Chapter 12: Corrupt Marines
After sailing for two hours, they finally spotted the island—along with several docked Marine warships.
"Hopefully they'll give me the bounty," Eric muttered, a little uneasy about trying to double-dip. After all, in his previous life, there were cases where banks gave people too much money and demanded it back. If they didn't return it, it was considered theft. Even though there were incidents of banks losing customers' money, they always managed to shift the blame to employees while claiming to be the "weaker party." Eric wondered whether abusing a money glitch like this would make the system crank up the difficulty, or even ban his account in this world.
[It won't. Farm all you want. No consequences.]
The system, which hadn't spoken in several chapters, reappeared in Eric 's mind.
"…" Eric had a bad feeling about it. Still, since the system said it was fine, he decided to go all in, even if it felt suspicious.
To make bounty collection easier for hunters and for civilians to seek Marine aid, the reception areas at Marine branches were designed with nearly identical layouts. Eric , quite familiar with the process now, slung Krieg's corpse over his back and walked straight to the bounty window.
"That's Krieg—the overlord of East Blue!" a sharp-eyed Marine immediately recognized him.
"What? Krieg's been taken out?!"
"Who did it?!"
The whole place erupted. After all, Krieg commanded 20 ships and 2,000 men. It usually took multiple Marine branches working together just to surround his fleet—let alone eliminate it.
"It was those three?" The crowd's gaze turned to Eric and his companions.
"Just three people? No way! That was the Krieg Pirate Fleet!"
"Yeah, how could three nobodies take down 2,000 pirates?"
"Maybe it was Marine hero Garp . These guys probably just got lucky and found the corpse."
No one believed Eric 's trio had defeated Krieg. They began speculating all kinds of scenarios—some envied their "luck," others guessed Krieg happened to bump into a vacationing Garp and got wrecked. No one thought Eric actually did it.
Eric , who had initially felt a surge of pride from all the attention, now had his blood pressure skyrocketing from the slander. A vein popped on his forehead.
He was tempted to yell at them all, but held back his anger. 'Why waste energy on a bunch of nobodies? Deep breaths. I'm better than this.'
"Hey, I don't know how you got Krieg's body," said a burly man, clearly trying to provoke him. "But if it was the Marines who killed him and you just picked up the corpse, you don't get a bounty." The words may have sounded like a reminder, but his tone was pure spite. Combined with his already unpleasant face and envy-laced expression, Eric had to hold back the urge to punch him in the mouth. "Got it," he replied curtly.
"What's with the attitude, punk?!" the man snapped. He and a few fellow bounty hunters approached menacingly.
"Hey! Marines! Someone's trying to rob us!" Eric shouted. He wasn't afraid of these guys—he could take them easily—but he didn't want to lose his chance at the bounty over a brawl. Better to let the Marines handle it.
"Move aside!" "Out of the way!" Thankfully, some righteous Marines cleared the crowd and stopped the commotion. One of them asked, "Are you here to claim the bounty?"
"Yeah."
"Follow me." The Marine led him to the processing counter.
"Wait a moment!"
Just as they were about to complete the transaction, a voice cut in.
"Captain Nezumi!" the Marine saluted the newcomer.
'Nezumi… That name sounds familiar,' Eric thought. Then, after seeing the man's rat-like face, it hit him. 'That's the piece of garbage who colluded with Arlong and ruined Nami's life for eight years! What's he doing here?!'
"There was some ruckus earlier. What's going on?" Captain Nezumi asked knowingly. Standing beside him was the same bounty hunter who had tried to start trouble earlier. Eric , sensing this would lead to problems, quietly prayed: 'Please don't start anything. Please don't...'
A Marine explained the situation to Captain Nezumi. But the rat-faced man responded, "That's not what I heard. Hold the bounty. Call the other East Blue branches and check if there was a joint operation against the Krieg Pirates."
Just as Eric feared—trouble had come knocking.
They wasted a lot of time contacting the other branches. All of them replied the same way: "No joint operations or orders to target the Krieg Pirates."
Nezumi's beady eyes darted around. "So it was you who took down Krieg's crew, huh? Well, he's got a bounty of 11 million. We don't keep that much cash on hand. How about you leave the body here, and I'll call you when we've got the money ready?"
'Bullshit. I saw the vault was full!' Eric cursed internally, but kept his expression polite. "Then please issue me a promissory note for 11 million Berries. I'll collect it at another branch."
"You don't trust the Marines?" Nezumi replied coldly. "I've memorized your face. Just come back when the time comes."
The implied threat was clear—he wanted Krieg's corpse and the bounty all for himself.
"Never mind. I'll just go to Loguetown!" Eric picked Krieg's body back up. No way was he letting this scumbag profit.
"Stop right there!" Nezumi shouted, realizing threats had failed. "He's trying to steal a wanted criminal's corpse! Arrest them!"
"Captain Nezumi! They brought Krieg in! They didn't steal anything!" one righteous Marine protested on Eric 's behalf.
"My word is law, Private! Arrest them! That's an order!"
Maybe it was fear of Nezumi's authority, maybe corruption, or maybe they were just mindless order-followers. Whatever the case, many Marines drew their swords and raised their rifles at Eric 's group.
"Aaah… this is how it ends, huh?" Eric sighed. He couldn't afford to be arrested—he might get killed in custody for all he knew.
"Take them down. Don't kill them—except Nezumi and those bounty hunters!" Eric gave the order.
"Understood," Chiron responded, charging into the surrounding Marines. One punch per man—down they went.
Akame raced toward the bounty hunters. Screams erupted.
Eric fixed his eyes on Nezumi. "You brought this on yourself," he said, drawing his sword.
"You're attacking a Marine! You'll be wanted!" Nezumi shrieked in terror, retreating as he threatened them.
"Eric -, this is wrong," one righteous Marine blocked Eric 's path. "I'll report Captain Nezumi's actions to the higher-ups. Please don't cross the line."
"..." Eric moved in close and punched the Marine square in the chest. The man gasped, dropped to his knees, and clutched his ribs.
"Hold onto that sense of justice," Eric told him. He didn't hate people with strong convictions—such people were rare.
"I… I understand. I was wrong. I'll get you your 11 million right now!" Nezumi, now pinned to the wall by sheer fear, looked like he might sink right through it.
"No need. With garbage like you in charge, your subordinates will turn rotten too. That affects the civilians you're supposed to protect."
Eric , fed up with the plot armor that let guys like this live in the original story, raised his sword. "Goodbye."
Within ten minutes, every Marine in the branch was unconscious—taken out by fists and the backs of swords.
'Well, since I've already taken down a Marine base, I might as well rob them too. I'm gonna be wanted anyway.' Eric went all in, looting the base's treasury—though he left about 1 million Berries behind so the others wouldn't starve.
"Man, even the Marines are broke." The haul came to 23 million Berries, a detailed Marine-drawn map, a permanent log pose to Marine HQ, and two regular log poses.
'So this is what the system meant when it said there'd be no consequences… You're trying to turn me into a pirate, huh?' Eric recalled the system's voice. It clearly wasn't going to let him game the system without pushing him toward chaos.
[Ding... You have two new messages]
[Achievement Unlocked: "Notorious Pirate Who Robbed East Blue Marine Base" – 1 Achievement Point]
[Achievement Unlocked: "Top Bounty in East Blue" – 2 Achievement Points]
[Current Funds: 68.346 million Berries
Achievement Points: 15
Bond Points: 4]
(END CHAPTER)
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