That's right. After leaving Little Garden, the War Pirates' destination was not Water 7, but the Joy Street in the City of Spring.
The main reason was that the day for receiving the new ship had not yet arrived. Even if they went to Water 7 now, they would still have to wait.
So, rather than waste time, Kaito chose to take the opportunity to relax in the City of Spring.
Of course, before making this decision, Kaito had very democratically asked the crew for their opinions.
As for the result of that vote, the crew practically regarded him as a god at that point, so they were more than enthusiastic about it.
As far as deterrence was concerned, the War Pirates, with more than twenty ships, were undoubtedly an imposing force.
Especially now that the two Titans, Dorry and Brogy, had joined them on their raft.
Even though the Grand Line was far more chaotic than the seas of the entire world, there were definitely very few people who would dare attack the War Pirates.
However, the fact that others did not dare to attack the War Pirates did not mean that the War Pirates would simply let the ships they encountered along the way go.
Just like when they had first sailed through the West Blue, the War Pirates displayed an aggressive nature. Basically, every ship they encountered became a target for plunder.
Now that they had entered the Grand Line and accomplished many things, the War Pirates had once again returned to their aggressive ways.
Especially with a treasure like the Devil's Coffin aboard, the pirates had no reason to let any ship they encountered escape.
After all, no one could predict whether the ships they encountered carried Devil Fruit users.
If they didn't, then there was nothing to lose.
But if they did have a Devil Fruit user—especially one with an excellent ability—then letting them escape would mean missing an opportunity to obtain another Devil Fruit.
Therefore, during the few days after leaving Little Garden, the War Pirates not only sailed toward their destination, the City of Spring, but also plundered numerous ships along the way.
Although they had yet to encounter another Devil Fruit user, the pirates had still replenished their supplies, treasures, and other resources.
"No? How can mine not be here?"
"Haha! I found mine! That's great. My bounty really did increase!"
"I found mine too. Not bad. The reward has gone up quite a bit."
"Speaking of which, the captain's bounty increased the most. It suddenly jumped to 500 million Berry. I remember Don Chinjao only had a little over 500 million!"
On the deck, Mangu, Robin, and the other cadres gathered together, searching through their respective wanted posters with great interest.
Some found their own wanted posters and were delighted to see that their bounties had increased.
Others could not find theirs and suspected that their bounties had not been raised, leaving them somewhat disappointed.
These wanted posters had not been delivered by News Coo. Instead, they had been found aboard a pirate ship they had just plundered.
It seemed that the pirates aboard that ship had a peculiar hobby of collecting wanted posters, as they had gathered a large number of them.
When the crew member responsible for searching the ship found the wanted posters, he noticed that they included members of their own pirate crew and that the bounty amounts had changed. He immediately brought them back.
After searching through them, the wanted posters belonging to members of the War Pirates were placed separately across the deck, lined up so everyone could see them clearly.
"500 million Berry. Marine seems to be paying more and more attention to me."
Kaito stood among the crowd with his arms folded. When he saw his own wanted poster, he couldn't help but chuckle.
These bounties should have been newly issued after he entered the Grand Line.
And judging from the wanted posters they had found, it was not difficult to see that both Kaito and the rest of the Pirates had received increases in their bounty amounts.
Kaito was not surprised by this change.
After all, he had accomplished quite a lot since entering the Grand Line.
Take the Drum Kingdom, for example.
Like the former San Lorenzo Kingdom, this country was also a member of the World Government.
The World Government might not know about his seizure of the Munch-Munch Fruit, but there was no way they could remain unaware of the fact that he had led the pirates in attacking the country and even killed its king, Wapol.
Then there was Alabasta.
His theft of the Devil's Coffin and the Poneglyph might have gone unnoticed, but his journey to Rainbase to capture Klocke Dahl and the others had certainly not been hidden.
Klocke Dahl had built a reputation as a hero in order to prepare for his plan to seize the country. Before his conspiracy was exposed, however, there was no difference between him and a genuine hero in the eyes of the people.
In other words, Kaito had captured Klocke Dahl, and to the people of Alabasta, he had undoubtedly taken away their hero.
There was naturally no way they would have no reaction to that.
'However, the increase in my bounty should also have something to do with my battle against Kuzan.'
Kaito thought back to his fight with Kuzan in the East Blue.
Although he had been at a disadvantage during that battle, Kuzan had also been unable to truly do anything to him.
With such a result, as long as Kuzan reported the details of their battle, it would be impossible for Marine and the World Government to ignore his existence.
The new wanted posters were merely a small episode.
Although Robin and the others discussed them with considerable enthusiasm, they did not truly occupy everyone's attention for long.
Before long, everyone returned to their individual training.
It had to be said that ever since Kaito introduced the Great Martial Arts Tournament system, the atmosphere of cultivation within the Pirates had become much more intense.
Although Kaito had yet to announce when the next Great Martial Arts Tournament would be held, that did not stop everyone in the Pirates from working hard.
Those who wanted to protect their current positions were afraid of being overtaken by the people below them, and they even wanted to climb higher.
As for those who had fallen behind, they were even more eager to regain their former positions.
Therefore, aside from the time spent plundering, almost everyone in the pirate crew was training relentlessly.
Some trained their Haki.
Some practiced the Eight-Impact Fist.
Some trained in swordsmanship.
Others focused on developing their Devil Fruit abilities.
As the captain, Kaito was also part of this cultivation frenzy.
After becoming a Devil Fruit user, he could no longer train his physical body by dragging ships and swimming, but that did not affect the other aspects of his training.
Moreover, it was not as if he had no other ways to improve his physical strength.
Therefore, his rate of growth remained the fastest among the entire pirate crew.
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