A few days later.
Somewhere in the East Sea, a ship with a sheep's head and a skull flag with a straw hat on the sail was sailing slowly.
"Hahahaha!"
A man wearing a straw hat laughed and raised the wanted poster in his hand. The wanted poster had a photo that looked exactly like him, with the name Monkey D. Luffy below, and further down, a string of numbers... 30 million!
"We've become wanted criminals!" Luffy laughed. "30 million Belly!"
"Do you realize the seriousness of the situation..."
Nami sighed and rubbed her forehead. "30 million Belly means someone has their eyes on your life. If this goes on, we can't leisurely wander around the East Sea..."
She had just complained about the price of the newspaper going up, and the next thing you know, a wanted poster of Luffy fell from the paper. Not only did the newspaper go up in price, but so did their captain!
"This must be the highest in the East Sea..."
Sanji stroked his chin. "That Arlong only had 20 million Belly after all."
"That's right, Luffy is the highest in the East Sea."
From a short distance on the deck, Zoro walked over and said, "I was a bounty hunter for a while, and I've never seen a price like 30 million in the East Sea. The Navy Headquarters will definitely take action, and the opponents we encounter from now on will be completely different."
"Hehe, bring them on, I'm gonna be the Pirate King anyway!" Luffy giggled cheerfully.
"30 million..."
Nami continued flipping through the newspaper, "This number... huh?!"
She didn't finish her sentence, staring blankly at a page in the newspaper, her mouth agape.
"What is it, did you find something?"
Usopp leaned over for a look at the newspaper, and his eyes bulged out.
Sanji came closer, first his eyes turned into hearts, his body twisting like a noodle, "A beauty!"
Then his pupils shrank, and he bit his cigarette askew.
"Hey, what happened?" Luffy tilted his head and asked.
"There are two more..."
Nami pulled out two more wanted posters from the newspaper, her arm even trembling a bit as she faced them towards everyone.
Zoro looked serious.
Sanji's eyes kept switching between hearts and shock.
Usopp's mouth hung open, almost dragging on the deck, shock written across his face.
Only Luffy kept smiling gleefully, his expression unchanged.
...
At Navy Headquarters, in a building resembling a castle keep, a group of navy officers, wearing cloaks and with solemn faces, sat in two rows. In front of them was a small wooden table with food laid out on it.
At the end of the platform stood a navy officer with green curly hair, and behind him was a board with several wanted posters pinned on it.
"From the time they took down Navy Branch Colonel Morgan, their momentum has been unstoppable..."
He pointed at three wanted posters, "The 15 million Belly bounty 'Joker' Buggy, the 17 million Belly bounty 'Leader' Krieg, and the 20 million Belly bounty 'Sawtooth' Arlong. In the East Sea, where the average bounty is 3 million Belly, these are all great pirates with bounties over 10 million. Yet, they were defeated by them."
The green curly-haired navy officer, a major at Navy Headquarters, Brannew, slapped a Straw Hat Luffy wanted poster onto the board and said, "30 million Belly, for the East Sea... no, for the world, such an initial bounty is extremely rare. But our evaluation is absolutely not too high. Such an evil omen should be erased as early as possible, lest it grows bigger."
At the head of the two rows of navy officers, a senior navy officer put down his wine glass and looked at Brannew, "Continue, there is a more dangerous criminal, right..."
"Yes! Compared to this 30 million Belly pirate, there is an even more dangerous presence in the East Sea."
He cleared the board and placed two wanted posters on it.
"In the pirate crew they formed, there is the 'Devil' Gin with a bounty of 12 million Belly and 'Iron Wall' Pearl with a bounty of 7 million Belly. These two were members of the Krieg Pirates, so 'Leader' Krieg may have lost to this man..."
Clap!
He slapped a wanted poster, which showed a blonde curly-haired girl drawing a rapier on the streets of Oyekot Royal City. The photo made the girl look very determined.
The bounty amount below the photo... 30 million Belly!
"According to reports, they first appeared within the Oyekot Kingdom, causing turmoil in the kingdom, during which this woman killed Navy Branch Colonel Nezumi."
"Known as Bienta Lily, but nobles of the Oyekot Kingdom deny her existence. Bandits captured by the navy say she is a bandit wandering within the kingdom, who even attacked the king..."
"For such a dangerous insurgent, an initial bounty of 30 million Belly is not too much. If Straw Hat Luffy is the evil omen for beating other great pirates, then this woman is already an accomplice to evil!"
"As for their leader..."
He removed all the wanted posters and deliberately placed another one on the board.
"This man's debut is less than half a month, and he successively murdered King Ennio of Oyekot Kingdom and King Murdoch of Nadia Kingdom. In the East Sea, he has plundered numerous towns, including economically prosperous ones. Everywhere he goes turns into ruins; his attitude of completely disregarding the World Government..."
He slapped the wanted poster on the board forcefully, shouting, "He is the most heinous criminal!"
"Ennio..."
The senior navy officer at the top silently gazed into his wine for a moment, then said, "Has he been killed..."
Looking at the wanted poster, he said, "This criminal must be severely dealt with, suppressed as soon as possible. He is different from the pirates of the Great Pirate Era..."
Ever since Pirate King Roger opened the Great Pirate Era, the pirates roaming the seas today, although engaged in seizing towns and merchant ships, would not dare to act recklessly against a nation, especially not its king.
Robbing a town can be tolerated, but attacking a royal city, and even killing the king... Such a grave crime is beyond what the pirates of the new era would commit.
On the contrary, he resembles the shadows of the powerful pirates who roamed the seas before the Great Pirate Era!
"Indeed! For such a felon, he must be curbed before he grows stronger!" Brannew echoed.
The photo on the wanted poster showed a backdrop of raging flames, a massive castle engulfed, while outside the castle, a white-haired man clutched gold coins in one hand and a flintlock gun in the other, laughing wantonly.
"Norton Sage, bounty amount 70 million Belly! This price will only be lower, never higher! A pirate daring to attack a member nation and murder the king is outright evil!"