Chapter 273: The Strongest Yonko? Bounties Skyrocket!
Not only was he unable to move, but as the newcomer drew closer, the pressure from his Conqueror's Haki became even more terrifying. The vines of the entire forest began to retract and tremble in fear. The tree trunk that housed his main body even cracked in several places!
"This presence…" Fujitora's face was also buffeted by the force. He looked up, somewhat surprised. "So the captain has returned…"
How strange. It's only been a day and a night. Could the decisive battle between two Emperors of the Sea have ended so quickly? Has a winner been decided? He had been prepared to fight Greenbull for days. It seemed that wouldn't be necessary now.
"Hey, Green-Moss Tree Man," Nami's spirits lifted. She crossed her arms and giggled. "What was that you were saying earlier? Something about sounding the charge for a counterattack… How about you say it again in front of my brother?"
Greenbull's face turned livid. He had no time for Nami; his eyes were fixed on the horizon, his mind flashing through all the rumors about that man. Finally, he gritted his teeth and roared, "Dammit, you got lucky this time!"
RUSTLE!
All the vines retracted rapidly. Greenbull reverted to his human form, leaped onto the sea, and sprouted that large yellow flower from his head again. "But don't think this is over! Sooner or later, I'll make you pirates pay the price!"
After delivering his threat, he turned and fled in the opposite direction without looking back. The yellow flower on his head spun so fast that it left a white wake on the water.
However, something was faster.
"Pay the price? Are you talking about yourself?"
The world was suddenly illuminated by a black-and-red light. A massive sword slash whistled through the air, and in a matter of seconds, it had caught up to the fleeing Greenbull.
Divine Departure!
Greenbull felt a chill run down his spine. He was terrified. He barely had time to dodge sideways, but the slash still caught his right arm.
"AAAAAHHH!!!"
Blood gushed as his entire right arm was severed at the shoulder. Greenbull let out a piercing scream, but he didn't dare to stop. He clenched his jaw, willed the flower on his head to spin even faster, and fled into the distance.
"Hmph, he's a fast runner," Shane's figure finally appeared high in the sky. He casually caught the severed arm and sneered at the pathetic green figure escaping into the distance.
"Big Bro!" Nami waved excitedly from below. Shane glanced down, landed, and ruffled her hair. "You did a good job."
"Hehe!" Nami put her hands on her hips, her eyes curving into crescent moons. "I'm amazing, right?! If it weren't for me, Uncle Issho wouldn't have been able to beat that green monster so badly!"
Then, she noticed the bandages on Shane's body. Her smile vanished, and she looked him over anxiously. "Bro, you're hurt so badly! Was it that old witch Big Mom? What happened to her? And Bonney? Did you rescue Bonney?"
"The wounds have already healed, don't worry," Shane said, shaking his head with a smile. He had used a Hearthstone Scroll to teleport back from Whole Cake Island shortly after the battle ended. With Chopper's help, the blood had been cleaned, and his wounds, after some basic treatment, were mostly healed. However, his stamina hadn't recovered, so a long-range pursuit was out of the question.
"As for Big Mom, I killed her. Bonney has been rescued. Relax, the war is over, and I've taken Whole Cake Island under my control."
"EH?!!!" Nami's eyes went wide, her mouth agape.
That Big Mom… is dead? The news was so shocking that it took her a moment to process. She counted on her fingers, then jumped up and threw her arms around Shane's neck, beaming. "It's been less than 24 hours since the war started! And you already took down a Yonko?! Wow, that's amazing!"
That's my invincible big brother! That's the World's Strongest Swordsman!
"Cough cough… let go…" She's like a koala. The pressure on his wounds was making them ache. He无奈ly patted his sister's back and gently pulled her off. "I'll tell you the details later, or you can ask your sister. I'm exhausted right now. I just want to take a bath and get something to eat."
He turned to Fujitora and nodded. "Thank you for your hard work, Issho."
Fujitora still had a dazed look on his face, clearly not having recovered from the shock. She's really dead?! Unlike Nami, he understood the true weight of a veteran Yonko like Big Mom. He also understood, instantly, what it meant to have killed her in less than a day…
After finally digesting the news, Fujitora bowed slightly, a smile on his face. "It is good to see you return safely, Captain. As for my part, it was merely my duty."
