"My castle..."
Perona fantasized about the upcoming construction of her castle, her face full of longing.
A gloomy castle in the dark forest, countless zombies wandering under the moonlight, Kumacy accompanying her as she admired the sickle-shaped crescent moon... Perona felt ecstatic just thinking about it.
At that moment, a news bird circled above her head.
"The newspaper is out already?"
Perona paid 100 berries and took the newspaper the news bird pulled out of its bag with its beak. She unfolded it and her eyes widened in shock.
"Lord Moria!"
Perona hopped and skipped back to the town, shouting excitedly before even seeing anyone.
At that time, Moria, wearing seastone handcuffs, was bragging to the townspeople about how awesome he used to be, how he dared to face the current Yonko, Kaido, head-on.
Hearing Perona's shouts, Moria felt annoyed.
Can't you see I'm showing off here?
Perona ran up to Moria and pointed at the headline in the newspaper, laughing triumphantly. "Lord Moria, my bounty is 500 million berries... 500 million!"
"What!"
Absalom, who had been sunbathing, was shocked. He jumped up, rushed over, and snatched the newspaper. When he saw it, he was stunned.
The front-page headline clearly displayed three bounty posters.
The one at the top was Reddy.
The two bounty posters below showed the left one being Perona.
"F-five... 500 million berries!"
Absalom was so shocked he could barely speak.
Perona put her hands on her hips and proudly boasted, "Lord Moria, my bounty is higher than yours now!"
Moria had nothing to say.
Before becoming a Warlord, his bounty had been frozen at 320 million berries.
But now Perona's bounty was as high as 500 million.
What did you even do?
Moria said gloomily, "Perona, when did you become that guy's subordinate?"
Perona was instantly confused.
Huh?
Oh right.
Aren't I the Ghost Princess, one of the three main subordinates of Lord Moria?
When did I become that guy's subordinate?
How weird!
...
"Damn it!"
Bartolomeo bit his lip and stared at Perona's bounty poster, filled with resentment.
"Why is she ranked above me!"
Bartolomeo shifted his gaze to another bounty poster and grumbled inwardly, "I'm clearly Reddy's first subordinate, but my bounty is only 310 million berries."
After grumbling for a while, Bartolomeo re-examined Perona as his rival. He found everything about this little loli annoying and couldn't see how she was stronger than him in any way.
So he decided he needed to perform even better.
Crack!
The whip snapped in the air.
Bartolomeo pointed his whip at the laborers toiling miserably at the construction site and shouted, "No slacking off! If you don't finish, you don't eat! One year... no, half a year... no, one month! I want to see results in one month!"
Doberman was furious and about to explode, but Onigumo stopped him.
"Don't act rashly."
Onigumo shook his head seriously, signaling Doberman not to provoke Bartolomeo, this ruthless guy.
After the war ended, Reddy handed these prisoners over to Bartolomeo to oversee.
As a die-hard fan, Bartolomeo followed his idol's instructions without the slightest deviation.
The idol said these were laborers.
Then they better work obediently!
Want to resist?
No problem.
The idol said these prisoners couldn't die.
As long as they didn't die, any form of punishment was allowed.
Doberman and the other prisoners didn't receive the treatment high-ranking prisoners deserved.
After a few beatings, even these Vice Admirals had to submit to Bartolomeo's whip.
Because they knew Marineford wouldn't just abandon them.
If they didn't die in the war but died at the hands of some small fry, they wouldn't be able to rest in peace even in death.
...
"Dr. Reddy, congratulations on becoming the fifth Yonko of the sea."
Jinbe brought the latest newspaper to Reddy and congratulated him.
Previously, it was only the World Economic News Agency unilaterally declaring Reddy the fifth Yonko.
But now, the newspaper had published an official acknowledgment from Marineford, clearly recognizing Reddy as the fifth Yonko for the first time.
His bounty had reached a staggering four billion berries!
This rise was so rapid that even the recently acknowledged fourth Yonko, Red-Haired Shanks, paled in comparison.
Reddy took the newspaper from Jinbe and fell into thought.
When did Perona become my subordinate?
Her bounty even reached 500 million?
To be fair, this gothic loli should have been classified as one of his prisoners, just with a bit more freedom.
As for Bartolomeo being officially recognized by Marineford as his subordinate, Reddy wasn't surprised.
"Congratulations, Dr. Reddy."
Dragon also came to see Reddy with a newspaper. But since Jinbe had already beaten him to it, he simply offered his congratulations.
"However, the Marines probably want to hide the extent of this crushing defeat, which is why they set your bounty at four billion berries."
Jinbe might look rough, but he was actually very smart. He saw through the truth behind this new bounty at a glance.
Admiral Akainu led the charge, supported by the monster Kuzane and nine Marine Vice Admirals, commanding 50,000 elite Marines to attack Reddy. In the end, only Akainu and Kuzane escaped.
This kind of glorious achievement alone should have raised Reddy's previous bounty by at least two billion, reaching an astonishing five billion berries, almost on par with the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger.
But the new bounty had only increased by one billion berries.
This meant the Marines admitted their defeat in this war but refused to acknowledge it as a crushing one.
"The Marines are just puppets."
With Jinbe present, Dragon didn't elaborate further, only hinting vaguely.
At the end of the war, he had wanted to join the battle and help Reddy secure victory, but he arrived too late.
By the time he appeared, Reddy had already finished packing up and capturing all the prisoners.
"I'll go check how far we are from Amazon Lily."
Jinbe could tell Dragon wanted to discuss matters with Reddy, so he made up an excuse and left.
Once Jinbe was gone, Dragon said seriously, "The Marines are just one of the armed forces under the World Government, a tool the World Government uses to maintain its rule."
Reddy nodded.
That was undeniable.
Seeing Reddy acknowledge this fact, Dragon relaxed and continued, "Have you heard of the God's Knights?"
Reddy glanced at him.
This transition seemed a bit too abrupt.
Dragon didn't notice Reddy's reaction and went on, "The World Government is just a tool of the Celestial Dragons. The God's Knights are the Celestial Dragons' greatest reliance in ruling this world."
"You won this war, which will definitely draw the World Government's attention."
"I'm worried you'll face extermination by the God's Knights."
Reddy pointed at the newspaper in Dragon's hand and smiled. "This new bounty already explains everything. At least for the next two years, the World Government won't come after me a second time. If the World Government doesn't act, given the Celestial Dragons' pride, they won't take the initiative to move against me either. So... what do I have to worry about?"
Dragon also smiled, relieved at Reddy's clarity.
He had been worried Reddy might grow arrogant after winning this war, so he deliberately brought up the God's Knights to remind Reddy that there were even more terrifying enemies.
Now everything was perfect.
As long as Reddy laid low for a few years and created more, even stronger clones, overthrowing the Celestial Dragons' rule was just around the corner.
With his concerns resolved, Dragon didn't stay long and bid farewell to Reddy. "I'll take my leave now. I hope the next time we meet, you'll bring me new hope."