Red, who was sitting upright in his chair, wore a confident expression as he spoke to Vivi.
"My second plan is actually very simple!!!"
"That is—we'll step forward ourselves, defeat Crocodile head-on, and drive him out of the Kingdom of Alabasta!!!"
"You all…"
Vivi lifted her head once more. She didn't say anything, but the look in her eyes said it all.
Even though she had already been completely won over by Red, who seemed to know everything, Crocodile was still one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea under the World Government!!!
If he were truly that easy to defeat, he would never have risen to his current position.
But as if he had anticipated Vivi's doubts, Red suddenly broke into a wide grin.
Snap!
He casually snapped his fingers and said with a smile,
"Nami, help me grab today's newspaper. It's in my little cabin outside."
"Huh? Today's paper is already here?!"
Nami let out a surprised sound, then immediately dashed off with her light, nimble steps.
Normally, buying the newspaper every day was Nami's responsibility.
After all, she was the only one aboard the Going Merry who had the habit of reading the news regularly.
Even Red only looked at it occasionally.
Perhaps the News Coos of the Grand Line weren't the same ones that delivered papers in the East Blue, and didn't know their ship's habits. Instead of handing it to Nami, they had delivered today's paper straight into Red's hands at the stern.
Before long, Nami returned from outside, holding a brand-new newspaper.
But compared to before, there was now a strange gleam in her eyes.
Seeing this, Red smiled faintly.
"Looks like you've already read it, Nami."
"Yeah."
Nami curved her lips slightly upward, then spread today's newspaper out in front of Vivi.
As she did, several bounty posters slipped out from between the pages.
Not many, not few—exactly three!
"These are!?"
Seeing this, Vivi, Smoker, and everyone else in the Straw Hat crew all revealed looks of curiosity.
Vivi carefully laid the bounty posters out one by one.
In an instant—
The faces of the Straw Hat Pirates' three main combatants appeared before everyone's eyes.
In photographic form…
Usopp cried out in surprise,
"They're Luffy and Zoro's bounty posters!!!"
"What?! I've got a bounty too?!"
Hearing that, Zoro leaned in—and immediately saw his own photo printed clearly on the poster.
In the picture, he was wearing his dark green bandana, his eyes fierce and savage, glaring disdainfully at the camera while assuming his Three Sword Style stance in midair.
It was hard to imagine what kind of mental state the photographer had been in to capture a shot like that.
Sanji's bounty poster was just as striking. It used an image of him unleashing that Diable Jambe kick infused with the power of Hyper Beam.
The blazing wind pressure carried flames as it stirred his golden hair, casting a fiery passion across his face.
As for Luffy, his photo hadn't been updated.
But since a new bounty poster had been issued, it naturally meant that his bounty had increased.
And judging from the shocked expressions on Vivi's and Smoker's faces, it was clear just how terrifying those numbers were.
Smoker abruptly grabbed the three bounty posters and repeatedly compared them to Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji themselves.
"This… this is impossible?!"
Unbelief filled his face.
Red, meanwhile, calmly nodded and reminded him,
"Take a look at today's newspaper, Colonel Smoker."
"Just… don't get too angry."
Clatter—
Smoker dropped the bounty posters at once and hurriedly snatched up the newspaper on the table.
On the very front page was a massive photo of the Going Merry riding the waves, proudly sailing away amid the wreckage of countless Marine warships.
This time, to emphasize the danger level of the Straw Hat Pirates, the Marines had truthfully reported the entire incident in the paper.
Naturally, it also recorded in detail how Luffy and the others had destroyed dozens of Marine warships in a single strike.
Only at this moment did Smoker finally realize just how colossal a mistake he had made!
Nearly a hundred warships—completely annihilated under his command…
And now this defeated Marine officer was actually living and eating aboard a pirate ship, chatting with them in high spirits!!!
"Straw Hat crew!!!"
In the next instant, Smoker let out a furious roar.
"White Blow!"
