle of Navyford, she made an exception and let the badly hurt Luffy set anchor on Maiden Island.

Appearance
Compared to the abnormal and huge appearance of her sisters, Hancock has a well proportioned figure. She is a very tall, slender woman with long black hair past her waist with locks of hair that frame her face down to her chin, pale skin, large breasts, a high forehead, and dark blue eyes that have long, voluminous lashes. Like most of the females in the series, she has a narrow waist.

Despite Hancock normally looking either calmly beautiful or cute (in an attempt to "apologize" for her actions), when she is angered, she looks very intimidating, with her eyes bulging madly and her teeth bared, as seen when Chaser nearly killed Luffy.

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.

The Young Past Days
As a young child, she looked similar to how she does now, only her side-locks went past her shoulders and were worn in beads, she was shown wearing a small laced top with exotic swirl patterns leaving her mid riff exposed. Her only other piece of clothing is a small lion cloth around her hips.

During her escape from Marie Jois as a teenager, she wore rags and tied her hair in pigtails.

Before the Timeskip
Her attire changes frequently. When first introduced, she wore a revealing red blouse that showed much of her chest, even her belly, 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 Navy, and red high heel pumps. 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 Whitebeard War, 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 look like 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.

Her beauty is noted by many throughout the world: to one of the Risky Brothers, her beauty rivals only to that 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, despite the skull it wears, is usually smiling.

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.

After the 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).


 * Hair Color: Black
 * Skin Color: Pale
 * Eye Color: Blue
 * Age: 39 (Pre-timeskip), 41 (Post-timeskip)
 * Birthday: September 2nd
 * Height: 250 cm. (8'2")
 * Weight: Not Known

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 apparently 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 didn't 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, 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 loves Luffy despite 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.

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 Monkey D. Luffy and she has not only befriended but also fallen 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 Monkey D. Luffy 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.

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 Chaser 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.

Hancock's time with Luffy has changed her personality considerably since from before. She has now started to treat others, even some men, with much more kindness and respect. She has come to understand that not all men are the same and even allowed Law and his crew to dock at the edge of her island and choose to lift her countries law's somewhat. She has also started to treat her fellow Kuja's with much more kindness and respect and has even decided to do work with them such as help them make food for Luffy rather than just order them around as usual. Nyon and even her sisters have become amazed how much she's changed ever since she fell in love with Luffy.

While referring herself, Hancock uses "warawa wa" (ワラワ) — an antiquated pronoun that signifies nobility — instead of the more common "watashi wa" (私は; literally meaning "I am").

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.

Lastly, she often thinks about Luffy and mistakenly thinks that they are married or engaged.

Friends/Allies

 * Kuja
 * Kuja Pirates
 * Straw Hat Pirates
 * Luffy D. Monkey (love interest and beloved)
 * Rayleigh Silvers
 * Portgaz D. Ace
 * Jimbei
 * Shakuyaku

Family

 * Gorgon Sisters
 * Boa Sandersonia (younger sister)
 * Boa Marigold (youngest sister)
 * Gloriosa (surrogate mother)
 * Salome

Neutral

 * Fisher Tiger
 * other Warlords
 * Whitebeard Pirates
 * Trafalgar D. Water Law

Enemies

 * Navy
 * Sakazuki
 * World Government
 * Men (but somewhat changed)

Abilities and Powers
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. The 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 Rex, Shanks and Buggy.

Her strength is so great that it has even been acknowledged by the Fleet Admiral of the time, Sengoku of the Navy. 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 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 Navy officers and New World pirates with incredible ease, and she could knock away Chaser an extremely strong and powerful Navy in his smoke state 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 Navy and New World pirates at once.

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 and Trickery
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 Portgaz D. 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. Her claim 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 Navyford war seemingly unnoticed despite her openly attacking Navy and declaring her love for Luffy. 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 Paramythia-class Devil Fruit, that was force fed to Hancock the World Nobles who enslaved her, as a form of sick entertainment, allows her to turn people that feel attraction for her or are seduced by Hancock into stone. Those who are with "dirty thoughts" are susceptible to a range of techniques used by the Devil Fruit which turn people into stone as well, 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 Navyford War petrifying parts of their bodies in the process. Hancock can use her petrification abilities for devastating offense as shown when she petrify 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 the 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 refers to the freedom as an "awakening"; so 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; literally meaning "Pistol Kiss"): 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; literally meaning "Arrows of Imprisonment"): 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".

