One Piece: Failure’s Road to the Pirate King

A few days later.

Somewhere over the East Sea, a ship adorned with a ram's head and flying a straw-hat skull flag was sailing slowly.

"Hahaha!"

A man wearing a straw hat laughed heartily as he raised a bounty notice in his hand. The notice featured a photo that looked just like him, with the name Monkey D. Luffy written below, followed by a string of numbers: thirty million! "We've become bounty criminals!" Luffy laughed, "That's thirty million berries!"

"Do you even understand the seriousness of this situation?"

Nami sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Thirty million berries means someone is after your life. If this continues, we can't just wander around the East Sea leisurely anymore."

Just earlier, she had complained about the rising price of newspapers, and now a bounty notice for Luffy had slipped out from the paper. Not only had the newspaper price gone up, but their captain's bounty had risen too. "This should be the highest in the East Sea, right?"

Sanji stroked his chin and said, "That Arlong only had a bounty of twenty million berries."

"Exactly, Luffy is the highest in the East Sea now."

On a deck a little further away, Zoro walked over and said, "I was a bounty hunter for a while, and I've never seen a bounty of thirty million in the East Sea. The Navy Headquarters will definitely take action. The enemies we encounter from now on will be completely different."

"Hehe, bring it on! I'm going to be the Pirate King!" Luffy grinned.

"Thirty million, huh…"

Nami continued flipping through the newspaper, "This price… Huh?!"

She hadn't even finished her sentence when she stared blankly at one side of the newspaper, her mouth agape.

"What's wrong? Did you find something?"

Usopp leaned over, took a glance at the newspaper, and his eyes bulged out.

Sanji leaned in, his eyes turning into hearts, his body twisting like noodles. "A beauty!"

Then, his pupils constricted, and he bit his cigarette crookedly.

"Hey, what's going on?" Luffy tilted his head and asked.

"There are two more."

Nami pulled out two more bounty notices from the newspaper, her arm trembling slightly as she faced the others.

Zoro's expression turned serious.

Sanji's eyes shifted from hearts to shock.

Usopp's mouth dropped open, nearly dragging on the deck, his face filled with horror.

Only Luffy remained cheerful, his expression unchanged.

...

At the Navy Headquarters, in a building resembling a castle, a group of solemn-faced Navy personnel sat in two rows. In front of them was a small wooden table set with food.

At the back of the room, a Navy officer with green curly hair stood, a board hanging above him displaying several bounty notices.

"Since they defeated Navy branch Colonel Monka before forming their Pirate Crew, their momentum has been unstoppable."

He pointed to three bounty notices and said, "The 'Clown' Buggy with a bounty of fifteen million berries, the 'Captain' Kuro with a bounty of seventeen million berries, and the 'Sawtooth' Arlong with a bounty of twenty million berries. In the East Sea, where the average bounty is three million berries, they are all over ten million, yet they were defeated by them."

The green-haired Navy officer, Major Brannew, slammed a bounty notice for the straw hat kid on the board and said, "Thirty million berries is extremely rare for the East Sea… no, for the world. This initial bounty amount is definitely not too high. Such evil tendencies should be eradicated early to prevent future growth."

At the top of the two rows of Navy personnel, a Navy officer put down his wine glass and looked at Brannew, "Continue, there's an even more dangerous criminal, right?"

"Yes! Compared to this thirty million berry pirate, there's an even more dangerous presence in the East Sea."

He removed all the bounty notices from the board and placed two new ones.

"Among their Pirate Crew, there's the 'Demon' Akin with a bounty of twelve million berries, and the 'Iron Wall' Paru with a bounty of seven million berries. These two were pirates from the former Kuro Pirate Crew, so the 'Captain' Kuro likely lost to this one."

With a slap, he placed a bounty notice on the board. The photo showed a blonde-haired girl with curly hair drawing a slender sword on the streets of Oykot Kingdom, her expression resolute.

The bounty amount below the photo: thirty million berries! "According to intelligence, they first appeared within the Oykot Kingdom and caused turmoil in the kingdom. This woman killed Navy branch Colonel Rat during the chaos."

"Bean D. Lily, that's what they call her, but the nobles of Oykot Kingdom deny her existence. The mountain bandits captured by the Navy also say she's a bandit roaming within the kingdom and has attacked the king."

"Such a dangerous instigator of turmoil, a first bounty of thirty million berries is not excessive at all. If the straw hat kid defeated other pirates and is a sign of evil, then this woman is already an accomplice of evil!"

"As for their captain…"

He removed all the bounty notices and solemnly placed one on the board.

"This man, in less than half a month since his debut, has murdered King Ennio of the Oykot Kingdom and King Mordok of the Natia Kingdom, and has robbed numerous towns in the East Sea, including economically prosperous large towns. Everywhere he goes turns to ruins, showing a complete disregard for the World Government."

He slammed the bounty notice on the board and shouted, "He is the most vicious criminal!"

"Ennio…"

The highest-ranking Navy officer stared at the wine in his glass, silent for a moment, then said, "He's dead?"

He looked at the bounty notice and said, "This criminal must be dealt with severely and suppressed as soon as possible. He is not the same as the pirates of the Great Pirate Era."

Since the Pirate King Roger began the Great Pirate Era, the pirates roaming the seas today, while they may rob towns and merchant ships, do not act recklessly against a nation, especially when facing a king.

Robbing towns is one thing, but robbing a royal city and even killing a king… such a grave crime is not something the pirates of the new era can commit.

Rather, he resembles the powerful pirates that roamed the seas before the Great Pirate Era!

"Exactly! For such a serious criminal, we must suppress him before he grows stronger!" Brannew agreed.

The bounty notice featured a background of raging flames, with a massive castle burning, and outside the castle, a white-haired man was holding gold coins in one hand and a flintlock pistol in the other, laughing wildly.

"Norton Sage, bounty amount seventy million berries! This price will only go lower, not higher! A pirate who dares to attack a member country and murder a king is utterly evil!"