Ray walked slowly through the town.
Seeing how lively and peaceful everything was, the agitation he'd felt earlier started to fade away.
As time passed, the Straw Hats, having all finished their separate errands, started making their way to Roger's execution platform, just like they'd planned.
Luffy, of course, was the first to arrive.
Still in his full ninja getup, he looked at the execution platform with pure, unadulterated excitement and immediately started climbing.
The second to arrive was Chouchou, who had been tasked with "walking" Luffy.
The poor dog was panting heavily, his tongue hanging out, completely exhausted by Luffy's boundless, chaotic energy.
The third was Nami, loaded down with shopping bags.
When she spotted the 'ninja' halfway up the platform, dark lines immediately formed on her forehead.
Usopp and Sanji arrived a little after that.
Sanji was late for a very Sanji reason: he'd been held up by women.
He'd also run into a fiery female chef named Carmen who challenged him to a cooking contest.
He was going to turn her down, but then he found out the prize was an 'Elephant Tuna' he'd been trying to buy.
'That's an ingredient from the South Blue!' he'd thought, his mind blown.
'To catch one here in Loguetown... it must mean the All Blue really exists!'
The whole thing just made him even more determined to find his dream.
But, he had a meeting to get to, so he pulled himself out of his daze and, carrying some new ingredients, headed to the town center.
Several minutes later, Ray was the last one to show up.
The town center was in full "market day" mode, packed with people.
After a bit of searching, the crew was finally all in one place.
Well, except for Luffy, who was now standing proudly on the very top of the execution platform.
Looking down at the crowd, Luffy felt an incredible rush.
"Is this the view the Pirate King saw before he died? Hahahaha, I can see it too!"
Then, a more serious thought popped into his head.
'Ace... tomorrow is your father's death anniversary. Let me spend the day with him for you. No matter what, he was still your father.'
Luffy knew Ace had... complicated feelings about Roger.
But for some reason, Luffy had gotten this idea in his head before he even set sail.
He wanted to tell Roger all about Ace, even if there was no way he could hear him.
...
Standing up there, Luffy was just overcome with emotion.
Down below, the rest of the crew saw his expression and immediately knew what was coming.
Nami covered her face.
''Oh no. He's going to shout that line, isn't he?''
Sanji pursed his lips.
"Probably."
Usopp sighed. "This guy really knows how to cause trouble. I'm slipping away first; you all handle it."
And just like that, Usopp vanished into the crowd and ducked into an alley.
Sure enough, Luffy ripped off his ninja mask and shirt, revealing his signature toothy grin.
He looked out at the horizon and yelled at the top of his lungs:
"I, MONKEY D. LUFFY, AM THE MAN WHO WILL BECOME THE KING OF THE PIRATES! HAHAHAHA!"
Ray just sighed.
But he wouldn't stop him.
This was part of Luffy's conviction, a moment he needed to have.
Besides, Ray and the others knew their plan to stay hidden was a long shot from the start.
Not with a captain like this.
If the plan had actually worked, that would have been the weird part.
...
The bustling market went dead silent for a moment.
Then, as people snapped out of it, the chattering began.
"Who is this guy? He wants to be Pirate King?"
"Hmph, just another pirate. He's in for it now."
"Yeah, being this flashy, the Marines will get him for sure."
"Especially since the Marine boss here is ridiculously strong."
"Hehe, we'll get to see Smoker-sama beat up another pirate!"
Everyone seemed to have complete faith in Smoker.
As long as he was around, no pirate ever got away with causing trouble.
Ray saw that Luffy had calmed down and was about to ask Sanji to get him down from there, but just then, a scream cut through the crowd.
"Ah!! I know who that person up there is!"
"Who?"
"He... he's the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates, Monkey D. Luffy! His bounty is 50 MILLION BERRIES!"
"WHAT?! It's the Straw Hat Pirates!"
"They're the ones who defeated Buggy the Clown!"
"I heard Smoker-sama fought Buggy for years and never caught him!"
"And these guys beat him?!"
"Oh my god, does that mean we're not safe even with Smoker-sama here?"
"RUN FOR IT!"
In an instant, the once-lively market was almost completely empty.
Usopp, seeing no Marines come, crept back over to the group.
Sanji was glaring daggers at Luffy.
"It's all your fault!" he fumed. "All those beautiful dancing ladies ran off! Damn stupid captain!"
Luffy just grinned sheepishly.
Even he realized something had gone wrong.
He used his rubber powers to bounce down to them and started apologizing.
"I didn't know I was that scary! I wouldn't hurt them, so why did they run?"
But Ray was focused on something else.
"They just said your bounty is 50 million."
As soon as he said it, Luffy, Sanji, Usopp, and Nami's jaws dropped.
"What?"
"When did the bounty go up?! We've been sailing for so long—why haven't we seen any news?"
Usopp went quiet for a moment before pointing out a key fact.
"Since we left Cocoyashi Village... among the dozens of seabirds I've shot down, not a single one has been a news bird."
Luffy just clicked his tongue.
"These birds aren't diligent enough. They're not taking their jobs seriously."
Everyone else, however, had a pretty good idea of what had happened.
Nami frowned.
"I knew it. I knew our habit of eating the news birds would be discovered." Sanji sighed.
"I did warn you. Those birds belong to an organization, who knows if they have some way of tracking us?"
Usopp, seeing an outlet for his frustration, immediately pointed at Ray.
"It's all Ray's fault, making me hunt birds every day! Now look, we're totally out of the loop!"
Ray's face darkened.
He extended one slender arm, and with a light tap, Usopp crumpled to the ground, out cold.
Everyone except Luffy looked worried.
"Ray," Nami said after a long silence, "this is bad. We might not get firsthand information anymore."
Sanji lit a cigarette. "It also means our plan to hide our identities is probably blown. And with you three having bounties, I'll definitely have one, too. And I didn't even disguise myself. I'm really looking forward to seeing how handsome I look on my wanted poster."
Usopp, who had just woken up, heard this and started panicking again.
"I probably have a bounty as well! The head of the great Captain Usopp is definitely being watched! We're doomed!"
Nami looked scared for a second, then calmed down.
"At least the Marines won't put a bounty on harmless little me. If we're exposed early, it's definitely your fault, Sanji."
Just as Sanji was about to respond, an unpleasant laugh suddenly rang out.
"Ka-ha-ha-ha! Ray, Straw Hat Kid, and the rest of you, want to know your bounties?"
Luffy and Nami focused their gaze, their faces full of disdain.
"Buggy?"
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