Chapter 103

103

"So you are saying we are pirates now…" Luffy asked, frowning. Luffy had woken up, it's been only a few hours since he had the fight with Aramaki. "Not that I'm happy about it… but" he looks down at the newspaper, "This is total bullshit… we didn't attack any marine base… are they really trying to falsely accuse us." he said irritatedly, more so it was saying today he attacked the marine base.

The marine base in question was on the other side of east blue. The rest of the crew looked at Luffy and didn't say anything. They were also very frustrated. This isn't the first thing Luffy wanted to see after waking up from a big fight against a madman.

"Wait… didn't Smoker stop you guys from leaving the Island," Luffy asked. They were all in the Going Marry, in the middle of the ocean. With what they told him, the bounty poster was distributed in mid-day.

Usually, bounties don't come at that time, they are usually given away with regular papers. But Luffy's case was diffirent. It was a special handout to all the blues by the News Crew for free.

Luffy's Bounty Poster:

It had an image of Luffy lazily sitting on the top of Going Marry with his two naginata's crossed on his back. He didn't look intimidating from the picture at all… and yet the description that came along with it was totally the opposite.

[Fallen Hero Straw Hat Luffy.

Bounty: 70,000,000 Berries

Dead or Alive]

Behind the bounty poster was the main thing, where it wrote details about Luffy.

Luffy, more famously known as the hero of the dawn Island Mario. The marines have received claims that almost all of his heroic deeds were a setup and a hoax to gain fame. Most of his endeavors with pirates were a total setup to fool the civilians and loot their treasures.

There was even a picture of Gin and Hatchan's picture with Luffy while they were in the Cocoyasi Village. There was also another picture of the Going Marry with the official Straw Hat pirate flag. After that, it went on to explain how Luffy even attacked a marine base that was under Captain Nezumi.

"Well, someone hates me," Luffy said frowning. Why take extra steps and set him up otherwise… though he was more interested in who took the photo of him with Gin and Hatchan. "Anyway, why didn't Smoker stop you guys? Isn't he some honest marine or something…"

"Actually captain, the problem is with that marine Nezumi. Smoker was the one that was investigating that rat in the first place… and so he actually knew the real story. That's why he didn't take action." Coby said, honestly, this was the first marine he saw that didn't act like a total villain.

Luffy nodded so Coby continued.

"Also, the islanders were really cheering for you after you tossed that green guy to the sea… and they already view you as a hero. So they didn't believe what the government said. And even protested if Smoker wanted to capture you… not that we would let him of course."

Luffy just shrugged, and didn't say anything. Luffy doubted that… if Smoker wanted and he was serious, Luffy was sure he could take down the whole crew. Including Sparky… all of the sea stones Luffy had gathered from the black market, the cuffs, and bullets were used against Aramaki.

So Smoker had a good chance that he would be able to capture all of them… logia powers were no joke. The users might die off from being too cocky, but the powers were just too damn amazing.

Luffy hummed, "He didn't even try capturing Gin or Hatchan…" well both of them had bounties, and unlike him, they were justified.

"He tried…" Zoro said, "But we stopped him… And also Anchor also gave in a good word. It seems that the blacksmith is buddies with the Smoker guy."

Luffy nodded, that Popeye guy was an ex-marine, and they both do look similar in age.

"Speaking of Gin? How is he…" Luffy said, he looked down at his own body, there were some severe burn marks. But his body would heal without leaving behind a scar. Honestly, Semi Kieken is broken as fuck in the right hand. Armaki's Chemical Acid was another deal. Good thing that moron didn't try to nuke them right off the bat.

That made all of the crew members a bit gloomy.

"He's still unconscious… The Island doctors got to him on time… but some of the acid got to his lungs, and other organs causing some internal bleeding and lasting damage there… it will be a while before he's back to full health unless he is treated by some highly skilled physician." Nami said. She was blaming herself a bit, if she wasn't with Gin, if Gin was with the others, then maybe Gin wouldn't get that injured.

"Hey, no one knew it would happen, okay?" Luffy said, as he smiled at the girl, " And if it makes you fell any better, I messed that man up pretty bad myself… heck, I wouldn't be surprised if he kicked the bucket."

The others nodded, all of them knew the battle was a close call. Sparky had explained what had happened. It also made them view how big the world is.

"Anyway, what about Hatchan and Momoo?"

After seeing Gin and Nami get attacked by an unknown man, both Hatchan and Momoo jumped into the fight to save Nami. It didn't go as planned, but Nami felt glad for the help.

They could have easily ran after Aramaki easily dealt with Gin, but they stayed.

"Momoo has a cracked skull… but it's nothing serious. But Hathcan on the other hand got a sword wound from that bastard… it's nothing serious… though Hatchan kind of lost two of his arms." Zoro said, making Luffy wide eye in horror.

Kuina rolled her eyes, "Don't worry though… he said he could grow it right back in time. Him being an octopus Fishman and all."

"You almost scared me Zoro!" Luffy grumbled, while Zoro just smirked. The others in the crew also felt a bit glad that their captain was worrying about them.

"Hey, captain… did you know the Aramaki guy by any chance?" Kuina spoke again.

Luffy blinked, "No… I did know about him from time to time. Why?"

Kuina didn't say anything for a while, before she opened her mouth, "You see, there's a rumor back in West Blue that… it's about a guy who I'm pretty sure is Aramaki. Well, there are some rumors that he likes to take government contracts from time to time. He also has some bad rep in the bounty hunting gig… and people say that the reason why he isn't a criminal is because of his involvement with the government."

"Government as in Marines?" Coby asked.

Kuina shook her head, "No, as in world government… you know the cipher pol."

"Why would Cipher Pol work with bounty hunters…" Johnny asked, while Yosaku nodded.

"To take care of people off the books." Coby said, slowly, while Kuina nodded.

Luffy thought for a while before throwing the thought to the back of his head. He also had some suspicion that it was kind of a hit job. And the sudden bounty just proved his theory…. It seems that the world government had eyes on him. But he wasn't worried.

Still, it was a bit worrying as to why this happened. This kind of thing didn't happen in the original. But then again, Luffy didn't have a staring reputation in the original.

The world government might be stupid, but they also have good ears… he wouldn't be surprised if they knew about Luffy's haki. Heck, previously the newspaper even wrote about his clash with Mihawk… so of course, they would send one of the best bounty hunters after him.

"Eh… let them do what they want… I might be pretty banged up right now. But fighting with the bastard also improved my skills a lot. I will be much stronger… so and with enough training I will be the strongest." He said flexing his biceps. And he was being serious, both his observation haki and Armament haki gained a tremendous level, maybe because it was his first time fighting with such unfavorable conditions. "Then we won't have to worry about those freaks anymore. Shishishi"

That brought some smiles and giggles in the room. "And besides we are an official group of pirates now. We should celebrate." He said, but winching from the pain his body. Even with Semie Kikken, his body would need some time to get fully back to an optimal level.

Time hadn't passed that much, he was only out for two or three hours, but give it a day or two and he would be back to optimal condition.

Still, Luffy was a bit sad that he wouldn't be able to push his body in the meantime. But rest was necessary as he was sure he gained very valuable experience from his fight.