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"Two hundred forty-five million, huh."
Bai Ye stared at the completely altered bounty list—thanks to his own butterfly effect—feeling a mix of pride and amusement.
"Even on the Grand Line, this'll make some serious waves."
Grand Line, Red Force—
"Oi oi oi, Captain! This is big news!"
"That Luffy brat's got a bounty now!!!"
Like a tank, Lucky Roux came charging in, holding a stack of wanted posters.
"Oh?" The moment he said that, the whole crew gathered around.
Everyone here knew Luffy pretty well. After all, he was the kid their captain had bet an arm on.
"Not bad at all… His first bounty is already 60 million?"
Shanks looked at Luffy's wanted poster and smiled warmly.
"Hold up—this Usopp guy… that's my son, right? That's gotta be him! The long-nosed guy from Syrup Village—there's no mistaking it!! That's my boy, Yasopp's son!!!"
Yasopp suddenly grabbed a poster and shouted with pride in his voice.
"15 million bounty, and a sniper too?"
Lucky Roux threw an arm around Yasopp's shoulder. "Looks like your kid's pretty impressive."
"Hahaha, damn right he is! That Luffy kid's got good taste, I'll give him that!"
Yasopp laughed proudly.
"Seems like Luffy's picked up some solid crewmates. Especially…"
Ben Beckman, the calmest one on the Red-Hair Pirates, held up Bai Ye's poster. Even he was surprised:
"'Heavenly Master' Bai Ye, huh? His bounty's even higher than Luffy, the captain."
"Nani?!" At that, everyone looked over again.
A few seconds later, they all burst into laughter. "Guess we've got something to tease Luffy about when we see him next, hahaha!"
Then Shanks stood up and shouted,
"Well then, for Luffy's very first wanted poster—LET'S HAVE A PARTY, BOYS!!!"
"YEAHHHHH!!!"
Grand Line, Kuraikakana Island—
Mihawk was sipping red wine while glancing through the Straw Hats' wanted posters.
"Roronoa Zoro…"
His eyes sharpened. "Don't keep me waiting too long at the top."
Then he glanced at Bai Ye's poster and was reminded of a certain recent incident.
The Navy had contacted him a few days ago, asking if it was true that Bai Ye had fought him to a draw.
Mihawk, ever cold and reserved, casually replied, "Not bad."
But what he meant was that Bai Ye's sword technique wasn't bad—not that their strengths were equal.
Still, the Marine officer on the other side hung up immediately after hearing those words.
Thinking back, Mihawk realized… yeah, he might've played a big role in getting Bai Ye such a high bounty.
"A strange swordsman… What are you gonna do next?"
He took another sip of wine and let the matter drop.
Wano—
"Kaido-sama, a promising new rookie pirate crew seems to have appeared recently."
"Hm?"
Kaido glanced at the wanted posters King handed him, but quickly lost interest.
"Not a single Zoan user? Boring."
Whole Cake Island—
"Mama, take a look at this…"
"Momomomomomo… Not bad. Keep an eye on them."
"Yes, Mama."
Moby Dick—
The ship of the world's strongest man cut through the waves powerfully.
Then, a carefree, booming voice rang out:
"Gurararara! This Straw Hat kid—is he your little brother?"
With his crescent-shaped mustache and towering figure, Whitebeard stared at the poster in his hand and laughed:
"Seems like a good kid. Why not become my son too?"
"From now on, just like Ace, carry my name and sail freely across these seas!!!"
Yep. The strongest man in the world had a bit of a habit of collecting sons.
The others around him burst out laughing:
"That's right, Ace! Bring your brother aboard the old man's ship too!"
Amidst the jokes, Ace finally spoke up:
"That guy Luffy… he really wants to become Pirate King."
With his messy black hair and freckles, Ace adjusted his cowboy hat and said with pride:
"He's not the type to join someone else's crew."
And somewhere, in a quiet corner of the world…
A blond-haired boy with a scar on his face stared at Luffy's smiling face on the poster. His head started to ache, like something long forgotten was trying to resurface.
But no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't remember what it was.
At the same time, a man wearing a green cloak with strange markings on his face stepped out of his base and walked to the island's edge.
In his hand, he held Luffy's wanted poster.
After a long pause, he tucked the poster away and muttered to himself:
"The next stop… should be there."
Then, a gust of wind suddenly whipped up around him—before you could blink, the man had vanished into thin air.
Just like that, even before they officially entered the Grand Line, the Straw Hat Pirates had already made a name for themselves across the world.
"That's gotta be the place!"
Luffy, hugging the goat-headed figurehead of the Merry, looked ahead with excitement:
"The town where Pirate King Roger died!!!"
Loguetown.
The rest of the crew was feeling pretty hyped too.
Part of it was the same as Luffy—they were curious about this legendary town full of pirate history.
But another big reason? They were all exhausted from the brutal training Bai Ye had been putting them through these past few days.
Sure, he gave them some healing pills every night to help their bodies recover… but mentally? They were still completely wiped out.
Now that they'd finally reached their destination, they just wanted to get off the ship and relax a little.
Well, except Zoro. That guy didn't even flinch. If anything, he was ready to train more.
Seeing everyone looking at him with hopeful eyes, Bai Ye smiled and said,
"Well, since we're here, we might as well restock. Let's skip training today."
At those words, Nami and Usopp practically wept with joy.
Even Sanji let out a sigh of relief.
As for Luffy and Zoro, their eyes were already set on Loguetown.
Bai Ye continued,"Once we stock up here, we're heading straight into the Grand Line. So this time, everyone's going out to gather supplies."
"Nami, you'll buy all the daily essentials we'll need for the voyage—oh, and pick up a Log Pose for navigating the Grand Line."
"Usopp, you're in charge of tools and materials we might need to repair the Going Merry."
"Sanji, go get food and spices."
"Zoro, find yourself two good swords. And... try not to get lost."
"As for Luffy..."
Bai Ye suddenly paused mid-sentence—then abruptly changed the subject.
"Anyway, now we need to talk money."
With a wave of his hand, everyone suddenly had a fat wad of Berries in hand.
Unlike in the original story, this version of the Straw Hat crew isn't filthy rich, but they're definitely not hurting for cash either.
No need to be stingy.
After giving everyone their assignments, Bai Ye wrapped things up:
"There's a Marine base here, so once you're done shopping, head back to the ship ASAP."
Everyone nodded and split up to head into town.
Bai Ye, after giving some instructions to his 007 paper clone and activating an array carved into the Going Merry, also stepped into Loguetown.
"....."