One Piece: Shadow monarch? I'm Just Logistics!

Chapter 17: Bounties

In the chilly restaurant, only one table still echoed with the occasional sounds of chewing.

"Luffy, are you alright?" Usopp couldn't help but ask worriedly.

Luffy's stomach was currently swollen as round as a giant balloon.

Yet, he was still grabbing food with both hands, continuously stuffing it into his mouth.

"Mmm, sho delishush!" Luffy swallowed the mouthful of food with a gulp. "I've never eaten food this delicious before!"

"I absolutely have to get him on the crew!... Nom!" He stuffed the food in his hands into his mouth again.

"...Da... Da..."

Reiner and Sanji emerged from the kitchen side-by-side. Sanji exhaled a long stream of smoke. "Alright, I'll go with you guys."

Luffy turned his head, a thrilled smile gradually spreading across his face. "I won!— Hic~"

"I only agreed to join the crew, I didn't admit defeat!"

"Shishishi, okay then, you win. I can't eat... hic~ anymore."

Luffy's voice trailed off weakly. With that, he toppled onto the floor, wobbling back and forth like a roly-poly toy with a vacant expression.

Nami and Usopp couldn't resist poking Luffy playfully from either side.

"Honestly," Reiner sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Because of your duel, the bill for this meal is probably going to be sky-high."

A cook with thick arms, resembling Popeye the Sailor Man, rushed over fawningly:

"Thank you for your patronage~! Sir, your total bill comes to one million two hundred thousand Beri."

"So expensive! This is highway robbery!" Nami protested immediately and indignantly.

Even though Reiner managed the money, these were funds for the entire pirate crew, so naturally, Nami felt the pinch.

"It's okay, Nami," Reiner waved dismissively.

This was, after all, a high-end restaurant famous throughout the East Blue; the high price was expected. Plus, considering Luffy's meal...

"Here's ten million Beri. Use the rest to prepare ingredients for us to take away."

Reiner pulled out a thick wad of large-denomination bills and handed it over. "Alright Sanji, go get your things ready. We'll be leaving shortly."

After settling everything, Reiner went outside the restaurant.

Krieg commanded a large fleet of 5,000 men; just feeding them would be a huge expense.

There was bound to be some treasure or cash on his main ship.

Thinking this, Reiner released several dozen Fish-Man undead, ordering them into the sea to salvage the wreck.

These were the 60-odd Fish-Man undead Reiner had collected from Arlong Park. To better utilize their natural affinity for water, he had preserved features like webbing and fins.

He could shape templates from ordinary humans into Fish-Man forms, but he couldn't grant them innate swimming skills or attributes; those had to be inherited from the template itself.

After a while, Sanji emerged, having packed a large backpack full of things – mostly ingredients, the rest being his kitchen utensils. He joined Luffy and the others.

"Let's go, Reiner!"

"Okay! Just a second!" Reiner replied. Just then, dozens of dark shapes began surfacing from the sea.

One by one, Fish-Man-like undead emerged with gurgling sounds.

"Let's see what we got."

Reiner directed the undead ashore and walked over.

Some came up empty-handed, while others clutched scattered treasures and soaking wet, crumpled banknotes.

"Ooh!" Seeing this, Nami's eyes turned into Beri symbols ($) as she eagerly approached.

"Nice job, Reiner."

"Don't praise me. Doesn't mean I'll give you any."

Reiner had the undead move all the treasure onto the ship. After bidding farewell to the Baratie, the group set sail.

They hadn't been sailing long when a News Coo wearing a white cap landed on the ship's railing.

"Did the price go up again? If it goes up again next time, I'm not buying, you hear?"

"You beast! Bullying even a News Coo," Reiner scolded jokingly.

"None of your business," Nami stuck out her tongue, sat down on a deck chair, and began reading the newspaper.

"This is..."

"Your bounty posters!?"

Hm?

'Your' plural?

Reiner was instantly alarmed, sitting up and taking the bounty posters from Nami.

Luffy and the others gathered around curiously upon hearing this.

The first poster was indeed Luffy's – a half-body shot of him grinning under his straw hat. Judging by the background, it was taken at Arlong Park.

