Chapter 520: Eye of the Gorgon

Arc: Amazon Lily · Saga: Summit War · Released: —

Summary

In the Kuja coliseum, Luffy’s “war dance” duel against the two younger Gorgon Sisters — Boa Sandersonia (snake-hair “Eight-Headed Snake”) and Boa Marigold (fire-breathing “Salamander”) — reaches its climax. Luffy goes Gear Second (the Kuja mistake the steam for Haki) and trades Jet Bazooka and Jet Gatling against the sisters’ iron-fanged snake hair and fire. He turns their combined assault against them, knotting the two snake-tails together so they yank each other toward the spiked arena wall. When Marigold’s flames burn the clothes off Sandersonia’s back and the falling Sandersonia is about to be impaled, Luffy catches her and — rather than finish her — presses himself against her exposed back to hide it. The sisters and crowd realize he is concealing the “Eye of the Gorgon,” a mark on her back the sisters would die before revealing. Luffy refuses to move (“You said you’d rather die than let anybody see this, right?”). Hancock, watching, orders the entire coliseum evacuated “before the Eye of the Gorgon is exposed,” invoking the curse that turns onlookers to stone — and her heart skips a beat at the boy who protected her sister. A weeping Sandersonia asks why he helped her when they were trying to kill him.

New reveals

• The two younger Gorgon Sisters are named on-page: Boa Sandersonia (“Sonia”), whose hair becomes iron-fanged snakes (“Snake Hair Possession,” “Eight-Headed Snake”), and Boa Marigold (“Mari”), who breathes fire (“Salamander”).
• The sisters carry a hidden mark on their backs called the “Eye of the Gorgon.” They would rather die than have it seen; the in-world story is that the sight petrifies the viewer (“We’ll all be turned to stone!!”).
• Luffy shields an enemy: even mid-duel with people trying to kill him, he covers Sandersonia’s bared back to keep the mark hidden — the act that turns the Kuja against killing him and softens Hancock.
• Hancock evacuates the coliseum to protect the secret, and her heart audibly skips (“BA-BUMP”) — the first stirring of her feelings for Luffy.
• The Kuja read Gear Second’s steam as Haki — an early on-page use of the term at Amazon Lily (p. 4).

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

• Characters: Luffy · Hancock · Boa Sandersonia · Boa Marigold
• Color-spread cameo (decorative): Nami · Nico Robin · Usopp · Sanji
• Locations: Amazon Lily (the Kuja coliseum/arena)
• Concepts: Haki · Six Powers (Rokushiki) (SBS) · Straw Hat Pirates

Notable panels

• Pages 1–2 — Two-page color spread: the Straw Hat crew lounging at a tropical feast playing cards with a spotted leopard-creature (Luffy reclined, Robin and Nami with cards; Usopp/Sanji at the table).
• Page 3 — Luffy declares “GEAR… …TWO!!”; the Kuja gasp at the steam (“There’s smoke coming out of his body!” / “Can all men do that?!”).
• Page 8 — ”…JET BAZOOKA!!” connects.
• Page 12 — “JET GATLING!!” turns the sisters’ snake assault back on them.
• Page 14 — “Our tails!!!” Luffy has knotted the two snake-tails together so the sisters yank each other toward the spikes.
• Page 15 — Luffy catches the falling Sandersonia (“S-Sandersonia?! / That was close…”).
• Page 17 — “…he’s covering your back!!” / “If it weren’t for that man, the Eye of the Gorgon would show!!”
• Pages 18–19 — Hancock orders the coliseum evacuated; “BA-BUMP”; Sandersonia weeps, “We were trying to kill you. Why did you help me?”
• Page 20 — SBS Question Corner (Vol. 54 opener): note on the ch 519 title page as a black-and-white tribute to Akira Toriyama (519 = the final chapter number of Dragon Ball); a gag listing the Six Powers / Rokushiki by VIZ name — Finger Pistol, Moon Walk, Iron Body, Shave, Paper Art, Tempest Kick — plus Lucci’s joke “seventh power,” the “Bother.”
• Page 21 — Next chapter’s title page: “Chapter 521: Hoof of the Celestial Dragon,” cover story “CP9’s Independent Report, Vol. 27: Pursuers Ashore — CP9 Capture Mission.” (Belongs to 521; the chapter-title juxtaposition itself teases that the “Eye of the Gorgon” is the “Hoof of the Celestial Dragon.”)

Open questions raised

• What exactly is the “Eye of the Gorgon” mark on the sisters’ backs, and what happened to them to put it there?
• Is the “turn-to-stone” Gorgon curse literal, or a cover story for a shameful past?
• Why does Luffy’s mercy land so hard on Hancock specifically (the heart-skip)?
• Will Luffy’s act convert the hostile Kuja — and the Pirate Empress Warlord — into allies?