When Gojo left the island of Jaya, at the same time on the Straw Hat's ship, Nami bought today's newspaper. The sea breeze fluttered the pages slightly as she unfolded it. When she opened the newspaper, a few bounty posters slipped free and fell to the wooden deck.
She quickly bent down and picked them up, stacking the posters together. The first bounty poster on the top was of Luffy, whose bounty had been updated to 80 million berries.
As soon as she saw this, her eyes widened in surprise and she immediately shouted, "Luffy, your bounty has been increased!"
As soon as Luffy heard this, he immediately came running to Nami's side, his sandals thumping against the deck. "Where, where? Show me my bounty poster!" he said excitedly.
Before Nami could even properly show it, Luffy snatched the poster from her hands and looked at it. Seeing his bounty poster with 80 million berries written on it, a wide grin spread across his face as the paper rustled in the wind.
"Hehehe! Look at that!" he laughed proudly, holding the poster up. "Eighty million! That's awesome!"
The poster below that was of Zoro, whose bounty had been updated to 40 million berries.
Zoro hadn't performed much—or to be precise, he hadn't gotten a big chance to perform in a major battle recently—so his bounty didn't increase by a huge amount. But as he was the partner of Luffy and the first mate of the Straw Hat Pirates, his bounty had still been raised alongside Luffy's growing reputation.
Nami glanced at the next poster and said, "Zoro, your bounty has also been increased to 40 million berries," as she held the poster up in his direction.
Zoro, however, simply ignored it.
He was currently training, standing firmly on the deck with his swords as he practiced his stance drills. His posture was steady, breathing controlled, completely focused on his movements as the blades shifted slightly in his hands.
Without even looking in Nami's direction, he said casually, "What's there to be so worked up about?"
And he continued his training as if the news meant nothing to him.
However, Usopp quickly leaned over and grabbed Zoro's bounty poster from Nami's hands. His eyes sparkled with curiosity as he looked at it closely.
"Whoa! Forty million!" Usopp exclaimed, staring at the poster.
Robin also quietly walked over to take a look at Zoro's bounty poster. After observing it for a moment, a faint smile appeared on her lips. Then she calmly moved back and sat down on the nearby seat, the gentle sea breeze brushing through her hair as the ship sailed forward.
Immediately, the next bounty poster was in Nami's hand, and this was a familiar face to her. The moment her eyes landed on it, she recognized the person instantly.
She was just about to say something when Sanji's cheerful voice rang out from the kitchen area.
"Food is ready, everyone! Nami-san, I have created this beautiful dish for a beautiful young lady like you! And this coffee is for you, Miss Robin," he said smoothly as he walked over, placing the steaming coffee cup gently in front of Robin.
A soft aroma of freshly brewed coffee spread in the air.
Robin accepted the coffee cup with her usual calm smile and took a small sip. However, Nami didn't take her food. Her eyes were still fixed on the bounty poster in her hand.
As soon as Luffy heard the word "food," his attention instantly shifted. He didn't care about his bounty poster anymore and immediately turned, ready to dash toward the table where Sanji had placed the dishes.
But just as he was about to run, Nami suddenly spoke, turning the bounty poster toward them.
"Look, guys! Gojo's bounty has also been updated, but look—his bounty jump is insane!" Nami said, clearly surprised.
That immediately caught everyone's attention.
"Before it was just 50 million berries, right? It suddenly hiked up to 150 million berries!"
The number hung in the air for a moment.
As soon as Zoro heard this, he stopped his training. His swords lowered slightly as he turned and walked over to look at Gojo's bounty poster.
After all, he hadn't forgotten that he had been guided by Gojo in terms of swordsmanship.
Gojo was sure that Zoro just needed one real battle—one moment where everything would click—and he would most probably be able to find that realm where he could listen to the breath of all things. And once Zoro reached that state, it would become the best chance for him to even begin mastering Haki, just as Gojo had once told him.
One battle… that's all it takes.
In a sense, Gojo was a kind of teacher for Zoro.
So Zoro stepped closer and looked at Gojo's poster carefully.
Robin, who had been quietly sipping her coffee, also paused. Her eyes moved toward the poster, curiosity appearing in them. She slowly stood up and walked over, still holding the warm cup in her hand, to take a closer look.
Then Luffy looked at the poster as well, his eyes widening slightly in surprise.
"Wow, he got so much bounty!" Luffy said.
And the same was the case for the others too, each of them staring at the poster as the sea breeze lightly rustled the paper in Nami's hand.
