Chapter 17: Kozuki Oden's New Bounty Sparks Roger's Interest

Over the Grand Line

Above the Jackson, a seagull swiftly flew by, dropping several wanted posters and newspapers from the sky—landing squarely on Buggy's face.

Ten seconds later—

"W-Wait, seriously?! T-Ten... hundred... thousand... ten thousand... hundred million—ONE HUNDRED MILLION BERRIES?! ヽ(ﾟДﾟ)ﾉ!!!"

Buggy rubbed his eyes hard, staring fixedly at the numbers and picture on the wanted poster. After confirming it over and over, he finally couldn't hold back a scream.

"Hey, what's wrong with you, Buggy? Going crazy so early in the morning?"

Shanks, woken by Buggy's outburst, put on his clothes and came over, peeking at the wanted poster behind him.

"One hundred million berries?! No way! This is just Drew's first bounty!"

Shanks was stunned, mouth agape, unsure what to say. As a fellow intern, he didn't even have a bounty yet.

Who could've imagined that this kid would one day become the famous Red-Haired Shanks, one of the Four Emperors who stopped the Marineford War with nothing but the power of his reputation?

"One hundred million berries, huh? Not bad at all. Hahaha."

At that moment, Drew leaned in too, and the three of them gathered around the poster.

"Tch. Don't get too excited, Drew," Buggy scoffed, stuffing the wanted poster into Drew's chest. "Being targeted by the World Government means people will be after you nonstop."

With that, he turned and stomped into the training room alone.

"Drew, I'm going to train too!" Shanks followed shortly after.

Unknowingly, the arrival of Drew had sparked a quiet rivalry among the Roger Pirates' interns!

"One hundred million berries, huh? Looks like the World Government sees you as quite the threat, Drew."

Rayleigh and Roger appeared behind him, looking at the poster with a sigh.

Roger recalled his own first bounty—just fifty million berries.

Of course, things were different back then. Roger and Rayleigh had clawed their way up, battling from the beginner zones step by step. Drew? He started straight at the top.

"A samurai, huh? I'd really like to meet him. What kind of warriors does a closed-off country produce?"

Roger wasn't focused on Drew—he was intrigued by the Whitebeard Pirates' samurai.

After all, more than a decade ago, the Roger Pirates had already reached the final destination indicated by the Log Pose: Lodestar Island. But when they arrived, Roger discovered something shocking—there was no treasure. The Log Pose spun endlessly. That's when Roger realized: this wasn't the final island.

There had to be another island beyond Lodestar.

That was the true end of the Grand Line—the real final island.

Only by reaching it could the Roger Pirates truly become the world's number one pirate crew and accomplish what no other pirates ever had.

Years of exploration and investigation had revealed the key: the ancient language banned by the World Government, carved into giant red stones—the Poneglyphs.

Only by gathering all four Road Poneglyphs could they find the true final island.

And the man who could read them—Kozuki Oden—was the key.

Off to the side, Drew overheard Roger's muttering and recalled the historical timeline he knew.

"Kozuki Oden, huh? Speaking of which, that little brat—the source of all evil—should've been born by now," Drew curled his lips slightly, thinking of that good-for-nothing troublemaker of the pirate world, who was completely unlike his father and universally despised: Kozuki Momonosuke.

"If I run into him in the future, I'm definitely going to teach him a proper lesson. Momonosuke, just you wait ^_^"

...

Somewhere in the New World, the Whitebeard Pirates were taking a break. After just finishing a massive battle against a pirate fleet, they were now inventorying their loot. Looking at the treasure-filled ships, Whitebeard Edward Newgate wore a satisfied grin. Although he personally had no need for such riches, there were others who did.

For their sake, Whitebeard had been incredibly stingy these past years—so much so that he often resorted to stealing his own sons' booze to drink.

However, those familiar with the inner workings of the Whitebeard Pirates never said a word about it. It was precisely because of his deep value for familial bonds that all these outcasts of the sea—men with no homes—could live freely under the banner of the Whitebeard Pirates.

"What's going on…? Why does it feel like someone's watching me?"

Kozuki Oden, who was in the middle of looting treasure, suddenly shuddered. He looked up at the sky, a little confused, but the intuition of a true man told him—something big was coming.

At the same time, somewhere else, the infant Momonosuke was drinking milk when he suddenly seemed gripped by an overwhelming sense of terror. His face turned pale, and he began flailing wildly, his cries echoing to the heavens. The abrupt wailing threw Toki into a panic—her son had just been fine, what was happening?

"There, there, don't cry!"

Toki gently rocked Kozuki Momonosuke in her arms. His tiny head was pressed into her soft and generous chest as she stroked his little head. After all, it was her first time being a mother—there was a lot she didn't know yet.

"Oden Captain, you're amazing! That guy was the infamous pirate brute, Demon Spartacus, with a bounty of 350 million berries—and you took him down so easily!" said a thrilled member of the Whitebeard Pirates' Second Division, waving his arms excitedly as he approached Oden.

"Hahaha, that guy's a far cry from Whitey Bay. I didn't think he'd be this weak either," Kozuki Oden laughed and scratched his head.

All this time, Oden had been sparring with Whitebeard himself. Who would've thought that this so-called 'demon pirate' would be so feeble? A simple dual-blade strike was enough to finish him off.

"Hey, your bounty went up again? Oden, the World Government sure works fast," said a pineapple-haired youth who appeared in front of Oden, holding up a new wanted poster and shrugging.

It was none other than the future First Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates—the top-tier fighter who only played in elite matches—Phoenix Marco. At this moment, he was still a teenager, looking quite green. As an intern with the Whitebeard Pirates, his incredible potential had already caught Edward Newgate's eye.

"Really? Five hundred million berries?! ???? Not bad at all," said Kozuki Oden as he snatched the wanted poster and looked it over carefully, recalling Whitebeard's own bounty. The gap between them was shrinking.

While the other Whitebeard Pirates were joyfully looting treasure, in a corner of the Moby Dick, a dark-skinned, inconspicuous figure was calmly gathering treasure, completely uninterested in the commotion around him.

No one would've guessed that this low-key man would, more than twenty years later, stir up a storm of bloodshed across the seas—one that would shake the world.

At this moment, he still appeared calm and distant.