Thunder Swordsman

Just as Werther was about to ask Ferdinand where that forging family was, Ferdinand gave him another piece of good news.

There was more than just this one piece of rare metal. This was merely the main material; there were several other rare metals as well.

When Werther emerged from the secret chamber, he had an extra large crate in his hands. It looked extremely heavy, and it went without saying that it was filled with priceless rare metals.

Behind him, Werther carried an enormous chest on his back, as large as a house and packed full of medical books that Ferdinand had helped him obtain after they arrived on the island.

They did not stay on Tutu Island, instead immediately setting out for that forging family with Ferdinand. Catarina needed to remain on Tutu Island in case anything happened to the merchant alliance.

After learning about Werther's ship, Ferdinand was filled with envy.

Not only had the ship been built from Adam Wood and was exceptionally sturdy, but its electrical system made many of its functions even more complete.

In Ferdinand's words, the ship was safe, fast, and comfortable. It was simply the ideal vessel for sailing.

But then an awkward problem arose: Ferdinand had nowhere to sleep. There was only one bedroom on the ship, and because the bed was especially large, Werther always slept with Rabbit. Every night, the two of them rolled around all over it. Neither was a quiet sleeper, and the place where they fell asleep was always far from where they woke up.

Werther could accept sleeping with Rabbit. Rabbit was family, and Werther had asked before—Rabbit was male.

Although Ferdinand was also a man, sleeping in the same bed as him was completely unacceptable. Thus, Ferdinand was honorably assigned to sleep in the storage room Werther had cleaned out for him.

Werther threw everything from the storage room into a compartment at the very bottom of the ship, then built Ferdinand a temporary bed.

Once Werther finished, he discovered that not only had Rabbit refused to help, he was actually playing with seagulls on the ship, feeding them fish.

Werther looked closely. These were no ordinary seagulls. Weren't they News Coos?

They wore white hats with black brims and had two bags slung around their necks, one for collecting money and the other for carrying newspapers.

Werther had long known that other animals had a high degree of affection for Rabbit. Fierce animals were somewhat better, but gentle animals almost all liked playing and communicating with Rabbit.

A few days ago, a vegetarian Sea King had actually carried Rabbit on its back and acted as his speedboat across the sea. It had scared Werther half to death. He had been afraid Rabbit would fall into the water, since Rabbit was a Fruit user. After Rabbit returned to the ship, Werther gave the fool who knew nothing of danger a harsh scolding.

He had not expected Rabbit to make friends even with News Coos today. Werther walked over, intending to buy a newspaper and support Rabbit's new friend.

When he took the paper, he found several wanted posters tucked inside. Werther casually glanced through them. The first few were all people with bounties of several million, but when he turned to one particular poster, he nearly sprayed out the juice in his mouth.

The wanted photo must have been taken from a distance after he killed Onigumo and returned to his ship. In it, he was holding a bottle of liquor with a smile on his face, while Rabbit stood beside him with a foolish grin.

It was from when Rabbit had comforted him last time, and the Marines had secretly photographed them. Werther looked at the lower half of the wanted poster.

Thunder Swordsman Werther, bounty: 170,000,000 Beli

That was not even the most important part. The words beneath the bounty actually identified him as a pirate. Werther found that a little intolerable—he was an adventurer, not a pirate.

Still, Werther was not surprised by the 170,000,000 Beli bounty. Though he had previously held no reputation at sea, he had killed a veteran Vice Admiral from Marine Headquarters.

If the Marines had not needed to consider the various repercussions, they would have already announced Onigumo's death and placed an even higher bounty on Werther.

In the original story, Vice Admirals often seemed like mere background characters, but in the real world, they were the backbone of the Marines.

Admirals could deter all four seas, but there were too few of them. Every Marine fortress was supervised and guarded by Vice Admirals.

Now that one had suddenly died, if the news were announced, the waters around that fortress would immediately fall into chaos, and countless pirates would openly emerge.

A single fortress guarded hundreds of nearby islands. Some large fortresses even guarded over a thousand islands.

That was why the Marines concealed the news of Onigumo's death and urgently transferred another Vice Admiral to stabilize the situation for the time being.

Time rewound to Marineford, before Werther saw the wanted poster.

Sengoku sat at his desk with a headache. The seas were already chaotic enough, with pirates everywhere, while the New World was dominated by the Four Emperors. Then, a few days ago, he had received some terrible news: Vice Admiral Onigumo of Marine Headquarters had died in battle, killed by an unknown nobody.

Sengoku made a prompt decision, immediately sealing off the news of Onigumo's death and dispatching Vice Admiral Hōshō to temporarily take over Onigumo's position and stabilize the situation.

Sengoku had considerable confidence in Hōshō's abilities. They were old comrades who had gone through life-and-death battles together countless times. What Sengoku worried about now was only one thing: who exactly had killed Onigumo?

With Sengoku's intelligence, he could naturally deduce that Onigumo had been killed aboard his own warship. Therefore, his killer had to be extremely powerful and definitely not normal. Even pirates did not kill Vice Admirals just because their ships were stopped.

Later, based on the descriptions from Onigumo's subordinates, Werther was a powerful, dangerous, and somewhat unhinged swordsman. In battle, he was completely insane. The more Sengoku read the report, the worse his headache became. This man was practically a natural enemy of the Marines.

"Kizaru, an extraordinary newcomer has appeared at sea. His speed is said to be extremely fast, and he has lightning abilities. Could he have eaten the Rumble-Rumble Fruit? Take a look at the report." Sengoku handed the documents to Kizaru, who looked as though he were about to fall asleep right in front of him.

Only Kizaru was in the Fleet Admiral's office today. Everyone else had gone out on missions, while Garp, who often came here, had taken leave to return to his hometown because of some issue involving his grandson.

So Sengoku asked Kizaru for his opinion. After all, Kizaru was the user of the Pika Pika no Mi and might understand speed-type abilities better.

Kizaru had initially planned to give it a cursory glance and brush it off, but after reading the report's contents, he immediately set down his tea and began reading seriously.

"Oh, hmm... if I'm not mistaken, this pirate called Werther is probably not a Rumble-Rumble Fruit user, because his fighting style doesn't resemble that of a Logia. Throughout the entire battle, he relied on physical speed and never once transformed into an element.

"If the report is accurate, then this pirate called Werther is extremely dangerous. His speed is incredible, his attacks are powerful, and he is proficient in Haki. Even a bounty of several hundred million would not be excessive, Mr. Sengoku." Kizaru dragged out his words and took half the day to finish saying all that.

No one knew why Kizaru moved so quickly in battle yet spoke so slowly. Sengoku was already anxious enough.

After considering it for a long time and remembering that the issue of Vice Admiral Onigumo had yet to be resolved, Sengoku wrote down a bounty of 170,000,000 Beli.