A few days later, on a nameless, uncharted island somewhere deep in the New World, the Red-Haired Pirates had dropped anchor to rest and resupply.
"Ahhhhh! We finally shook them off! Man, that was way too close! We were almost completely surrounded by the Big Mom Pirates!"
Sitting on a massive boulder, Shanks heartily downed an entire massive wooden mug of rum, letting out a loud, highly exaggerated sigh of relief.
"That's entirely because you are way too reckless, Shanks!" Yasopp yelled, aggressively pointing an accusing finger at his Captain. "I explicitly told you not to hijack the tribute ship carrying the premium sweets meant for Big Mom! But no, you just had to have a taste! Now look at us! We have yet another Emperor of the Sea actively hunting our asses!"
"Yeah! Seriously, Boss!" "First, you recklessly sail us straight through Whitebeard's core territory!" "Then you randomly sank that mammoth-themed ship belonging to Kaido's subordinate!" "Then you picked a massive brawl with the legendary pirate Wang Zhi!" "And now you've completely pissed off Charlotte Linlin!" "Not to mention the rumor that crazy old man Garp is still relentlessly chasing our trail! Vice Captain, please, you have to put a leash on Shanks!"
The rest of the crew enthusiastically joined in, loudly jeering and playfully complaining about their Captain's absurdly chaotic route through the New World.
Sitting on a crate nearby, Benn Beckman merely puffed calmly on his cigarette, completely ignoring the crew's loud antics. As a News Coo fluttered down from the sky, Beckman tossed the bird a coin and unrolled the latest edition of the World Economy News Paper.
Faced with his crew's relentless teasing, Shanks merely threw his head back and laughed uproariously. "Hahahaha! But doesn't that make things infinitely more interesting?! To grand, unpredictable adventures! Cheers!"
"CHEERS!" "To completely free and unhindered sailing! Cheers!" "CHEERS!"
Shanks led the crew in several more rounds of raucous toasting and heavy drinking before finally settling down to aggressively tear into a massive shank of roasted meat.
Suddenly, a low, highly suppressed chuckle emanated from the crate nearby.
The sound was so incredibly rare that Shanks paused mid-bite, genuinely thinking his ears were playing tricks on him. "Beckman? Did you... did you actually just laugh out loud?"
The smirk on Benn Beckman's face only grew wider. "Shanks. You'll want to see this for yourself."
Without another word, the First Mate flicked a freshly printed bounty poster through the air. It fluttered directly into Shanks' hand. The contents of the poster were simply too amusing.
Shanks looked down at the paper. His eyes instantly bulged out of his skull.
"O-One... ONE BELLY?! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Shanks absolutely lost it. He laughed so incredibly hard that tears began streaming down his face. Midway through his hysterical fit, he choked on the piece of meat lodged in his throat, violently coughing and slapping his chest. He had to aggressively chug half a barrel of rum just to clear his airway.
"Roux! Hey, Roux, get over here and look at this!" Shanks gasped, clutching his stomach as he pointed at the poster. "Our little friend! He finally got an official bounty! Hahahaha... I can't breathe! I'm going to mercilessly mock him about this for the rest of his life!"
Hearing the commotion, Lucky Roux temporarily paused his endless meat-eating session and waddled over. Taking the poster from Shanks, his eyes widened before he, too, burst into booming laughter. "Gyhahahaha! This is absolute gold! One Belly! Gyahahaha!"
The bounty poster was rapidly passed around the campfire. Every single member of the crew who recognized the young, golden-eyed man in the photograph erupted into roaring, completely uncontainable laughter. It was indeed their little friend from the South Blue: Bardock.
Simultaneously, countless people across the vast oceans of the world laid eyes on this exact same bounty poster.
The vast majority of the global populace was utterly baffled, genuinely assuming the Marine Headquarters printing press had suffered a massive typographical error. A few individuals who had previously crossed paths with Bardock vaguely recalled his face, but their memories were fading.
