New Bounty; Concealing Information.

Three more days passed.

Marine Headquarters - Pirate Bounty Management Department

The green-haired Vice Admiral was still presiding over the meeting from the main stage.

However, his demeanor was much more serious than before, and he spoke with greater decorum.

This was because one of the attendees today was a special individual.

He wore a yellow suit, had his legs crossed, and was leaning back in a sofa chair, appearing quite lazy as he trimmed his fingernails while listening to the meeting report.

The Vice Admiral was extremely nervous because the person in the audience seemed very agitated, his face clearly showing displeasure.

"Admiral Kizaru? Did I say something wrong?"

Kizaru looked up and clicked his tongue.

"No, I just don't like meetings."

The Vice Admiral immediately relaxed. Since his direct superior was Aokiji, he rarely interacted with Kizaru.

Although he had heard from others that Kizaru wasn't very proactive in his work, seeing it firsthand today confirmed the rumors weren't false.

His thoughts concluded, the green-haired Vice Admiral moved on to the next agenda item.

"Everyone, please focus. The most important part of our meeting today is about to begin."

At these words, everyone in the room straightened up, including Kizaru.

The Vice Admiral comrade immediately realized he had spoken incorrectly.

"Admiral, please, you can just lie down."

Kizaru felt helpless, wondering how this child had been promoted to Vice Admiral, as he was even worse at speaking than him.

"Begin. This matter is quite important, and I need to be a bit serious too. If the final conclusion is too outrageous, I'll get scolded by the Fleet Admiral."

Upon hearing this, the green-haired Vice Admiral cleared his throat.

"The focus of today's discussion is these two pirate crews.

First, the Straw Hat Pirates. Please refer to the documents on the meeting table for their exploits.

To highlight the key points, they have been at sea for less than a month and have successively defeated the Buggy Pirates, the Krieg Pirates, and the Arlong Pirates.

Our recent intelligence update indicates that our previous deduction about how they defeated Buggy was incorrect.

According to information gathered by our intelligence officers, the Straw Hat Crew's white-haired swordsman, Can Yue, defeated Buggy single-handedly. Although Buggy had already been injured by Straw Hat Luffy at the time, this information is still terrifying."

At these words, all the attending officers and soldiers inhaled sharply.

They were well aware that Buggy's original bounty of 30 million was deliberately suppressed by them; his true bounty should have been around 100 million.

So, Can Yue defeating an injured Buggy in a one-on-one fight? There were uncertainties with this information.

"We don't know the extent of Buggy's injuries, so it's difficult to accurately judge Can Yue's strength," a Rear Admiral posed this question publicly.

The green-haired Vice Admiral waved his hand, signaling him to wait, and then continued to elaborate.

"Based solely on the incident with Buggy, it's difficult to accurately assess the strength of each member of the Straw Hat Pirates.

Let's continue analyzing other events.

At the Sea Restaurant Baratie, the Straw Hat Pirates clashed with the Krieg Pirates.

There, the Pirate Hunter Zoro instantly defeated a cadre of the Krieg Pirates, the 10-million bounty Iron Wall Bara.

The captain, Straw Hat kid Luffy, completely overwhelmed Krieg, who had a 17-million bounty.

Following that, the Pirate Hunter Zoro challenged the World's Greatest Swordsman, Hawk Eyes, and with his skill, forced Hawk Eyes to draw his black blade, only to fail in the subsequent clash.

The most terrifying part is that the white-haired swordsman Can Yue engaged in combat with Hawk Eyes, and initially, they fought back and forth.

Five days ago, the Straw Hat crew eliminated the Arlong Pirates."

Each piece of news sent a jolt through the hearts of the assembled officers and soldiers.

Especially upon hearing about the battle between Can Yue and Hawk Eyes, everyone became restless.

Even Kizaru stopped trimming his nails, his brow furrowed slightly.

Defeating Krieg and Arlong's crew was not a significant matter for the Marines.

However, being able to spar with Hawk Eyes and still be alive was no small feat.

The officers and soldiers began to discuss amongst themselves.

Finally, another Rear Admiral raised a question.

"What were the details and outcome of the battle between Can Yue and Hawk Eyes?"

The green-haired Vice Admiral sighed slightly and responded.

"Our Navy mole within the Krieg Pirates got too close to witness the fight between the two, and was accidentally killed by the residual energy from their battle.

However, afterward, we repeatedly sought confirmation from Hawk Eyes regarding this matter, but couldn't reach him until a few days ago.

It wasn't until yesterday that we finally made contact with Mihawk."

