"Sorry, we forgot about you…"
After finishing up Enel's wounds, Furaese hurried over to apologize to Kawamatsu.
Kawamatsu scratched his head. He wasn't angry. "It's fine, I'm used to it… But Furaese-san, my bounty is actually…"
Furaese flipped through the stack of bounty notices she'd received earlier, searching for a while before finally finding Kawamatsu's poster.
"Timid Kappa, bounty: five thousand…"
Before Furaese could finish, Buggy jumped in: "Fifty million? It didn't break a hundred million, but fifty million for a first bounty in Berries — that's actually pretty good."
He felt a bit guilty about ignoring Kawamatsu earlier. As captain, he should always look after his crew's feelings. His earlier behavior had been out of line.
Buggy felt he should reflect properly and give his crew more care going forward.
For instance, right now — Kawamatsu was the only crew member whose bounty hadn't broken a hundred million. It was funny, but he shouldn't laugh. He should encourage him, bring him warmth!
What he'd said earlier was pretty good — he'd glossed over the "no hundred million" part and given plenty of encouragement. Kawamatsu must be really moved right now!
Thinking this, Buggy looked up at Kawamatsu and sure enough saw tears welling in his eyes.
Oh-ho!
He was so moved he was crying!
Buggy decided he must be the greatest captain in the world.
"It's fine, Kawamatsu. No need to cry. This is what your captain should do!" Buggy waved his hand modestly, trying to make his image seem even grander.
"Waaah—"
But somehow, Kawamatsu, who'd only had tears swirling in his eyes moments ago, burst into full-blown sobbing.
"Wait, are you that moved?"
"Moved my ass! Can you listen properly?! I said five thousand, not fifty million!" Furaese punched Buggy hard!
Moved? If it were her, she'd probably dismember him on the spot!
"Five thousand?"
"You said five thousand?"
"How can it be five thousand?"
Buggy hadn't even processed it yet. Three rapid-fire death questions came one after another, each one a knife plunging into Kawamatsu's chest, making the green-skinned fish-man's face grow paler and paler.
"Five thousand… five thousand, that's not bad actually. Five thousand…"
Buggy muttered incoherently, head bowed.
For a moment, all three of them fell silent. Buggy glanced at the thoroughly wronged Kawamatsu, silently reciting the Good Captain Rules he'd just set for himself, planning to give Kawamatsu a bit more comfort.
But the moment he opened his mouth, it came out as:
"…Really five thousand?"
"Really just five thousand!" Furaese nodded firmly.
"Pfft…" Buggy nearly burst out laughing, quickly covering his mouth, bending over as he said:
"It's fine, Kawamatsu. Even if this time it was only five thousand… pfft… but it's okay. None of us will, pfft… none of us will laugh at, pfft… at you. Next, pfft… next time, try to get a bigger bounty… pfft…"
Kawamatsu stared at him in disbelief: "Captain Buggy! You've been laughing the whole time! You haven't stopped at all!"
"Right!"
"Right?!"
"No, no — I mean, sorry hahahahaha, I really can't hold it in! A bounty of five thousand! That's hilarious! I'd get more just keeping a tanuki that only eats cotton candy! Hahahahaha, I'm dying!"
(Chopper: You're giving me too much credit.)
After blurting that out, Buggy saw Kawamatsu's expression turn dangerous and fled the scene.
He'd genuinely not wanted to laugh at first, but he wasn't a professional at that sort of thing. He just couldn't hold it in.
Dodging Kawamatsu, who was radiating pure resentment, Buggy climbed up to the crow's nest alone and sighed to himself:
"Looks like every ship has its stain!"
"Even the great Captain Buggy can't escape that fate. This Kawamatsu, with his pitiful five-thousand-Berry bounty — he's probably the Buggy Pirates' stain!"
…
Sea Circle Calendar, Year 1502.
Three months after the great pirate Charlotte Linlin was crushed by the new-generation pirate alliance.
A lot of major events had happened in those three months.
First, the World Government's Seven Warlords of the Sea selections were basically finalized.
With a single report from Morgans, the seven great pirates dominated the headlines.
Charlotte Katakuri, Heavenly Yaksha Donquixote Doflamingo, Hawk Eyes Dracule Mihawk…
Ren hadn't heard of the remaining four. They were probably supernovas from the past two years. Perhaps because the first three had such high bounties, all four of the pirates the Marines picked had bounties exceeding a hundred million.
Otherwise, compared to the first three, they'd be a bit embarrassing.
Crocodile hadn't agreed to the Marines' request to become a Warlord. He was riding high right now and had no interest in being a lapdog for the Marines and the Government.
He was already planning to challenge Whitebeard, but this time he had no intention of letting anyone else get involved.
The Seven Warlords matter stirred up a storm across the seas, drawing the whole world's attention. Commoners questioned why the Marines and World Government were using pirates to protect them, even granting them the right to plunder legally. It caused quite an uproar.
On the other hand, pirates had nothing but scorn for those "traitors" who'd chosen to become Marine lapdogs. Quite a few were even deliberately picking fights with them.
But in Ren's view, the Marines deliberately spreading this news so widely was really just to draw the world's attention away from the Ohara incident.
That's right — the World Government was about to make its move on Ohara!
To maintain their rule, the World Government had erased all history concerning the Great Kingdom from eight hundred years ago.
But those scholars on Ohara had grown curious about that forbidden knowledge.
Forbidden knowledge might not drive people mad, but it had certainly brought destruction to Ohara!
As for the people of Ohara right now, they had no idea that death was steadily closing in on them.
…
"Congratulations, Robin! You passed the doctor's exam! From today, you're an archaeologist too!" Dr. Clover found Nico Robin with her doctoral certificate to congratulate her.
"A doctor at only eight years old, and you passed with a perfect score. You're truly remarkable!" Dr. Clover praised.
But even as he said that, a trace of worry lingered in his eyes.
Robin was simply too smart. She had probably already guessed what the history they were researching truly was.
But he didn't want to drag this child into it.
Investigating the Poneglyphs could bring deadly disaster!
[
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