Syrup Village, East Blue.
When Kaya saw the bounty posters of Luffy and Tom from an excited Merry's hands, the first things she noticed were Usopp's small figure from behind on Luffy's poster and the sheep's head on Tom's. She immediately thought of Usopp, sailing out there on the Going Merry.
Walking to the window, Kaya pushed it open. It was as if she could see Usopp again, sitting in the tree by her window, chatting with her. A faint smile rose on her fair-skinned face.
The Baratie.
After posting the bounty posters of Luffy and Tom inside the restaurant, Zeff walked outside. Gazing at the vast, endless sea, several scenes flashed through his mind: Luffy boldly declaring his desire to become the Pirate King to Don Krieg in his restaurant; Sanji nearly coming to blows with Tom; the look on Sanji's face when he told Luffy about his dream; and finally, the scene of Sanji saying goodbye to him. Even for a former great pirate like him who had weathered many storms, a fatherly sense of nostalgia was unmistakable on his face.
An Unknown Marine Base.
Koby, the boy determined to become a Marine Admiral, had successfully enlisted. Together with Helmeppo, he was working as a Marine chore boy.
While mopping a hallway, he saw the two bounty posters posted on a wall and grew very excited. His ultimate resolve and courage to join the Marines had indeed been influenced by Luffy and the others. The events of that day at Shells Town were still vivid in his mind.
Yet, Koby also understood that if he saw Luffy and the others again, they might be enemies due to their differing allegiances. But that didn't stop him from considering them friends.
A Marine Brig.
The imprisoned Captain Morgan saw the bounty posters of Luffy and Tom from a Marine guard. These two, whom he had once dismissed as nobodies in his obsession with power, had now become genuine world-class wanted criminals. Shocked, he also thought of his own disappointing son. Perhaps he, a father who had lost his way, could still do something for his child.
Somewhere in the East Blue, Aboard a Pirate Ship.
The large Black Cat emblem on the bow was still not fully repaired. Kuro, wearing his glasses, sat quietly in the captain's quarters. On the table beside him lay two bounty posters.
Kuro gently pushed up his glasses with his palm, maintaining his old habit. He, who had once fled the sea, was now once again the captain of the Black Cat Pirates. Although his vice-captain, Jango, had lost contact with them, he had shouldered the responsibility.
Kuro, who had once seen his crew as mere pawns, had learned something important from Luffy and Tom during the battle at Syrup Village. As a pirate, if you could casually abandon your own convictions, you were doomed to be a coward on the seas forever. Determined to change, he had decided to set sail for the Grand Line.
Windmill Village.
Luffy had grown up in this village. The villagers all knew, more or less, what Luffy's dream was. Now, seeing he had become a wanted pirate, they happily gathered at Makino's bar to drink and celebrate, much to the scolding of the Mayor.
In the eyes of this elderly Mayor, having a pirate like Luffy come from the village was nothing to be happy about. Yet, having watched Luffy grow up, while his words were stern, he was also deeply worried about the boy. Drinking a cup of sake handed to him by Makino, he muttered incoherently, "Is this his dream… or his destiny?"
Cocoyashi Village.
A little boy held two bounty posters and said to Nojiko, who was tending the orange grove, "They really got bounties! Thirty million each! They must be the strongest pirates in the whole East Blue now, right?"
"Why are you so concerned about them?" Nojiko replied, finishing watering a small orange tree with care before putting on a threatening expression for the boy. "You're not thinking of going bad and running off to be a pirate, are you? If so, I'll tie you up right now."
"You tattooed delinquent girl, don't try to scare me! I'm not afraid of you!" the boy retorted. Suddenly, noticing the bracelet on Nojiko's wrist, he picked up Tom's bounty poster and exclaimed in surprise, "Look! You're in this poster too!"
Nojiko's fine eyebrows furrowed. She took the poster the boy handed her and looked where he pointed. There, on the far right edge of the poster, was indeed her figure—or rather, just an arm, with a bracelet clearly visible on the wrist.
"What were you doing with him back then?" the boy asked curiously.
"Just… out for a cruise," Nojiko said. Seeing the boy seemed somewhat in awe of Luffy and Tom upon learning of their bounties, she decided she had to nip this in the bud. A kid his age idolizing pirates? Unacceptable. So, she once again brought up the time Tom got swatted away by a Sea King, using it to properly educate the boy.
The Fishing Village.
This was where Tom first set sail with Luffy. When his bounty poster reached this village, it gave everyone a good laugh. If not for the name on the poster, they would never have guessed the wanted man was their Tom.
Fatty, Tom's old friend, was so scared he nearly wet himself upon learning Tom had truly become a pirate wanted the world over. He'd never have imagined that Tom, who used to fish with him all the time and seemed so harmless, was such a fearsome character.
