One Piece: Failure’s Road to the Pirate King

East Sea, on the deck of a massive black ship.

Sage sat slouched on the throne, holding a bottle of wine in his left hand, his posture awkward yet comfortable, half-closing his eyes to enjoy the warmth of the sunlight.

The weather was nice today; he was basking in the sun outside.

As for his subordinates, Paru was still being beaten by the pirates, and Akin was receiving the same treatment as Paru, except one was shouting and screaming while the other gritted his teeth and remained silent. Under the blows of the iron rod, one could even hear a faint bouncing sound from Akin's body, like the collision of hard objects.

It seemed he was starting to grasp the trick.

"Sage!"

Lily suddenly appeared, holding a newspaper, her expression serious. "Today's newspaper."

Sage lifted his gaze, took the newspaper from Lily's hand, and his expression suddenly turned solemn. "Hmm."

He nodded and let out an admiring sound. "Not bad at all!"

"Not bad what?"

Lily was momentarily taken aback, leaning closer to follow Sage's gaze. The newspaper featured news about a beauty pageant, accompanied by a photo of various women in revealing outfits showcasing their figures, providing a visual treat for the onlookers.

Lily: "…"

"Is that all you're looking at?"

"What else is there?"

Sage tossed the newspaper aside. "I can't read, so I just look at the pictures. Lily, you don't need to show me this kind of stuff next time; pictures don't mean much, I want to see the real thing."

"That's not it!"

Lily's forehead twitched with a vein popping out as she handed over three bounty notices that were left behind when the newspaper was taken. "We've been issued bounties, Sage!"

Upon hearing this, the pirates who were still training all stopped and turned to look over.

"Where? Where?!"

Renetia rushed over from somewhere, excitedly asking, "Am I on there? How much is the bounty?"

Sage pushed the bounty notices aside, took one in hand, glanced at it, and froze.

He looked at Lily in astonishment. "Thirty million?"

He had only killed a Navy branch colonel; logically, it shouldn't reach this price. It must have included the matters of two kingdoms, plus the towns they had robbed, which brought it to this amount.

"Seventy million Berries?!"

Renetia, who had come closer, also saw the bounty amount and gasped.

"How much? How much?!"

Even Paru, who was beaten to a pulp and dazed, jumped in shock upon hearing this amount.

As for the other pirates, they were utterly dumbfounded. Although they hadn't been submerged in water, they were at a loss.

"Is it high?" Lily asked.

She had no concept of bounties, only knowing that Sage and she would definitely be wanted, having never been exposed to tales of the sea since childhood. Now, using navigation techniques was a gradual process of matching theory to reality.

"Of course it's high!"

Renetia was different; although only ten years old, she had been adventuring with her master since childhood, collecting materials and news of shipwrecks, so she was familiar with the East Sea.

"There are no pirates in the East Sea with bounties over twenty million! Your thirty million is already quite high, and it's your first bounty. Sage, seventy million? I've never heard of such a bounty in the East Sea; only pirates from the Grand Line have that, and they have to be extremely dangerous individuals!"

This bounty was unheard of.

Akin and the others looked horrified. They were seasoned pirates who had robbed many towns and merchant ships, and their bounties were only twelve million and seven million at most. Even the leading captain wouldn't leap so far in one go.

But now, seventy million was something they couldn't even dare to imagine.

After the shock, the admiration grew even more.

"The captain is indeed powerful; a first bounty of seventy million! We are the rightful overlords of the East Sea!" one pirate shouted excitedly.

"Overlords of the East Sea! Overlords of the East Sea!" the other pirates echoed.

Sage shook his head and smiled. "Seventy million, the World Government is really giving me face; this amount means they want me dead!"

He wasn't flustered at all. Ever since he killed the king of Oikett, he knew he would definitely have a bounty on his head.

Killing a king of a member state without a bounty would be the real problem.

However, the bounty amount was something he hadn't expected.

But as he looked at one of the bounty notices, aside from his and Lily's, it featured a photo of a boy wearing a straw hat, flashing a bright smile.

"Monkey D. Luffy?" Sage murmured.

It seemed he had just received a bounty as well. "Luffy? Is he the one with the straw hat? He's famous now." Akin looked up, showing a nostalgic expression.

That kid who defeated Captain Kliqi was a good man.

"What's so special about this straw hat?" Lily asked, noticing Sage's unusual demeanor.

"Nothing."

Sage handed the bounty notice to Renetia, who was reaching out to take it. "It's not important; he's just a fellow traveler."

"Sage, why doesn't he have a title?"

Renetia tossed aside the straw hat's bounty notice, glanced at her and Lily's bounty notices, and asked, "Since we've been issued bounties, shouldn't we all have titles?"

"Who gives themselves a title? What kind of idiot would do that?"

Sage replied, "This thing is either based on physical characteristics or behavioral style, and it's named by people out at sea. Whether or not there's a title doesn't matter; it all refers to the person anyway."

The bounty notices only had names, no titles.

"Isn't there one for me?"

Lily, disappointed, handed the bounty notice to the pirates who wanted to see it, then clenched her fist and said, "Next time, it will definitely have me on it!"

"What do you think this is, a good thing?"

Sage shook his head. "Our current Pirate Crew is the most eye-catching in the East Sea. I have seventy million, Lily has thirty million, and Akin and Paru together have nineteen million. The total value has reached one hundred nineteen million, an over a billion Pirate Crew, and in the East Sea, that's not a good thing."

In the East Sea, where the average bounty was three million, having a crew worth over a billion would definitely attract heavy Navy forces.

Staying within the World Government's territory in the East Sea, it was only a matter of time before they were besieged.

"Plans really can't keep up with changes."

He had initially thought that even if they were issued bounties, the amounts wouldn't be too high, allowing them to stay in the East Sea a bit longer, at least to master Haki and raise the strength of his subordinates before heading to the Grand Line.

But now, with this bounty, it would definitely be hard to stay. They could only head to the Grand Line, a place full of chaos, where they wouldn't attract the attention of the entire Navy.

For now, they had to go to the Grand Line.

"Lily, how far is it to the next place?" Sage asked.

Lily thought for a moment and said, "According to the sea chart, it will take three days to reach 'Shallow Sand Kingdom.'"

Sage gulped down a few swigs of wine, gazing at the endless sea. "Then let's dock there, get some supplies, recruit a few more crew members, and head for the Grand Line!"