Ron turned around and saw Kaido charging over from the street corner like a gust of wind, his kanabo slung over one shoulder and a pale-yellow sheet of paper gripped in his other hand.
"Your wanted poster?" Ron glanced at the familiar layout and asked casually.
"No. Yours." Kaido's expression was complicated, carrying envy, jealousy, and a trace of sourness. Then he lowered his voice and asked, "Guess how much?"
Ron thought for a moment. His bounty before this had not even reached one hundred million. If it had been updated now, the main reason was most likely the Heavenly Tribute robbery.
Beside him, Annika blinked, then carefully raised her hand. "Kaido-sama, can I guess?"
Kaido glanced at her and said flatly, "Suit yourself."
Once she received permission, Annika immediately began counting on her fingers with a serious face, quickly estimating in her mind.
She remembered Shakky once telling her that on this sea, anyone with a bounty over one hundred million berries could already be considered a great pirate.
But Ron-sama... was only an apprentice.
In Annika's understanding, an apprentice on a pirate crew was usually weaker, mostly doing odd jobs and running errands. Even if they were strong, how strong could they really be?
"Twenty million berries?" Annika said with a serious expression. She had actually wanted to say ten million, but after thinking it over, overestimating was better than underestimating. It would be too embarrassing if she guessed too low.
Kaido's expression froze instantly. He stared at Annika in disbelief, his mouth opening, closing, then opening again. That earnest look of hers... was she serious?
Annika blinked, frightened by Kaido's reaction. Even her voice shrank. "W-What is it? Don't tell me I guessed right?"
Kaido drew in a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. He finally understood. This woman was purely here to make trouble.
Twenty million berries? How much of an outsider did someone have to be to guess such an outrageous number?
When he was fifteen, his bounty had already been seventy million berries.
"Very accurate," Kaido said expressionlessly. "But... don't guess next time."
Annika's eyes lit up. "Was I close? Don't tell me it's nineteen million berries?"
Kaido's mouth twitched. He suddenly lost that calm tone, stiffened his face, and said word by word, "Stop guessing. Guess again and I'll beat you to death."
Annika immediately covered her mouth and no longer dared to speak.
"Heh..." Ron chuckled beside them and said casually, "Enough guessing. Hurry up and announce it."
Kaido did not say it directly. Instead, he unfolded the wanted poster in front of Ron.
Annika curiously leaned her head closer and read the words on the poster one by one. "Member of the Rocks Pirates... Ron... alias 'Demon Butcher'... bounty... ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousand, hundred thousand, million, ten million, hundred million..."
Her voice grew slower and softer.
"One... billion?"
She rubbed her eyes, thinking she had misread it.
"Uh... one and a half billion berries?"
Annika froze as if she had been nailed in place, her mouth slightly open and her eyes round.
It was not fifteen million. It was not one hundred and fifty million. It was one and a half billion!
One and a half billion!
Annika's brain spun at high speed in that instant. In her eyes, Shakky was a senior so powerful she was almost unimaginable, someone who could sail the seas alone without fear, yet her bounty was only around seven hundred million.
And the man standing in front of her, this man who was only an "apprentice," had a bounty more than twice Shakky's.
Then what about the full members?
What about the captain?
Annika did not dare think any further. She slowly raised her head and looked at Ron, only to find that his expression was surprisingly calm.
Then Annika suddenly remembered something important.
She had once asked Shakky out of curiosity: which pirate crew was the strongest on this sea?
Shakky's answer had been: at present, the crew that makes the sea tremble the most is the Rocks Pirates.
'An apprentice alone can have a bounty of one and a half billion berries. The Rocks Pirates are terrifying.'
'Back then, Shakky said the Rocks Pirates were all ambitious madmen who committed every evil under the sun. Now it seems... that isn't entirely true.'
Thinking of that, Annika's feelings suddenly became complicated.
She had been "kidnapped" by the Rocks Pirates.
With the Kuja Pirates' strength... they had no way to save her.
While Annika's thoughts were racing, Ron had already put away the wanted poster.
He turned his head toward Kaido. "What? You seem pretty unconvinced, Kaido."
Kaido deflated like a punctured balloon, his shoulders slumping as he spoke in an incredibly sour tone. "Those Marines really have no eye for talent... I clearly took part too, so why didn't my bounty move at all?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Ron casually threw out a reply. "It's just a bounty. I have a way to raise yours."
Ron smiled and continued walking.
Kaido froze for a moment, then followed with great interest. "Really? What way?"
"Solo raid the Holy Land, Mary Geoise," Ron said in a perfectly serious tone. "If you come out alive, your bounty will definitely rise."
"To hell with that. How is that any different from telling me to go die?" Kaido shouted.
"Don't worry about that. Just tell me whether the method works or not."
"It works. It works too damn well. But you go do it first."
"I don't need my bounty raised."
After wandering around town for the entire morning, Ron stepped back onto the deck of the auxiliary ship and saw a familiar figure sitting there, one he did not particularly want to see.
Ochoku.
Yes, that guy Ochoku had come back.
Seeing Ron return, Ochoku did not show any extreme reaction. He merely sneered and cursed, "Ron, you bastard, you really made me suffer quite a bit."
Ron glanced at him as if he were looking at some mildly inconvenient decoration. He did not even feel like answering. Instead, he turned toward Annika and said, "I feel like eating chicken today. Hmm... make some white-cut chicken."
"Yes, Ron-sama!" Annika answered crisply, then turned and headed into the cabin.
Ron followed behind her with leisurely steps.
Kaido carried his kanabo and yelled as he walked, "White-cut chicken? What's that? Did you invent it? Just hearing the name makes it sound bad, Ron!"
"You don't know shit."
"How do I not know?"
The two of them bickered as they entered the ship, their voices gradually fading.
On the deck, the sea wind blew hard.
Ochoku sat on the railing and watched Ron's back, the expression on his face changing several times.
In the end, he let out a few cold "heh-heh" laughs. He did not chase after them, nor did he do anything irrational.
It was not that he did not want to. He simply did not dare.
The guy who could treat warships like toys and knead energy spheres by hand... Ochoku knew very well that he was no match for him.
"Ochoku." Whitebeard suddenly spoke, his voice calm. "You'd better not do anything stupid. Otherwise, I won't let you off."
Ochoku's smile stiffened for an instant, then returned to that cynical expression. He turned his head, narrowed his eyes at Whitebeard, and said with a dismissive tone, "Oh? Newgate? Even you're taking his side now?"
Before they set out, Whitebeard's relationship with Ron had clearly been lukewarm at best. It had only been a few days, and he had already picked a side?
"My business. Stay out of it," Whitebeard replied.
Ochoku was silent for a moment, then suddenly burst into a "heh-heh-hahaha" laugh. "You really are as hard to like as ever."
After a pause, he probed again, "Speaking of Ron... where did that guy abduct a servant from?"
Whitebeard did not answer according to his expectations at all. He said casually, "If you like servants, abduct as many as you want. No one cares."