Three more days passed...
Marine Headquarters - Pirate Bounty Management Department
The same green-haired Vice Admiral was running the meeting, but today, his vibe was way more serious.
He was being extra polite and for good reason.
There was a special guest in the room.
Lounging on a sofa, legs crossed, was a man in a yellow pinstripe suit, lazily trimming his nails while he listened.
The Vice Admiral was sweating bullets.
The man on the sofa, Admiral Kizaru, looked incredibly bored and annoyed.
"Admiral Kizaru?" the Vice Admiral asked nervously. "Did... did I say something wrong?"
Kizaru looked up and clicked his tongue.
"No," he said in his slow, drawn-out voice.
"I just... really don't like meetings."
The Vice Admiral let out a quiet sigh of relief.
His direct boss was Aokiji, so he didn't deal with Kizaru much.
He'd heard the rumors that Kizaru was famous for his lazy attitude, and yeah, it definitely wasn't just a rumor.
He cleared his throat and moved on.
"Everyone, listen up! The most important part of today's meeting is about to begin."
At those words, everyone in the room, including Kizaru, sat up straight.
The Vice Admiral immediately realized his mistake.
"Ah—Admiral, you can just... lie back down."
Kizaru felt a little helpless.
'How did this kid even make it to Vice Admiral?' he thought. 'He's even worse at talking than I am.'
"Let's just get on with it," Kizaru said. "This part is actually important, so I guess I should be a little serious. If we mess this up, the Fleet Admiral will chew us all out."
Hearing that, the green-haired Vice Admiral cleared his throat again.
"Today's main topic is these two pirate crews. First, the Straw Hat Pirates. You can read about their deeds in the files in front of you."
"Let me just give you the highlights," he continued. "In less than a month, they've taken down the Buggy Pirates, the Krieg Pirates, and the Arlong Pirates. Also, our old theory on how they beat Buggy was wrong. According to our latest intel, the white-haired swordsman, Ray, defeated Buggy single-handedly. Buggy was already injured by Monkey D Luffy at the time, but still... this is pretty shocking."
A collective gasp went through the room.
All the officers knew that Buggy's 30 million Belly bounty was a joke; his real threat level was more than 100 million.
But Ray beat an injured Buggy by himself? That was still a big deal.
"We don't know how badly Buggy was hurt, though," a Rear Admiral pointed out. "It's hard to judge Ray's strength without knowing that."
The Vice Admiral held up a hand.
"Just wait. Based only on the Buggy incident, you're right, it's hard to say. So let's look at the other stuff."
"At the Baratie, the pirate hunter Zoro instantly defeated 'Iron Wall' Pearl. The captain, Straw Hat Luffy, completely overwhelmed Don Krieg. After that, Zoro challenged Hawkeye himself and was strong enough to make him draw his black sword, Yoru, before he lost. But the most terrifying part was the battle between the white-haired swordsman Ray and Hawkeye, which started off as an even match. And five days ago, the Straw Hats completely wiped out the Arlong Pirates."
Every new piece of information sent a shockwave through the room.
Hearing about Ray fighting Hawkeye made everyone restless.
Even Kizaru stopped trimming his nails with a slight frown on his face.
Beating Krieg and Arlong was small potatoes to Marine HQ.
But surviving a fight with Hawkeye? That was a whole different story.
"What was the result of the fight between Ray and Hawkeye?" another Rear Admiral asked.
The Vice Admiral sighed. "Our undercover agent in the Krieg Pirates was killed by the crossfire while trying to watch the fight up close. After that, we tried to contact Hawkeye for days to get a confirmation, but we couldn't reach him. We finally got ahold of him yesterday."
Everyone leaned in, not wanting to miss a single word.
"Hawkeye definitely won," the Vice Admiral said.
"Whew~" A collective sigh of relief went through the room.
But before they could relax, he added the kicker.
"But... Hawkeye mentioned that he had some difficulty killing Ray. Then, that guy hung up the phone."
The officers all frowned.
The info was limited, but it proved one thing: Ray had earned the respect of the world's greatest swordsman.
Very few people, even in the New World, could say that.
Putting that together with him beating an injured Buggy, they could guess that Ray's strength was close to that of a Shichibukai.
Kizaru looked serious for a moment, but only for a moment.
To him, even if all this was true, the Straw Hats were, at best, as strong as one Warlord.
They were worth keeping an eye on, but they weren't a major threat.
The only people who really worried an Admiral were the Four Emperors.
And lately, Whitebeard, Kaido, and Shanks had all been making moves.
So, he left the final decision to the Vice Admiral.
"Alright," the Vice Admiral announced, "since the Straw Hats haven't done anything truly horrific yet, we're setting their bounties as follows:"
Pirate Hunter Zoro: 30,000,000 Berries
Captain, Straw Hat Luffy: 50,000,000 Berries
White-haired Swordsman Ray: 65,000,000 Berries
The long-nosed one: No data, no major crimes. Ignore him for now.
A woman named Nami: Known for swindling villagers and stealing. We'll set her at 3,000,000 Berries.
The decision was made.
Seeing that Kizaru was eager to leave, the Vice Admiral quickly moved on.
"Okay, next topic. Buggy the Clown has awakened his powers and is heading back to the Grand Line. What should his new bounty be? Lets Discuss."
…
Meanwhile, back in Cocoyashi Village...
The village doctor, Nako, was chatting with Genzo under a tree.
"Genzo, what did you end up telling the Marines?"
Genzo smiled. "I told them the Straw Hat crew was just Ray, Luffy, Zoro, Nami, and Usopp. Those bounty hunters already knew about them, so there was no hiding it. But the cook, Sanji, made his first appearance here, so we could keep him a secret. Then I... tweaked the story of the battle a little."
Nako looked interested. "Oh yeah? What'd you say?"
"I said Luffy and Arlong fought for a while, and Luffy eventually won," Genzo explained confidently.
"For the officers, I said Zoro took down one, and Ray took down two. Then everyone worked together to beat the rest of the crew."
Nako nodded.
They didn't know exactly how the Marines calculated a pirate's threat level, but they knew that the weaker the Straw Hats seemed, the better.
So, they downplayed their strength and hid a crew member.
This way, the Straw Hats wouldn't attract too much attention, and Nami would be safer on her journey.
If they couldn't protect her with strength, they'd protect her with a few well-intentioned lies.
It was the only thing they could do for her now.
…
On a small island in the Grand Line...
The world's greatest swordsman, Hawkeye, was enjoying some freshly roasted wild boar.
As he ate, he thought about his conversation with Marine HQ yesterday.
Thinking about the trouble it might cause, he couldn't help but show a sly grin.
'Ray... so I can see you and Roronoa again someday, I didn't tell them your real strength,' he thought to himself.
'But... you're probably still going to run into some trouble because of this.'
For a second, Hawkeye felt a little bit of schadenfreude.
'Who told you to embarrass me back at that restaurant?'