Chapter 14: The Straw Hats' first bounties
Somewhere at sea, Going Merry.
Luffy was sitting on top of the sheep head, although trying to control his body's actions were pretty hard for him. Sanji was trying to kick the air fast to keep himself in the air while Zoro was meditating whilst taking an attacking stance.
Usopp had explained the basics for [silent steps] and [Sky walk] to Sanji while Zoro had been obsessed with sharpening his attacks and at the same time started to focus on the [Ittouryuu] and [Nitouryuu] techniques. This was also because of Usopp, who made a logical argument on the fact that there would be multiple situations where he wouldn't be able to use three swords and therefore led to Zoro's long term meditation sessions. Another matter was that the swords he had other than 'Wadou Ichimonji' couldn't handle his strength, which he threw around all the time with no proper sense of control which is normally attained by swordsmen of his level. He had broken the two replacement swords during his training and was currently using a makeshift wooden sword made by Usopp for image training.
The most noticeable thing about the three of them was the massive increase in their strength. It was at a level that they are worthy to be called a supernova crew. The super long battles they had back at Arlong Park had drastically increased the strength of the crew. Presently Zoro and Sanji had an intermediate level understanding of [soru] and were training to be able to use [geppo], which was used by Usopp as a stepping stone for making them learn [silent steps] and [sky walk]. Luffy was made to wear a new and improved version of the training suit, which did not allow him to practice the [rokushiki] techniques until he was able to control his ability over his stretching, contracting and fortifying rubber. Under all these circumstances, their constant use of [steel scales], whose effect multiplied due to the battle- had them all standing firmly at the level of a Peak body focused Rear Admiral from the headquarters minus the maturity of the techniques and control a Rear Admiral would normally have over them. To put that into perspective, they were averaging at around 2000-2200 douriki and growing, but Jabra and Kaku would beat current Zoro and Sanji as they had not developed their attacking style to the level of the CP9. Luffy was a wreck because of his body's strength increasing extremely quickly, which was as strong as what he should have been at the end of the Enies Lobby arc in the original. Hence he was a Vice Admiral class powerhouse equivalent of a leaky bottle, whose strength development was thankfully getting closer to a bottleneck.
Usopp on the other hand had been depressed as he saw the Monster Trio easily learn techniques that took him years to develop. [Steel scales] on the other hand was working wonders on him because his body was almost at the level of being as though as steel, and was strong enough to tank named attacks from people strong as a Marine Commodore and below without any problem, not including abnormalities like Smoker. He had essentially become a person who is strong as a CP9 agent with a douriki of 3500 actively using [tekkai], though he was able to use it passively. All this was not considering the fact that his physique's bottleneck was broken, putting him at the level of the weakest Yonko commander class just based on pure strength.
The crew members were also idiots who had spent too much time focusing on their techniques that they did not have muscle, except for Zoro. Hence, with the increase of their [steel scales] training and power control added to the auxiliary technique of [seimei kikan] which helps in actively controlling life force for increased training duration, healing and digestion, it was made obvious that the battle troop would be as strong or stronger than Rob Lucci using his full strength(Devil Fruit+Rokushiki) way before they reached Water 7, which did not include the captain and Usopp. Even currently, the crew was probably the strongest rookie group physically when considering the Paradise side of things, where the strongest pirate rookie crew could only escape from an individual Vice Admiral level combatant.
'Nami's staff is complete so I'll give it to her in a bit. She also needs some basic level of strength to survive the seas so I'll begin to train her on the basics of Observation Haki, which I'll not let the main force practice just yet.'
The original Straw Hat crew were powerful combatants who could take down people way above them in terms of technique as even people who possessed intermediate Observation Haki was defeated by them in Skypiea. Thus Usopp wanted to train them to the limits of their body and instincts that could oppose intermediate tier Haki before they reach the Grandline. After that level, breaking through was a mountainous job which could only be grounded down by refining their techniques. But the support unit of the crew did not do battle like the trio, so they had to be more imaginative and quick on their feet. Hence Usopp thought he would prepare Nami for the basic step-by-step methods he had devised for awakening Observation Haki, which he was the most experienced at.
