Bounties

"Knock! Knock!"

"Come in!"

Sengoku looked up and saw that Tsuru had returned.

"You're finally back, Tsuru!" Seeing several more stacks of paperwork than usual on his desk, Sengoku looked as if he'd spotted a lifesaver.

"Stop fooling around. Just tell me what's happening in the New World." Tsuru cut off Sengoku before he could complain again about the misery of reading paperwork.

"Ahem!" Sengoku coughed twice to cover his embarrassment, then took a file from his drawer and handed it to Tsuru. "Take a look at this first!"

Tsuru took the file and skimmed through it. In just two minutes, she had pieced together what had happened.

"I see. So this wasn't just an ordinary suicide mission. He wanted to flex his muscles?" Kaido had come looking for trouble with the Navy because the fierce competition in the New World had reached a new level.

To make a name for himself and recruit more Zoan users, Kaido had hastily planned this small-scale war.

Once he'd recruited more ability users, he could expand his territory and launch even more wars.

For Kaido, war was the best motivation of all.

This time, Kaido's goal was to completely destroy the Navy's G6 Branch in the New World. He'd surely be happy to drive the Navy out of the New World altogether, if he could.

Unfortunately, he couldn't pull that off on his own. So he'd settled for the next best thing: completely destroying one branch would still accomplish his goal.

"So, Sengoku, what are you planning to do?"

"Start an all-out war to protect the branch, or put up a fight and then let Kaido achieve his goal?" Tsuru didn't suggest wiping out the Beasts Pirates because she knew it wasn't realistic.

The Navy's strength in the New World was still far too weak. They could only influence the first half; the second half belonged entirely to the pirates.

If they tried to wipe out the Beasts Pirates this time, the other two Emperors of the Sea wouldn't just sit by and watch.

Even Charlotte Linlin understood the principle that when the lips are gone, the teeth grow cold.

The reason the Navy had been held back in the first half was that whenever they tried to eliminate one Emperor, the others would join forces to fight them.

The Navy wasn't strong enough to take on all three Emperors united.

"Haah!" Rubbing his aching temples, Sengoku said helplessly, "Our Navy isn't ready to go to war with every Pirate Emperor just yet."

"This time, let Akainu and Aokiji clash with the Beasts Pirates."

"Afterward, we'll abandon the G6 Branch and consolidate our defenses from G1 to G5. We'll be forced to give up one branch, but at least we can strengthen the defenses and increase the troops at the remaining five."

"Then that's settled." Tsuru nodded in agreement with Sengoku's view. "Akainu and Aokiji, together with the three Vice Admirals at the G6 Branch, still aren't enough to make me feel secure."

"We don't want to lose too many elite soldiers. Send Gion and Tokikake to reinforce them. It's about time they became Vice Admirals!"

"That works."

"It'll be good for them to gain experience and build up their records. Hopefully, fighting the Beasts Pirates will help them grow stronger, too."

Once they'd finished discussing the major issue, they began handling less urgent matters.

For example, confirming candidates for the Shichibukai.

And issuing bounties for the Donquixote Family in the North Blue.

But neither of those tasks needed to be handled by the two Navy bigwigs. They could leave them to Brannew, the meeting king, and review the results themselves later.

That day, after finishing her training, baby-5 waited at the port for News Coo, as usual.

At exactly ten in the morning, News Coo arrived with that day's newspaper. baby-5 quickly pulled out some Beli and waved it around. "One newspaper, please!"

She handed the Beli to News Coo. After pulling a newspaper from the little pouch on its chest and giving it to her, the bird spread its wings and flew toward a distant island.

As soon as baby-5 took the paper, several wanted posters fluttered out.

baby-5 hurriedly picked them up. Her eyes swept over them, and her pupils instantly widened. "This is bad!"

Holding the newspaper, baby-5 raced toward the family's base, shouting as she ran, "Young Master! Gray-sama! Everyone, this is bad!"

"What's wrong with baby-5?" Everyone on the training ground stopped their exercises and hurried over, puzzled.

"Are there enemies?"

"Where are they?"

"No, look at these!" baby-5 pulled the wanted posters from her arms.

"Oh! So that's what it is!"

"Hahaha! Don't worry, baby-5! This is a good thing!"

"Hey, Doffy, hurry and see how much the Navy gave you for your first bounty!"

When everyone saw their own wanted posters, their first reaction was delight.

In this world, the Navy's wanted posters didn't frighten people. They were a way of recognizing someone's strength.

"Fuffuffuffu..." Doflamingo looked at his wanted poster and laughed with delight.

The poster in his hand clearly read: Wanted for 90 million Beli.

Gray glanced around and saw that everyone who'd fought last time had received a wanted poster.

"Everyone, tell me how much your bounties are!"

"Hey, hey, hey, 60 million Beli! It went up a little!"

Gray: ...

"So weak. You came back from the New World, and your bounty's still this low." After grumbling to himself, Gray turned to look at Diamante and Pica.

Pica: "80 million Beli!"

Diamante: "78 million Beli!"

Lao G: "50 million Beli! G!"

Senor: "45 million Beli!"

Gladius: "31 million Beli!"

Machvise: "11 million Beli!"

Machvise: "This bounty makes no sense. I didn't even show what I could do last time!"

"G! This old man didn't get to show off his boxing, either!"

"Hahaha! Can't be helped. Most of you are ability users, and you can't fly. You couldn't even hit the other side, so all that strength went to waste!" Gray's grin was harder to suppress than AK.

"Hey, Gray, you little brat. You look awfully pleased with yourself. What's your bounty?"

"Finally! At long last!" Gray had been waiting ages for someone to ask. He cheered inwardly, then put on a serious face. "Ahem!"

"Since you've asked so earnestly, I'll be kind enough to tell you!" As he spoke, Gray held up his wanted poster for everyone to see.

"Open your eyes wide and take a good look!"

Nobody paid any attention to Gray's antics. They ignored him completely, all eyes fixed on the line showing the Beli amount.

"Eighty-eight million Beli!!!" Gray's bounty left everyone stunned.

"Hmph!" Gray folded his arms and deliberately stood up from his wheelchair, trying to make his small frame look as imposing as possible. "Keh keh keh!"

"Doffy! Stand up!"

Doflamingo froze and looked at Gray in confusion.

"Hey, don't ask questions. Just stand up first!"

He didn't know what was going on, but remembering how Gray had helped him before, he reluctantly stood.

The other officers looked at the two of them, puzzled. They couldn't figure out what Gray was up to.

"Ahem!" Once Doflamingo was standing, Gray grinned and looked down on everyone around him. "Hmph. I just want to say—in this room, you're all trash!"

"Hey, Gray, I can't pretend I didn't hear that!"

"Brat, are you asking this old man to spar with you? G!"

"Gray, you brat, try the power of my Blast!"

"Brat!!!"

After showing off, Gray knew he'd made everyone furious, so he immediately hopped into his wheelchair and flew off.

He pretended not to hear the furious shouts behind him.

I couldn't find the Donquixote Family's original first bounties anywhere online, so I made them up for this version.

Later, during the Op-Op Fruit incident and before Doflamingo became a Shichibukai, I'll adjust their bounties to the original amounts—or raise them—depending on the circumstances.