-Real World-
With the activation of the chat room function, people from all corners of the ocean spoke freely on the platform, their voices overlapping and competing for attention. Many smaller but significant topics were gradually buried beneath the avalanche of commentary—questions like Ace being the son of the Pirate King, the massive population decrease caused by the Rumbling, the identities of the twelve Marine Admirals, the alleged ancestor of the Celestial Dragons who had supposedly lived for eight hundred years. These were not the subjects that captured the majority's immediate attention.
The announcement of the bounties for the new Four Emperors five years in the future was shocking enough to drown out nearly everything else. After all, everyone in this world understood the fundamental equation: the higher the bounty, the stronger the individual's capabilities.
Pirates could receive bounties from the Marines after setting out to sea, and most viewed such recognition as an honor rather than a threat. They competed viciously with one another over bounty amounts within their own crews and organizations, using the numbers as objective proof of their worth. Internal conflicts often erupted over perceived slights regarding bounty disparities. Using bounty amounts to establish hierarchy and confirm status was considered the fairest method available in the lawless world of piracy.
In truth, the Marines were well aware that issuing bounties often became capital for pirates to boast and show off to their peers. Very few major pirates were ever actually captured and imprisoned in the underwater prison of Impel Down—most of the facility's notorious inmates were the results of battles and arrests from decades past.
In recent years, due to widespread corruption among the Marines' high-ranking officials and a general breakdown in organizational discipline, pirates had been sailing more rampantly across the seas than ever before. The number of new pirates with bounties exceeding one hundred million berries had exploded. Fleet Admiral Sengoku simply lacked the manpower and resources to deal with them all simultaneously, and could only watch helplessly as these so-called Supernovas did whatever they pleased across the ocean.
Additionally, the value of berries as currency had been declining steadily in recent years. Inflation had driven bounty amounts higher and higher, making direct comparisons between eras increasingly difficult. But even accounting for economic factors, when the New Marines offered a bounty of 10,010,000,000 berries to Kaido of the Beasts, the military intelligence room at Marine Headquarters suddenly fell into stunned silence. Senior Marine officials stood with their mouths hanging open, unable to process what they were seeing. Such an astronomical price had never been witnessed before in recorded history.
"Kaido's bounty has more than doubled from his previous amount." Admiral Sakazuki stared at the figure, his expression one of barely-contained shock. "Ten billion and ten million berries—this is the highest bounty ever issued."
Even Sakazuki, who had weathered countless storms and faced innumerable crises during his long career, had never encountered a situation quite like this. Could it be that the New Marines had made a clerical error and accidentally added an extra zero? But no—the figure appeared multiple times in official documentation, clearly intentional.
Kaido of the Beasts now possessed a bounty higher than that of Gol D. Roger, the previous Pirate King. Did the title of Pirate King even retain meaning in the face of such numbers?
Admiral Borsalino examined the new bounty poster for Kaido with professional interest. It was a completely redesigned wanted notice, and the photograph displayed on the warrant had been changed dramatically. A magnificent azure dragon was depicted hovering majestically over Onigashima, Kaido's island fortress. The composition was striking—compared to the dragon's immense form, Onigashima itself looked remarkably small and insignificant, emphasizing the sheer scale of the Emperor's transformed state.
Borsalino felt genuinely impressed despite himself. It required a talented individual to capture such a photograph successfully—getting close enough to Kaido in his dragon form to take this shot without being immediately killed demonstrated either remarkable courage or remarkable foolishness. Seeing the new bounty poster gave viewers a terrifying sense of oppression, a visceral understanding of the threat this creature represented. The bounty of ten billion and ten million berries could truly be described as unprecedented. As for whether there would ever be someone comparable in the future, Kizaru genuinely wasn't certain.
The Admiral, who was naturally inclined toward laziness and avoiding excessive work, found cold sweat forming on his face. "I feel that my time has arrived," he said with only half-feigned weariness. "It's appropriate to retire now. I choose to believe in the wisdom of future generations to handle such matters."
Admiral Kizaru's quietly spoken words drew a collective round of eye-rolls from the Marines' assembled leadership. Was it really appropriate to attempt jumping ship at this critical moment? Moreover, the old Marine organization simply could not afford to lose this particular pillar of support. Even if Borsalino was frequently unreliable and prone to half-hearted effort, his presence was infinitely better than his complete absence.
In fairness, Borsalino had completed his most recent assignment brilliantly. He had successfully detained and secured the long-term undercover agent Vergo who had infiltrated the Marines, and brought back Caesar Clown—a scientist with considerable promise despite his moral deficiencies—to Marine Headquarters. As for the fact that Caesar and Vegapunk harbored mutual animosity and refused to cooperate, the Marines had already developed a solution: allocate a small isolated island to Caesar and allow him to conduct scientific experiments there however he wished, with minimal oversight.
So when the Admiral made such discouraging statements, other high-ranking Marine officers deliberately chose not to reprimand him. After all, maintaining organizational unity was paramount at this critical juncture, and they absolutely could not afford to alienate the Marines' only remaining top-tier combatant too severely. If Borsalino truly decided to quit in protest, the entire organization would struggle to maintain any semblance of power balance.
