Bounty

"Hey, you made the papers." On the way to Thousand Lake Island, Rogge lay sprawled on the deck, snoring away, his entire body drenched in sweat. Ham tossed a newspaper over, and it landed on Rogge's face.

"What?"

Rogge reached up and grabbed the newspaper covering his face. The headline was not about him, but about the Reverie and its proceedings after it had concluded. Only after flipping through the later pages did Rogge find news about himself.

A pirate from the West Blue had plotted an incident involving the Heavenly Tribute and successfully stolen part of the treasure from a Heavenly Tribute convoy in the West Blue.

"What the hell? They didn't dare report the Devil Fruit, and only said we stole some treasure. Whatever, I guess this newspaper wants us to draw the fire." Rogge held the paper as he spoke.

"Just stealing part of the Heavenly Tribute makes people think we're loaded. Looks like we'll be treated as a juicy target." Jelly controlled the vines in his hands, familiarizing himself with his Devil Fruit ability.

"We'll become targets from now on. Once we find Ares, we should head to the Grand Line." Cook held the helm.

"That's right. Those guys in the West Blue probably won't let us off." Rogge said, tossing away the newspaper.

The moment the newspaper flew out, a sheet of paper tucked inside fell free. Rogge swiftly caught it.

"Heh."

Rogge smiled when he saw what was written on the paper.

"HAHAHAHA!"

Rogge burst into laughter.

The other three were drawn over by Rogge's laughter and looked his way.

Holding the strongly ink-scented sheet, Rogge walked over to Jelly, threw an arm around his shoulders, and laughed. "Look, hahaha, a bounty! I have a bounty too."

"Tch, what's so surprising about that?" Jelly curled his lip, though he felt sour with jealousy.

"How much is it? Read it out and make us happy. Maybe if we run out of money, we can turn you in to the Marines." Ham said.

"Fifty million Beli! Hahaha, my first bounty is already fifty million Beli!" Rogge said excitedly.

"Fifty million Beli is indeed quite a lot. Tsk, tsk, the Marines must be furious." Ham laughed.

"My starting point is far higher than most pirates'. In the West Blue, mine should be the highest bounty, right?" Rogge said with a grin.

Jelly laughed. "Don't get ahead of yourself. No, the highest is Bloodhand's. I remember his bounty is seventy-seven million Beli. And he didn't take part in the last Heavenly Tribute incident. He'll very likely come looking for us. Thousand Lake Island is part of his territory too."

"If we run into him, we'll kill him." Rogge sneered and clenched his fist. The wanted poster in his hand was instantly crushed into scraps, which scattered away on the sea breeze.

The seas of the Four Blues were much calmer. A compass was enough to sail by, making it no challenge at all for Ham. He was now making use of his time to study the navigation methods used on the Grand Line.

Cook, the shipwright, came from Fish-Man Island and knew a little about the Grand Line's weather. He and Haku got along quite well. Perhaps because they were both middle-aged and close in age, they often chatted about the conditions in the Grand Line's waters.

Rogge felt fantastic. He had a bounty now, and the Heavenly Tribute incident had caused a huge stir in the West Blue. After all, nearly twenty thousand pirates had taken part. Yet more than ten thousand had died, while the surviving pirates had all gone into hiding to lick their wounds.

On an island somewhere in the West Blue, inside a bar reeking of blood.

"This is the guy, right? Marshall Rogge, the one who planned the Heavenly Tribute incident. He used us to besiege the Marines, then reaped all the benefits for himself." A group of pirates sat around a round table.

"They're still in the West Blue. Not just this guy—we've found information on his companions as well. News from the black market says it all came from a guy named Jelly. He's Rogge's companion. They were previously on Slik's ship, but Slik was killed not long ago and his bounty was claimed. Clearly, he was killed by his own people." A fat, big-eared man with bandages wrapped around his head said.

"They got the Heavenly Tribute, while we got nothing at all. I can't swallow this humiliation." A one-eyed man slapped the table.

"Then we'll take them apart. Every one of us lost a huge number of men. From what we know, they should have only a few people and haven't left the West Blue yet. Someone saw them heading toward Thousand Lake Island." The fat, big-eared man continued.

"Thousand Lake Island is Bloodhand's turf, isn't it?" A burly woman asked.

"If Bloodhand learns this, he'll definitely make a move against them. His bounty is the highest in the West Blue. It seems he's preparing ships over at Thousand Lake Island. I heard he has already recruited seven thousand men and only lacks ships now." The one-eyed man said.

"If that's the case, he must be short on money." The woman smiled.

"Obviously, he won't pass up such a juicy target. But we can't just stand by and watch that juicy target fall into Bloodhand's hands." The fat, big-eared man said.

"You want to snatch them? We just suffered a crushing defeat. We lost half our men. Going up against Bloodhand now isn't wise." The woman said.

A man wearing a headscarf patterned with red skulls nodded. "The captain of the Bloodhand Pirates has the highest bounty in the West Blue, and he also has the most subordinates. It wouldn't be wise for us to clash with him, but we can't just watch a juicy target fall into someone else's hands. Don't forget, three days ago, every one of us lost half our men because of this guy."

"That's right. We've formed a Pirate Alliance now. Our numbers are about the same as Bloodhand's, so it's not like we have no chance of winning. Bloodhand wants to go to the Grand Line. If he wants to test us, we don't need to fear him." The one-eyed man stood up.

"Then let's vote. There are still thirty-one pirate crews here. If sixteen agree, we'll set out for Thousand Lake Island." The woman swept her gaze around the room as she addressed everyone.

The alliance had originally consisted of sixty-three pirate crews. After reorganizing, only thirty-one remained. The battle three days ago had dealt them too heavy a blow. Pirate crews across the entire West Blue had suddenly been reduced by a third.

Of the thirty-one people around the round table, more than twenty immediately raised their hands. There was no need to count to know they had exceeded sixteen.

"Then let's head for Thousand Lake Island. We'd better find them before Bloodhand does." The fat, big-eared man rose to his feet, pulled a massive saber from behind him, and rested it on his shoulder.

"We must make them pay." The saber slashed down onto the table, cleanly cutting Rogge's wanted poster in half.