"What kind of joke is this! What the hell are these titles and names supposed to be?!" Garp slammed his wanted poster onto the table.
"The propaganda department responsible for making these wanted posters... if I remember correctly, was jointly managed by the Cross Guild and the Revolutionary Army, right?!"
"So what? You can't just go back and beat them up now, can you?" Sengoku snorted coldly.
"Though I'd love to punch them too... but this matter will have to wait."
"No problem, no problem, settling scores later... they'll witness true cruelty!"
The two old geezers clenched their fists, exchanging vicious laughter between them.
Their commotion quickly drew the attention of everyone else on the ship.
"Come on, come on, here are everyone's wanted posters," Michael said with a smile, then began reading them one by one.
"'Touching the Sky - Boss Sengoku,' bounty sixty-seven million Berries."
"'Loudmouth - Cannon Garp,' bounty seventy-one million Berries."
"'Purple Hair - Zephyr,' bounty fifty-five million Berries."
"'Cold Air Maker - Blue Bird,' bounty sixty-four million Berries."
At this point, the old-timers started comparing among themselves.
"Why the hell does Garp have the highest bounty?!" Sengoku thumped his chest. "What's Boss Sengoku lacking?!"
"Probably not being as reckless as Garp here? Though he didn't shout out his attack names, throwing cannonballs barehanded is just too iconic... so he had to disguise his hands as mechanical prosthetics to cover it up!" Zephyr pointed at Garp.
"But he's still... way too unrestrained. I strongly suspect he did it on purpose, just to one-up you this time."
"Hey! Zephyr! Don't think you can stir up trouble just because your bounty's the lowest!" Garp sneered. "On a pirate ship, the one with the highest bounty calls the shots! Watch out or I'll beat you up!"
"You think I'm afraid of you, old man? Today I'll get to taste what it's like to thrash the Marine's hero!"
With that, Zephyr charged forward to fight Garp.
Meanwhile, Kuzan stood by, chuckling foolishly as he watched his former superiors and mentors fool around...
After all, his bounty was higher than Zephyr-sensei's.
He was starting to feel the joys of being a pirate.
But while some were happy, others were worried.
The younger ones, who had been waiting eagerly for their names to be called, were now staring anxiously as Michael showed no sign of announcing theirs.
"Wait, that's it?! What about us?!" Luffy exclaimed in shock. "Don't tell me our bounties are so high you don't even dare read them out, Uncle Michael!"
"You're really mistaking kindness for weakness... I was trying to spare your feelings, you brats!" Michael's lips twitched.
"If you don't believe me, take a look yourselves."
With that, Michael pulled out another wanted poster—this one larger than the old geezers'—showing the rest of the Old Geezers Pirates crew.
"Combatants of the Old Geezers Pirates, total bounty one hundred fifty million?!" Ace lowered his head to double-check the numbers.
"Wait, all of us combined are only worth one hundred fifty million?!"
"Otherwise, how much more did you expect... For our Old Geezers Pirates' first voyage, getting bounties for the entire crew with such conspicuously high amounts... is actually extremely rare."
However, as Michael explained this, everyone's gaze involuntarily turned toward him.
Because in his hand, he held the final wanted poster.
And unless something unexpected had happened, this poster would be his own!
"Hmm? Hiding it like that... Could it be embarrassingly low!? Michael?" Garp wrapped an arm around Michael's left shoulder with ill intent.
"You just stirred up trouble between us so gleefully... Why the sudden shyness now?" Sengoku pressed down on Michael's right hand.
Michael raised his hand and waved it slightly in front of himself.
"No no no, waving doesn't mean I'm done—it means you old-timers still need practice."
As he spoke, Michael revealed his own wanted poster.
"Golden Thief" Maria!
Bounty...
350 million Belly... alive only.
The group fell into collective silence.
Simultaneously, they began feeling increasingly irritated with the people who made these wanted posters.
"Though this is your first time being pirates... I didn't expect you all to care so much about bounty amounts..." Michael's lips twitched.
"But did it occur to you that after all our bloody competition, the Old Geezers Pirates' combined bounties... still don't equal little Bonney's alone."
"That stings, old heart."
...
In any case, though Alabasta's exaggerated cries of injustice seemed somewhat theatrical, the "Golden Thief" Maria and the Old Geezers Pirates were genuinely beginning to make waves in the pirate world.
The most notable evidence...
Hot-blooded fools had already started challenging them.
Watching the burly man standing at the prow of the opposing ship, Michael sighed slowly.
With these old monsters around, these pirates... were practically asking for humiliation.
Casually dispatching the sixteenth challenger crew of the day...
"Is it because our bounties are too low? Why aren't they scared at all?"
"It's having some effect... At least nobody's coming to recruit us as 'subordinates' anymore."
"Could this be... progress?"
"This is absolutely tremendous progress!"
Naturally, their existence gradually came to the attention of major factions.
"How fascinating... The so-called Old Geezers Pirates may look like a crew of weaklings and invalids, but every one of them hides extraordinary skills..."
Blackbeard stroked his chin while staring at the scattered wanted posters of the Old Geezers Pirates, then snorted and stepped on them.
"Still... I hope you won't refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit?"
Just then, Van Augur entered the cabin, bowing his head.
"Captain, we've... arrived."
"Arrived? Excellent." Blackbeard immediately moved beside Van Augur.
"We can't reveal our presence directly, so let's teleport straight from the ship."
"No problem."
Van Augur nodded and activated his ability.
The two vanished instantly.
The next moment, they appeared in that opulent hall.Blackbeard looked up to see the people who had summoned him seated on the sofa, awaiting his arrival.
"Hehehe, greetings... dear Five Elders."