Admiral Kuzan had narrowly avoided losing his position after his failure to capture Nico Robin, the so-called "Devil's Child." Fleet Admiral Sengoku had employed his traditional punishment method of salary deductions rather than demotion or dismissal. But now, seeing that Buggy the Clown would become one of the new Four Emperors and successfully recruit a substantial number of former Shichibukai as principal officers in his organization, the old Fleet Admiral found himself genuinely worried and frightened.
Fortunately, Admiral Aokiji had chosen to back down at the critical moment during his confrontation with Buggy. Otherwise, Kuzan would have been forced to face two of the Clown's duplicates simultaneously, and the outcome of such a battle remained terrifyingly uncertain. The Domain expansion from advanced Devil Fruit development—although it remained unknown whether Buggy had successfully developed this technique in the current timeline, the Marine leadership had to remain vigilant and could not casually dispatch Admirals to engage him in combat. Doing so might simply be throwing away lives for no strategic gain.
"Teach's threat level is second only to Kaido himself," Admiral Aokiji observed, his voice thoughtful and analytical. "Whitebeard's rebellious son has somehow surpassed his adoptive father in danger assessment. The bounty of eight billion eight hundred eighty million berries should be directly related to his demonstrated ability to arbitrarily steal other people's Devil Fruit powers."
After speaking, Kuzan looked toward Fleet Admiral Sengoku, who occupied the primary seat at the conference table. The younger man could scarcely imagine what kind of catastrophic situation might arise if the Zoan-type Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Daibutsu (Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Beast Type: Great Buddha) appeared on Teach's list of stolen abilities. It would create a trinity of Paramecia, Zoan, and Logia powers concentrated in a single individual. The New Marines hadn't offered such an astronomical bounty without careful consideration—this was a calculated assessment of genuine threat.
Marshall D. Teach was truly surpassing his former master in infamy and danger. The bounty on Whitebeard Edward Newgate was merely five billion berries—substantial, certainly, but only half of what his treacherous "son" now commanded. It seemed that rebellious children who betrayed their families possessed exceptional capabilities. The existence of such a Blackbeard was more than enough to make Whitebeard feel profoundly uncomfortable for quite some time.
Vice Admiral Tsuru was not particularly frightened by the exaggerated bounty figures—she had lived through too many crises to be easily shaken by mere numbers. The woman was far more concerned with her old friend's physical condition. In the final shots shown by the Sky Screen, Sengoku had regained consciousness and been able to visit Rosinante's grave, which had moved the elderly strategist considerably. Perhaps her friend's awakening from his vegetative state was somehow connected to Doflamingo's defeat as well—the resolution of that long-standing source of pain allowing Sengoku to finally return to himself.
Vice Admiral Garp displayed obvious dissatisfaction on his weathered face, troubled by his lack of any official appearance in the broadcast covering events five years into the future. The footage had not revealed any information whatsoever about whether he would be alive or dead during that period. His only role had been in flashback sequences, and even there he'd been portrayed as someone carrying the metaphorical sedan chair for Buggy the Clown—highlighting the shocking conspiracy woven by a master manipulator while the Hero of the Marines remained completely in the dark from beginning to end.
Ann, if Garp could genuinely claim his granddaughter, perhaps he could train her to become a Marine officer. Such an achievement might alleviate his current embarrassing position within the organization. Without his longtime friend Sengoku actively supporting and protecting him, the eccentric old man might very well have been court-martialed multiple times by now.
Consider the situation objectively: Garp had a son who served as Supreme Leader of the Revolutionary Army, a grandson who openly declared his intention to become Pirate King, and another grandson who was the posthumous child of the previous Pirate King. Fortunately, Garp possessed at least one redeeming connection—his excellent disciple Kuzan, who supported him politically and helped maintain his position despite the overwhelming evidence that the Hero's family had become enemies of the World Government.
Speaking of recruiting disciples, Coby—the successor personally chosen and trained by Garp—had shocked everyone with his revealed future. No one had expected that the earnest young Marine would join the Blackbeard Pirates and become the captain of their No. 10 ship, operating under the codename "Bloody Avalokitesvara." This revelation represented a devastating slap in the face to the formerly celebrated Hero of the Marines.
Currently, Coby remained imprisoned in the Marine brig, and Garp didn't possess the courage or leverage to approach Sengoku about securing his release. The young disciple simply couldn't be freed for the foreseeable future—only Helmeppo regularly visited to deliver food and water, maintaining the connection that Garp himself couldn't publicly acknowledge.
Events that had not yet occurred in the future were being forced onto people in the present, used to judge their character and loyalty before any actual wrongdoing had taken place. Garp felt this was profoundly unfair—not just to himself, but especially to Coby. The pink-haired young man appeared to be such a loyal and honest person, someone who genuinely believed in justice. How could he possibly betray the Marines in the future? What circumstances could drive such a dedicated individual to defect?
But five years later, Helmeppo—who would become a completely bald man by that point—had displayed unmistakable murderous intentions toward his former friend. Garp truly didn't know what Coby might do wrong during the Battle of Marineford that could cause two close friends to become enemies to such a severe extent. The bond between them had seemed unbreakable, forged through shared hardship and mutual respect.
What could possibly happen to shatter that friendship so completely?
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