One Piece: It All Started When I Found Shanks' Arm

Chapter 87: The Highest Bounty in History!

"The next one is a bit special," Brannew said, glancing back at the room, his tone complex. "I'm sure everyone here, especially those who were once students of Z-Sensei, is familiar with this man."

Slap!

The tip of the pointer landed on a photo of a white-haired man with cigars clamped between his teeth, straddling a motorcycle.

"'White Chase' Smoker, a Logia-type Smoke-Smoke Fruit user, formerly the commanding officer of the Loguetown Marine Base."

Brannew sighed. "According to the testimony of several Marines, he got into a fight with Vice Admiral Onigumo on the warship. After being subdued, he held a grudge, and when he woke up, he took advantage of the thinned-out forces on the ship to brutally murder the unfortunate His Majesty Altai. He then disappeared without a trace. According to reliable intelligence, he has followed these pirates and boarded the ship of the Curtain Call Pirates."

"Such a heinous act can be considered treason against the Marines! Considering that his rank was held back by his temper and his true strength far exceeds that of a Headquarters Captain, his tentative bounty is set at 70 million Berries! His epithet is 'The Defector'!"

Slap!

The pointer then moved to the last wanted poster. It didn't feature a person, but a giant silver wolf, nearly three meters long.

It was howling at the moon, its fur like a cascade of snow in the moonlight, looking elegant and majestic, with the aura of a king.

"What species is that?" several of the officers asked, intrigued. "It's quite handsome. Much easier on the eyes than those freaks from the Beast Pirates…"

"We haven't been able to identify it yet, but we can confirm that this wolf, named 'Gin,' is the second strongest fighter on the ship!" Brannew said, his expression grave. "Another one of Vice Admiral Onigumo's Rear Admirals was severely injured after fighting it for only a few minutes, nearly having his neck bitten through. And according to his post-battle report, the wolf was fighting casually and not using its full strength!"

A giant wolf that can defeat a Rear Admiral from Headquarters without even trying?

The room's attention was now fully captured. Brannew continued, "Since this giant wolf also demonstrated the ability to control lightning in battle, its tentative epithet is 'Thunder Silver Wolf,' and its bounty is 80 million Berries!"

"As for the main event of today, the man who personally snapped Vice Admiral Onigumo's neck…"

At this point, Brannew removed all the other wanted posters from the whiteboard and placed a single, new one in the very center.

"The captain of the Curtain Call Pirates, 'Tachi Swordsman' Shane!"

"He was famous in the East Blue years ago. At the age of fourteen, he defeated Arlong and his crew, former members of the Sun Pirates. He then went on to kill several other pirates with bounties over ten million Berries. In the eyes of the local islanders in the East Blue, he has become a symbol of justice, even more trustworthy than us Marines!"

"But there is no doubt that this is all a facade! In the Loguetown Incident, his vicious nature was fully exposed!"

Rear Admiral Fawn frowned, about to say something, but Brannew cut him off. "His heinous act of publicly executing Vice Admiral Onigumo is a blatant provocation against the Marines and the World Government! And according to our investigation, he also uprooted Roger's execution platform, which Headquarters uses to deter pirates, and threw it into the sea! He then declared to the world that he would be the one to bring the Great Pirate Era to an end! The height of arrogance!"

"And it was at that moment that he displayed the disposition of a king, something only one in several million is born with!"

"A madman with such ambition and strength deserves a special bounty that reflects the threat he poses, even if it is his first!"

THUMP!

Brannew's right hand slammed down on the whiteboard.

The corner of the wanted poster flapped up, making the black numbers below the photo of the black-haired young man with a longsword on his back even more glaring—

ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY MILLION BERRIES!!!

...

"How much?"

In the East Blue, in a sea area near Reverse Mountain, Shane, who had been comfortably lounging under a parasol, sipping a cocktail personally mixed by Zeff, spat out a mouthful of his drink.

"That's right, Captain. You heard me correctly. One hundred and eighty million Berries," Kuina said, handing him the wanted poster she had taken from the newspaper. "It's a new record. No pirate has ever had such a high bounty before even entering the Grand Line."

"It seems Marine Headquarters really wants me dead this time," Shane said, grinning as he looked at his own wanted poster.

He had expected his bounty to break the East Blue record, but he had thought it would be somewhere around a hundred million Berries. He never would have guessed it would be this high right off the bat.

Even among the Supernovas of the Worst Generation who would arrive at the Sabaody Archipelago four years from now, this bounty would rank near the top.

And he hadn't even entered the Grand Line yet…

"Captain of the Curtain Call Pirates… tsk, their intelligence network is pretty good. They found out the name just a few days after we decided on it."

Behind him, a white flag fluttered from the mast.

'The Curtain Call Adventurers' was the official name Shane had finally decided on for his group. Of course, the World Government would never acknowledge such a thing as an "adventure group," so the world, influenced by the media, would probably still call them a pirate crew.

It wasn't just the group's name; after leaving Loguetown, Shane had finalized all the names and the flag.

Even the ship's name, which they had been putting off for a long time, was now officially 'The Curtain Call.'

It corresponded with the name of their group, signifying that it was the ship that would carry the mission of bringing the curtain down on the Great Pirate Era.

The flag was also distinctly different from a pirate's Jolly Roger. He had never liked the skull and crossbones design.

So, he had imitated Drake's style. On a white background, the design was two swords crossed diagonally through the Marines' iconic seagull and scales symbol.

It looked much cooler that way.

As for whether the Marines would see it as an extra taunt and fly into a rage, that wasn't his problem.

"Speaking of which, the reports in the newspaper don't look good for us," Kuina said, shaking her head as she read the paper. "They've completely glossed over the fact that Onigumo bombarded civilians and attacked us without provocation. They've made it seem like we attacked Loguetown first, and Onigumo has been painted as a tragic hero who came to save the civilians."

"That's normal," Shane said, unconcerned. Did they really expect anything different from the World Government and Marine Headquarters?

But a lie could never become the truth. The people would be the judge. So many civilians in Loguetown had witnessed what had happened. It wouldn't be long before the real story spread throughout the East Blue.

"After all, even the biggest newspaper, the World Economic Journal, has to answer to the World Government. And right now, we're obviously not important enough for Morgans to risk turning against them for us," he said, setting down his cocktail with a smile.

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