106 Chapter 106

106

It has been a day since the Going Merry left the Sakura Islands and life aboard the ship was as lively as ever.

Nami rested under an umbrella, a fresh newspaper in her hands. After doing some basic training she was more than happy to laze around for the day. On her side sat another lady elegantly, Kuina… the older girl was really enjoying the strawberry cake Sanji made.

Honestly, Nami used to envy her on how she could eat anything and not gain weight. But after she also started training, she was sure she could eat a whole sea king and not get fat. Honestly, Luffy was a slave worker when it came to training.

Now she got why people said not to date a health freak. But then again she wasn't dating him or anything.

On the other hand Zoro, Johnny, Yosaku, Gin, and Coby are nearer the figurehead. Zoro had been sparing with Johnny and Yosaku, both trying to master their abilities.

In Coby's case, it was all physical, while in Zoro's case, it was more about using the sword that had a devil fruit ability in it. While Zoro was training with the bounty-hunting pirate duo, Coby and Gin were training alone.

Coby focused on his kicks and leg-based movement, trying to get his legs ready for Soru. He lacked speed, and that was the part he was focusing on right now.

Gin was opposite them, having borrowed a pair of handballs and was now trying to imitate a workout he had seen Zoro do that morning. He had woken up a few hours earlier and started training ever since, Sanji and Sparky had to force stop his training to get him to eat or rest.

Even Luffy scolded him for pushing his body too hard. But then again, Gin felt frustrated from his loss, and this motivated him to do whatever training he could.

The former Krieg Pirate coughed from time to time… he wasn't fully back to full health. And yet he pushed himself, the buckets of sweat rolling down his face indicated much.

Luffy was enjoying the view from the crow's nest, while Mommo pulled the ship in towards Logue Town. They would reach the last island before grandline in a day at most.

If the sea king wasn't injured it wouldn't have taken that much time, but it was still faster than any ships around the water. Hatchan himself went out for a swim into the sea, to stretch out his muscles and help Sanji in catching big fishes for lunch.

Sparky and Usopp were the only ones that weren't in the view. Well, that was because they were spending their sweet time modifying the guns they had. Anchor had left them some good material and ideas, before they left the Island so they were eager to implement them on their weapons.

Nami blinked when she saw what the newspaper wrote. "Um guys… I think you should see this." She said, the wind blew and from the newspaper, a few of the bounty posters fell.

WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE

"Pirate Hunter" Zoro- 25,000,000

"White Lady" Kuina- 30,000,000

"Man-Demon" Gin (new allegiance)- 15,000,000

"Six-armed Fishman" Hatchan (new allegiance)- 9,000,000

"Sweet new bounties…" Luffy grinned, he was wondering why only he got the bounty. If the marine viewed Luffy as a threat then by extension they would label everyone as pirates. And it seems that it took some time for them to take action.

But then again, Luffy's early bounty was because they thought they could get the boy killed along with the other pirates. But it didn't work out for him.

The rest of the crew were more focused on the bounty poster. Discussing and bragging about their bounties.

"What?!" Sanji yelled from the second level.

"Oh," Gin commented. "Nice picture." He said, this picture made him look much more intimidating than his previous one. This was a picture of him bloodied in the fight with Coby. Not a glorious moment, but at least the picture was great.

Zoro also liked his picture, this was taken when he fought against Mihawk. While he looked beaten up, it also portrayed his will to get stronger.

Kuina's picture was more calm, and she didn't look like a threat at all. Heck, some wouldn't even call her a pirate with how friendly and clueless she looked in the photo. And yet her epithet was a nightmare for the pirates. She was a well-known bounty hunter after all.

"Even Hathcan got one!" Coby said, depressed, joining Sanji in depression.

Hatchan's picture was of him on the sea king Momoo, pulling the Going Marry.

"See Momoo, we got a bounty raise…" Hatchan cheers, along with the happy sea king.