'I'll tell the story of the titans today for lunch.'
Usopp was ready to describe the entire plot of 'Attack on Titan' because he was bored. All the crew except Nami enjoyed his stories while Luffy mostly took stuff word for word, which Usopp developed a knack for.
...
Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
"There had been reports from East Blue revealing a surprisingly strong build up of Pirates, which was proven to be true when the dispatch from HQ confirmed it, revealing the massive force that was created by former Sun Pirates member Arlong, which numbered close to 2000 men,who had basic capabilities strong enough to survive the Grandline. The news itself should have been the most troubling matter, but another factor appeared which changed the whole playing field in East Blue."
A Marine Officer was giving a report to a bunch of high ranking officers who were at the level of Rear Admirals at the very least. He then took out a bounty poster at slammed it on the board, and threw out two more.
"Monkey D. Luffy! This pirate had defeated the peak levels of strength that was troubling the seas of East Blue. The pirate and his crew had easily taken care of pirates like Arlong and Kreig, and had defeated an entire army's worth of people strong enough to match sailors from the HQ. As such, the crew has been deemed extremely dangerous and therefore with careful consideration, we have decided on this bounty!"
...
Going Merry, somewhere close to Loguetown.
Nami fed the News Coo and went to her lounging chair to read the papers. She then turned the page when three pamphlets fell down, seeing which her face turned pale as a ghost!
"IYAAAAA!!"
Nami's scream got the attention of everyone, with Sanji arriving first.
"What happened Nami-chan?!"
"Sa-...Sa-...Sanji-kun! Look at this! We are a wanted crew now!"
Nami replied to Sanji while looking like she had a really high fever. Sanji got really interested when he heard that they were wanted and went to pick up the Bounty posters, but Luffy had other ideas. He stretched his arm and grabbed them before Sanji could.
"Shishishishishi....I have a bounty now! Even Zoro and Usopp has one! But Usopp's name is given as Sogeking though!"
Luffy was laughing at his poster when two gusts of wind knocked him away. Zoro and Usopp quickly took away their Bounty posters and started grinning too.
The Bounty posters read-
" Pirate 'Straw Hat' Monkey D. Luffy. Dead or Alive. 60 million Belli."
" 'Pirate Hunter' Roronoa Zoro. Dead or Alive. 30 million Belli."
" 'King of Snipers' Sogeking. Dead or Alive. 30 million Belli."
There also was an article on the crew which described the battle between the Marines who wanted to uphold justice and save the areas affected by the pirates and the newly formed crew which destroyed said Marine fleet with relative ease. They also touted the name of the group as the 'Straw Hat Pirates', referring to the iconic hat worn by their captain Monkey D. Luffy which is also a defining feature of their Jolly Roger. The article also stated the induction of the infamous bounty hunter Roronoa Zoro into their crew along with two members, one of which was a completely unknown existence, while the other one was the self proclaimed 'King of Snipers'- whose face was covered by a mask. He was also estimated as someone who was dangerous enough to be given a bounty of 30 million, which was considered the highest in East blue, only surpassed by their captain who received an unprecedented 60 million belli bounty, triple of that of Arlong's, who had the highest bounty before the crew appeared. The article finally ended by stating that the crew's true fighting strength has not yet been completely gauged since they had yet to fight with their full strength and hence underestimating their strength thinking it as equal to a 60 million belli pirate would be disastrous.
Luffy was jumping around with happiness while Zoro was making fun of the sulking Sanji, who was sulking about not getting one himself even though he fought so hard. Usopp on the other hand was looking at his bounty paper and felt impressed at the skills of the photographer. His photo showed him sitting on top of a lot of Marines and the uniforms of the officers he was sitting on were properly visible, with the Main Mast rising into the sky in the background.
