"Then trade them in!" Buggy said irritably. "I'm not going to stop you, and I won't take a share of those bounties either!"
Hiko said leisurely, "You really want to give all the Pirates to me? Think about it—how many Pirates does Blackbeard have under his command? I heard that nearly eighty thousand Pirates set out this time, and several tens of thousands more joined them along the way. Altogether, there are well over a hundred thousand Pirates. Countless among them have bounties over a hundred million. If all of them were exchanged for bounties..."
Buggy instinctively swallowed. As he calculated Hiko's proposal, he realized that if all of Blackbeard's Pirates were really turned in for bounties, it would likely amount to an astronomical sum. A single redemption might bankrupt the World Government's economy.
"Y-You're exaggerating!" Mr. 3 said from the side. "We're not idiots. Blackbeard has fifty or sixty thousand men at most. Where would he get over a hundred thousand?"
At that moment, Urouge beside Hiko spoke up. "According to the latest intelligence from Kuzan in Dressrosa, Blackbeard's forces have been confirmed to exceed eighty thousand. That does not even include the rear-line support personnel, so estimating them at one hundred thousand is not wrong."
"That many people?" Buggy's fantasies were immediately dragged back to reality by the terrifying number. "How could we possibly beat them?"
"Didn't I just say that I've already arranged the tactical plan?" Hiko said with a smile. "If we follow what I say, we'll definitely win. But it would be better to settle the distribution of benefits after the battle first. Otherwise, if everyone starts arguing endlessly afterward, it would be rather unbecoming."
"Can we really defeat Blackbeard?" Buggy's heart pounded. He couldn't help it—his life's greatest achievement had been accompanying Roger to