Chapter 205: The Will of D
Since Roger obtained the final Road Poneglyph from Nereus, entered the New World, and commenced his final voyage, quite a bit of time had passed.
During this period, Roger seemed to have vanished into thin air, having done absolutely nothing newsworthy enough to make the papers.
Aside from a contingent of Marines led by Garp relentlessly pursuing them, the vast majority of people had not focused their attention on Roger.
But today, a brand-new bounty poster rippled across the entire sea.
[Gold Roger! Bounty: 5,564,800,000 Berries!]
Roger shattered the previous bounty record, ascending in a single bound to become the pirate with the highest bounty on the sea. And spreading alongside this poster was Morgans's newspaper.
The paper contained a massive amount of flowery, sensationalized prose describing Roger's actions. But no matter how exaggerated the embellishments were, nothing was as direct and impactful as the three words printed across the page:
[The Pirate King!]
No one knew exactly when it happened, but the idea that "the one who reaches the final island is the Pirate King" had somehow become the universally accepted consensus among all pirates. There were quite a few who realized that Lodestar Island wasn't the final stop, but a pirate who had actually reached the final island had never existed before.
This was merely a hollow title. Being called the "Pirate King" didn't grant one the authority to command other pirates.
Of course, with this colossal reputation, if Roger were to raise his arm and announce the formation of a grand fleet, countless pirates would clamber to join him. He could easily assemble an overwhelmingly massive armada in an incredibly short time.
Others might not submit to him, or might believe themselves to be stronger. But as long as someone completed that voyage, that person was the Pirate King.
Even if the Golden Lion believed Roger was inferior to him, he wouldn't deny him this title.
Those three massive words—"Pirate King"—occupied more than half the front page. Led by Morgans's World Economic Journal, media outlets worldwide were frantically reporting on this event.
As for how Morgans learned of this, or how he was so certain of its authenticity, it remained entirely unknown. As the mainstream media of the sea, the news he published currently held immense credibility.
If Morgans suddenly lost his mind and printed a headline claiming the Fleet Admiral of the Marines was gay, quite a few people would likely believe it for a time.
If anyone had closely followed Roger and reached the final island alongside him, it wouldn't have been the Golden Lion who viewed Roger as his sole rival, nor would it have been Bullet who sought to surpass him—it would undoubtedly have been one of Morgans's reporters.
The World Government had placed no restrictions on reporting this matter. Or rather, even if they wanted to, it was already too late.
Morgans and the regional news agencies had already made it known to the entire world. However, across all the varying newspapers, there was one singular, unifying detail.
"Goldo."
"Gold."
The spelling varied slightly, but without exception, not a single newspaper included the isolated letter "D".
At the bounty boards, numerous Marine personnel were hard at work.
They retrieved and tore down the old bounty posters, pinned up the new ones, and conducted erasure operations.
They could accept a "Pirate King" appearing on the sea. But this Pirate King could absolutely not bear the name "D".
"Gol D. Roger... Gold Roger... How strange. Aren't they the exact same person? Why was his name changed?"
"Shut up!
"Have you forgotten everything the boot camp taught you?! No asking questions! No harboring doubts! Executing orders is the absolute only thing you soldiers need to do!"
"Yes, Sir!"
Under the reprimands of their commanding officers, Marine soldiers across the world were doing largely the same thing. Few people made a habit of collecting old bounty posters, and even if they did, not many cared about the spelling of a name.
Compared to that, the title of Pirate King and that astronomical bounty were far more eye-catching.
However, Roger's old rivals, and those who used to know him intimately, all noticed this glaring discrepancy.
"Hasn't it always been Gol D. Roger? Why change his name out of nowhere? What exactly are those guys in the World Government thinking?"
On Fish-man Island, Nanamo stared at Roger's new bounty poster. She was intimately familiar with pirates whose bounties exceeded a certain threshold; after all, those pirates could become Berries in her vault at any moment.
She was absolutely certain that Roger's name had never changed over the past few years. Yet, with the birth of the title "Pirate King", the letter "D" had inexplicably been hidden away.
"The Will of D. Although I don't know exactly what this 'D' signifies, it is undeniably something the World Government desperately wishes to avoid facing.
"There are many people on this sea who were sentenced to death and executed on the spot simply for having the letter 'D' in their names."
While Nanamo was analyzing the naming discrepancy on the poster, Nereus was holding Chloe, telling her fairy tale-like history.
Hearing Nanamo's curiosity, he provided her with an answer.
"Is it really that serious? Doesn't that Marine, Garp, have a 'D' in his name too?"
"That guy is a special case. If he hadn't been elevated as the paragon of the Marines and hailed as a 'Hero' at God Valley, combined with his formidable personal strength, he probably would have been purged by the World Government ages ago.
"Some families have already turned the 'D' into a hidden name as they passed it down. In short, it's an incredibly troublesome thing."
"It's just a name, isn't it? Is there a need to be so tense about it?"
"Who knows. After hundreds of years, very few people actually know what the so-called 'Clan of D' truly is. Even on the Poneglyphs, I haven't seen any records pertaining to it.
"However, a name is just a name. You can add it if you want. If you think your name is too short, you can just slap a 'D' in the middle of it."
"Forget it. That just sounds weird. Not nearly as interesting as a bounty."
Compared to the "D" in a name, Nanamo was far more interested in the string of numbers following it. Unfortunately, she knew very well that a pirate with a bounty this high was not someone she could handle alone.
Anyone capable of earning a bounty like this was a monster among monsters. Counting on both hands, the number of people who could fight Roger head-on was extremely limited. Anyone outside that absolute top-tier would basically be one-shotted.
If the members of the God's Knights hadn't been granted immortality by Imu, they would essentially be nothing more than fodder to be cut down in a single swing by Roger.
"As for the bounties, you don't need to be so anxious. It won't be long before countless pirates start crossing our borders. Unlike the pirates who have already learned their lesson, this fresh batch setting out to sea won't know the immensity of heaven and earth."
Even though Roger hadn't delivered his grand declaration on the execution platform yet, the title of "Pirate King" had already stimulated a vast number of people. According to the intelligence Nereus received, the number of pirates setting sail across the world had visibly spiked.
"Babel has been guarding the Sabaody Archipelago all these years; it's about time he took a vacation. Go relieve him and hold the fort for a while. If anyone causes trouble, deal with it however you see fit. You can even earn yourself some pocket money while you're at it."
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