Bounty

In the quiet restaurant, only one table still occasionally produced chewing sounds.

"Luffy, are you okay?" Usopp couldn't help but ask with concern.

Luffy's stomach was already swollen like a giant balloon.

Yet, he still held food in both hands, stuffing it into his mouth non-stop.

"Mmmph, so delicious!" Luffy swallowed the food crammed in his mouth with a gulp. "I've never eaten anything this good!"

"I definitely have to get him to join the crew!... Munch!" he said, shoving more food into his mouth.

"...Drip... drip..."

Lina and Sanji walked out of the kitchen side-by-side, each with a cigarette dangling from their lips.

Sanji removed his cigarette, exhaling a long plume of smoke. "Alright, I'll go with you."

Luffy turned his head, a smile of excitement gradually appearing on his face. "I won! -- Hic!"

"I only agreed to join, I didn't admit defeat!"

"Heeheehee, then you win. I can't eat... hic... anymore."

Luffy's voice gradually grew weak. He then collapsed onto the ground, swaying like a roly-poly toy with a dazed expression.

Nami and Usopp couldn't help but push Luffy from side to side, playing with him.

"Honestly," Lina sighed, holding his forehead. "Because of your match, the bill for this meal is probably astronomical."

A burly chef, who looked like Popeye, ran over with a fawning expression:

"Thank you for dining with us~, your total bill is one million two hundred thousand Belly."

"So expensive! You're ripping us off!" Nami exclaimed indignantly, speaking up first.

Even though Lina was handling the money, it was the entire pirate crew's funds, so Nami naturally felt the pinch.

"It's alright, Nami," Lina waved his hand.

After all, this was a renowned high-end restaurant in the East Blue. The price was naturally expensive, and with Luffy's meal...

"Here's ten million Belly. Please pack the rest of the ingredients for us to take with us."

Lina pulled out a wad of large-denomination bills and handed it to the other party. "Well then, Sanji, you go pack up and get ready. We'll be departing shortly."

After finishing this, Lina went outside the restaurant.

Krieg, after all, commanded a fleet of 5,000 men, and just feeding them was a huge expense.

On the enemy's flagship, there would likely be some treasure or cash.

With this thought, Lina released dozens of Fish-Man undead, letting them jump into the sea to search.

These were over sixty Fish-Man undead that Lina had taken from Arlong Park. To better utilize their aquatic traits, he had preserved their webbed feet, fins, and other features.

He could shape ordinary templates into Fish-Man appearances, but he couldn't grant them stats or swimming skills; they could only inherit them from the template.

After a while, Sanji came out with a large backpack full of things, walking with Luffy and the others.

Besides most of the ingredients, the rest were Sanji's cooking utensils.

"Let's go, Lina!"

"Oh! Wait a moment!" Lina replied, seeing dozens of dark shapes gradually emerging from the sea.

Fish-Man-like undead surfaced with gurgling sounds.

"Let's see what we've got."

Lina directed the undead to come ashore and walked over.

Some were empty-handed, while others held scattered treasures and damp, wrinkled cash.

"Ooh!" Nami's eyes turned into dollar signs again as she eagerly approached.

"Well done, Lina."

"Don't praise me, I won't give you any even if you do."

Lina had the undead carry the treasure onto the ship. The group bid farewell to the Baratie and set sail.

After sailing for a short while, a newspaper-delivering seagull wearing a white hat landed on the ship's railing.

"Have they raised the prices again? If they raise them again next time, I'm not buying, you hear me."

"Are you a beast? Bullying even the newspaper seagulls." Lina said with a laugh.

"Mind your own business," Nami stuck out her tongue and sat on a lounge chair to read the newspaper.

"This is..."

"Your bounties!?"

Huh?

Bounties?

Lina was startled and sat up, taking the wanted posters from Nami's hand.

Luffy and the others also came closer upon hearing this.

The first one was none other than Luffy, a bust shot of him wearing a Straw Hat and grinning, with Arlong Park in the background.

This angle must have been a stealth shot, from Colonel Mouse's subordinates?

