Part 11 - Sanji 3/21

Thus, it turned out that the famous "Pirate Slayer," with his very first bounty, had reached one of the most significant milestones in terms of pirate bounties. Furthermore, the journalist, seemingly adding fuel to the fire, kindly informed everyone under the "Pirate Slayer" poster that Roronoa Zoro had set a new record among currently living pirates. Until today, the holder of the largest first bounty was "Pirate Empress" Boa Hancock — the Most Beautiful Woman in the World and an active Shichibukai serving the World Government — with an initial bounty of eighty million.

And while one could argue that the "Pirate Slayer" did not gain his fame instantly but worked on his reputation over several years, the fact remained — his first bounty was the largest first bounty among all still-living pirates and the second in history. Fisher Tiger firmly held the top spot with his two hundred thirty million, but he earned them on the Grand Line, not in the weakest sea of all. A sea where the largest previous bounty was the 'meager' twenty million Berries set for Arlong… or rather, the 'Clown' Buggy and slightly less 'meager' thirty million. In short, it was indeed surprising.

Next to Roronoa Zoro were the posters of Johnny "Beheader" and Yosaku "Butcher." The photos used for their wanted posters were undoubtedly taken at the same time as the "Pirate Slayer" photo. However, while Sanji initially suspected "dirty play" upon seeing Zoro's photo — too perfectly capturing the swordsman's nickname — seeing Johnny's and Yosaku's photos, he was certain it was all His work. Preparing the wanted poster photos to match His taste was undoubtedly in His style.

Johnny was dressed in his usual white kimono with tattered sleeves and a red headband, covered head to toe in blood, standing among decapitated bodies. Yosaku, on the other hand, was in his usual red kimono with tattered sleeves, also stained with blood, holding two bloodied swords and standing amidst what was once people, now just numerous pieces of them. In other words, the photos on Zoro's, Johnny's, and Yosaku's posters perfectly matched their nicknames. Such a coincidence was impossible, so Sanji had no doubt that all these photos were taken with His involvement. And the posters. And perhaps even the bounties. The blonde was certain that He was expecting just such an outcome. It couldn't be any other way. Speaking of bounties:

WANTED

DEAD OR ALIVE 

JOHNNY

50.000.000

And one more:

WANTED

DEAD OR ALIVE

YOSAKU

50.000.000

Two inseparable friends had once again stayed true to themselves, managing to secure exactly the same bounty on their heads. On the other hand, Sanji knew that the guys had always fought together, so there was nothing surprising about this outcome. Moreover, they had been hunting pirates for quite a while, so any interested party could easily learn that, in terms of strength, the guys were on the same level. Considering that Johnny and Yosaku had always tried not to fall behind each other, Sanji strongly suspected that this would happen repeatedly in the future. In other words, the guys would almost certainly continue to receive the same bounties, and if not, the difference would be minimal. There was no doubt about that.

And still, fifty million in East Blue seemed pretty impressive… to put it mildly. Two extremely important facts couldn't be ignored. First, the average bounty in East Blue was only three million Berries. Consequently, Johnny and Yosaku had surpassed this average bounty by almost twenty times, while Zoro had exceeded it by more than thirty times. Second, and perhaps more importantly, all three were in the same crew.

To dominate all of East Blue, one pirate with a fifty-million bounty would have been enough, but here were two pirates with that bounty, and these two "fifty-millions" were direct subordinates of a full-fledged "hundred-million." In the eyes of the public, Zoro could rightfully be considered the King of Pirates, even if only the pirates of East Blue… who, thanks to his efforts, no longer existed at all. At least, none worth mentioning. On the other hand, it didn't matter what the public thought. Sanji knew the real situation! If anyone could be called the King of Pirates in East Blue, it definitely wasn't Zoro.

When Sanji turned the newspaper to the next page, he felt his mouth instantly fill with saliva and then overflow. Breathing like a dog in heat, drooling onto the floor, the guy lost all his gentlemanly composure in an instant and stared with adoring eyes at yet another poster. Unlike the previous three, which occupied only one page each, the new wanted poster was exactly twice as large and covered an entire spread. And Sanji fully supported this approach! After all, who could be interested in some pathetic trio of pirates? There were idiots like them in abundance on the Grand Line! And their bounties were even higher, sometimes several times over! So, it was perfectly reasonable not to write about them at all, and instead use the freed space more effectively, for example, by adding a few more posters of the "Queen" besides the main one! Sanji had no doubt that he wasn't the only one who thought this way!

On her poster, the "Queen" was depicted in a colorful bikini that looked like multicolored jelly. The girl was lounging on a beach chair, with sunglasses perched on her head, her hair half down with only the end tied into a thick braid draped over her right shoulder, resting right between her extremely seductive hills. The fabric pieces responsible for covering her chest, as with all the other swimsuits Sanji had seen his personal Goddess in — just like that, with no quotation marks and with a capital letter! — barely did their job. It was a sort of pattern against which the blonde was decidedly not opposed. One of the girl's legs was extended, while the other was bent at the knee; her left arm rested on the chair's armrest, while her right hand held a glass of some beach cocktail. During the shoot, Nami clearly turned towards the photographer, so anyone looking at the poster would involuntarily get the impression that the girl's tender gaze and enchanting smile were meant just for them. An unprepared person could be knocked out by the poster!

To be fair, the wanted posters of the other "Pirate Slayers" could also knock someone out, but for entirely different reasons. Looking at the photos of Zoro, Johnny, and Yosaku, it gave the impression that these three maniacs were staring right at the person holding their posters and openly saying, "You're next!" As if to say, "Want to collect the bounty on my head? Then look more closely at the poster and think again." Sanji even wondered who allowed such posters to be printed. With his Goddess's photo, it was clear: such a shot could not be missed in print! However, with the guys' photos, it was less straightforward.

Given how long the "Pirate Slayers" had been in the news and how often they appeared in newspapers, one could easily find less threatening photos. Sanji immediately suspected yet another dirty trick, even though he couldn't quite figure out how He could have pulled off something like this. After all, final decisions on bounties and posters were made at the Marine Headquarters, and these decisions were made at a high enough level that ordinary bribery couldn't resolve the issue. And the headquarters were located on the Grand Line, which added to the problems. On the other hand, Sanji's belief in Him was beyond ordinary logic. He definitely could pull off something like this.

Lost in admiration of his Goddess's photo, Sanji didn't immediately notice her bounty. It should be noted, the bounty set for the girl looked somewhat symbolic:

WANTED

ONLY ALIVE

NAMI

20.000.000

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