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Chapter 34: The Over-a-Hundred-Million Bounty Pirates
Chapter 34: The Over-a-Hundred-Million Bounty Pirates
On the deck of a massive black ship in the East Blue Sea.
Sarge lounged awkwardly yet comfortably on his throne, a bottle of alcohol in his left hand, his eyes half-lidded as he basked in the sun's warmth.
It was a fine day, and he was enjoying a sunbath.
As for his subordinates...
Paul was still being pummeled by the pirates, and Jin was receiving the same treatment, though one was yelling while the other grit his teeth and endured silently. The sound of the iron rods striking their bodies even produced a slight bouncing noise, like the collision of hard objects.
It seemed they were starting to get the hang of it.
"Sarge!"
Lily suddenly appeared, holding a newspaper and looking grave. "Today's paper."
Sarge glanced up, taking the newspaper from Lily, and his expression turned solemn. "Hmm."
He nodded, marveling, "Not bad at all!"
"What's so good?"
Lily was taken aback for a moment, then leaned in, following Sarge's gaze to the newspaper. There was a report on a certain beauty contest, along with a photo of scantily clad women striking provocative poses, treating the public to an eye-feast.
Lily: "..."
"Is that all you look at?"
"What else is there?"
Sarge tossed the newspaper aside. "I can't read anyway. Pictures are enough. Lily, next time, there's no need to specially show this to me. Pictures are meaningless; I want to see the real thing."
"That's not it!"
Lily's temples throbbed with a burst of blue veins, and she shoved the three wanted posters that were left after the newspaper was taken away, right into Sarge's face. "We've been put on the wanted list, Sarge!"
Upon hearing this, the pirates who were still in training stopped and looked in their direction.
"Where? Where?"
Reneetia came running from somewhere, excitedly asking, "Am I on there? How much is the bounty?"
Sarge pushed the wanted poster away, then picked it up and scanned it briefly before stiffening in surprise.
He looked at Lily in astonishment. "Three thousand berries?"
Killing a navy branch colonel should not have warranted such a price. It seemed the two kingdoms' incidents, along with the robberies of those towns, had been factored in, resulting in this amount.
"Seven thousand berries?!"
Reneetia, who had leaned in closer, also saw the bounty and exclaimed in shock.
"How... How much?!"
Even Paul, who was being beaten to a pulp, was stunned by the amount, despite his hazy consciousness.
As for the other pirates, they were left dumbfounded, though they didn't sink into the water, they were at a loss for words.
"Is that high?" Lily asked.
She didn't have a concept of bounties, only knowing that Sarge and herself would definitely be wanted, having grown up without any exposure to sea-related news. Her knowledge of navigation techniques was purely based on theoretical comparisons to actual situations, which she was gradually mastering.
"Of course, it's high!"
Reneetia, on the other hand, was different. Although she was only ten years old, she had sailed the East Blue Sea with her master since she was young. In search of materials and news of ships in distress, she had become familiar with this sea.
"There aren't any pirates in the East Blue Sea with bounties exceeding twenty million berries! Your three thousand is already considered high, especially for a first-time bounty. Sarge, seven thousand... I've never heard of such a bounty in the East Blue Sea. Only pirates in the Grand Line would have such amounts, and they'd have to be extremely dangerous individuals!"
This bounty was unprecedented.
Jin and the others wore expressions of sheer horror. They were veteran pirates who had plundered countless towns and merchant ships, yet their bounties only amounted to twelve million and seven million berries respectively. Even the leading captains wouldn't surpass them by such a large margin.
"Seven thousand berries... That's quite a sum." Sarge's eyes narrowed as he muttered, a mix of surprise and amusement dancing in his eyes. "Looks like the World Government really wants me dead."
He didn't seem fazed by the bounty, having expected it ever since he'd killed the king of that affiliated kingdom. Killing a king would undoubtedly attract a bounty. But the amount did surprise him.
However, his attention soon shifted to the wanted poster aside from his and Lily's. It featured a young man with a straw hat, grinning broadly.
"Monkey D. Luffy," Sarge murmured.
It seemed that this young man had also just received his bounty.
"Luffy? The one with the straw hat?" Jin asked, a nostalgic smile on his face. "The kid who defeated Captain Kreig? He's quite something."
"Is there something special about that straw hat?" Lily inquired, noticing Sarge's reaction to the poster.
"No," Sarge replied, handing the wanted poster to Reneetia, who was eagerly reaching for it. "It's not important. He's just a fellow pirate."
"Hey, Sarge, why don't we have nicknames?" Reneetia asked, crumpling up Luffy's wanted poster and glancing at their own. "Don't we usually get nicknames when we receive our bounties?"
"Who goes around giving themselves nicknames? Only an idiot would do that," Sarge scoffed. "Nicknames are earned based on physical characteristics or one's actions at sea. They're given by the people, and whether you have one or not doesn't matter. As long as they're talking about you, you know they mean business."
The wanted posters only featured their names, devoid of any flashy nicknames.
"What about me?" Reneetia pouted, disappointed, as she handed the wanted posters to the other pirates who wanted a look. "I'm sure I'll be on there next time!"
"You think that's a good thing?" Sarge shook his head. "With our current crew, I have 7,000 berries on my head, Lily has 3,000, and Jin and Paul together amount to 19 million. Our crew's total bounty is already at 119 million berries, an amount that's sure to attract attention, especially here in the East Blue Sea. It's not something to be happy about."
An average bounty in the East Blue Sea was around 3 million berries, but their crew had just surpassed the 100-million mark. This would undoubtedly attract the full force of the Navy.
"Looks like our plans have changed," Sarge continued. "I had thought that even if we were wanted, the bounty wouldn't be too high, and we could stay in the East Blue Sea for a while longer. At least until we mastered our Haki and improved our strength. But with this bounty, we can't afford to stay. We'll have to set sail for the Grand Line, where our power won't stand out as much."
"How far is it to the next destination, Lily?" Sarge asked.
"According to the sea chart, it will take us about three days to reach the Kingdom of Shallow Sands," Lily replied after a moment's thought.
Sarge took a long swig from the bottle, his eyes fixed on the endless horizon. "Then we'll resupply there, recruit some more crew, and set off for the Grand Line!"
(End of Chapter)
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