Chapter 371: The Five Emperors of the Sea – The Ship Spirit Appears  

"Everyone, the newspaper is here!" 

"Luffy is on the front page~~~" 

Carrot, the rabbit girl, climbed up the mast and bought a stack of newspapers from the news bird. Then, with a light leap, she landed on the deck, drawing the attention of the crew members who were resting. Though their battle in Totto Land had been dangerous, they had come out victorious. Still, aside from Sanji, Franky, Robin, and Nami, who were mostly unscathed, the rest of the crew were covered in bandages. 

"What's the headline?" 

Lying on the deck, Luffy didn't even bother to sit up. That last fight had drained him completely. If he hadn't learned how to "see the future" during battle, he might have been the one to fall. 

"Let me see… It says Luffy turned Jinbe to our side at BIG MOM's tea party yesterday, arranged for the Fire Tank Pirates to act as spies, and even won over the Germa 66 army right then and there. He brought all three forces under his command..." 

"Without a doubt, daring to bare his fangs at the BIG MOM Pirates—a crew that has remained unshaken for decades—defeating Charlotte Smoothie, who had a bounty of 932 million, and Charlotte Katakuri, who was at 1.057 billion, and still managing to escape unscathed… The Straw Hat Pirates have now reached a level strong enough to rule the New World…" 

"What is all this nonsense?" 

Nami rubbed her forehead. "If we hadn't fought our way here from the East Blue, I'd almost believe this 'brilliant strategist' and 'flawless planner' they're talking about isn't actually—" 

She looked down at Luffy, who was lying on the deck with a bored expression. 

"So hungry~~" 

Yeah… Some things really do look better from a distance. Otherwise, the illusion shatters instantly. Is this what an 'Emperor of the Sea' is supposed to look like…? 

"Luffy, Roman, are we heading straight for Wano next?" 

"Of course! We promised Tra-guy!" 

Luffy answered without hesitation, while Roman, who was busy training his newly acquired Soul-Soul powers, seemed to be making some progress. 

"But going straight from fighting BIG MOM to fighting Kaido… I feel like we're more proactive than the Marines at this point…" 

"Well, since Luffy decided, we're off to Wano." 

"Oh, right! There are new bounty posters too!" 

Carrot pulled out a thick stack of bounty posters from the newspaper, instantly grabbing everyone's attention. 

For pirates, their bounty isn't just about money—it's a symbol of strength, reputation, and status. 

"Let me see—" 

Sanji quickly flipped through the stack until he found his own. 

"Hahahaha~~ 440 million!!!" 

Grinning like he just won the lottery, Sanji turned around proudly. "Finally! Finally! Marimo, my bounty is higher than yours—" 

"Sorry." 

Zoro calmly pulled out his own bounty poster and shoved the number in Sanji's face. 

"8… 880 million?!" 

Sanji's cigarette fell from his mouth, and his whole body froze. This must be an illusion… I won't let this break me… 

"Sanji, no matter how high or low your bounty is, you'll always be my hero~~" 

Hearing Pudding's comforting words, Sanji instantly perked up. That's right! I may have lost in bounty, but I won in life. 

"Pudding-xhN, I'm not so petty!" 

"Sanji~~" 

You two, could you at least be mindful of your surroundings? There are still some single people here— 

Wait a minute. 

Thinking about it carefully, there actually aren't any real single people in the Straw Hat Crew. 

Luffy has Boa Hancock, Usopp has Kaya, Zoro… well, no need to explain, Jinbe is a hero among the mermaids on Fish-Man Island, and even Chopper knows a beautiful reindeer girl from the Mink Tribe. Strictly speaking, the only one who's truly single is Brook… 

Brook: "Dead men tell no tales?" 

"Well, it makes sense. In that last battle, Zoro fought Smoothie head-on and won. Since she had a 900 million bounty, they probably factored in that both sides were heavily injured when setting his new bounty."

Roman shook his head, pushing away his wandering thoughts. This bounty was actually pretty decent. 

Of course, with the battle suit, Sanji's strength had improved a lot, but he just didn't have the battle record to show for it yet… 

Thud! A sound of someone hitting the deck came from the side. Luffy lay there, looking miserable. 

"Waaah! My bounty dropped..." 

"160 million! It was 600 million before!" 

?! Luffy, have you seriously regressed so much that you can't even read numbers now? Apologize to your brain! Are you saving it for pudding or something? "Look carefully—it's 1.6 billion!" 

Roman pointed at Luffy's new wanted poster. "Count the zeros, for crying out loud! And since when do pirates lose bounty? Did you start doing charity work?!" 

…Although, to be fair, the Straw Hat Crew had actually been doing a lot of "good deeds" along the way. But from the World Government's perspective, they were just an ambitious pirate crew rising at an alarming rate and spreading fear. 

"Eh?! Eh?! EH?!" 

Amid the shocked exclamations, everyone gathered around to take a closer look at the wanted poster. Sure enough, it was really 1.6 billion— 

"That's... super cool." 

Franky, satisfied, had his bounty raised to 280 million, though the picture on his wanted poster was of "General Franky" instead of himself. Meanwhile, Robin's bounty only increased to 180 million, mostly because her abilities were very discreet and didn't look flashy at all. 

Even though the number of people she had taken down wasn't small, there were no particularly "big wins" in her record. And unlike General Franky, she didn't have a bunch of flashy laser cannons drawing attention. 

"My bounty went up again," 

Jinbe said with a sigh, looking at his new wanted poster—638 million berries, a full 200 million increase from before. 