"As expected. The destiny of the D. cannot be halted," muttered the Village Chief, who looked like a scruffy old man. Holding the bounty posters of Tom and Luffy, his half-squinted eyes fixed on Tom's dark red, blood-moon eyes in the picture. "In less than four short months, he's developed his Devil Fruit power to this extent? But it's far from enough. The D. clan will stir new storms in this world. Surviving the churning tides of this era won't be easy."
Regardless of the impact their bounty posters had on others, daily life aboard the Straw Hats' ship continued as usual.
"Merry! How dare you mess up my bounty poster like this!" Tom shouted, holding a poster and complaining to the ship's cute sheep-head figurehead.
"Are you an idiot? The Going Merry can't possibly understand what you're saying," Nami said, walking over to Tom. She took the poster from his hand, looked it over, and her pretty face broke into an increasingly bright smile. "Isn't this good? At least few people will recognize it's you at a glance."
"What's good about that, you stupid woman?!" Tom roared in frustration at Nami. "If no one can recognize me, what's the point of having a bounty poster?!"
Sprayed with Tom's saliva, Nami stood with him at the bow, arguing vehemently about the poster.
"Do you and Luffy even understand how serious this is?" Nami asked Tom earnestly.
"Of course I do! The Marines made a poster that doesn't even highlight me properly! Look at Luffy's—his picture is way better than mine! It's a major blunder! I want to file a complaint with the Marines!"
Hearing this, Nami glanced at Luffy and the others cheering not far away and rubbed her forehead in utter helplessness. "You're wanted criminals. It means lots of people will want to kill you. What is there to be happy about?"
As she spoke, Nami's eyes accidentally fell on the fishing rod attached to Tom's gauntlet. "That fishing rod of yours is worth more than thirty million, isn't it?"
Nami's words struck Tom like a bolt. He suddenly remembered that the weapon he currently used was worth at least two billion Berries. The realization hit him hard.
"What's wrong with him? He was fine a second ago," Usopp said, seeing Tom half-kneeling on the deck again, hands on the floor.
"He's repenting to Nami-san. In that case, I'll let him off this time," Sanji said. He'd heard Tom call Nami a fool earlier, but seeing Tom seemingly in sincere repentance, he decided not to settle the score.
"I never thought I'd be on the bounty poster too. Now the whole world can see me. I might become really popular," Usopp chuckled slyly.
Hearing this, Sanji snatched Luffy's poster and stared at it intensely. "What? I'm not on it, but Long-Nose made it first?!"
But after scanning it several times, Sanji still couldn't find Usopp. Finally, Usopp pointed to the lower left corner, where Sanji immediately spotted Usopp's back view.
Though it occupied only a tiny corner, Usopp had indeed shown his back to the world.
"It's just the back of your head. Nothing to be so proud of," Sanji said, sitting down and pretending to be dismissive.
"Don't be upset. If you work hard and make a name for yourself, you'll get a bounty even if you're not the captain. Isn't that what happened with Tom?" Usopp kindly reminded the sulking Sanji.
Sanji's mood immediately improved. He and Usopp started celebrating, arms around each other's shoulders.
Seeing Tom looking so dejected, Nami felt her earlier words had unintentionally struck him and wanted to comfort him. But before she could speak, Tom sprang to his feet, rushed to the ship's side, planted his feet on the railing, and yelled toward the sky at the top of his lungs, "Next time, I'm definitely going to get my bounty even higher!"
Hearing Tom's declaration, Nami's jaw nearly hit the deck. Her earlier worries had been completely unnecessary.
"He's suddenly so fired up."
"No, I feel like he's actually burning. Did something stimulate him?"
Sanji and Usopp watched the newly brimming with fighting spirit Tom, feeling he had shed his earlier depression like a different person.
"Yeah! That's the spirit!" Luffy said, seeing Tom burning with fighting spirit. He pumped his arms and shouted to the others, "Everyone, get pumped! We're going to conquer the Grand Line!"
"Yeah! Let's go, let's go! The Grand Line is waiting for us!"
Tom quickly joined Usopp and Sanji. The three of them stood shoulder to shoulder, arms linked, shouting along with Luffy about heading to the Grand Line.
For a time, the atmosphere on the Going Merry was lively and boisterous.
"They're a bunch of idiots who don't grasp the severity of the situation. We can't afford to keep dawdling in the East Blue," Nami thought, her forehead lined with black stress lines as she watched the rowdy group.
They're both worth thirty million. Headquarters won't just sit back. Skilled bounty hunters will come sniffing around too. Our enemies won't be as easy to deal with as before.
Leaning against the railing, Zoro watched Luffy and the others, his eyes gradually turning sharp as he thought this.
"Sanji! Make a feast! I want a celebration party!" Luffy proposed, quickly supported by Tom and the others.
