Sea Circle Calendar 1483, July 15.
A date countless people would remember and all because of one bounty poster.
Blood-Hand Tengetsu Ares, 2.2 billion Beli.
The second-highest bounty on the seas; only the captain of the Rocks Pirates stood above him.
The World Government and the Marines gave no reason. To announce that a ship carrying Heavenly Tribute had been robbed and a Celestial Dragon killed would be to shred their own dignity.
So the world buzzed and boiled, guessing why Blood-Hand Tengetsu Ares was suddenly worth so much.
Somewhere in the New World on deck
"Newgate, why do you always stare that way when we sail home?" One pirate lounged before a waist-high pile of treasure, the gold throwing back sheets of hard light. Coins tinkled through fingers; the deck rang with laughter.
Only Whitebeard Edward Newgate seemed out of tune with the merriment. Elbow on knee, he smirked without looking. "A place I'm attached to."
He watched the sea in silence. He'd seen this view a thousand times, and still it never felt like enough.
The noise on deck ebbed. Newgate glanced over and found a knot of pirates crowding together, whispering.
A heartbeat later
"Hey, Newgate! It's Ares!" A pirate thrust a sheet high, face flushed. "Look his bounty's gone up!"
"Holy 2.2 billion Beli! Higher than yours!"
Newgate's eyes widened. One look at the numbers told him everything Ares was back.
His vision went a little wet.
He surged to his feet, strode over, and snatched the poster, laughing from the gut. "Gurararara!"
"Good kid! Two point two billion higher than mine. He must've pulled off something massive."
"Can't wait to hear how he spent this year. Can't wait to see him."
Images rolled through his mind: Ares training like a demon, Ares stubborn to the bone, Ares fearless in battle, Ares who enjoyed the fight…
The feeling swelled, crowded his chest.
He tucked the poster into his coat and roared to the crew, "Full speed for Hachinosu! We make port a day early, we throw a feast."
"Drink as much as you want on me!"
"No cap on the number of banquets!"
A cheer exploded. Whitebeard footing the bill was a rare miracle and every hand aboard silently vowed to bleed him dry.
The crew sprang to their stations. The ship leapt.
Elsewhere in the New World
The Golden Lion, Shiki, ground his boot into an enemy's chest. Blood slid in lazy drops off his blade's edge. The man below him begged like a drowning man, eyes wide at the naked steel drifting lower.
At the lip of death he flinched, shut his eyes, braced for pain that never came.
Seconds ticked by.
He cracked one eye. The cigar at Shiki's lip smoldered; the pirate's face… had gone slack with surprise.
For Shiki to drift in thought mid-kill was almost unheard of.
Then an odd grin. "Remember this day. It's your lucky one. I won't kill you."
He lifted his boot and, with a neat flick of the blade tip, lifted the man's jacket hem.
Not because he fancied the man Shiki wasn't that kind. A corner of a newspaper had been tucked inside, and on that corner was Ares' face.
Shiki hooked the paper, let it flutter, caught it in his free hand and grinned wider. "Scram. I'm in a good mood. Next time you might not be."
The man didn't wait to be told twice. He fled on hands and feet alike, brain buzzing, alive through a miracle and in no shape to ponder why.
From hell to heaven in a heartbeat. One second slower and Shiki's sword would have been in his heart.
Even trading blows with Newgate's Murakumogiri hadn't shaken Shiki's grip.
Now his sword hand trembled. He drew in smoke; the nicotine did nothing to steady the thrill pounding through him.
"Ares…" His voice rasped, but his smile shone. "A year and finally news."
"And you show up with a 2.2 billion bounty? Just what in blazes did you do?"
"If they raised you that far, you've gotten a lot stronger. How's your swordwork now?"
"How far have you taken that body…?"
He could guess.
From first admiring the kid, to being shocked by his lunatic training, to getting decked for forcing drinks on him, to teaching him the blade
Watching him choose a No-Blade Style, watching his fights, one after another…
The scenes flipped like lantern slides as Shiki's grin stretched fierce and proud.
He threw his head back like a lion scenting the wind, eyes on the direction of Hachinosu. "Wait for me, Ares. I'm coming back."
Night New World, the Nation of War
A damp, dim room. Douglas Bullet sat on bare planks, fingers rubbing at a lumpy quilt that had long ago clotted into a single heavy, icy sheet.
Every bed in the room was the same. Every occupant was a child.
"Hey," one boy whispered, "did you hear the soldiers talking? There's a new big-shot pirate Ares. Guess his bounty."
"One hundred million?" ventured another.
The first boy shook his head, grinning.
"Three hundred million?" said a third, frowning. In this era, that made you a world-class pirate; there weren't many.
"Nope."
Grumbles all around. "Then how much?"
The first boy puffed himself up. "You'd never guess, 2.2 billion Beli."
Silence. The number stunned them all.
Even Douglas Bullet stared, suspicion prickling.
The other kids scoffed, one by one.
"Believe it or don't," said the first boy, chin high. "I heard the soldiers say it. If we ever get free, we'll go see for ourselves."
Bullet slipped under the cold weight of the quilt and lay on his back, eyes on the dark. If I get out… I'm going to sea. I want to see how strong a pirate with a bounty like that really is.
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