As he looked up, the rising sun fell upon Shane, bathing him in a golden light so brilliant that he looked like a god. Fujitora was once again lost in a daze. Joining the Curtain Call Adventurers, following Shane… I truly made the rightest choice of my life, didn't I?
"Alright, let's not stand around. Let's go, it's time to head back!" Shane hadn't noticed Fujitora's reaction. He stretched, laughed, and slung an arm around each of their shoulders. "This was a huge victory for us! Tell Zeff to get ready! When the fleet returns, we're throwing a massive banquet!"
Holy Land, Mary Geoise. The Chamber of Authority.
The Five Elders were gathered in a rare assembly, sitting around a sofa. The air was so heavy it felt solid. The latest intelligence reports from CP0 were spread across the coffee table, the photos within stinging the eyes of everyone present.
"So he's capable of killing an Emperor of the Sea now…" the blond Elder said in a low voice, taking a deep breath. "It's been a long, long time since the man from the D. clan was eliminated… a very long time since we've felt a threat of this magnitude…"
The kimono-clad Elder holding a sword also had a grim expression. "What are your thoughts? Do you believe this man now possesses the ability to break through that barrier?"
"It's hard to say…" the white-bearded Elder shook his head. "However, it seems Lord Imu has finally taken an interest in this man. An order has been given for us to send over his latest wanted poster."
"Finally…" The kimono-clad Elder was shaken. Not even the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, had warranted such a direct order from Lord Imu. For a moment, a dead silence fell over the chamber.
"It is not for us to guess our master's intentions," Saint Jaygarcia Saturn said slowly, leaning on his cane. "Let us not dwell on it. What we can do now is instruct Marine Headquarters to increase their focus on this man. Additionally, we need to re-evaluate his threat level and raise his bounty immediately."
"I agree."
"I agree."
May 16th, 1517 of the Great Pirate Era.
Under the watchful eyes of the world, the War of Whole Cake Island finally came to an end. Countless News Coos took flight, carrying a special extra from the World Economic Journal that announced the shocking news on the front page!
A massive photo dominated the page—in the light of the rising sun, amidst a light drizzle, an exhausted Shane looked into the distance, with the body of Big Mom lying at his feet. Below, an article personally penned by the president of the news agency, "Big News" Morgans, read:
"WITHOUT A DOUBT, EVERYONE! THIS IS A BATTLE THAT WILL BE RECORDED IN THE ANNALS OF THE GREAT PIRATE ERA! AT ONLY 19 YEARS OF AGE, THE WORLD'S STRONGEST SWORDSMAN, SHANE, HAS, IN LESS THAN A DAY, KILLED THE QUEEN OF WHOLE CAKE ISLAND, WHO HAS REIGNED OVER THE NEW WORLD FOR DECADES!"
"FROM THIS DAY FORWARD, NO ONE CAN DENY—THE CURTAIN CALL ADVENTURERS HAVE BECOME ONE OF THE STRONGEST FORCES IN THE WORLD, AND SHANE HIMSELF IS THE MAN CLOSEST TO THAT HIGHEST THRONE! KAIDO OF THE BEASTS'S TITLE OF 'STRONGEST CREATURE' MAY SOON BELONG TO SOMEONE ELSE!"
The news was so shocking that, with Morgans's sensationalism and behind-the-scenes maneuvering, it swept across the world like a storm in just a day or two! Sold out! Reprinted! Sold out again! Reprinted again! It reached a point where nearly everyone had a copy, not only setting a new sales record for the World Economic Journal but also pushing Shane's fame to unprecedented heights!
If there were still people who had doubted the newly risen Emperor, Shane, thinking his forty-billion-berry bounty was inflated due to his killing of a Celestial Dragon and that he couldn't compare to the veteran Yonko… now, all those doubters were slapped in the face. All doubt was utterly extinguished!
In the past few decades, there had been those who had defeated a Yonko. But a monster who could kill one… there was only one.
New World, aboard the Moby Dick.
"GURARARARA! Come and look, my sons!" Whitebeard put down his sake cup and held up the latest newspaper, his hearty laughter echoing across the deck. "That kid actually did it!"
"Pops, what's going on?" Marco emerged from the cabin, rubbing his sleepy eyes. The other division commanders gathered around curiously. When they saw the bold headline and the photo on the front page, the entire ship fell silent for a moment, then erupted in an uproar!
