Chapter 32: Utterly Evil!
A few days later.
Somewhere in the East Blue, a ship with a sheep's head and a straw-hat-wearing skull flag on its sail was sailing slowly.
"Hahahaha!"
A man wearing a straw hat laughed loudly and held up a wanted poster. The wanted poster had a picture of him, with the name Monkey D. Luffy underneath, and a number below... Thirty million!
"We're wanted criminals!" Luffy laughed loudly. "Thirty million Berries!"
"Do you even understand the gravity of the situation..."
Nami massaged her forehead helplessly. "Thirty million Berries means someone is after your life. If this continues, we can't just leisurely stroll around the East Blue..."
She had just complained that the price of newspapers had gone up, and then a wanted poster for Luffy slipped out of the newspaper. Not only had the price of newspapers gone up, but their captain's bounty had also gone up...
"This should be the highest in the East Blue..."
Sanji stroked his chin. "That Arlong was only twenty million Berries."
"That's right, Luffy is the highest in the East Blue."
Zoro, who was a little further away on the deck, walked over and said, "I was a bounty hunter for a while. I've never seen a price of thirty million in the East Blue. Marine Headquarters will definitely take action. The enemies we encounter from now on will be completely different."
"Hehe, bring them on. Anyway, I'm going to be the Pirate King!" Luffy laughed.
"Thirty million, huh..."
Nami continued to flip through the newspaper. "This price... Huh?!"
Before she could finish, she stared blankly at a page of the newspaper, her mouth unconsciously hanging open.
"What, did you find something?"
Usopp came over and glanced at the newspaper, and his eyes bulged out.
Sanji leaned over, and his eyes first turned into hearts, his body twisting like noodles. "A beauty!"
Then, his pupils contracted, and the cigarette in his mouth was bitten crooked.
"Hey, what's going on?" Luffy asked, tilting his head.
"There are two more..."
Nami took out two wanted posters from the newspaper, her arms even trembling a little, and showed them to everyone.
Zoro's expression became solemn.
Sanji's eyes kept switching between hearts and surprise.
Usopp's mouth hung open almost to the deck, his face full of horror.
Only Luffy smiled, his expression unchanged.
...
Marine Headquarters, in a building resembling a castle keep, a group of marines in cloaks, with solemn expressions, sat in two rows. In front of them were small wooden tables with food.
At the head of the table, a marine with green, curly hair was standing, and a board was hanging above. On the board were several wanted posters.
"Starting from defeating Marine Branch Captain Morgan before forming their pirate crew, their momentum has been rising all the way, completely unstoppable..."
He pointed to three wanted posters. "'Clown' Buggy with a bounty of fifteen million Berries, 'Don' Krieg with a bounty of seventeen million Berries, and 'Saw-Tooth' Arlong with a bounty of twenty million Berries. In the East Blue, where the average bounty is three million Berries, they were all great pirates exceeding ten million, but they were defeated by them."
The green-curly-haired marine, Marine Headquarters Major 'Meeting King' Brandnew, slapped a wanted poster of the Straw Hat kid on the board. "Thirty million Berries. For the East Blue... no, for the world, this amount for a first bounty is extremely rare, but our assessment is definitely not too high. Such an evil sprout should be eliminated as soon as possible, lest it grow stronger in the future."
The marine admiral at the top of the two rows put down his wine glass and looked at Brandnew. "Continue. There's an even more dangerous criminal, right..."
"Yes! Compared to this pirate with a bounty of thirty million Berries, there is an even more dangerous presence in the East Blue."
He removed all the wanted posters from the board and put up two wanted posters.
"Among the pirate crew they formed, there is 'Man-Demon' Gin with a bounty of twelve million Berries, and 'Iron Wall' Pearl with a bounty of seven million Berries. These two are former pirates of the Krieg Pirates, so 'Don' Krieg was very likely defeated in a battle with this one..."
*Pa!*
He placed a wanted poster. The photo on it was of a golden-haired girl in the streets of Oykot Kingdom, drawing her rapier. The photo made this girl look very resolute.
Below the photo, the bounty amount... Thirty million Berries!
"According to intelligence, they first appeared in the territory of the Oykot Kingdom and caused a royal disturbance. Among them, this woman killed the Marine Branch Captain Rat in the disturbance."
"Biendetta Lily, it is said that this is what she is called, but the nobles of the Oykot Kingdom deny her existence. The pirates captured by the Marines also said that she is a bandit who roams the kingdom and once attacked the king..."
"This kind of dangerous element of unrest, a first bounty of thirty million Berries is not excessive at all. If the Straw Hat kid defeated other great pirates and is an evil sprout, then this woman is already an accomplice of evil!"
"As for their leader..."
He removed all the wanted posters and solemnly placed a wanted poster.
"This man, with a debut time of no more than half a month, has murdered King Ennio of the Oykot Kingdom and King Murdoch of the Nattia Kingdom. He has also robbed many towns in the East Blue, including economically prosperous large towns. Everywhere he goes, everything is turned into ruins. This attitude of completely disregarding the World Government..."
He slammed the wanted poster on the board and shouted, "He is already the most vicious criminal!"
"Ennio..."
The Marine officer at the top looked at the wine in his glass, remained silent for a while, and said, "Is dead, huh..."
He looked at the wanted poster and said, "This criminal must be dealt a heavy blow and suppressed as soon as possible. He is not the same as the pirates of the Great Pirate Era..."
Since Pirate King Roger started the Great Pirate Era, the pirates roaming the sea, although there were acts of robbing towns and merchant ships, would not act rashly against a country, especially against a country's king.
Robbing towns was one thing, but robbing a royal city and even killing the king... This kind of major crime was not something that pirates of the new era could do.
Rather, he was more like the shadow of the powerful pirates who rampaged the sea before the Great Pirate Era!
"That's right! For such a serious criminal, we must curb him before he develops and grows stronger!" Brandnew echoed.
The photo on the wanted poster showed a background of blazing fire. The huge castle was burning, and outside the castle, a white-haired man was holding gold coins in one hand and a flintlock pistol in the other, laughing wildly.
"Norton Sag, bounty of seventy million Berries! This price will only be low, not high! Pirates who dare to attack member nations and murder kings are utterly evil!"
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