"Straw Hat Pirates Captain, Monkey D. Luffy, 30 million!"

Looking at the long string of numbers below, Usopp couldn't help but exclaim, clutching his face.

Luffy, however, looked excited, "Hee hee hee, what's next, is there more?"

Lina also eagerly pulled out the first one, secretly alarmed, "I haven't even made a name for myself yet, don't mess with me. I don't want to be wanted for a while."

"Roronoa Zoro, 16 million!"

"Oh? I'm wanted too?" Zoro couldn't help but raise the corner of his mouth.

Lina, however, found it a bit strange. If she remembered correctly, Zoro should have been first wanted with 60 million after the Alabasta incident.

"Could it be because I participated in the encirclement and killing of Arlong?" Lina mused.

After removing Zoro's wanted poster, only one remained, but the figure on it was not Lina's.

"Blade Saw Duo?" Lina looked at the two figures on the wanted poster with some confusion.

The Blade Devil and the Chainsaw Devil were wanted?

This was a good thing, but why wasn't it the Wolverine undead, who had sneak-attacked and killed Arlong?

"Combined bounty for the duo, 25 million!"

Were they wanted as a pair, like Kuro's cat-person brothers?

"Did the Marines make a mistake? Why isn't Lina wanted?"

"No, no, no, this is right, it's so right!"

Lina looked at the newspaper again and found that the Wolverine undead was reported to have died together with Arlong.

Lina remembered that at the time, Arlong had chopped off the undead's neck with a palm strike, leaving its head hanging crookedly.

On the other hand, the two undead of the Blade Saw Duo were clearly captured in action, wreaking havoc.

Nami wasn't wanted, probably because the photographer took the opportunity to slip away when Arlong fell.

Night fell, and on the dark sea, only a small boat emitted a faint light.

At this time, in the living room on the second floor of the Merry's deck, Lina and the others were toasting each other.

"Let's welcome Sanji to the crew, cheers!"

"Cheers!"

The group was celebrating Sanji's arrival. Now Lina had a fellow smoker (Sanji) and a drinking buddy (Zoro).

All that was missing was... cough, cough.

The king's right-hand man, his close friends...

"Today was a great haul."

"Yeah, not only did Sanji join, but Lina also raked in a large sum of money!"

"Stop probing me, Nami." Lina sighed, covering her forehead.

The treasure they obtained today was worth about 50 million.

It was a bit little, mainly because pirates lived a life on the edge of a knife, and they tended to squander their money as soon as they got it, living day by day.

A whole fleet of 5,000 people, and they only managed to save 50 million.

"The Grand Line is very close now."

Nami took a sip of wine and said to the group, "We should reach Twin Capes and enter the Grand Line by noon tomorrow."

"However... there's an island near there with a large town on it."

"I feel like you might be interested. Shall we go there to resupply?"

"Are you talking about Loguetown?"

Sanji understood and said, handing Lina a cigarette, "It's known as the place of beginning and end. Over twenty years ago, Gol D. Roger was executed here."

"So cool!" Luffy immediately got excited upon hearing this.

Speaking of which, Lina also had plans to go to Loguetown to handle some business.

After entering the Grand Line, her first targets were the two giants on Little Garden, and then Crocodile.

She couldn't use Armament Haki yet, so it wasn't safe to provoke that sand crocodile.

Loguetown wasn't the largest town in the East Blue, but due to its location near Twin Capes and the historical significance of Roger's execution, its prosperity was exceptionally high.

It was also a melting pot of people, and Lina planned to search the black market for Seastone.

If the rumors of a certain underground organization operating there were true, she might have a chance to buy some...

The night at sea was dark, like an endless black fog, enveloping the Merry with loneliness and fear.

Within the ship's cabin, only a dim yellow light remained, casting crisscrossing shadows and the sounds of laughter, bringing a sliver of peace to the Merry.

It was not alone.

The white sheep's head sailed silently, slowly through the boundless darkness.

I will take everyone there...

No matter what the next destination is.