Chapter 24 Luffy Becomes Navy Commodore, Bounty VanishesSanji's heart melted instantly: "No! Absolutely not! Even if you specifically asked me to make it for him, I won't be angry at all!"
Usopp, watching from the side, drooled: "Sanji, I want to drink that too!"
Sanji's expression immediately changed, turning away with a disdainful look and spitting out: "If you want it, go make it yourself!"
Usopp's lips twitched: "..."
Damn! This hypocritical simp!
Luffy leaped onto the goat's head of the Going Merry, feeling the sea breeze blowing in his face, happily sipping the shaved ice Sanji had made, looking utterly content.
Just then, a newsbird swooped down from the sky, landing squarely on the Going Merry's deck railing.
Usopp's eyes lit up as he pointed at the large bird and exclaimed, "Wow, what a fat seabird! Can we catch it and roast it?"
Nami punched him on the head. "Idiot, that's a newsbird, it sells newspapers! Do you want to be blind for the rest of the voyage?"
"Oh, I see?" Usopp rubbed his head and got up, only then noticing the newspaper bundle and hat hanging around the bird's neck. "What an amazing creature! Going to sea to broaden my horizons was definitely the right thing to do!"
"Give me the latest newspaper," Nami said, holding out her hand to the newsbird.
The newsbird arrogantly gestured "100 Berries" with its wings.
Nami frowned immediately, her face full of disdain. "What? Another price increase? Is this newspaper printed in gold?"
Despite her complaints, Nami reluctantly stuffed coins into the Newsbird's coin pouch and pulled out a newspaper. "If you dare raise prices again, I'm not buying it!"
The Newsbird scratched its head with its wing, speechless. In all its years delivering newspapers, it had never seen such a stingy woman.
"It's just a newspaper, is it really necessary to be so fussy?"
Usopp, fiddling with the pile of bottles and jars in his hands, retorted without turning around.
Nami looked at her group of spendthrift sons with exasperation: "You guys have absolutely no idea how to manage a household! If you keep spending like this every day, even mountains of gold and silver will be gone. Luffy's meager salary isn't even enough to fill his own teeth."
"Didn't you say you didn't need to save that 100 million Berries to redeem the village? Why are you still so obsessed with money?"
Usopp asked, looking surprised.
Nami glanced at Usopp with disdain: "What nonsense are you talking about? I left all 100 million Berries I saved in the village for reconstruction. We're truly penniless now."
"Plus, you bunch of gluttons who only know how to eat, I can't even scrape together enough money to buy a new outfit! Luckily, we still have the bounties from those two fish-man executives to tide us over for a while."
"I'll have Zoro collect those fish-man executives' bounties later."
Usopp carefully poured a bottle of special chili concentrate into a marble, muttering, "If the enemy gets hit by this, they're doomed! This is my ultimate move—Special Chili Star!"
"What!? How is this possible?!"
Suddenly, Nami let out a piercing scream.
Usopp, who was focused on pouring the chili water, was startled and his hand trembled, splashing the entire bottle of highly concentrated chili water onto his face, even getting it into his eyes.
Usopp froze instantly: "..."
The next second, a pig-like scream rang out: "Ah!!! Water!!! My eyes are on fire!!!"
Usopp, clutching his eyes, ran around the deck like a headless fly.
Zoro, awakened by the noise, looked at Nami in surprise: "What happened?"
Sanji, transformed into a knight, who had been guarding the orange tree on the second floor, jumped down upon hearing Nami's scream: "Who? Who frightened our beloved Nami?!"
Usopp cried bitterly: "Water! Give me water! You bastard! I'm going blind!"
Sanji, annoyed by the noise, kicked Usopp into the sea: "Want water, huh? There's plenty outside the ship, take your fill!"
Usopp's mournful cry echoed from the sea: "Glug...you heartless bastard!!"
Everyone turned their attention back to Nami, who now wore a terrified expression, trembling as she turned the newspaper over to show everyone.
A photo of Luffy, wielding the giant sword Samehada, standing atop a giant wave like a sea god descending to earth, was prominently displayed on the front page of the newspaper.
The eye-catching headline read:
"New Marine Supernova Monkey D. Luffy, Single-handedly Slays the Arlong Pirates, Liberating Over Twenty Suffering Villages and Towns, Promoted to Rear Admiral of Marine Headquarters Immediately!"
Nami pointed at the newspaper, wailing heartbrokenly, "It's over! Those two fish-man officers' bounties are gone..."
Everyone was speechless: "..."
"Your focus is on money!?"
It turned out that Rear Admiral Pudding, in order to promote Luffy, had reported the entire process of slaying the Arlong Pirates to Marine Headquarters.
Luffy and his crew's plan to exploit a bug to earn money was directly ruined, and naturally, the bounties for the two fish-man officers wouldn't be paid to Luffy, a Marine.