But at this time Robin spoke, her calm voice cutting through the chatter as she gently placed the coffee cup down on the table.
"It is to be expected. After all, his strength is on that level," Robin said.
She looked at the bounty poster in Nami's hand before continuing, her tone thoughtful.
"As I already told you before, Crocodile—whom you defeated—was considerably weaker compared to before. That was because he had already been severely injured by Gojo."
The Straw Hats listened quietly as Robin continued explaining.
"If Gojo hadn't severely injured Crocodile beforehand, then you wouldn't have been able to defeat Crocodile so easily," she added calmly.
The sea breeze lightly rustled the newspaper pages on the deck as Robin spoke.
"Not to mention, if what Gojo said is the truth—and it most probably is—then Gojo didn't only defeat Crocodile here. Before even coming to the Alabasta Kingdom, he had already defeated one of the Warlords… Jinbe."
The moment that name was mentioned, a brief silence fell over the group.
"So it is only natural that he deserves a bounty of this level," Robin continued. "Most probably the World Government was suppressing his bounty before in order to avoid giving Gojo more fame."
She lifted the coffee cup again and took a small sip before finishing her explanation.
"But now that Gojo has defeated two Warlords in succession within just a few days, the government clearly considers him a major threat. That is why they have raised his bounty to this level."
Robin glanced once more at the poster before adding,
"Even now, his bounty is still low. Realistically speaking, his bounty should be somewhere around 300 to 500 million berries."
As soon as everyone heard Robin's words, the crew fell into thoughtful silence.
After all, every member of the Straw Hat Pirates had already seen Gojo's strength with their own eyes.
Not to mention Chopper, who had personally witnessed just how monstrously powerful Gojo truly was. The image of Gojo vs. Jinbe was still fresh in his mind.
And the same was the case for the others as well.
They had all seen Gojo overwhelming the Marines so easily, moving through them like it was nothing, completely dominating the battlefield.
Because of that, Gojo's massive bounty increase was no longer that surprising for any of the Straw Hats.
If anything, as they looked again at the poster fluttering slightly in Nami's hand, the thought quietly crossed their minds—
Maybe Robin is right… even 150 million might still be too low for someone like him.
At this time, Luffy's stomach suddenly growled loudly.
He rubbed his belly and said without hesitation, "I'm hungry. Let's go eat."
Even though Gojo's matter was quite a big deal, it wasn't that big of a deal for Luffy. It wasn't affecting him or his crew in any direct way, so to him it wasn't something worth worrying too much about.
Right now, what he cared about the most was the food that Sanji had just prepared.
And Luffy was that kind of person—if his bounty increased, then he would definitely get happy about it, celebrate it. But if it didn't increase, or if someone else's bounty increased more than his, he wouldn't get bothered by it at all.
He never thought about things like why isn't my bounty higher or what should I do to increase my bounty more.
Luffy simply lived for adventure.
And secondly—for becoming the Pirate King.
It was exactly because of this nature of his that, when the Straw Hats later arrived near the island of Jaya, something very unusual happened.
They suddenly saw a ship falling straight from the sky.
The crew was shocked when they witnessed it crashing into the sea nearby. Curious as always, they inspected the wreckage and found a few old journals inside the remains of the ship.
After reading through those journals, they learned about strange stories—stories about a place far above the clouds.
A Sky Island.
Once they reached the island of Jaya and heard more rumours about the Sky Island, Luffy's adventurous spirit immediately ignited.
His eyes sparkled with excitement.
A mysterious island floating in the sky?
There was no way he was going to ignore something like that.
So without hesitation, Luffy decided that they were definitely going to the Sky Island.
Of course, things were slightly different this time.
There was no encounter between Luffy and Bellamy.
After all, Bellamy was no longer alive.
However, Luffy did end up encountering Blackbeard on Jaya.
Blackbeard had been quite regretful recently. He had missed the chance to meet Gojo earlier. If he had been able to capture or defeat Gojo, then he would have had a powerful bargaining chip with the World Government.
Especially now that one of the Warlord positions had become empty.
Capturing someone like Gojo could have easily secured him a position among the Seven Warlords of the Sea.
But that opportunity had slipped through his fingers.
And now that Luffy was here, Blackbeard had briefly considered targeting him instead.
However, before he could act, the Straw Hat Pirates had already left.
They were heading to the Sky Island.
And just like that, Blackbeard had once again missed another target.
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