"Am I seeing things?"
"Is this for real?!"
"Hey, hey…" Izo stared at the blood-stained profile of Shane in the photo, his throat tightening. "This monster isn't even twenty, right? He actually killed a Yonko…"
"Hey! Look at this!" Diamond Jozu pointed at something tucked inside the newspaper. "The Marines have updated the wanted posters! Shane's bounty has gone from around 4.1 billion to… hey, stop pushing, it's going to fly away!"
FLUTTER!
A new wanted poster was blown across the deck by the sea breeze. Everyone looked down, their eyes glued to it—
[DEAD OR ALIVE]
[SHANE, CAPTAIN OF THE CURTAIN CALL PIRATES, WORLD'S STRONGEST SWORDSMAN]
[฿5,020,000,000]
"F-five billion and twenty million Berries?!"
A collective gasp was heard across the deck.
"Hey, hey, that's insane!" Marco's jaw nearly hit the deck. "He's surpassed the other three Yonko in one go! He's almost as high as Pops; you could say there's no difference!"
"After Roger died, Pops has been the only one with a bounty over five billion," Vista said, wiping away a cold sweat. "And now, a second one has finally appeared?"
A bounty of four billion was the mark of a Yonko, enough to make the world tremble. But to cross the five-billion threshold was something else entirely! Those who reached that level had an influence that transcended their own era; they were true legends who had left an indelible mark on history! Rocks, Roger, Whitebeard! All of them were such figures!
"It's only natural for his bounty to be raised to this level. Someone is getting scared," Whitebeard said, his smile fading as he looked into the distance. "The significance of killing a Yonko is far greater than just defeating one… and what the World Government truly fears is that kid's age and potential."
As for the deceased Linlin, his former crewmate… perhaps he should feel some sorrow, but then again, perhaps not. Whitebeard paused, then let out a hearty laugh. "GURARARARA! Who cares about all that! This is what makes things interesting! The 'tide of the new era' was just a saying before, but now, it's really starting to capsize the ships of the old era!"
"Over five billion???" Aboard the Spade Pirates' ship, Ace's eyes nearly popped out of his head. He reread the numbers again and again in disbelief. "It went up by nine hundred million Berries in one go? That means…"
"He just casually increased his bounty by three of you," Deuce said with a smile, walking up from behind. "You were the one who grandly declared that you would surpass Lord Shane's bounty within a year and then challenge him…"
Is that even possible now?
Ace's face turned red. That had just been him boasting anyway. Reaching Big Bro Shane's level wasn't that easy. He'd put that aside for now. He was more concerned about how the other Supernovas who had joined the Curtain Call Adventurers were doing…
"Hey, Deuce, stop teasing and help me look."
The two of them flipped through the newspaper and soon found what they were looking for: a stack of wanted posters for the Curtain Call Adventurers. Besides Shane himself, it seemed that more than half of his officers had also received bounty increases—
['WIND EROSION' KUINA]
First Mate of the Curtain Call Adventurers, Top Officer.
Bounty: ฿1,520,000,000, Dead or Alive!
…
['STARFALL' ISSHO]
Top Officer of the Curtain Call Adventurers.
Bounty: ฿2,530,000,000, Dead or Alive!
…
['THUNDERFALL' BARTHOLOMEW KUMA]
Top Officer of the Curtain Call Adventurers.
Bounty: ฿1,447,000,000, Dead or Alive!
…
['DEFECTOR HUNTER' SMOKER]
Combatant/Shipwright of the Curtain Call Adventurers.
Bounty: ฿830,000,000, Dead or Alive!
…
"Wait a minute!" Ace held up a hand to stop him, scratching his head in confusion. "Aren't they the 'Four Calamities'? That's only three top officers. How did it jump to this Smoker guy… Wasn't he a Marine in the East Blue? Hiss, his bounty more than doubled. That's scary."
"The last top officer is 'Earth Rumble' Jack," Deuce explained with a smile, pushing up his glasses. "According to the detailed report in the paper, he was one of the three unlucky ones among the Curtain Call's officers who didn't win their fight. He got beaten pretty badly, so he's the only top officer whose bounty didn't increase at all. It's still exactly one billion."
"Eh! There were three who were that embarrassing?" Ace was stunned. "Who were the other two?"
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