The Bounty

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

"Luffy, are you alright?" Usopp couldn't help but ask, worried.

Luffy's stomach was now round and swollen like a giant balloon.

Yet, he was still grabbing food with both hands, continuously stuffing it into his mouth.

"Mmmph, so good!" Luffy swallowed a mouthful of food with a gulp. "I've never eaten anything this delicious!"

"I'm definitely going to make him join the crew! Munch!" He said, stuffing more food into his belly.

"...Thump... thump..."

Reiner and Sanji walked out of the kitchen side by side. Sanji exhaled a long stream of smoke. "Alright, I'll go with you."

Luffy turned his head, a grin slowly spreading across his face. "I won!—Hiccup~"

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

"Hehehe, then you won, I can't... hiccup... eat anymore."

Luffy's voice gradually faded. After speaking, he collapsed onto the floor, swaying like a roly-poly toy, his face blank.

Nami and Usopp couldn't resist, each on one side, pushing Luffy back and forth playfully.

"Seriously." Reiner sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Because of your duel, this meal is probably going to cost a fortune."

A chef with thick, muscular arms, looking like Popeye, came running over with a fawning expression.

"Thank you for your patronage~, your total bill is 1,200,000 Beli."

"So expensive! You're ripping us off!" Nami blurted out, indignantly.

Although Reiner was in charge of the money, this was the entire Straw Hat Crew's budget, so Nami naturally felt the pinch.

"It's fine, Nami." Reiner waved his hand.

After all, this was a renowned high-end restaurant in the East Blue, so high prices were to be expected, especially with Luffy's meal...

"Here's ten million Beli. Use the rest to prepare and pack some ingredients for us."

Reiner pulled out a wad of high-denomination cash and handed it to the chef. "Alright Sanji, why don't you go pack up and get ready? We'll be leaving soon."

Having finished all that, Reiner went outside the restaurant.

Krieg's fleet, with 5,000 men, was a massive expense just to feed.

There would be more or less some treasure or cash on the main ship of the enemy.

Thinking this, Reiner released dozens of Fish-man Undead, sending them into the sea to salvage.

These were the sixty-plus Fish-man Undead Reiner had acquired from Arlong Park. To better utilize their aquatic nature, he had preserved their webs, fins, and other features.

He could also mold ordinary human templates into Fish-man shapes, but he couldn't imbue them with attributes or swimming skills; those had to be inherited from the template.

After a while, Sanji came out with Luffy and the others, carrying a large backpack full of his belongings.

Aside from most of the ingredients, everything else was Sanji's cooking utensils.

"Let's go, Reiner!"

"Oh! Wait a minute!" Reiner replied, just as dozens of dark figures gradually surfaced from the sea.

One by one, Fish-man-shaped Undead bubbled up.

"Let's see what we got."

Reiner controlled the Undead to come ashore and walked over.

Some were empty-handed, others clutched scattered treasures and wet, crumpled cash.

"Ooh-hoo!" Nami's eyes turned into dollar signs at the sight, and she rushed over.

"Good job, Reiner."

"Don't praise me. Even if it's good, I'm not giving it away."

Reiner had the Undead carry all the treasure onto the ship. The group bid farewell to Baratie and set off.

They hadn't sailed long before a News Coo, wearing a white hat, landed on the ship's railing.

"Did the price go up again? If it keeps going up, I won't buy it next time, hear me?"

"You brute, you're even bullying a News Coo." Reiner laughed, scolding her playfully.

"Mind your own business." Nami stuck out her tongue, then settled into a deck chair and began reading the newspaper.

"This is..."

"Your bounties?!"

Huh?

Theirs?

Reiner was instantly startled. He sat up and took the bounty poster from Nami's hand.

Luffy and the others also gathered around upon hearing this.

The first one was a half-body shot of Luffy, grinning with his straw hat on, with what looked like Arlong Park in the background.

It must have been a candid shot, probably taken by Colonel Nezumi's men.

