66. Raised Bounties

The Clown Pirates have arrived on South Blue. They immediately leave the port and go to explore South Blue. This will be the last sea that they'll explore before going to Grandline.

"South Blue, what have you prepared for us? I can't wait," says Buggy while looking at the vast sea on the front railing and smiling widely.

"Where will we go, Captain?" asks Jude.

"Let's fulfill our promise to Dina & Robin first. Let's go to Hems Island," says Buggy.

Jude nod and set the course to Hems Island. It's a small island near the Calm Belt and only has a small village on it. It will take a day for them to reach it from the Crossing Port.

While sailing there, Buggy train the Hasshoken that he got from Chinjao. The battle with Ley also gave him more understanding of it.

It's still imperfect, but he will keep improving it. Just imagining him using Hasshoken from all his split body parts has made him excited.

He can also try to modify it so that he can use it with his weapon. His crew will also get stronger by learning this martial art. Hasshoken is a high-level martial art, so it will be very useful.

Buggy's crewmates also started to recover. Jude & Mantis can do normal activities now even with some bandages. It's only Cricket who still can't do normal activities. His injuries are quite bad and he hasn't recovered a lot.

Cricket really pushed himself in his battle. He is the First Mate, just 2nd in command after Buggy in this crew. He knows the crew will depend on him when Buggy's hands are full.

So he need to be strong, that's why he pushed himself that much. And it has been paid off to him, he can use armament haki hardening now. It's still weak, but that can be trained to be stronger. The difficult part is to activate it for the first time.

Cricket has activated his armament haki, while Mantis activated her observation haki. They've trained for a few weeks already now, so it's about time for them to activate their haki.

Jude hasn't touched a glimpse of haki power at all. She has just trained for a few days when she got her devil fruit. So now she is focused on training her devil fruit and put aside her haki training.

Buggy also trains Robin a little about devil fruit. She has also just eaten her fruit, so she doesn't have much experience with it. Buggy teaches her some important things that she needs to know.

On their way to Hems Island, they encounter a Marine unit. Buggy gets ready to fight the unit alone because his crewmates aren't in good shape. But he gets dumbfounded when the Marine unit leaves and runs away from them.

"What the heck? I have never seen a Marine unit is running away from a pirate crew," says Buggy.

"Maybe they're in bad conditions too, so they avoid confrontation," says Jude.

"Hmm, it's possible. Well, let them be, let's focus on our task," says Buggy.

The Clown Pirates focus on their sailing to Hems Island. They don't think much about the previous Marine Unit. But then they find out why that unit run away after Dina buy a newspaper from a news coo.

"Captain-san, you guys get some new bounties. Come check them out!" Dina calls the others.

Buggy & co come to the main deck and check the new posters. There are 2 posters of Buggy and Cricket.

Buggy 'The Clown': 100 million

Montblanc 'Chestnut' Cricket: 35 million

"Only Captain and Cricket? Where are mine & Jude's bounty posters?" asks Mantis.

"There's no other poster, only these 2," says Dina.

"Eh~, but I defeat someone with a bounty too. So shouldn't I get one?" asks Mantis.

"Hmm, most likely the one who made our bounties raised is Kano Country. We've embarrassed them 2 times, so they can't accept it. They asked the Marine to raised our bounties, but they couldn't reveal that we've defeated everyone in Ley's unit," says Buggy.

"Ah, so they just report you and Cricket-san to the Marine, right?" asks Dina.

"Yeah, we already have bounties, so it won't embarrass them too much. Maybe they also said that we just fought with Ley & Hanji, not the entire unit. They also won't reveal what we've done to Chinjao's fleet," says Buggy.

A country affiliated with WG can make a request for someone's bounty to be raised. It's what happen to Sanji after Dressrosa, so it might be what happen to them now.

Their battle with Ley's unit wasn't known by anyone except Clown Pirates, Happo Navy, and Kano Country. So Marine won't raise their bounties without any report from Kano Country.

"Tsk, 100 million before reaching Grandline, this will be a hassle," says Buggy while clicking his tongue.

"Why? Aren't you happy with it?" asks Mantis.

"I am, but now the Marine HQ will be alerted and might send Vice-Admirals to us. Even the Admirals will notice us too. They might also notice who I was, especially Garp & Sengoku," says Buggy.

"You mean your identity as Roger Pirates' apprentice?" asks Jude.

"Yeah, that's why it will be a hassle. Dina, do you know Shanks' current bounty?" asks Buggy.

"You mean 'Red Hair' Shanks? He just got a new bounty last week when you climbed the mountains. His crew has sailed on Grandline, and he has a bounty of 150 million," says Dina.

"SO FAST?!" Mantis gets surprised.

"He doesn't have any bounty when you got your first bounty, right, Captain?" asks Cricket.

"Yeah, he got his first bounty when we were on Illisia Kingdom," says Buggy.

Shanks got his first bounty when the Clowns were on Illisia Kingdom. He just got 30 million at that time while still on East Blue. Shanks & his crew went to Grandline shortly after that, and now he has a bounty of 150 million.

"How can it be raised so fast?" asks Jude curiously.

"It's because he is on Grandline. His opponents are strong, and Marine HQ would notice him soon. They would also realize that he was an apprentice in Roger Pirates like me. That's why his bounty raised fast," says Buggy.

"Then how about you? Will you get your bounty raised too after this?" asks Jude.

"I don't think so, bounty doesn't raise that easily. Even Shanks might have done something like defeating a strong Marine officer or strong Pirate crew to get that bounty. Unless we are on Grandline, my bounty won't raise because the Marine & Pirates here are weak," says Buggy.

"You are right, his crew defeated a strong Rear Admiral," says Dina.

"Just a Rear Admiral? Captain has defeated one too before," says Jude.

"Grandline's Rear Admirals are different. The Rear Admiral that I fought was just as strong as Grandline's Marine Captain or even weaker. The standards in Grandline are different," says Buggy.

The crew now realized that Grandline is more dangerous than they've thought. If just defeating a Rear Admiral could gave Shanks a bounty of 150 million, then their opponents there will be a lot stronger.

"The problem is that some people on Marine HQ might recognize me and will try to kill me. But they still won't raise my bounty that easily. They might even hide the fact that I was an apprentice on Roger Pirates. That's why you all need to get ready for it," says Buggy.

Buggy's crewmates now have a serious look and think about what they'll face in Grandline and what they'll do. Buggy leaves his crewmates on their own and goes to the front deck. He looks in the direction of Grandline and has a serious look.

'What will you do now, Shanks? Your crew isn't strong enough to hold the burden of your bounty & reputation. Will you wait, or will you keep going further? Show me your worth as someone who will be an Emperor!'

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