"Waaah! Why is mine still so low...?" 

"Soul King" Brook: 87 million berries. 

"Uh… maybe because you weren't really on the battlefield?" 

Brook had been on a mission with Carrot and Pedro to steal a copy of the Poneglyph, so he didn't have much of a "battle record," which meant his bounty stayed the same. Out of the entire Straw Hat Crew, he was now at the bottom... 

Wait a minute! 

"Chopper, yours—" 

Roman turned to Chopper, who was staring blankly, his jaw hanging down to his chest, his whole face dark and drained of color. Roman waved it off. 

"Never mind." 

Honestly, for once, Roman hadn't messed with Chopper's bounty on purpose! 

"Wait, why isn't there one for Mr. Roman?" 

Carrot flipped through the stack of wanted posters but only found one. "'The White Knight' Neo—bounty, 1 billion! But that's not Mr. Roman's..." 

"That is me." 

Roman wasn't too interested in his own bounty. To him, it was just a number. Nami felt the same way—her bounty hadn't changed. Meanwhile, Usopp's had gone up by 40 million, making him a 240-million man. 

"Alright, alright, bounties are just titles. 

"As long as we keep winning, that's all that matters! But before that—" 

Roman rolled his shoulders. His newly replaced arm was moving smoothly now. The only thing left was reinforcing it with Armament Haki. 

Clap, clap. 

"Everyone, come here. I need to borrow something from you." 

? 

"Borrow what?" 

Usopp looked curious. Roman was usually the one handing out strange and useful things to help with training or upgrades. But now he was asking to borrow something? That was rare. 

"Your 'lives'—" 

"...Stop joking," 

Nami sighed, looking up at the sky. Was he trying to scare Carrot and Pudding? "Speak properly!" 

"I mean it literally," 

Roman stretched out his hand, and a piece of white paper stood up in his palm. 

But unlike ordinary paper, this one had a face. 

And with a serious expression, it opened its mouth and explained, 

"By splitting off a portion of 'life,' I can create Homies like myself." 

"It's also possible to transfer and inject 'lifespan'..." 

"Hee hee hee, doesn't that mean Pedro doesn't have to die?" 

Luffy was the first to react. Grinning, he waved at the jaguar warrior standing guard by the mast. 

"Come here!" 

As he spoke, Luffy rolled up his sleeve, looking completely ready to be drained. 

"Go ahead, give my 'lifespan' to Pedro." 

"No way!!" 

The first to object was Pedro himself. His face changed drastically as he rushed over to stop Luffy. 

"My life doesn't matter. But you—you're the one who's going to change the world—" 

"Enough talk! Aren't we crewmates who fought side by side?" 

Luffy looked at the jaguar warrior with a serious expression. 

"Do you expect me to just stand here and watch you die?" 

"I..." 

"Hold on a second! Don't make this sound like some tragic farewell! I haven't even finished speaking yet!" 

Roman rolled his eyes. He had already thought about Pedro's lifespan issue. The moment he got his hands on the 'Soul-Soul Power,' he had sent one of his clones to sneak into Big Mom's storage and—well, not steal, but 'borrow' some lifespan. 

Every resident of Whole Cake Land had to give up one month of their lifespan every six months, and all that lifespan was stored for Big Mom to use in creating Homies. What Roman took was just a tiny fraction of that, but it was more than enough to make up for Pedro's lost years. 

As for why he wanted the whole crew to be here— 

"I'm planning to bring 'Merry' and 'Sunny' out in front of everyone, as our crewmates—to laugh, fight, and grow alongside us. Since we're waking up our companions, of course, we should use our own lifespan to do it." 

Roman turned to Luffy. 

"Captain, what do you think?" 

"Hee hee hee, I'd love that!" 

Luffy stretched out his arm, and one by one, the others followed, forming a circle—just like that stormy night in Loguetown. The only difference was— 

Roman, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, Franky, Brook, Jinbe... 

Just as Luffy had once said, he would gather ten crewmates and set sail toward the Pirate King's throne. Now, every person standing here was a comrade who had fought through countless battles together. 

"'Merry' and 'Sunny' are our crewmates too, so—" 

Eleven arms formed a circle, and everyone looked at Roman. 

"Please, Roman!" 

"Of course." 

Roman closed his eyes and activated the power of the 'Soul-Soul Pages.' Tiny glowing orbs emerged from each Straw Hat member's chest and sank into the deck beneath them. 

They had faced Big Mom's soul-stealing ability without fear, but if it was for their comrades— 

"Captain Luffy~~" 

"Roman~~" 

"Usopp, Franky, Miss Nami, Mr. Zoro, Mr. Sanji, Miss Robin, Doctor Chopper, Brook, Boss Jinbe," 

"Thank you all for always taking care of us!" 

A clear, childlike voice rang out. In the center of the circle stood a small boy in a yellow raincoat. Behind him, another child in a red raincoat peeked out shyly from behind their comrades. 

The spirits of the Going Merry and the Thousand Sunny! 

"Hee hee hee, we're the ones who should be saying thanks." 

Luffy grinned, hands on his hips. 

"Alright—since we're welcoming Merry and Sunny—it's time for a feast!!" 

"It's not exactly 'welcoming' them. They've always been here. I just used our soul energy to bring them into view..." 

Never mind. Looking at the noisy crew before him, Roman gave up on explaining any further. 

He waved his hand. 

"Fine, let's have a feast!" 

 ----

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