This time, he didn't hesitate in the slightest. He swung his arm and launched an attack straight at the Straw Hats.
But just then—
Clang!
The Sandai Kitetsu, coated in jet-black Armament Haki, suddenly appeared before him, blocking his elementalized fist dead in its tracks.
Zoro grinned.
"Watch your status, Marine."
"You're still our prisoner right now."
A terrifying surge of power erupted from Zoro's arm, effortlessly suppressing Smoker.
A blade flashed like lightning.
Zoro struck Smoker away with the back of his sword, sending him crashing into the wall of the restaurant.
Seeing this, Sanji frowned.
"Seriously! The kitchen isn't a place for you idiots to fight!"
"Be careful not to break my cookware, damn it!"
"Heh."
Zoro sheathed his sword and turned back with a teasing grin.
"If you're that scared, hurry up and train your Armament Haki to protect them, will you? 77 million Beli!!!"
Ever since "Number Six," Sanji had successfully gained yet another brand-new title from Zoro—
"77 Million Beli"!
And that was precisely the bounty amount written on Sanji's poster.
[Bounty Poster][Wanted: Sanji][Bounty: 77,000,000 Beli][Dead or Alive]
"You bastard!!!"
Sanji instantly exploded with rage. He slammed Zoro's bounty poster onto the table and pointed at the number 79,500,000 Beli, shouting:
"It's just 2.5 million more than me, isn't it?!"
"What are you so smug about?!"
"Believe it or not, my bounty will pass yours in no time?!"
"Oh?" Zoro sneered. "Some people are only good with their mouths—and still haven't mastered Armament Haki yet."
"You bastard—!!!!"
Sanji roared. "I've already grasped the key to Armament Haki!!!"
"In just a few days, my Armament Haki will be even stronger than yours!!!"
"Just you wait!!!"
A certain wise tree once said: what makes people angry most often isn't lies—but the truth.
With a single word, "Armament Haki," Zoro had perfectly seized Sanji's weak point.
After claiming the upper hand, Zoro wisely chose to retreat, waving his hand with his back turned.
"Come back and talk when you can actually do it."
"Hcgh—!"
At that moment, the Smoker who had been sent flying earlier coughed painfully, interrupting their argument.
The next second, he quickly raised his head and stared at Zoro, deep fear hidden in his eyes.
"This can't be right!" Smoker shouted incredulously."Why has your Armament Haki suddenly become this strong?!"
Just yesterday, he had clearly seen Zoro only barely able to coat his blade with Armament Haki.
But just now, before Smoker even finished his attack, Zoro hadn't drawn his sword at all—yet he'd completed the coating instantly!
This rate of improvement…
Smoker had never heard of anything like it in the entire history of Marine training!
Hearing this, Zoro struck a proud, arrogant pose. He first exchanged a glance with Red, then turned back to Smoker.
"That's our crew's secret."
"Marine—you've overstepped."
As for why Zoro had improved so dramatically overnight—
It was, of course, because Red had taken him into the Pokémon world the previous night to slaughter Team Rocket members nonstop, including one of their executives and even their boss, Giovanni.
After that battle, Red had finally cleared the notoriously troublesome Team Rocket base storyline.
And Zoro, supping on an enormous amount of experience, had successfully reached Level 44, his strength rising by another huge margin!
…
…
Meanwhile.
While Zoro, Sanji, and Smoker were arguing loudly, Usopp picked up Luffy's bounty poster and set it on the table.
Then he said in shock,
"180 million Beli?!"
"At this point, Luffy, you've officially become someone the Marines and the World Government can't ignore anymore!"
"Hehehe~!"
Seeing his brand-new bounty, Luffy immediately burst into a wide grin, excitement gleaming in his eyes.
"That's great! That means more and more strong guys will come looking to fight us, right?!"
Beside him, Nami looked at Luffy, then at the arguing Zoro and Sanji, and suddenly laughed.
"From now on…"
"I'm a woman who has 300 million Beli with her at all times."
(End of Chapter)