Usopp was with Coby and Sanji, trying to cheer them on. But both of them were quite sad not to get bounties.

Luffy almost found it funny, how Coby was sad for not getting a bounty, when in fact a few weeks ago he was spouting dreams of becoming a marine… fufufu… take that Aizen, it all worked according to his plan.

"Luffy, see this…" Nami said, pushing the newspaper near his face. The straw hat blinked before seeing the newspaper. And after reading a few lines, he grinned.

"That son of a gun…" Luffy grinned. The paper said, many things about the straw hat. But the most notable thing was about Luffy's supposed alienation with the pirates, how Captain Nezumi was corrupt and was under investigation… and how Luffy was seen near the Sakura Islands, protecting the islanders from a bounty hunter gone rogue named Aramaki.

While Luffy was happy that his name was cleared. He was more so happy about how Moragan portrayed Armaki as the villain. That bastard shouldn't be able to join the marines, now that his public image is ruined.

Luffy was praying that, Aramaki was dead, he did shoot him into the sea along with sea stone cuffs, but there was always the chance of him surviving.

Also, the paper noted how some islanders from Sakura Island spoke in favor of Luffy. This will change stuff… but Luffy was sure that the world government is pulling their hair because of the news.

Morgan made sure to wrote it in a way, where Captain Nezumi was to blame for the whole mess and misinformation about the hero Mario… this way, Morgan isn't totally going against the world government.

Morgan wasn't implying that the marines were lying… no he was saying that the marines got fooled by a corrupt rat amongst their ranks. Which wasn't a good rep for the marines.

It made it look Luffy like as a victim. Luffy didn't know Morgan would go this bold… but then again he did even more in the original. Even making Luffy the fifth emperor way before he was at that level.

"This calls for a celebration, Sanji stop brooding and bring in the food." Luffy said, but seeing Sanji depressed, he added. "Please…?"

"Well, since you said please..." Sanji headed to the kitchen with a shake of his head.

"Captain, this is very dangerous," Coby warned. "If we go to Logue Town we might get in trouble, with our new bounties… people will be gunning for us. Even if Smoker isn't in the area, I'm sure they put someone of the same rank there… A powerful marine… they might target us, if we go there."

"A p-p-p-powerful m-marine…?" Usopp stuttered, "Well, w-we aren't scared of that…" Usopp had missed the whole fight with Aramaki, but it also made him a bit more scared of the unknown dangers.

More so, if Aramaki tried to cut the Going Marry, he would have died along with it. It was a good thing that the green bull was trying to show off and bring Luffy's attention.

"I'll see if I can learn anything more from the paper," Nami offered, settling back into her reading in the hopes of gleaning some new information they may need. It wasn't just Luffy had new bounties…

The newspaper also went with other upcoming pirates, one named Kid and the other named Law, and their misdeeds. But their bounties were much lower, similar to Kuina's bounty… their fame was covered up because of Luffy's contribution.

"Captain, are you sure, we should go there…" Coby asked again, "I-I honestly, don't want to get into another fight until I master at least one of the rokushiki techniques."

Luffy blinked, "That's quite thoughtful, but we'll be fine," Luffy waved off. "We're strong. If that new marine Captain comes for us, we'll just kick his ass. And besides, we will hide our ship and wear disguises…" Luffy grinned pulling out fake beards and mustaches from nowhere… well it was out from Spakry's backpack of course.

The other crew members blinked a bit surprised. They thought that Luffy would tell them to act boldly, but it seems that wasn't the case. But with how ugly the disguises looked they wouldn't be wearing them anyways.

Seeing such reactions the captain felt a pang of sadness, "Well, okay then… We'll be really sneaky, Shishishis…" Luffy said. "I'm good at being quiet and sneaking up on things. I did it all the time back in the forest."

The others opted to ignore or not pay attention to Luffy's goofy antics. Sometimes they wondered if Luffy had a second brain for his wild ideas.