The first half of the Grand Line.
Several ships were anchored in the sea, their flags bearing a skull with a hat, head bowed, and two crossed swords on either side. In front of these ships lay a dilapidated seabed, almost sinking to the bottom.
On the pirate ship, William looked at a pirate who appeared to be the captain lying dead on the ground, his eyes filled with deep suspicion.
"All done, William."
Montblanc, clutching his bloodied iron gauntlet, walked over and spat disdainfully at the captain, "It's just 80 million, yet you dare to be so arrogant."
Eighty million?
You still dare?
Arrogant?
William listened to those words in a daze, then suddenly said, "Something's not right, something's very wrong."
"What's wrong?" Elmira asked from the side. "Something's not right, William."
"No... I just feel like something's not right. Does this man really have 80 million?"
William looked at Elmira with a puzzled expression. "Is there a mistake with the arrest warrant?"
William has been on the Grand Line for some time now, and since encountering that pirate with a bounty of 60 million, he has also encountered many other pirates with high bounties.
Forty million, sixty million, seventy million, and now I've even encountered one with eighty million.
Every time, William fought with all his might, but after each battle, his confusion only deepened.
Is the reward really that high?
Why is the fighting level not much different from that of the millions of pirates in the East Blue?
Why...
Do pirates on the Grand Line only increase their bounties without increasing their strength?
“I’ve already told you, William, you’re being too cautious.”
Montblanc chuckled and said, "I came from the Grand Line. The pirates of the Grand Line aren't as scary as you think. With your strength, a place like the Grand Line can't stop you. We should go to the New World!"
He was almost fooled by William, thinking that William was so cautious in the East Blue and that he was just lucky and hadn't experienced the true terror of the Grand Line.
But now it seems that William was indeed overthinking things.
The Grand Line looks exactly like this, just as he knows it, unchanged.
"No, you're wrong!"
William suddenly realized, "I've got it! These people must have secretly forged the bounties! Aren't there rumors on the high seas that pirates forge bounties to increase their notoriety, making people think they're dangerous, and at the same time recruiting unsuspecting people into their pirate crews!"
But William disdained to do such a thing.
A fake is a fake. Even if it can show off for a while, it will be exposed sooner or later.
It will be just like this now!
“I don’t believe he has 80 million. At that level, he’d be lucky to get 15 million!” William said.
“No, it really is 80 million!” Montblanc pulled out a bounty poster, which showed the dead captain’s face. “There are too few fake bounty posters, this is real, it was sent by Newsbird.”
"No! It must be fake!"
William didn't even glance at the bounty poster, confidently stating, "Otherwise, even if I escaped from this 80 million bounty, we would have suffered heavy losses. But we won so quickly without a single casualty, which is suspicious! The same goes for those people before; their bounties were clearly higher than mine, so why were they so weak? They were all fake bounties!!"
"Is it possible that our bounty is too low?" Montblanc asked, his eye twitching.
"impossible!"
William said decisively, "If it were anyone else, I would have some doubts, but my bounty was placed after Jin Ni encountered me. Before that, we didn't reveal any flaws. In other words, this bounty was issued by Kuro after he understood my situation. If his offer is still 30 million, then it means I'm only worth 30 million!"
"The Navy's bounties are never wrong; they assess each person before placing a bounty. Look at the East Blue, anyone with a bounty over ten million is a tough opponent. Even the owner of the Baratie restaurant, 'Red-Leg' Zeff, only had a bounty of sixty million! Compared to that, these people's strength doesn't even warrant their bounties!"
"There's no other possibility than it being a forgery!!"
William said, “We can’t be affected. We’ve been lucky lately, only encountering pirates with fake bounties. But there must be real ones, yes... that’s for sure! The Navy allows these fake bounties to exist to attract pirates to fight each other. If one person has a high bounty, then another person will be eyeing him, making pirates less afraid of high bounties. When they encounter real bounties, they will have the same mentality, and then they will be defeated.”
The more I talk, the clearer my thoughts become.
William felt that this was the right thing to do!
If they underestimate this, they will think that the Grand Line is nothing special and become complacent. Once they realize that the wanted poster is real, they will go after the pirates with higher bounties. Regardless of whether those pirates are real or not, there will be casualties.
This is a plan to provoke their pirates!
William won't fall for it!
"We need to be more serious. Since we can't tell the difference between real and fake, let's treat every high-bounty offer as a real high-bounty offer!"
William said, "We must not let our guard down because of this. This is the sea, and there are many dangers on the sea. Once an accident occurs, the damage will be irreparable! Do you understand?!"
“That makes sense…” Elmira agreed, “William, you’re right.”
Swell nodded thoughtfully.
Montblanc stood there stunned, speechless for a moment, only feeling that the wanted poster was so glaring.
This thing really is worth 80 million!
It's just that you're too strong. You're strong, not that others are weak!
But after William spoke, he became uncertain again.
Could he be telling the truth?
These bounty posters are all fake. If they weren't fake, how could William only have 30 million?
It's not uncommon for people to earn tens or hundreds of millions when they first debut. William is so successful; he's already earned far more than thirty million.
William smiled faintly and looked out at the sea. "I saw through the World Government and the Navy's schemes long ago. Those things are useless against me. I have already seen through their illusions. I will not be careless. As long as I stay careful, I will become a true great pirate!"
Then... let's have another showdown with that Kuro!
He's still very weak and no match for Kuro. Kuro was able to wipe out a pirate crew when he was two years old. If he hadn't seen this when he was seven, he would probably still be playing pirate house.
But now, playing pretend pirate games is no longer something he can play. What he wants is the real life of a great pirate!
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