"Captain, Loguetown is just up ahead," said Dimitri, adjusting his straw hat as he peered through a handheld telescope, scanning the island a few nautical miles away.
"Yeah, I know. Loguetown—the town where it all begins and ends. The birthplace of the Pirate King. We've arrived."
Chris T. Aeridar dropped his usual playful smirk, his face turning stoic as his gaze fell upon the island town.
This town was legendary, both in Aeridar's past life and this world—a place etched into history as the stage for the birth and death of a king. For Aeridar, it was the one place in the East Blue he'd always dreamed of visiting. Even if he had no desire to become the Pirate King himself, as a pirate, not witnessing Loguetown with his own eyes would've been a lifelong regret.
"Captain, there are so many pirate ships docked in Loguetown!" Dimitri exclaimed, still glued to his telescope.
"What?"
Aeridar grabbed a scope of his own and aimed it at the port. His brows furrowed as confusion clouded his expression.
This couldn't be right—why were there so many pirate ships?
Through the lens, he counted dozens of ships moored along the port, many of them flying the skull-and-crossbones. At least eight or nine different pirate crews were represented, and the rest seemed to be merchant vessels.
Loguetown was right at the entrance to the Grand Line from the East Blue—surely this should be a heavily guarded Marine stronghold. So why were all these pirate ships docked so peacefully?
"A key location like this... the Marines should have heavy forces stationed here," Dimitri muttered, equally puzzled.
Hearing this exchange, Arlan frowned in thought, then offered a theory.
"Maybe Loguetown was once a major Marine stronghold, but after the start of the Great Pirate Era, the sudden influx of pirates heading for the Grand Line overwhelmed the defenses. Over time, what was once a well-guarded base turned into a pirate hotspot."
"That actually makes sense!" Aeridar's eyes lit up with recognition. "In the original story, the highest-ranking Marine in Loguetown was Smoker, the user of the Smoke-Smoke Fruit. Before he took command, this place was already swarming with pirates—similar to Mock Town in the Grand Line, on Jaya Island. That's where Bellamy the Hyena made his debut."
He reasoned it out further: with the Marines stretched thin dealing with the Grand Line, the New World, and the other three seas, they were constantly short-handed. Headquarters and branch bases alike didn't have enough high-ranking officers to station here.
Weaker officers could barely keep up with the East Blue's sudden surge of pirates, and sending stronger ones to such a "low-threat" sea would've been a waste of resources. Especially when the Marines were already complaining about lack of manpower. They'd rather assign their top fighters to the New World to suppress the big names out there.
So the mess in Loguetown had just... persisted.
It wasn't until the seas began to stabilize—thanks to the balance of the Three Great Powers—that the Marines finally sent Smoker to take control.
The reasoning was clear:
First, Smoker had trained under former Admiral "Black Arm" Zephyr. As a Logia user with the Smoke-Smoke Fruit, he was more than capable of suppressing the pirates of the East Blue. Pirates without Haki stood no chance against a Logia user, and even the few martial arts masters stronger than him physically couldn't land a hit.
Second, Smoker was a known maverick—a lone wolf who constantly disobeyed orders. But his Logia abilities and growing reputation made him too valuable to discard. Admiral Aokiji even supported him. The Marines couldn't punish him without risking backlash, and with Loguetown in need of a powerhouse, they figured: out of sight, out of mind.
Third, Smoker was born in Loguetown. He knew the place inside and out. That made him one of the best candidates to take command here.
"No Marines? Even better," Oliver said lazily, leaning on the railing. "We weren't planning on fighting them head-on anyway. That last skirmish was just for show—to make sure the Navy noticed us."
"Ha! Then let's rest up here a bit, and after that—it's the Grand Line!" Dimitri grinned with excitement.
"And we can finally pick up the supplies we couldn't get back at Hewdon's Coastal City," added Gorbo with a nod.
Not long after, the Chris sailed into Loguetown's port.
Compared to the other pirate vessels—none of which were even a hundred meters long—the Chris was a beast. The battleship towered over them in length, width, and height. Pirates loitering aboard their own ships gawked, mouths agape, staring up at the massive vessel.
"That's a big ship... whose crew is that?!"
"The Jolly Roger... looks familiar..."
"W-Wait—that's the Chris Pirates!"
"The ones with a debut bounty of 80 million berries?!"
"That's East Blue's number one—the Golden Ring himself, Chris T. Aeridar, worth 40 million!"
"They're here too?! Are they heading for the Grand Line—the Sea of Devils?!"
Whispers spread like wildfire across the harbor. Pirates and merchants alike stared at the Chris Pirates' flag with a storm of emotions—fear, envy, awe, and disbelief.
But not a single ship dared block their way.
Names carry weight. So do reputations. The Navy wasn't stupid—there was a reason this crew had earned such a massive bounty right out of the gate. It wasn't luck.
Sure, a bounty doesn't always reflect a pirate's personal strength. The World Government and Navy determine bounties based on the threat level someone poses to their regime or the world at large. But one thing was certain—truly powerful pirates always carried sky-high bounties.
Even Nico Robin—labeled the "Devil Child"—was given a bounty of 79 million berries at just eight years old. Not because of combat ability, but because her knowledge of the Poneglyphs posed a dire threat to the government.
She held the potential to uncover the Void Century—a truth buried for 800 years, fiercely protected and erased by the World Government. That stretch of lost history represents their greatest taboo, a line that cannot be crossed.
And yet, even with the magnitude of that threat, the bounty placed on Robin never surpassed 100 million. To the World Government, the danger she represented didn't outweigh the immediate threat posed by a Supernova with a bounty in the nine figures.
For most pirates, after all, a higher bounty generally means greater strength.
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