However, anyone who truly knew Bardock and understood his terrifying, monstrous strength was currently struggling to breathe from laughing so hard. They were all collectively, independently plotting exactly how they were going to brutally roast him the next time they met.
Meanwhile, in the North Blue.
The White Dragon was peacefully sailing across the sea, steadily approaching their next destination: Swallow Island.
However, the Captain of the ship was in absolutely no mood to appreciate the beautiful weather. Sitting in his command chair on the deck, Bardock was violently glaring at the piece of paper in his hands, his eyes practically shooting lethal lasers of Haki.
[ WANTED - DEAD OR ALIVE ][ EXPLORER - BARDOCK ][ REWARD: 1 Belly ]
One. Singular. Belly.
Bardock's teeth ground together so hard they nearly cracked. He couldn't help but vividly remember that back on the Sabaody Archipelago, he had gone completely out of his way to aggressively hype up Chopper's terrifying reputation, actively manipulating the Marines just to ensure the little reindeer wouldn't get slapped with a pathetic, humiliating 'pet' bounty.
And yet, in a twist of profound, sickening irony... he was the one who had just been slapped with a 1 Belly bounty.
Following the massive incident in Flevance, the World Government had officially issued public bounties for the entire Dandelion Organization. Every single member of the White Dragon crew had received massive, highly intimidating initial bounties reflecting their threat levels.
Without a shadow of a doubt, the Captain of the crew possessed the absolute lowest bounty on the ship.
Currently, the entire deck of the White Dragon was completely abandoned. The entire crew was actively hiding inside their respective cabins or below deck. They were deliberately avoiding Bardock like the plague, because they all knew with absolute certainty that if they made eye contact with his furious face, they would instantly burst out laughing—and laughing at the Captain right now felt incredibly rude, not to mention physically dangerous.
After sitting in silence for a few more minutes, Bardock's face went completely dark. He aggressively pulled out his personal Den Den Mushi and violently dialed a highly encrypted number.
Ka-cha.
"Morgans! What the hell is the meaning of this?!" Bardock roared into the receiver. "I am worth exactly ONE BELLY?!"
"Gwaaaahahaha! Bardock, my boy, I swear it wasn't my doing!" Big News Morgans' hysterical, wheezing laughter echoed through the snail. "The Marines submitted the bounty files, and I just print them! But you have to admit—Gwahahaha!—it is the greatest headline of the month!"
"Stop laughing!" Bardock snapped, his aura flaring darkly. "If you don't stop laughing this instant, I swear to God I will actively hunt down every single News Coo in the North Blue, shoot them out of the sky, and roast them for dinner! Now tell me, who manipulated this?!"
Hearing the threat to his precious distribution network, Morgans forcefully suppressed his laughter, clearing his throat. "Ahem. Well, considering the World Government explicitly ordered the absolute suppression of the Flevance battle details, the Navy was forced to creatively justify your crew's bounties without mentioning the Warlord or the task force. However, my sources in the Underworld confirm that a certain 'Heavenly Yaksha' utilized his deep political connections in Mary Geoise to specifically demand your personal bounty be set at an insulting minimum... purely as a petty, humiliating revenge."
"Doflamingo..."
"Yes, exactly! Now, please don't eat my birds! Good luck with the humiliation, kid!"
Ka-cha. Morgans quickly hung up.
Bardock sat in silence, holding the dead receiver. The veins on his forehead were pulsing rhythmically.
Technically speaking, the actual monetary value of a bounty meant absolutely nothing in terms of true strength. However, the fact that Doflamingo had specifically engineered this to completely humiliate Bardock in front of his crew and his powerful acquaintances across the globe was a severe, unforgivable offense.
A dark, incredibly terrifying smile slowly stretched across Bardock's face.
Alright, Doflamingo. You want to play petty Underworld games?
Bardock's mind instantly began rapidly calculating. He was going to completely dismantle the Heavenly Yaksha's operations. He was going to make Doflamingo profoundly, agonizingly regret the day he ever decided to mess with a 1 Belly Pirate.
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