Ten minutes later, the battle was over.
Three were dead. Eight were captured alive—among them the captain Arlong and officers like Hachi.
"Sir, we found a little girl with the Arlong Pirates' tattoo on her shoulder," a Marine reported.
Karl crooked a finger. "Bring her here."
"That's her—Nami! She's Nami, big brother!" Nojiko tugged anxiously at Karl's cloak to remind him.
"Haha, relax," Karl replied calmly.
Nami was soon brought over. Nojiko rushed forward and hugged her tightly, tears streaming down her face.
"Nami, we're saved! You don't have to work for those bad guys anymore!"
"Yes, sister—we're saved!" Nami cried back.
Karl glanced at the tattoo on Nami's shoulder, scratched his head, and instantly formed a soft white glow in his palm. He pressed it gently against Nami's body.
"Huh?" Nojiko blinked. "Nami, look—your tattoo is gone!"
"Let me see! Wow!"
Nami stared at her restored shoulder, laughing through tears. With that mark gone, she would no longer have to endure the stares and fear of others.
"Karl, this is the evidence of the transactions between the Arlong Pirates and Captain Nezumi," Smoker reported.
"Excellent," Karl said. "Now we can go straight to the 16th Branch and make the arrest."
Smoker nodded, then glanced at the two little girls clinging to each other. "Those kids are…?"
"Don't worry about them," Karl replied. "Mission accomplished. Let's move."
"Wait!"
Karl turned back. Nami stood there, petite and resolute.
"Is there something else, little Nami?"
Nami shook her head, then spoke earnestly. "Thank you… thank you for saving our village!"
Karl smiled lightly. "No need to thank us. We're Marines."
Nami froze. By the time she snapped out of it, the Marines were already gone.
Cocoyashi Village – Shoreline
Karl declined Genzo's invitation to stay for a meal and left the village.
After all, they were Marines—there was no tradition of throwing banquets just because they helped out. Besides, their main objective here was to collect evidence of Nezumi's corruption. Dealing with the Arlong Pirates had merely been incidental.
Even Nami, a future key figure of the protagonist's crew, didn't particularly concern Karl. She was just a little girl with some talent for navigation—useful perhaps, but not essential to him.
In short: no inappropriate thoughts allowed. That way lay prison.
Inside the Cabin
Smoker flipped through the transaction records between Arlong and Captain Nezumi, his face dark with anger.
"That bastard—he sold out everything for just 10 million Beli. How poor does he have to be?"
Karl chuckled. "Ten million is already a lot. On his salary alone, he'd need more than ten years to earn that."
Truth be told, Karl himself only earned about one million Beli per month. The benefits were good—food, lodging, authority, transportation—so it was more than enough for daily life.
But Marines didn't rely solely on salary.
The real money came from bonuses.
And where did bonuses come from?
Pirates.
Whenever a pirate with a bounty was captured, Headquarters awarded one-third of the bounty as a bonus to the commanding officers, as encouragement.
When Karl first joined the Marines, he couldn't understand what the point of bounties was.
To encourage bounty hunters?
To make pirates compete with each other?
Only gradually did he understand.
A bounty was, at its core, a promise that great reward follows great risk.
By placing bounties, the Marines were effectively calling on righteous individuals across the world to join the fight against pirates. Pirates who dared to loot and kill would inevitably draw the wrath of those willing to challenge them—for pay.
For the Marines, the most important function of a bounty was assessment.
It allowed Marines encountering pirates to roughly judge their strength and decide whether to engage, retreat, or call for backup.
Imagine a regular Marine soldier encountering a pirate with no listed bounty—just a notice that said "This person is a pirate."
The soldier would have no idea how strong the enemy was, what kind of backing they had, or whether charging in would mean instant death.
But retreating out of fear—only to find out later that the pirate was a nobody—would be humiliating.
Bounties solved that problem.
Then there was incentive.
The more pirates you captured, the more bonuses you earned—and the faster you got promoted.
Even though officers only received one-third of the bounty, ships, manpower, logistics, and compensation for fallen soldiers all cost money. One-third was already generous—far better than nothing.
During the period Karl rose from Major to Rear Admiral, he earned over 200 million Beli purely from bounty bonuses—more than ten years of his base salary.
For the strong, money came easily.
But for someone like Captain Nezumi, earning ten million without corruption would have been nearly impossible.
For pirates, a bounty was both recognition and a death sentence.
Unless you reached the level of a Yonko, you were doomed to endless pursuit—by Marines and bounty hunters alike.
Even Gol D. Roger had been chased across the seas by Garp in his prime. After becoming Pirate King, challengers flocked to him in droves.
That said, bounties undeniably fueled unhealthy competition among pirates—some committed crimes purely to raise their bounty and gain fame.
As for bounty hunters, Karl had no strong opinion.
They helped deal with minor pirates, letting the Marines focus on bigger threats.
Useful—but only a little.
Cocoyashi Village – Later
Nami and Nojiko stood together before Belle-mere's grave, quietly sobbing.
After a long while, the two girls finally gathered themselves.
"If only big brother Karl and the others had come sooner…" Nami whispered.
Nojiko wiped the tears from her eyes and looked straight at her sister.
"Nami, don't say that. What's past is past."
"…You're right. From today on, I'll work even harder—to become an excellent navigator!"
Nojiko smiled softly. She had no talent for mapmaking. All she wanted was to inherit Belle-mere's role and protect their orange grove.
"Do your best, Nami! Maybe one day, you'll even become a Marine."
Nami nodded silently. She placed flowers before Belle-mere's gravestone, then left hand-in-hand with Nojiko.
After the two girls departed, Genzo stepped out from the grass and stood before Belle-mere's grave.
"…Sigh."
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