Must have been secretly taken by Nezumi's men?

"Straw Hat Pirates Captain, Monkey D. Luffy, Thirty Million!"

Staring at the long string of zeros below, Usopp gasped, covering his face.

Luffy, however, was thrilled. "Shishishi! What's next? Are there more?"

Reiner eagerly pulled off the first poster, his heart sinking slightly. "I didn't really step out... please don't target me. I really don't want a bounty anytime soon."

"Roronoa Zoro, Sixteen Million!"

"Oh? I got a bounty too?" A smirk tugged at Zoro's lips.

Reiner found this somewhat strange. If he remembered correctly, Zoro's first bounty should have been 60 million directly after the Alabasta incident.

"Could it be because he participated in ganging up on Arlong?" Reiner pondered.

After removing Zoro's poster, only one remained, but the figure on it wasn't Reiner.

"Knife-Saw Duo Combination?" Reiner looked puzzled at the two figures on the poster.

The Katana Devil and the Chainsaw Devil got a bounty?

This was good news, but why not the Wolverine undead that sneak-attacked and finished Arlong?

"Duo Combination Bounty: Twenty-Five Million!"

A bounty issued for a combination, like Kuro's Meowban Brothers?

"The Marines must have messed up! Why isn't Reiner himself wanted?"

"No, no, no! This is perfect! Absolutely perfect!"

Reiner quickly checked the newspaper again and found that the Wolverine undead was reported as having perished along with Arlong in a mutual kill.

Reiner recalled how Arlong's hand-chop had snapped the undead's neck, leaving its head dangling crookedly.

In contrast, the Katana and Chainsaw Devils rampaging and slaughtering everything in sight had been clearly photographed.

Nami didn't get a bounty; the photographer probably slipped away when Arlong fell.

Night descended. On the dark sea, only the faint light from a single small ship shone.

At this moment, in the second-floor living area on the Going Merry's deck, Reiner and the crew were celebrating with drinks.

"Let's welcome Sanji to the crew! Cheers!"

"Cheers!"

They were celebrating Sanji's joining. Now Reiner had both a smoking buddy (Sanji) and a drinking buddy (Zoro).

All that was missing was... cough cough.

The king's left and right arms, his partners in crime...

"Today was quite a haul."

"Yeah! Not only did Sanji join, but Reiner also fished up a ton of money!"

"Stop probing, Nami," Reiner rolled his eyes.

The salvaged treasure amounted to roughly fifty million Beri in total.

A bit low, mainly because pirates live dangerously, licking blood off blades, never knowing if they'll see tomorrow. When they get money, they tend to squander it quickly.

An entire fleet of five thousand men, and they only had fifty million saved up.

"We're getting close to the Grand Line," Nami said, taking a sip of her drink. "We should reach the Twin Capes and enter the Grand Line by noon tomorrow."

"However... there's an island nearby with a large town."

"I have a feeling you guys might be interested. Want to stop there to restock supplies?"

"You mean Loguetown, right?" Sanji spoke with understanding. "It's known as the Town of the Beginning and the End. Gol D. Roger was executed there over twenty years ago."

"So cool!" Luffy immediately got excited upon hearing this.

Speaking of which, Reiner also had some business to take care of in Loguetown.

After entering the Grand Line, his first target was the two giants on Little Garden, followed by Crocodile.

Since he couldn't use Armament Haki yet, trying to handle that Sand Crocodile wasn't very safe.

Loguetown wasn't the largest town in the East Blue, but due to its location near the Twin Capes and its historical significance (Roger's execution), it was exceptionally prosperous.

It was also a place where dragons and fish mingled (good and bad elements mixed). Reiner planned to check the black market for Seastone.

If the rumors about a certain underground organization operating there were true, he might have a chance to buy some...

The night sea was dark, like an endless black fog, wrapping the Going Merry in loneliness and fear.

Only the dim yellow light spilling from the cabin, the overlapping silhouettes, and the sounds of laughter and chatter provided a sliver of reassurance.

It wasn't alone.

The white sheep's head sailed onward silently, slowly moving through the boundless darkness...

I will carry everyone there,

No matter where the next stop may be.

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