A 10-Beli Bounty

"Report! Fleet Admiral Sengoku!" The messenger knocked on the Fleet Admiral's door.

"What is it?" Sengoku set down the intelligence report he had been writing and looked up.

"Reporting, Fleet Admiral! The Moss Pirates you told me to keep an eye on have made another move!"

"Let me see it!"

After handing the intelligence report to Sengoku, the messenger reported:

"Fleet Admiral, Commodore Bulin Bulin of the 77th Marine Branch led the branch's main officers against the Moss Pirates and was completely wiped out in the Mog Sea. Not a single person aboard the pirate ship was injured. The ones who acted were Captain Mark and that golden bird called Chiu Chiu."

Sengoku listened to the messenger's report while flipping through the intelligence in his hands, his brows tightly furrowed.

After reading the report, Sengoku gradually sank into thought.

A moment later, he said, "Raise their bounties by another tier. Set their danger level in the East Blue to the highest level, then send this intelligence report of mine to Smoker!"

Sengoku opened a drawer and handed the messenger a document from inside.

After the messenger left, Sengoku looked at a bounty poster on his desk, the gravity in his eyes growing exceptionally heavy.

"Jaba! Roger... what exactly are you trying to do..."

A few days later, the Moss Pirates' bounty posters were updated.

After the Marines learned that Commodore Bulin Bulin and his warship had both been buried at Mark's hands, Mark's danger level had been marked as extremely dangerous among the East Blue Marines.

Mark, who was heading toward Loguetown, also received the bounty posters delivered by a news-carrying seagull.

Captain: Mark, bounty: 70 million Beli.

Crewmember: Chiu Chiu, bounty: 10 Beli.

The bounties for the entire crew had risen by 1,010 Beli.

Since Daisy had not made a move, she was currently the only member of the Moss Pirates without a bounty.

"Boss! This is unfair, way too unfair!" Chiu Chiu complained. "Why is my bounty only 10 Beli? I was a main force in that battle too! Why..."

Mark set down his own bounty poster and picked up Chiu Chiu's. When he saw that two-digit bounty, he immediately burst out laughing.

Daisy curiously leaned over, and then...

The two of them erupted into laughter.

Chiu Chiu picked up Mark's bounty poster, stared blankly at it for a long while, then shouted, "This is so unfair!!!"

"Ahem, Chiu Chiu... you need to learn to stay calm. This... maybe the Marines made a mistake when issuing the bounty poster!" Mark said, struggling to suppress his laughter.

"Really?"

"Probably... it should be true."

Chiu Chiu looked at his bounty poster in grief and indignation, then shouted, "Next time, I'll definitely use my strength to show those Marines that Chiu Chiu's bounty is absolutely worth more than 10 Beli!!!"

Of course... next time, it might rise to 50 Beli.

Mark did not voice that thought.

"It seems the World Government really does have that attitude toward pets on pirate ships."

Even though Chiu Chiu had displayed such powerful abilities, he still could not escape that reality.

Mark could even imagine the classic scene if Chiu Chiu were surrounded by a group of bounty hunters one day.

Bounty Hunter B: "Boss, why don't we catch that bird?"

Bounty Hunter A: "That bird's bounty isn't even enough to buy me a meal. Why would I waste the effort?"

Bounty Hunter C: "This... the boss is right..."

And then not a single one of those bounty hunters would make a move against Chiu Chiu...

The little incident aboard the Moss quickly passed.

After that, Mark and the others continued all the way toward Loguetown.

That place... was the only route from the East Blue to the Grand Line, and also the place where the Pirate King had begun and ended his journey.

Loguetown—

Tashigi adjusted her glasses and looked at the white-haired man before her. "Captain Smoker, Fleet Admiral Sengoku told us that we absolutely must be careful of Mark!"

"Mm..."

Smoker took a puff of his cigar.

"I never expected an old pirate to be hiding in our East Blue, and that he even trained such a vicious little pirate. At sixteen, he nearly destroyed two branches..."

Smoker's face was filled with icy coldness.

After Mark destroyed the 16th Marine Branch, he went on to wipe out the key officers of the 77th Marine Branch. The entire 77th Marine Branch now existed in name only.

And from the intelligence in his hands, Smoker learned that the other side was extremely powerful.

One man had destroyed the White Ghost Pirates, then two people and a bird had destroyed the fish-man Arlong, who had ruled Orange Town for more than a decade.

"Since setting sail, he has acted only four times, and every time has been a massive undertaking. Just as expected, this is the style of the evil Pirate King's lineage! Pirates like that should be sent to the gallows!" Smoker said coldly.

Tashigi said, "I heard that Mark is also a Devil Fruit user, but we still don't know what his Fruit ability is!"

"Fruit ability..." Smoker looked at the jitte in his hand and sneered. "Isn't that perfect? As long as he comes to Loguetown, Black Axe and his Moss Pirates will be destroyed here!"

"The East Blue... should not have such an unpredictable factor!"

A bounty of 70 million Beli—none of the major pirates in the entire East Blue had that much combined...

And he was Jaba's adopted son, with all his abilities coming from Jaba.

If someone like that went to sea, he would inevitably bring tremendous instability to these waters.

That was why Sengoku valued Mark so highly...

Rather than saying Sengoku valued Mark, it was more accurate to say that he valued the Pirate King Roger's former crew.

"Captain Smoker, since Headquarters knows where Jaba is, why don't they arrest him?" Tashigi asked, voicing her confusion.

Smoker took a deep drag from his cigar, the smoke lingering in his lungs for a long while.

His voice was somewhat hoarse as he said, "The Pirate King's forces... are terrifying..."

"This..." Tashigi was even more confused.

Smoker tossed away the cigar butt, lit another cigar, and walked ahead.

He had no intention of explaining it to Tashigi.

As a core figure in the Marines, he naturally knew how powerful the Pirate King had been.

Back then, the Pirate King had conquered these seas not only through his own strength, but also through the help of his crew and various forces.

Some nations hidden in the shadows and certain organizations had once helped the Pirate King Roger.

Moreover, Roger had not been captured by Garp. He had chosen to turn himself in after learning that he did not have much longer to live.

Otherwise, even if the Marines had been given several more chances, they still would not have been able to capture him.

Although Roger was now dead and his former crew had all chosen to retire,

they appeared to have withdrawn from these seas, but the Marines knew their influence had already become immensely vast. If they touched even one of them... the consequences...

would absolutely be another great naval war.

Just one example Smoker knew of was the Pirate King's right-hand man, Dark King Rayleigh, who was currently on Sabaody.

Yet the Marines had not taken any action against him at all. Their wariness was plain for all to see.