The Fifth Emperor of the Sea, Ship Spirits Revealed

"Ladies and gentlemen, the newspapers have arrived."

"The headline is Luffy ~~~"

Carrot, the bunny girl, climbed up the mast, bought a stack of newspapers from the newsbird, and then lightly landed on the deck with a leap. This caused a group of people who were recuperating to Guotou —although the battle at Whole Cake Island had ended without serious injury, everyone except Sanji, Franky, Robin, and Nami was covered in bandages.

"What headline?"

Lying on the deck, Luffy was too lazy to even get up. The previous battle had left him completely exhausted. If he hadn't learned to 'Future Sight' during the battle, he probably would have been the Luffy to fall.

"Let me see: It says that at Big Mom's tea party yesterday, Jinbe turned Luffy against his allies, arranged for the 'Fire Tank Pirates' to be his undercover agents, and then subdued the 'Evil Army Germa 66' on the spot, bringing these three forces under his command..."

"Without a doubt, the Straw Hat Pirates, who dared to bare their fangs against the 'BIG MOM Pirates,' a force unchallenged for decades, and who managed to escape unscathed after defeating Charlotte Smoothie (bounty 932 million Berries) and Charlotte Katakuri 1.057 billion Beli), already possess the strength to rule the New World..."

"What is all this nonsense?"

Nami rubbed her forehead.

"If we hadn't braved the journey from the East China Sea to get here, I would have doubted whether the 'brilliant and infallible' guy described in the newspapers was actually not who he was at all—"

He looked down at Luffy, who was lying on the deck looking Luffy.

"I'm so hungry~~"

Indeed, many things are best admired from afar, not touched, or one's illusions would immediately crumble. This sea 'emperor' in its current form is truly...

"Luffy, Roman, shall we head straight to Wano Country next?"

"Of course, we had an appointment with Trafalgar!"

Luffy answered without hesitation, while Roman was diligently training his newly acquired ' Soul-Soul Fruit ability, was also making some progress. However:

"After defeating Big Mom, we're going to fight Kaido. It feels like we pirates are really..."

They're even more proactive than the navy!

"But since it's Luffy's decision, let's head towards Wano Country."

"Oh, right, there's a new Bounty Poster here."

Carrot, the bunny girl, pulled out a large stack of Bounty Poster tucked inside the newspaper, immediately attracting everyone's attention! For pirates, the bounty on Bounty Poster is often a symbol of strength, status, position, and reputation.

"Let me see--"

Sanji grabbed a stack of Bounty Poster and quickly flipped to his own:

"Hahaha~~ 440 million!!!"

Sanji, looking ecstatic with a "I won!" expression, Guotou triumphantly.

"Finally, finally! Green Algae Head, my bounty is higher than yours—"

"Feel sorry,"

Zoro calmly pulled out his Bounty Poster and shoved the string of numbers into Sanji's face.

"8...800 million?!"

Sanji was so shocked he dropped his cigarette on the deck; Sanji was completely paralyzed. This must be an illusion; I can't be defeated...

"Sanji, no matter how much the bounty is, you'll always be my hero~~"

Sanji instantly perked up after Brulee's comforting words. Yes, indeed.

You lost the prize money, but you won at life.

"Little Brulee, I'm not that petty!"

"Mr. Sanji ~"

You two should be mindful of your presence; there's a whole group of single people here...

Etc!

Thinking about it carefully, it seems like the Straw Hat crew doesn't actually have any truly single members. Luffy has Empress, Usopp has Kaya, Zoro goes without saying, Jinbe was the dream hero of countless mermaids on Fish-Man Island, and even Chopper knows a beautiful deer girl in the Mink Tribe. Strictly speaking, there's only Brook...

Brook: No chickens involved?

"That's normal. In the previous battle, Zoro defeated Smoothie had a bounty of over 900 million, in a direct confrontation. The price was probably set with the fact that both sides were severely injured at the time, right?"

Roman shook his head, banishing his wandering thoughts; the bounty was actually quite substantial.

Of course, Sanji's strength has also increased significantly after obtaining the Raid Suit, but he hasn't yet achieved any corresponding feats...

Thump,

A thud came from the side, and Luffy lay sprawled on the deck with a miserable expression.

"Waaaaah, my bounty is gone..."

"160 million! There was clearly 600 million before!"

?!

Luffy, have you degenerated to the point where you can't even recognize numbers? Apologize for your brain! Are you saving it to make tofu pudding?

"Look closely, this is 1.6 billion!"

Roman pointed to Luffy's new Bounty Poster.

"Please count the zeros! And how do pirates lose their bounties? Are they doing good deeds?!"

... Although the Straw Hat crew really did 'do good' along the way, from the World Government's perspective, they were nothing more than an ambitious Great Pirates rising rapidly and spreading fear.

"Hey, hey, hey!!"

Amidst gasps of surprise, everyone crowded around to examine the Bounty Poster in Roman's hand. It was indeed 1.6 billion—

"This is really... super cool."

Franky's bounty also rose to 280 million, but the Bounty Poster featured the face of 'General Franky'. Robin, on the other hand, only rose to 180 million, mainly because her abilities were very well hidden and didn't look flashy or grand at all.

Although the number of "heads" was not small, there were no "heavyweight" achievements, nor was there any eye-catching "General Franky" with various laser cannons.

"My bounty has increased again,"

Jinbe looked at the new Bounty Poster in his hand with a sigh, which was worth 638 million Beli, a full 200 million more than before.