"Monkey D. Luffy, Captain of the Straw Hat Crew, 30,000,000 Beli!"

Usopp gasped, covering his face, as he stared at the long string of numbers below.

Luffy, however, looked excited. "Hehehe, what else? Is there more?"

Reiner eagerly pulled off the first wanted poster, secretly alarmed. I haven't even done anything yet, don't drag me into this! I really don't want a bounty on my head anytime soon.

"Roronoa Zoro, 16,000,000 Beli!"

"Oh? I got a bounty too?" Zoro couldn't help but let his lips curl into a smirk.

Reiner found it a bit strange. If he remembered correctly, Zoro's first bounty, 60,000,000 Beli, should have only come after the Alabasta arc.

Is it because we were involved in taking down Arlong? Reiner mused.

After pulling off Zoro's wanted poster, only one was left, but the figures on it weren't Reiner's.

"The Sword and Chainsaw Duo?" Reiner wondered, looking at the two figures on the poster.

The Sword Devil and Chainsaw Devil got bounties?

That was good news, but why wasn't it the Wolverine Undead who ambushed and killed Arlong?

"Combined bounty for the duo, 25,000,000 Beli!"

A bounty issued as a duo, like Kuro's Nyaban Brothers?

"The Marines must have made a mistake. Why isn't Reiner himself on here?"

"No, no, this is perfect, absolutely perfect!"

Reiner glanced at the newspaper again and saw that the Wolverine Undead was reported to have died with Arlong.

Reiner recalled the moment Arlong's palm strike broke the Undead's neck, leaving its head dangling at an odd angle.

In contrast, the two Undead, the Sword and Chainsaw Devils, were clearly photographed wreaking havoc.

Nami wasn't on the wanted poster; presumably, the person who took the candid shots slipped away when Arlong went down.

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

Inside the living quarters on the second floor of the Going Merry's deck, Reiner and the others were clinking glasses.

"Let's welcome Sanji to the crew! Cheers!"

"Cheers!"

They were celebrating Sanji's arrival. Now Reiner had both his smoking buddy (Sanji) and his drinking buddy (Zoro).

All that was missing was... ahem.

The King's left and right-hand men, his loyal companions...

"Today was a huge haul."

"Yeah, not only did Sanji join us, but Reiner also made a huge fortune!"

"Stop trying to dig, Nami." Reiner rolled his eyes.

The treasure they collected today was probably worth around 50,000,000 Beli in total.

It was a bit low, mainly because pirates live a dangerous life, always on the edge, and tend to squander money as soon as they get it.

A grand fleet of five thousand men had only managed to save up 50,000,000 Beli.

"The Grand Line is very close now," Nami said to the others, taking a sip of her drink. "We should reach Twin Capes and enter the Grand Line before noon tomorrow."

"However... there's a large town on an island nearby."

"I think you might be interested. Do you want to resupply there?"

"Are you talking about Loguetown?" Sanji asked, understanding dawning on him. "It's known as the beginning and end of everything. Gol D. Roger was executed there over twenty years ago."

"So cool!" Luffy exclaimed, instantly excited.

Speaking of which, Reiner also had some business to take care of in Loguetown.

After entering the Grand Line, his first target was the two giants in Little Garden, and then Crocodile.

He couldn't use Armament Haki yet, so going after that sand crocodile wasn't very safe.

Loguetown wasn't the largest town in the East Blue, but its strategic location near Twin Capes, combined with its historical significance as the site of Roger's execution, made it exceptionally prosperous.

It was also a place where all sorts of characters gathered, and Reiner planned to check the black market for Seastone.

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

The night at sea was dark, like an endless black mist, engulfing the Going Merry in loneliness and fear.

Inside the cabin, only the dim yellow light and the sounds of intertwined figures and playful chatter brought a sense of security to the Going Merry.

It wasn't alone.

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

I'll take everyone there,

No matter what the next stop is.