'It was a good decision to leave the one with the camera less injured, or I wouldn't get this jewel as my bounty picture. Will Kaya feel impressed when she sees it? Or will she hate me for it?!'
Usopp's thoughts went downhill when he remembered that he looked like a real bully in the poster, which might make Kaya sad. The rest of the day, Usopp was seen looking at the horizon, contemplating life and the meaning of one's existence.
...
"Loguetown?"
"Also known as the Town of Beginnings and Ends! I heard of it before."
Zoro answered Luffy's question in a mysterious way, which would confuse the captain more.
"It is the town where the Pirate King Gold Roger was born and was executed. You want to go and see?"
Nami immediately followed Zoro's answer. The words Pirate King made Luffy's mood change to a very solemn one.
"Yeah. I want to see. See the place where the man who owned the One Piece...the man who held every treasure in the world lived and died!"
The atmosphere around Luffy felt different at the moment, and each and everyone on the crew knew somehow that history would begin here, with them being the eye of the storm.
...
In the meantime, somewhere in the Grandline.
A coffin-like boat was moving towards an island, whose dwellers were running in panic or were taking up defensive positions to face the approaching threat.
When the man with the Hawk-eyes disembarked, one of them gathered the courage to speak to him.
"Why did you come here, Hawk-eyes?!"
"Don't make a fuss. I don't have any business with you. Where are your executives?"
.
The sun was shining down hard and the silhouettes of the executives of the Red Haired Pirates could be seen. The pirate ran to the red haired man and was greeted with a mug of beer which he chugged down.
"Boss! It's Hawk E-!"
Before he was able to finish the sentence, Mihawk had already appeared behind him.
"Yo Hawk-eyes...you are an unexpected guest. Did you come here to duel me?"
The red haired man, the Yonko Shanks asked the strongest swordsman in the world.
"I have no interest in dueling someone who lost his hand. Though I did meet with a bunch of interesting Pirates and it reminded me of something you told me a long time ago. The one story about a little kid from a small village somewhere."
Mihawk stated the reason for him visiting the Akagami Pirates while he unfolded Luffy's bounty poster.
"So you have come...Luffy!"
Shanks voice betrayed his excitement while the rest of the executives who knew him were also shocked. The shock was multiplied when they saw the first bounty, which was abnormal as a first bounty for a new pirate, especially one from East Blue.
"I still have more. This one is for you."
Mihawk threw another Bounty Poster at Yasopp, who looked confused, but his frown became a grin when he recognized the person.
"King of Snipers? The brat dares to call himself that when I exist? I'll thoroughly beat him up when he comes to the new world!"
Yasopp saw Usopp's bounty poster and recognized his son in the picture. He was happy that his son was accompanying Luffy but was a little angry when he saw the name 'The King of Snipers' as it was something he should have been called.
"Oi Yasopp...who the hell are you talking about?"
Shanks asked Yasopp while looking at his contradicting actions and words.
"You won't believe who is accompanying Luffy! It's my son! It's Usopp!"
Yasopp jumped around while showing the crew his son's bounty poster.
"You shouldn't jump around saying you will beat him when he meets you, Yasopp. The kid is a monster who has already mastered intermediate level Observation Haki and Has the ability to use Armament haki on objects through fortification. He is someone who already has the ability to be a strong existence in the New World at the age of 17."
The entire Akagami Pirates were silent for a long while.
"..."
"It's a party!! Let's keep on drinking!!!"
And thus passed a pretty normal day for the Akagami Pirates, who had proper reasons for partying this time around.
...
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
battlemonger
battlemonger I will add an auxiliary chapter for power levels and techniques. Though I am super confused on how to increase the power levels of the crew considering the relatively short time they have been together as a crew but went from being able to barely survive against Kuro to beating the hell out of the strongest CP9 cadre in history. Do comment if the bounties are deserving or not and If I should make the crew learn haki before Alabasta. Thanks for reading!
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