Haki

 * Main article: Haki

Hancock demonstrated two types of Haki: Armament Haki, one of the more common types of Haki used in the series, and Conqueror's Haki, an ability that only one in a million people can use.

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

Hancock also possesses Conqueror's Haki, which she can used 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 Trafalgar Law's submarine.

Past
When Hancock was twelve years old, she and her sisters were included into the Kuja pirate crew and were sailing on their ship, when suddenly, they were captured by slavers and sold to the Celestial Dragons. During her time as a slave, Hancock was fed the Love-Love Fruit to entertain her captors. The three suffered the greatest horrors imaginable, until four years later, a man by the name of Fisher Tiger appeared and while his goal was simply the liberation of the mermen slaves, he freed as many as he could without discrimination.

Left with nowhere to go, the sisters were eventually rescued by Elder Nyon, Silvers Rayleigh and Shakuyaku, and brought home, but the The Claw of the Celestial Dragons, the symbol of the Celestial Dragons was burned deep into their flesh. Hancock chose to hide the mark and her Cursed Fruit powers, and disseminated to the fellow Kuja that it was punishment for slaying a gorgon, with her, Marigold and Sandersonia collectively gaining the nickname: the Gorgon sisters, for if the truth is revealed, the three sisters would have nowhere to go.

Hancock (after escaping Marie Jois as teenager) was one of the many seen twenty-four years before the main story commenting on Gold Roger's death (or more specifically on the Great Age of Pirates).

Unfortunately, despite being freed, the experiences that Hancock went through corrupted her innocence, and she would later grow up to distrust everyone (with the exception of her sisters), men especially. She also especially hates the World Government, in particular the Celestial Dragons. Over the years, despite Elder Nyon's love and mercy, Hancock became cold, burying any warm feelings, kindness and sensitivity deep within her, and although she would later become the Empress of the Kuja, she was selfish, and uncaring towards her people.

When Hancock was eighteen, she became the empress of the Kuja and quickly gained a notorious reputation despite her young age, catching the attention of the Navy and even the World Government, who were frightened of her potential, as she had earned a large bounty after only one campaign. Hancock later opted to join the Seven Warlords of the Sea in order to protect her fellow Kuja, by forming a treaty to protect their homeland from the government, preventing them from entering there.

Skypiea Saga
Hancock ignores the invitation to Marie Jois for talks about Crocodile who was defeated by Monkey D. Luffy and arrested by Tashigi for the production of Boogie Powder and trying to conquer Alabasta.

Canon
*Seven Warlords of the Sea and the Navy vs. Whitebeard Pirates and their allies (Draw)
 * Boa Hancock vs. Momonga and his crew (Won)
 * Hancock vs. Pirates vs. Navy Officers (Won)
 * Hancock vs. Chaser (Unfinished)
 * Hancock vs. Pacifista (Won)
 * Hancock and Kuja Pirates vs. Navy (Won)

Filler Battles
*Boa Hancock vs. Nightin (Won)
 * Boa Hancock and Luffy vs. Sebastian (interrupted by Perona)

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.

Notes & Trivia

 * 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 is the only Warlord to not be voted in the 4th Japanese Poll. This is due to her character not being introduced at the time.
 * In the 5th Japanese Fan Polls, Hancock ranked as the tenth most popular character in One Piece making her the second most popular Warlord (aside from Trafalgar Law), 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 10 list who had made no major appearance in a recent arc.
 * 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 in the fact that she has an island inhabited by only women, she is irresistible to most men, and she is quite shocked that her respective hero (Luffy instead of Odysseus) can resist her charm and ask for a boat to leave (Although Odysseus did take part in lovemaking with her for quite a long while before his departure). The situation which was involving Luffy being the first one to ever really resist Hancock's charms caused the latter to fall in love with him, and also mirrors how Odysseus' resistance to Circe's charms eventually caused her to fall hopelessly in love with him, too.
 * 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.