Not only did Kuina's bounty increase, Vic the bounties of the Thunder God Pirates members who participated in the Egghead incident also increased!
However, it wasn't this report; it was reported just two days after the Egghead incident ended, with the reason being that the Thunder God Pirates and the Straw Hat Pirates conspired to kidnap the World Government's genius scientist, Vegapunk!
In fact, Vic's bounty has increased very little. After all, he was already at the ceiling of bounties, so what difference would it make if it increased any more?
Luffy, Aokiji, Zoro, and Sanji of the Straw Hat Pirates have all improved significantly. They have all faced off against the Five Elders, so they will naturally be under close scrutiny!
Especially Aokiji, who previously had no bounty, suddenly became a pirate with a bounty of over a billion. This is the pirate treatment of a former Marine Admiral.
As a result, the Marine Headquarters held several large-scale meetings for several days, naturally focusing on why Vic and Aokiji, two outstanding former Marines, had become such a threatening pirate.
Then there's Smoker and Koby, who are receiving a lot of attention at Marine Headquarters. Both of those who left the Marines to become great pirates were once Garp's protégés. What about Smoker and Koby, who are still under Garp's tutelage? What will their future hold?
How come Garp's disciples are so incredibly talented? You can't even say he's bad at training disciples, because one of his disciples is a former Marine Admiral and the other is Four Emperors ). They're definitely at the pinnacle of talent!
However, Garp's disciples are too prone to going astray, which makes the Navy's high command both love and hate them. Smoker and Koby, Garp's newly trained disciples, are already the strongest new generation in the Marine Headquarters. What can they do? They can only strengthen their ideological education of Smoker and Koby!
In the Egghead incident, the Thunder God Pirates whose bounties increased the most were Rebecca and Hancock. One of them fought so hard that the Five Elders were resurrected several times, and the other was able to recover on her own from Imu's forced demonization. Both of them were heavily noted in the little notebook!
When Hancock abolished the Shichibukai, her bounty increased significantly, and it rose again after the Egghead incident. However, it still paled in comparison to Rebecca's achievements. Both of them have bounties exceeding 2 billion Beli, far surpassing the gap between them and the executives of the other Four Emperors' crews!
However, no matter how high the bounty the World Government sets for the members of the Thunder God Pirates, it won't matter. Would any bounty hunter still dare to covet them?
Even the most insane bounty hunter would regain their senses and rationality upon seeing their bounty; if they were willing to risk their lives, they wouldn't choose this method!
These days, the bounty posters have become, in effect, certificates of honor for the members of the Thunder God Pirates. It's that absurd. Anyway, the Navy won't touch them anymore!
Vic flipped through the newspaper, but what he was thinking was why Imu hadn't made a move for so long. Knowing Imu and the Five Elders ' personalities, they would definitely retaliate, because their power and status had been threatened by the lower classes, and they couldn't just sit idly by!
Furthermore, the Five Elders and the God's Knights are all immortal, so releasing them for revenge wouldn't cause any loss. They're practically invincible anyway, so taking down as many enemies as possible is fine. Why would there be no reaction at all?
"Could it be that the way Kuina and the others were brought back aroused the suspicion of Imu's group?"
Bringing them back silently and without any discernible movement has made them hesitant? Is that why they're still afraid to act? Are they unsure of my methods and therefore hesitant to make a move?
Vic was constantly on guard against Imu's attempt to silence him, as he had repeatedly offended Imu and even learned some of the World Government's most closely guarded secrets!
In Imu's eyes, Vic was the hidden fuse. Once it exploded, he, the King of the World sitting on the Empty Throne, would be exposed to the world, which would not be in line with his purpose of manipulating the world from behind the scenes!
By staying behind the scenes, Imu is no longer a target. But if he steps into the limelight, he will become the most conspicuous target, which is not something Imu, the King of the World, wants to see!
Imu and the Five Elders were indeed a bit confused about Vic's situation, but they were very clear about one thing: the Thunder God Pirates had already separated from the Straw Hat Pirates. Since they couldn't figure out Vic, they would deal with the Straw Hat Pirates first. Nika was also someone they were determined to eliminate!
The Straw Hat Pirates had just arrived in Elbaf, and there happened to be a teleportation coordinate they had left there, making it very convenient to travel there and back.
The plan, devised by Imu and the Five Elders, was to eliminate Nika in Elbaf first, and then settle scores with Vic later. They refused to believe that the Straw Hat Boy could survive without Vic's help.
Vic had no idea that Imu was busy dealing with Luffy, so all his precautions had been wasted. In a way, Luffy had actually Luffy Vic and his crew from disaster!
If Vic knew, he wouldn't want Luffy to face those immortals right now, because he sensed something was amiss: Imu's true form seemed inseparable from Mary Geoise!
Whether Imu was being watched or had some other reason, whether he couldn't or wasn't capable of leaving, Vic believed Imu would have come to him personally long ago!
Vic guessed it was the second possibility: Imu was being watched by the mysterious man in black robes, and he dared not make any rash moves. Therefore, as long as Imu's true form did not appear, Vic was not afraid at all!
The next morning, Olvia delivered the newspaper again, and today's paper had another big headline: Buggy's title of Four Emperors had changed hands, and the new Four Emperors was Fire Fist Ace had almost been executed by the Navy two years ago!
Many people connected the news of Kuina defeating Hawk-Eye the day before with Ace defeating the Cross Guild, speculating that Ace obtained his position with the help of the Four Emperors Vic!
Most of what happened during the Paramount War was broadcast live. The relationship between Vic and Ace is self-evident, and these people's speculations are not without merit. They all say that Kuina was sent by Vic to help!
Furthermore, today's news also mentioned Bullet's involvement, with Morgans explicitly stating in the news that Bullet was a member of the Thunder God Pirates!
The Kuina might be a coincidence, as it's common for swordsmen to compete for supremacy. However, the presence of Bullet is harder to explain, essentially confirming the speculation that Vic is supporting Ace's rise to power!
Even Vic himself can't explain this, and he won't explain it. He's already provided support, so what?
This was simply Morgans's way of grabbing attention; he knew that even if he reported it this way, Vic wouldn't cause him any trouble.
Morgans had received intelligence long ago that the Whitebeard Pirates wanted to attack the Cross Guild to seize territory, so he kept the news of Kuina defeating Hawk-Eye from being released, waiting for the outcome of the battle between the Whitebeard Pirates and the Cross Guild, and then releasing articles one after another to create a sensation and cause widespread discussion!
However, the outcome of this battle needs to be accurately predicted, otherwise these two news items will be misleading. For example, the Whitebeard Pirates, even with the help of the Thunder God Pirates, cannot defeat the Cross Guild, making them utterly useless, and even the Thunder God Pirates will be criticized!
The outcome of the battle between the Whitebeard Pirates and the Cross Guild was not difficult to predict, especially for Morgans, who had extremely strong intelligence capabilities!