This made things even worse for the already financially strapped Straw Hat crew.
Fortunately, the villagers of Cocoyasi Village donated a considerable amount of supplies, enough to last Luffy until his next paycheck.
Meanwhile, at Marineford, Marine Headquarters...
Garp, holding the newspaper, grinned from ear to ear, showing off to Fleet Admiral Sengoku.
"See that! See that! That's my grandson! Commodore! We told you to promote him before, but you wouldn't. Now the World Government has given him a special promotion! Hahaha!"
Sengoku's forehead veins bulged as he roared at Garp, "You old bastard, haven't you had enough?! Three whole days! You've been showing off in front of me with this newspaper for three days! Don't you have any missions to do?"
Garp picked his nose with a look of disgust and snapped his fingers. "Only three days. I was planning to laugh at you for another three months."
Heaven knows how Garp has endured all these years; he's suffered terribly.
His son ran off to become the leader of the Revolutionary Army, opposing the World Government; one of his grandsons was the son of the Pirate King Roger, and the other was tricked by Shanks into eating the Human-Human Fruit, Nikka form.
As a hero who saved countless Celestial Dragons at God Valley, Garp knew the true nature of the Gum-Gum Fruit perfectly well.
Therefore, he relentlessly trained Ace and Luffy from a young age, hoping they would become Marines.
Ultimately, whether it's Joy Boy joining the Navy or the reformed posthumous son of the Pirate King, this kind of "recruitment" has a far greater positive impact on the world than outright execution.
Imagine executing the Pirate King's son versus having him join the Navy to uphold justice—even a fool would know which option is more beneficial to the World Government's rule.
Even the Pirate King's own son disdained searching for the so-called One Piece, which indirectly proves that ONE PIECE might be a hoax.
This would be a hundred times more devastating to the Great Pirate Era than simply executing Ace.
As for the Gum-Gum Fruit, it's of paramount importance. The World Government has tried every means to control it for eight hundred years, but has failed every time.
How to control it?
It certainly wouldn't be finding the fruit and locking it in a safe, but rather turning those who eat it into allies. But this thing seems to have its own will; those who eat it all end up as rebels.
This is why the Five Elders say the Gum-Gum Fruit is deliberately trying to escape the World Government.
How could an ordinary inanimate object be described with the word "escape"?
Now, Luffy, as a user of the Nika Fruit, has actually volunteered to join the Marines and is actively fighting pirates—it's like a windfall!
The Five Elders were ecstatic when they received the news; this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to master the Nika Fruit.
So, as soon as Luffy's achievements were reported, they immediately promoted him to Commodore.
Otherwise, just because he defeated Arlong, who had a bounty of 20 million Berries, he thought he could become a Commodore? Dream on!
You have to understand that the level of a Commodore in the Marines is comprised of formidable individuals proficient in both types of Haki.
A small pirate with a bounty of 20 million Berries is no different from an ant in their eyes.
Luffy's rapid rise is purely due to his Devil Fruit ability and his status as Garp's grandson.
Seeing Garp's smug, self-satisfied face, Sengoku wanted to curse a thousand times. He snatched the senbei from Garp's hand and shoved it into his mouth in a fit of rage.
"Aaaaah! That's my senbei! Sengoku, you old scoundrel! I'm going to drink all your treasured tea leaves to get revenge!"
The document sheep next to him chimed in, "Baa!"
The two old men, whose combined age was over a hundred, were actually playing around like children in the Marshal's office.
The messenger outside the door had his lips twitching wildly, but finally decided that for his own safety, he would report back later.
Meanwhile, in the conference room on the other side, the three generals and a group of lieutenant generals were discussing this suddenly appearing young brigadier general.
"He just defeated a nobody. Even if his strength surpasses the branch level, isn't promoting him directly to Commodore of the headquarters a bit too frivolous?"
"Exactly! We old subordinates who fought tooth and nail on the Grand Line haven't even received a promotion yet."
"Could it be because of Vice Admiral Garp?"
"If that's the case, it makes sense."
A group of rear admirals whispered among themselves. At their rank, they had no access to the core secrets behind Luffy's promotion.
Not to mention them, even the three admirals were completely baffled. Even if they valued Garp's reputation, the World Government didn't need to go to such lengths.
Kizaru leisurely sipped his hot tea, his tone languid: "Wow~ these young people these days are terrifying. Only sixteen, right? And he's already a Commodore. Truly a force to be reckoned with."
Aokiji pulled down his eyepatch, leaning back lazily in his chair: "Well, forget it, thinking about it too much is too tiring. Overall, he did a decent job, though. It's just that this kid was pretty ruthless towards those Marine scum."
Clearly, Aokiji was referring to Luffy's direct takedown of Colonel Rat of the 16th Branch.