Upon hearing this, all the assembled officers and soldiers focused their attention, afraid of missing any detail.

The Vice Admiral cleared his throat and moistened his vocal cords.

"Hawk Eyes definitely won."

"Phew~" Everyone in the room let out a collective sigh of relief upon hearing this.

Before they could fully recover, the Vice Admiral added.

"But Hawk Eyes mentioned that he found it somewhat difficult to defeat Can Yue!

After that, the guy hung up."

The officers and soldiers all frowned. Although the information provided by Hawk Eyes was limited, it at least proved one thing.

The Straw Hat Pirates' white-haired swordsman, Can Yue, had earned the recognition of Hawk Eyes, the World's Greatest Swordsman.

Few people, even in the New World, could earn his acknowledgment.

Furthermore, considering that Can Yue was able to defeat an injured Buggy.

A conclusion could be roughly drawn.

Can Yue's strength was likely close to that of a Shichibukai.

Although Straw Hat Luffy lost to Buggy, the fact that he could injure that guy meant his strength wouldn't be too weak.

Admiral Borsalino, Kizaru, became serious for a rare moment, but it only lasted for a moment.

In his opinion, regardless of whether the information the Navy had obtained was accurate or not.

The Straw Hat Pirates' strength, at most, could only contend with a single Shichibukai, and even then, it wasn't guaranteed they'd win.

For him, an Admiral, they were worth noting, but not worth excessive attention.

The only ones deserving of an Admiral's concern were the Yonko!

And recently, Yonko Whitebeard, Yonko Kaido, and Yonko Red-Haired seemed to be a bit restless.

Therefore, after Kizaru's conversation with the green-haired Vice Admiral, the green-haired Vice Admiral made a decision.

"Given that the Straw Hat Pirates have not yet committed any major heinous acts, the bounties are provisionally set as follows:

Pirate Hunter Zoro: 30,000,000

Captain, Straw Hat Kid Luffy: 50,000,000

White-haired Swordsman Can Yue: 65,000,000

As for that long-nosed fellow, there is currently no reference data. Besides being a pirate, no criminal record has been found yet, so he will be ignored for now.

There's also a woman named Nami. We only know she extorted villagers, stole money, and plundered food. Her provisional bounty is 3,000,000.

It is unclear if there are other crew members; bounties can be added later based on the situation."

The decision was final and not open for appeal.

Considering the Admiral was eager to finish work for the day, the green-haired Vice Admiral immediately proposed the final agenda item.

"A while ago, Clown Buggy's abilities awakened, and he decided to return to the Grand Line.

What should his new bounty be? Let's start the discussion."

Meanwhile, in Cocoyasi Village, East Blue.

The village doctor, High, was sitting under a tree chatting with the village police officer, Gen.

"Gen, what did you tell the Marines back then?"

Gen smiled.

"I said the Straw Hat crew consisted only of Can Yue, Luffy, Zoro, Nami, and Usopp.

According to the information I received from those two pirate hunters.

These five were already known, and there was no hiding them.

The cook, Sanji, made his first public appearance here, so he could be concealed.

Then I slightly altered the battle scene."

A hint of interest appeared on the aged face of the village doctor, High.

"You're quite clever. How exactly did you explain it?"

Gen said with confidence.

"Luffy fought Arlong for over ten rounds, and in the end, Captain Luffy was victorious.

As for the remaining three executives, Zoro took care of one, and Can Yue dealt with the other two."

Finally, everyone worked together and took down the rest of Arlong's crew.

Gao listened and nodded.

Although the two of them didn't understand how the Marines judged the threat level of a pirate in detail, the weaker they were, the less threat they posed to the Marines.

So, they downplayed Can Yue and the others, and even hid one member.

Of course, it couldn't sound too fake.

This way, the Straw Hat Crew wouldn't attract too much attention from the Marines.

This would make Nami's journey with them less dangerous.

If they didn't have the strength to protect Nami, they would use well-intentioned lies to give the Straw Hat Crew time to grow.

This was the only thing they could do for Nami.

On a small island in the Grand Line.

The World's Greatest Swordsman, Hawk Eyes, was enjoying freshly roasted wild boar.

As he ate the roasted meat, Hawk Eyes recalled his conversation with Marine Headquarters yesterday.

Then, thinking about the potential consequences of this matter, he couldn't help but show a hint of a knowing smile.

"Can Yue, so that I can see you and Roronoa again in the future, I didn't reveal your true strength.

But more or less, you'll encounter some trouble."

Unconsciously, Hawk Eyes felt a bit of schadenfreude.

"Who told you to embarrass me at the restaurant."