He pressed his throbbing head and groaned in frustration.
"Damn World Government! Damn Marines!"
"I'm not done with you! How dare you lower my bounty! What's that supposed to mean—think I'm weak? Keep this up and I'll flatten a few Marine bases, you bastards!"
"Kaido, pipe down! You're busting my eardrums!" Rocks leapt up and snatched the wanted poster from the howling Kaido.
He glanced down, froze for a second, then grinned like Kaido was a moron and waved the sheet in the air.
"Kaido, you idiot! You're yelling and you didn't even read the number right."
"What're you talking about?" Kaido blinked, still foggy.
He'd drunk too much and his brain felt like mush.
"Five hundred million!" Rocks slapped the poster on the table. "Moron—it says five hundred million Berries!"
"Huh?" Kaido's eyes nearly popped out.
He lunged forward until his nose almost touched the paper.
With a finger thicker than some pirate goon's arm, he counted the zeros one by one.
"One… two… three… eight."
"Eight zeros." Kaido's jaw dropped. After a mental whirlwind he suddenly roared, "Eight zeros! Five hundred million! Not fifty million—five hundred million!"
"I'm a man worth five hundred million Berries now!"
"Oro-ro-ro-ro, oro-ro-ro-ro!"
He jumped for joy, nearly punching a hole through the ceiling.
Giddy, he shoved the poster under Carlo's nose.
"Hey, Carlo! Did you see this?"
"My bounty—five hundred million! I've caught up to you!"
"Oh." Carlo stayed calm.
"'Oh'? You looking down on me?" Kaido bristled.
But a second later he was grinning again.
"I get it—you're jealous, right? My bounty shot up to match your five hundred million and it stings. You act cool, but inside you're green with envy, aren't you?"
"Sure, sure, I'm jealous," Carlo sighed.
Nearby, Whitebeard cracked a smile and slid another wanted poster across the table toward Kaido.
"Gurararara, Kaido, take a look at this first."
"What's that?"
Kaido blinked and looked down.
"Carlo's wanted poster?"
It showed a half-body shot of Carlo.
Whoever took it, and whenever, nobody knew.
In the photo he stood on a pile of rubble, muscles like forged steel bared to the wind.
His eyes were cold and fierce, white teeth flashing round a lit cigar.
Below the picture: the bounty figure.
Kaido's gaze flicked across it.
Not a 5.
A 1.
Followed by an 8.
And then a long, long string of zeros.
"One hundred eighty million?"
That was the first number that surfaced through Kaido's haze.
But he quickly realized—impossible.
Carlo's last bounty had been five hundred million.
It couldn't have dropped to a measly one hundred eighty million.
If it wasn't one hundred eighty million… then the only other option hit him like a hammer.
He shook his head in disbelief.
"No way, impossible, never!"
Rocks couldn't stand it anymore; he snatched the poster.
"What now, you blockhead?"
"Huh? This is…"
Even Rocks froze at the row of digits.
"E-eighteen… eighteen billion?" he muttered.
Before Carlo could speak, Kaido exploded.
"Rocks, your eyes are busted! No way it's eighteen billion Berries!"
"With the little stunt Carlo's pulled? He doesn't deserve a crazy number like that!"
"What'd he even do? Nothing!"
"We robbed that celestial tribute together last time! I killed that idiot king with my own hands!"
"And this guy—"
He jabbed a finger at Carlo's nose, voice cracking:
"All he did was beat one of our own to become a Division Captain—he hasn't done squat! Why does he get more than me? Eighteen billion? Over triple my five? It's… it's not fair!"
By the end his eyes were red.
"Damn Marines, damn World Government—are you blind? I'm the bigger threat!"
"Waaah…"
"It's not fair!"
Kaido wailed like a baby.
Rocks, Whitebeard, Carlo: "…"
Without noticing, the whole tavern had gone dead silent.
Every eye locked on Carlo across from Rocks.
In those stares: awe, frenzy.
The silence lasted only a heartbeat.
Then the place erupted louder than ever.
"Captain Carlo's a monster! An eighteen-billion man is born!"
"Another super Great Pirate with a bounty over one billion!"
"Rocks Pirates are unstoppable! Captain Rocks is king! Captain Carlo is invincible!"
"Captain Carlo, let me serve you! I'll ride or die at your side!"
Amid the roaring chaos Carlo glanced at his own poster.
Hmm.
Nice shot.
Looked like Rocky Port or maybe Hachinosu.
He mentally tipped his hat to the photographer.
His gaze drifted to the number below.
18, followed by eight zeros.
Eighteen billion Berries, no doubt.
He'd only seen that many zeros back in Chengdu.
Still, he didn't feel he was worth that price.
This was over forty years before Luffy would set sail.
Inflation hadn't hit the seas yet.
Bounties above a billion were rare;
over a hundred million already marked you a notable pirate in the New World.
Even in the Rocks Pirates, only four men had bounties beyond a billion.
No question who they were: Rocks, Whitebeard, Golden Lion, and Charlotte Linlin.
Now his own bounty sat among theirs.
The uproar that news would spark was easy to imagine.
"Congrats, Carlo. You don't look thrilled, though. Not satisfied?" Whitebeard clinked his cup with a grin.
Carlo tapped back and shook his head.
"It's not dissatisfaction. Newgate, you know as well as I do—I'm not worth this much yet."
"No idea what the World Government's thinking, but I'm still a fair step behind you lot."
"Wahahaha! Who cares why!"
"Today we double the celebration!"
"Someone! Nail both their posters to the wall!"
"Let every drinker who walks in know the Rocks Pirates just gained two more monster rookies!"
"Come, Carlo—drink! Tonight we drink till we drop!"