With such high bounties, all the Straw Hat members couldn't help but get excited. Now, the Straw Hats were truly recognized as one of the Five Emperors, with no one able to criticize them for having low bounties.
On the sea, a pirate's bounty is their face. The higher the bounty, the more respect they earn and, generally, the stronger they are. Any previous criticism of the Straw Hats' bounties was now gone for good.
Tashigi finally understood why the pirates were so happy about their bounties increasing. But she didn't like it one bit, especially the title of "Marine Traitor." It made her feel incredibly uncomfortable because she still held the justice of the Marines close to her heart.
"Damn it! Why am I lower than that damn moss head again?" Sanji fumed. "That makes no sense!"
Zoro just smirked. "It's simple. The Marines have good eyes and know that you're not as good as me. The only reason your bounty is so high is that your Devil Fruit is worth 500 million berries all on its own."
"What did you just say, you stupid moss head?" Sanji shouted.
"I said your only value comes from your fruit," Zoro taunted. "Your strength is completely mediocre!"
The two of them immediately started bickering, which was a normal occurrence for the crew.
Usopp held his bounty poster with a smug expression, putting on the air of a true master. He was clearly very pleased with himself. Not many members of the crew had a bounty over 100 million, but now he was one of them.
Nami, on the other hand, was frowning, looking like a sour lemon. She wasn't happy about her bounty being so high.
Marie looked at Robin's bounty poster. "Sister Robin, you're amazing! Your bounty reached 200 million. That's way higher than a lot of the Supernovas!"
Robin laughed softly, covering her mouth. "Hehe, it seems I'm quite a bit stronger than those Supernovas."
Little 3 cut in. "Marie, you can't compare the Supernovas to Miss Robin. We're the crew of a Five Emperor! It's only natural for our cadres to have bounties this high. Besides, Miss Robin took down a giant Vice Admiral with that massive Tempest Kick. That kind of strength has to make the Marines scared!"
Marie nodded in agreement, silently eating her cookies. Robin's performance at Marineford was indeed incredibly impressive. Although the strength of the Vice Admirals varied, even the weakest of them was a powerful fighter.
For Robin to kill a giant Vice Admiral with a single Tempest Kick was an astonishing feat. Of course the Marines would have to give her such a high bounty.
The others had also performed exceptionally well. Zoro and Sanji each defeated a powerful Headquarters Vice Admiral, while Usopp, Little 3, Franky, Nami, Lili, and Marie all defeated a Headquarters Rear Admiral.
On top of that, the Straw Hats killed four Pacifistas by themselves. This kind of performance demanded the Marines' attention.
Everyone then turned their focus to the bounties of Luffy and Ikki. With a bounty of 2.5 billion and 2.3 billion respectively, this was the first time a single pirate crew had two members with bounties over 2 billion. It was a terrifying thought.
"Check this out," Robin said, spreading out the extra newspapers. "The paper says the Straw Hats have 'double kings.'" Everyone gathered around, finding the headline incredible.
This page actually ranked the current great pirates. Before, there were only the Four Emperors, but now it listed Straw Hat Luffy as the Fifth Emperor, Ikki as the Sixth Emperor, and Blackbeard as the Seventh Emperor.
What's more, the reasoning was sound. Straw Hat Luffy had gone toe-to-toe with Big Mom Charlotte Linlin and fought evenly with Marine Admiral Kizaru at Marineford. His title of Fifth Emperor wasn't just for show.
Ikki, the Lightning Great Swordsman, had fought Garp and Akainu evenly during the Summit War, so it was only natural for him to be called the Sixth Emperor.
As for Blackbeard Marshall D. Teach, he was the only person with three Devil Fruit powers on the sea, and his strength was truly immense. It wasn't an exaggeration to rank him as a Seventh Emperor.
As soon as this ranking was released, it caused a massive uproar. While many people thought it was nonsense, even more believed it was completely valid. In terms of pure strength, the ranking of the Seven Emperors was well-founded, making the sea a much more lively, and confusing, place.
Ikki looked at the end of the article, and saw the author's name: Morgans. "As expected of the News King," he thought. This guy had always been fearless and would publish any news he wanted, regardless of what the World Government or Marines thought. Who could stop him from publishing this Seven Emperors ranking?
The fact that the newspapers were already sold out proved that the ranking had caused a huge sensation. "That guy is something else," Ikki said to himself, a bit impressed.
Morgans reminded him of the fans from his past life who loved making these types of power rankings. It was easy to put together, and it didn't seem like total nonsense.
He only wished Morgans had been more daring. Ikki remembered that in his past life, some people had even ranked a fifteenth emperor, which was truly outrageous.
The newspapers also listed the bounties of other pirates. Blackbeard's bounty had been raised to 2.8 billion berries, and his crew members also had high bounties, justifying his place as the Seventh Emperor. Ace's bounty was now 1.6 billion.
As the son of Roger, the Marines had not given up on their plan to eliminate him. Sabo was also listed as a dangerous criminal, with a bounty of 1.5 billion berries. Many other people's bounties had been raised as well, but the Straw Hats weren't familiar with them, so they didn't pay them much mind.
Ikki couldn't help but feel that the Marines' efficiency was truly high this time, likely fearing that Morgans would take advantage of the chaos and cause an even worse public panic. But Marine Headquarters had been destroyed. Where were the Marines now? Maybe a new base in the New World?
At that same time, in the ruins of Marineford, Fleet Admiral Sengoku sat on a large rock. He looked at the few remaining pieces of the island, feeling a sense of infinite sadness. After this battle, not only had they failed in their mission, but their headquarters had also been destroyed. It was a truly heavy loss.
Despite everything, Sengoku didn't regret his decision to start this war. He believed that Roger's bloodline had to be publicly executed to strike a blow against the momentum of the pirates.
Eliminating the Whitebeard Pirates would completely demoralize the rest of the pirates, and the Marines would truly become the ultimate power on the seas. But it had all failed. Now, Sengoku was ready to take full responsibility and finally retire.
A Marine sailor ran over and handed Sengoku a document. Sengoku took a look, and immediately started cursing.
"How could this be possible? So many prisoners escaped from Impel Down! The public should be warned to take precautions! But the World Government chose to hide this matter to save face. How can they make such an absurd decision? Do they not care about the lives of the people?"
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