Chapter 80: Bounty Increase
"Wasn't it that noble who provoked him first?"
Garp spoke calmly.
"No matter what the reason, he still shouldn't have killed a World Noble," Sengoku said gravely.
"Sengoku's right," Zephyr agreed with a nod.
"There's no point arguing about it now. The problem is that his growth rate is far too fast. There's a giant on his crew with immense strength, and a sea beast that's both swift and heavily armored.
Most importantly, the Demon Child, Nico Robin, is with them," Kong said in a low voice.
"So… you want us to capture them ourselves?"
"Wouldn't it be overkill for us to personally go after some kid?" Zephyr asked doubtfully.
"Send Kuzan. His abilities are perfect for dealing with sea creatures," Sengoku suggested.
"Should we raise Summoner Ze's bounty?"
"Increase it by twenty million. Raise the others' as well."
"Hmm…"
——
Two days later.
"Captain! Captain! Our bounties went up!"
Onboard the Dragon Flame Pirates' ship, Camon's excited shout rang out.
"What about ours?"
Aisha and Buck scrambled to their feet and ran over to him.
"Yes, everyone's got one."
Camon pulled out two wanted posters—each bore their portraits.
Both of them had bounties of two million berries.
Pretty low.
But the lowest wasn't even theirs—it was the little gorilla, at fifty berries.
No one knew how the Marines even found out their names, or the gorilla's, much less bothered to issue a bounty for it.
Even Ba wang had one—three million.
Camon's own bounty was also three million.
Raptorex's had shot up to ninety million, while Robin's reached eighty million.
The Mosasaur's bounty was one hundred million.
And, naturally, the highest belonged to Jiang Qize—one hundred and twenty million.
"Hahaha! We're wanted now, honey!"
Buck laughed like a fool, a burly man spinning his wife around in circles.
Ba wang glanced at them, shook his head slightly, and went back to reading his book titled The Structure of Ships.
Jiang Qize came out, gave them a quick look, took the wanted posters from Camon, glanced at them, and shook his head.
"You're this happy over such small bounties? From now on, if any of you can't reach at least five hundred million, don't bother calling yourselves members of the Dragon Flame Pirates."
"Uh…"
His words instantly shattered their joy.
"Captain, five hundred million—isn't that a bit much?" Buck muttered quietly.
"Too much? Whitebeard's bounty is five billion… and his First Division Commander's is over one billion. You're members of the Dragon Flame Pirates. Hitting five hundred million is hardly too much to ask."
Jiang Qize's tone was calm.
He was referring to the bounties from the future—but five hundred million really wasn't that high.
If he wanted to, he could destroy two Marine bases and hit that number easily. Or kill a Celestial Dragon and surpass it without trying.
"It's not too much! We can do it! One day, we'll be stronger than them!" Camon shouted passionately.
"Mm-hmm! Camon's right!" Little Robin nodded vigorously, looking every bit the sycophant.
"We'll definitely have even higher bounties in the future!" Aisha declared, clutching her husband's arm.
"Keep it up. How long until we reach Alabasta?"
Jiang Qize turned to Camon.
"Captain, about seven days left," Camon said after checking the map.
"Alright."
Jiang Qize nodded, then turned and went back into his cabin.
——
Out at sea, a lone figure pedaled a bicycle across the water—wherever the tires rolled, the surface instantly froze into a trail of ice.
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