Loguetown

The Golden Merry sailed toward the Grand Line.

"Why did the price go up again? Your newspapers are way too expensive!" Nami reluctantly handed the news-carrying seagull 1 Beli and complained, "If the price goes up again next time, I'm not buying!"

The news-carrying seagull looked innocently at Nami. Like Den Den Mushi, news-carrying seagulls were unique animals in the One Piece World, and their sole duty was selling newspapers at sea.

"It's only one or two newspapers!" Usopp asked in confusion. Cocoyasi Village's problems had clearly been resolved, so why was Nami still being so stingy?

"You buy them every day. It adds up." Newspapers were one of the best ways to gather intelligence, and William agreed. As the strategist, he had to stay informed about current events around the world.

"You're still the same as ever," Nojiko said. At first, Nojiko had only wanted to live quietly in the village and had no plans to set sail, but after William repeatedly invited her, she had agreed.

Although Nojiko was already a member of the Straw Hat Crew, her post was not aboard the ship. Instead, she served as a "combatant" in the Castle inside William's body. Of course, this combatant did not need to fight personally, or Nami would have been the first to object. Nojiko only needed to oversee the "guards" within the Castle.

William's Devil Fruit ability was somewhat similar to the Castle-Castle Fruit. The Castle's entrance and exit—the main gate—was also located in his stomach, and his body had numerous "windows" where weapons could be mounted and the surroundings observed.

"But the world really is being turned upside down! There's been a coup in Vira." Nami opened the newspaper and began reading. As she turned it over, an insert slipped out.

"Is this Luffy's wanted poster?" Nojiko asked as she picked up the insert. But when she saw the photograph on it, she thought it was a promotional poster—Luffy's smile was simply too dazzling.

"Haha, we've become wanted criminals, and there's even a 40 million Beli bounty!" Luffy snatched the wanted poster and looked at it. The person on it really was him, and the background was the collapsed Arlong Park. There was no need to ask; it had to be Colonel Nezumi's handiwork. Luffy said proudly, "The photo came out pretty well! Hee hee!"

Before this, in the East Blue, where the average bounty was around 3 million, there had only been three pirates with bounties exceeding 10 million Beli: "Clown" Buggy, with a bounty of 15 million Beli; "Admiral" Krieg, with a bounty of 17 million Beli; and Arlong, with a bounty of 20 million Beli.

Yet all three of these top-tier East Blue pirate crews had been crushed one after another by the same pirate crew. Therefore, Marine Headquarters decided to place a 40 million Beli bounty on their captain, Luffy.

Although the amount was not particularly high, it was an unprecedentedly large bounty in the East Blue.

In the Grand Line or other seas, Luffy's first bounty might not have seemed that high. But in the East Blue, known as the weakest sea, it was indeed the highest initial bounty in history. For a time, Luffy became the most feared pirate in the East Blue, while the Straw Hat Pirates became synonymous with ruthless evil.

Seeing that Luffy's bounty was the same as in the original anime, William knew Marine Headquarters had not linked Nezumi's death to them. Although the Marines did not suspect them, Nami had become suspicious of the more than 100 million Beli in treasure that had appeared inside William for no reason. Quite a bit of it looked familiar, too.

William only said that he had stolen it back from the Marine base. He did not mention assassinating Colonel Nezumi. But once Nami heard that the treasure had originally been hers, she merely said "thank you" and claimed all of it for herself. More than 10 million Beli of it had not belonged to Nami, so how had it become hers too?!

"Look, there's a picture of me! Maybe it'll charm a lot of people!" Usopp said smugly, pointing at a silhouette in the corner of the wanted poster.

"It's just the back of your head. What's there to brag about?" Sanji was disappointed that he had no wanted poster and sat crouched off to the side. If I had one, I'd definitely let beautiful women all over the world see how handsome I am.

"Don't be discouraged. As long as you work hard, even if you're not the captain, one day you'll be printed on one." Usopp was immensely proud of the back of his head on the wanted poster. Who knew how frightened he would be if he were actually wanted?

"Looks like you still don't understand how serious this is. It means people are after our heads, got it?" Nami was utterly helpless. People feared fame just as pigs feared getting fat. From this moment on, the whole world knew of the Straw Hat Pirates. How many bounty hunters would target them for the reward? How many Marines would target them to earn merit? How many pirates would target them to raise their own reputations?

"Let them be happy for a while," Nojiko said. She had long been prepared for this. Back at Arlong Park, they had beaten up Colonel Nezumi badly, and he had specifically warned Luffy by name. If Luffy, the captain of the Straw Hat Crew, had not been wanted, that would have been the strange thing.

"Hey, I think I can see an island!" Zoro, the temporary lookout, shouted. After resting for several days, Zoro had mostly recovered. At the very least, the wounds on his body no longer split open. Even though he had not fully healed, he still persisted in training and meditating every day.

"Being able to see that island means we're getting closer and closer to the Grand Line!" According to the nautical chart they had obtained from Buggy, once they passed the island ahead, they would soon see the East Blue entrance to the Grand Line. Although Nami had only recently become a navigator and was not very clear on how to enter the Grand Line from the East Blue, William had already explained it to her.

"Loguetown is on that island," William said after putting on his cap.

Loguetown was also known as the Town of the Beginning and the End. The former Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, had been born in that town and was also executed there! It was one of the towns in the East Blue closest to the entrance of the Grand Line.

"So that's where the Pirate King was born and executed?" Luffy gazed at the island where his idol had been born and died, feeling an inexplicable excitement.

"Do you want to go?" Nami knew Luffy definitely wanted to pay his respects to the hometown of the previous Pirate King. Perhaps it was the future Pirate King's respect for his predecessor.

"I want to see where the Pirate King was executed!" Luffy wore a rare serious expression. Luffy had set out to sea and resolved to become the Pirate King because of Shanks's influence, and Shanks had once been an apprentice pirate on Gol D. Roger's ship.

Moreover, the Straw Hat Luffy had always treasured had been passed from Roger to Shanks. Luffy simply did not know that the Straw Hat in his hands had once belonged to the Pirate King.

"I'm going to stock up on ingredients!" Since they were going ashore, Sanji, as the cook, naturally wanted to visit the market and prepare enough food before entering the Grand Line. Of course, if possible, he truly hoped for a locked refrigerator, all to stop Luffy, that thief within the house, from stealing snacks.

"I'm going to check out some equipment!" To prepare for the Grand Line adventure, Usopp was also trying to increase his strength. He had spent these past days improving his equipment, but had been unable to finish due to a lack of materials.

"I have things I want to buy too!" With only one sword at his side these past days, Zoro had always felt that something was missing. As a Three-Sword Style swordsman, having only one sword was simply unacceptable.

"Want to borrow it at triple interest?" Nami immediately proposed when she heard that penniless Zoro wanted to buy something. Although he really did not want to accept, he was the only one besides Luffy who had no money on him. In the end, he reluctantly borrowed 10,000 Beli from Nami, but Zoro soon learned that 10,000 Beli could only buy two very poor, dull swords.

"Nojiko and I will go look for companions!" At the moment, the Castle inside William contained only one member, Nojiko. Although he already had several candidates in mind, he did not know whether fate would allow them to meet.

William knew that although this world had changed in some ways because of him, many things already set in stone had not changed. In the original story, the Straw Hat Crew's first enemy after entering the Grand Line had been Crocodile, one of the Shichibukai. Now he had only two choices: one was to forcibly change their route, though they would face unknown dangers later. The second was to follow the original route, though they would have to face pursuit by one of the Shichibukai.