Akainu, standing nearby, looked at the report in his hand, a rare hint of admiration on his face: "Hmph! For a Marine to collude with pirates and tarnish the name of justice—this kind of trash deserves to die! I think he did absolutely nothing wrong. If it were me, I'd burn those scum to ashes!"
Akainu believed in absolute justice and couldn't tolerate parasites like Colonel Rat in Marine uniform.
Aokiji and Kizaru glanced at Akainu with a knowing look; it seemed Garp's style of doing things was surprisingly to Akainu's liking.
"Let's issue an announcement. Schedule for Luffy to report to Marine Headquarters in a month."
Akainu turned to the recorder beside him and instructed.
"Next, let's discuss the recent unrest in Alabasta."
...
Somewhere in the Grand Line, on a vibrant spring island.
"Hey, everyone, look at the sea!"
A pirate on lookout suddenly pointed into the distance and exclaimed in surprise. Several strange green flames had appeared on the sea.
Another pirate quickly raised his binoculars to examine it closely: "W-what the hell is that!?"
"It's Hawkeye Mihawk! Go report to the boss!"
The other pirates instantly erupted in chaos, drawing their weapons and nervously surrounding the small, coffin-like boat, looking at it with dread. "Hawkeye! What are you doing here?"
"Quiet. I have no interest in you small fry. Where are your officers?"
Hawkeye didn't even glance at them, his gaze piercing through the crowd and sinking into the depths of the island's forest.
"Camping on this remote island, you guys are living quite the leisurely life."
Deep in the forest, a group of pirates lay sprawled on the ground. Anyone who didn't know better would think a massacre had just taken place, but they were simply drunk.
A henchman, panting, ran to a pirate officer. "Boss! Huff... Hawkeye's here!"
However, before he could finish speaking, he felt a chill run down his spine. Hawkeye was already standing behind him.
The leader, Shanks, head bowed, clutching his hangover-stricken head, his voice low and menacing: "Hawkeye? What a rare guest. My head's throbbing. Are you here to duel me?"
Hawkeye glanced disdainfully at Shanks' empty left sleeve: "I have no interest in dueling a cripple like you. I'm pursuing the highest realm of swordsmanship: no sword in hand, no sword in heart!"
Shanks was utterly bewildered: "???"
If you don't have a sword in your heart, what kind of swordsman are you?!
"Then what are you doing all this way?"
Shanks looked up, staring at his old friend with surprise.
Hawkeye's ethereal, almost mystical tone made him frown.
Hawkeye pulled a crumpled newspaper from his pocket and said casually to Shanks, "I'm here to inform you that your gamble on the new era seems to have backfired. That interesting brat you mentioned might become your greatest enemy in the future."
Hearing the news about Luffy, the previously listless Red-Haired Pirates crew instantly perked up.
A picture of Luffy riding the waves was shoved right in front of them.
Shanks stared blankly at the photo of Luffy in his "Justice" cape, his brain overloaded, unable to process it.
Laki Lucky, the fat guy who was gnawing on a chicken leg, dropped the meat with a "smack" and then burst into deafening laughter: "Pfft, hahaha! Boss, that kid Luffy actually went to join the Marines and even became a Commodore!"
The previously somber atmosphere was instantly shattered, and the Red-Haired Pirates launched into a chorus of mockery.
"Haha, boss, you miscalculated! Luffy didn't become a pirate, he's become a Marine chasing pirates instead!"
"I really want to see him chasing you all over the world!"
"He's still wearing that straw hat you gave him, isn't he? So ironic!"
"Does this mean you've personally nurtured a future Marine Admiral?"
"I'm dying of laughter, this plot twist is hilarious!"
Shanhaired shook his still somewhat dazed head, waving his hand dismissively at his crew: "Go away, all of you, stop gloating."
Then he looked at Hawkeye, a hint of excitement appearing on his face: "In that case, Hawkeye, I can't let you go back empty-handed!"
Hawkeye frowned, but before he could refuse, a large barrel of rum was shoved in front of him.
Red-Haired Shanks, his face flushed, enthusiastically waved to Hawkeye, "Since there's good news, Mihawk, we absolutely have to have a celebration today!"
Hawkeye looked at the wine glass in his hand, then at Shanks, who was clearly still hungover, and felt a headache coming on. "Are you still drunk?"
"Don't worry about the details! This is for celebration! Come on, drink!"
Watching Hawkeye reluctantly down a barrel of sake in one gulp, Red-Haired Shanks excitedly slapped his thigh and laughed heartily.
"Very good, very good, that's right!"
"But boss, didn't you just say you had a headache?"
"You don't know anything! How can we not drink on such a joyous occasion? It's all about the pain and the pleasure, you know?!"
"It's still broad daylight, boss."
"Who cares about day or night, let's drink!"
"Cheers! Cheers to Luffy becoming a Marine!"
"Awooo!"
Hawkeye looked at the group of Red-Haired Pirates acting like madmen, and his lips twitched involuntarily.