"Waaaaah, why is my...?"

'Soul King' Brook: 87 million Beli.

"Ah... perhaps it's because you haven't been on the battlefield?"

Because Brook's mission was to steal the Poneglyph with Carrot and Pedro, he had absolutely no 'achievements' to speak of, resulting in his Bounty Poster remaining unchanged and him ending up at the bottom of the Straw Hat crew's list...

Wrong!

"Chopper, yours—"

Roman waved his hand at Chopper, who Guotou with blank eyes, a chin that reached his chest, and a face so ashen it looked like it had lost its color.

"It's alright now."

Honestly, Roman didn't intentionally affect the bounty amount this time!

"By the way, why isn't Mr. Roman's among them?"

Carrot flipped through the Bounty Poster for ages, only finding one:

"'White Knight' Neo, bounty 1 billion! This isn't Mr. Roman's..."

"This is me,"

Roman wasn't interested in his Bounty Poster; it was just a number anyway. Nami felt the same way; her bounty hadn't changed a penny. Usopp by 40 million, becoming a man with a bounty of 240 million.

"Alright, alright, Bounty Poster are just empty words."

"We just need to win all the way, that's all! But before that—"

Roman stretched his shoulders, and the new arm was now able to move freely. All that was left was to enhance it with Armament Haki.

Slap slap slap,

"Everyone come here, I need to borrow something from you."

?

"Borrow what?"

Usopp looked on with curiosity. Roman, as the most well-rounded, wealthiest, and most informed member of the Straw Hat crew, was always the one providing the crew with all sorts of amazing items to strengthen and train them. Now, he wanted to borrow something from everyone? That was truly strange!

"I'll borrow your 'lives'—"

"Stop it,"

Nami looked up at the sky helplessly. Wasn't she afraid that borrowing someone's life would scare Carrot and Brulee?

"Speak like a normal person!"

"... it means exactly what it says."

Roman stretched out his palm, and a piece of white paper in his hand stood up. However, unlike ordinary white paper, this paper had a 'human face' on it, which was explaining with a serious expression.

"By splitting a certain number of 'life', one can create Homies like 'me'."

"At the same time, 'lifespan' can also be transferred and injected..."

"Hehehe, doesn't that mean Pedro doesn't have to die?"

Luffy was the first to react, and with a grin, he waved to the Jaguar Ranger who was leaning against the mast on guard.

"Come here quickly!"

As he spoke, Luffy rolled up his sleeves, looking like he was saying, "Go ahead and draw whatever you want."

"Come, give my 'lifespan' to Pedro."

"No!!"

The first to object was Pedro himself, who rushed over to stop Luffy with a drastic change in expression.

"My life doesn't matter, but you're going to change the world—"

"Hey, we've fought side-by-side before, haven't we?"

Luffy looked at the Jaguar Ranger with a serious expression.

"Do you expect me to just stand by and watch you die?"

"I·····"

"Wait a minute, don't make it sound like we're facing a life-or-death situation. I haven't finished speaking yet!"

Roman rolled his Byakugan. He had already considered Pedro's lifespan problem. When he obtained the 'Soul-Soul Fruit ability', Roman had already sent his clone to Big Mom's warehouse to steal... no, to borrow some 'lifespan'.

Every six months, all residents of Whole Cake Island must contribute one month's lifespan, which is stored as material for Big Mom to create various Homies. Roman took only the tip of the Iceburg, but it was more than enough to replenish Pedro's lost lifespan. The reason for bringing his companions was:

"I'm going to let 'Merry' and 'Sunny' appear before everyone, to laugh, work hard, and fight together as our partners—since it's about awakening our companions, we should use our own lifespans."

After saying that, Roman looked at Luffy.

"Captain, what do you think?"

"Hehehe, I couldn't be happier!"

As Luffy stretched out his arms, one arm after another formed a circle! Just like that stormy night in Loguetown, the only difference was:

Roman, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, and also Chopper, Robin, Franky, Brook, Jinbe...

Just like Luffy once said, he set sail with ten crew members to charge towards the throne of the 'King of the Pirates'. Those present today are all crew members who have fought their way through thick and thin together.

"'Merry' and 'Sonny' are both our partners, so—"

Eleven arms formed a circle, and everyone looked at Roman.

"Please, Roman!"

"Certainly,"

As Roman closed his eyes and activated the power of the 'Soul Book,' tiny orbs of light emerged from the chests of the Straw Hat crew members and then disappeared into the deck beneath their feet. Even facing the 'soul spells' of the Four Emperors, they were fearless; but for the sake of their comrades:

"Captain Luffy ~~"

"Mr. Roman ~~"

"Usopp, Franky, Miss Nami, Zoro, Sanji, Miss Robin, Chopper the ship's doctor), Brook, Jinbe,"

"Thank you all for your care all this time!"

A clear, crisp voice rang out, and a child wearing a yellow raincoat appeared in the center of the crowd; behind him was another child wearing a red raincoat, half of his body hidden behind his companion.

The Ship Spirit of the Going Merry, the Ship Spirit of the Thousand Sunny!

"Hehehe, we are the ones who should be thanking them."

Luffy put his hands on his hips and grinned.

"Then—to celebrate the birth of Merry and Sonny! Let's have a feast!!"

"It wasn't a birth; they already existed. It was just that I used the power of our souls to make them manifest..."

Forget it, looking at this noisy group of people, Roman gave up on explaining further. He waved his hand—

"Then let's have a banquet!"