"Then I'll go catch some more good fish. With Sanji's cooking, we'll have an amazing meal!" True to his word, Tom leaped overboard again, swinging on his line to fish.
At that moment, a Marine vessel was slowly approaching the Going Merry. The commander of this ship was Fullbody, who had been thoroughly thrashed by Sanji at the Baratie not long ago.
Poor Fullbody. After the Baratie incident, his good life had begun to slip away. Not only was he stripped of his rank as a Marine Headquarters Lieutenant for dereliction of duty, but he was also assigned to a remote stretch of the East Blue as the commander of a dilapidated warship. It was a far cry from his former life of sailing a fine ship with beautiful women and fine wine.
Feeling his life had hit rock bottom, Fullbody hid alone in the shabby captain's quarters, drinking heavily himself into a stupor. He couldn't even muster the energy to look at the new bounty posters his subordinate brought him.
Later, bored, Fullbody casually flipped through the new posters. Seeing a very familiar face—Luffy's—he remembered encountering Luffy and Usopp at the Baratie. Their behavior back then made it hard for him to believe Luffy was some ferocious pirate. A new hope ignited in him.
If he could just capture Luffy, everything would be set right. With that achievement, getting his old rank back would be simple.
In his drunken state, when Fullbody saw Tom's bounty poster with its large sheep-head close-up, he thought some heinously evil sheep had been given a bounty. This gave him even more confidence.
Though still somewhat not fully sober, Fullbody was baffled. A sheep with a thirty-million bounty? The world had gone mad. Just like how he, once a glorious Marine Headquarters Lieutenant, was now utterly down and out.
Fullbody charged with momentum out of the captain's quarters onto the deck and called for assembly. Lined up before him were seven or eight old, weak, sick, and disabled Marines. It was a miracle they could stand, let alone fight.
Even so, Fullbody decided to go for it. Just as he was about to rally his men to head back to the Baratie and find Luffy, he saw a pirate ship flying a straw-hat flag sailing past. And there was Luffy, sitting leisurely on the ship's figurehead, looking right at them.
Upon seeing Fullbody's ship, Luffy even remarked to Usopp beside him that it was a warship that had met with some shipwreck.
Usopp went further, criticizing the Marines for irresponsibly leaving warship wreckage floating at sea.
Hearing this, Fullbody couldn't take it. He pulled out Luffy's bounty poster, declaring he would arrest Luffy and seize his ship. He had realized the sheep head worth thirty million looked just like the figurehead of Luffy's ship! This was truly killing two birds with one stone for him.
Seeing Fullbody holding his poster, Luffy happily asked if the photo looked good. Usopp even inquired if his back view was photogenic.
Their casual attitude completely enraged Fullbody. He habitually gave them a thumbs-down gesture and ordered his ship to fire on the Going Merry.
Tom, who had just finished fishing, saw Fullbody causing trouble. With Luffy there, he couldn't be bothered to intervene. But upon hearing Usopp say Fullbody thought he was a sheep, Tom immediately wanted to rush over and teach him a lesson. If not for Zoro holding him back, he might have leaped onto Fullbody's ship and sunk it with everyone aboard.
Fullbody's cannon fire caused quite a racket. Though Zoro sliced the cannonball in half with his sword, the noise disturbed Nami, who just wanted to read her newspaper quietly in her deck chair.
When Fullbody tried to fire again, his ship's ancient, cracked cannon blew itself up, taking Fullbody and his nearby men down with it.
Humiliated and furious, Fullbody decided on close combat. After pulling his ship alongside and jumping onto the Going Merry, the first person he saw was Sanji, emerging from the kitchen.
The sight of Sanji instantly sobered Fullbody up. His face filled with terror as he stumbled backward. Sober, he now looked at Tom and remembered how, back at the Baratie, Tom had single-handedly knocked his entire crew into the sea. His face turned pale in an instant. Looking at the poster in his hand, the one worth thirty million was clearly Tom, not some sheep!
"Coming to make trouble at mealtime? You've got some nerve!" Sanji said, dark-faced, a frying pan still in his hand, to the panicking Fullbody. "We're out of bowls for soup today. Do you want to lick it off the deck?"
Fullbody had been beaten senseless by Sanji before for throwing a bug into his soup. Seeing Sanji's unfriendly expression and Tom looking ready to pounce any second, Fullbody was scared out of his wits. Screaming, he fled back to his ship, and he and his crew jumped into the sea to escape.
Seeing Fullbody was still so pathetic, Sanji lost all interest in settling scores. He returned to the kitchen to finish cooking.
Some time later, with bellies full, the crew gathered on deck to discuss their next destination. Nami pointed to a coordinate on her nautical chart. "We're almost at this island. It's a famous town—the place where the Pirate King, Gold Roger, was born and executed. Its nickname is 'The Town of the Beginning and the End'!"
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T/N :
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