"Rakuya. Bounty, one billion? Where did this rookie come from? I've never even heard the name."
On the deck of the Savage Beast Pirates, the captain frowned at the headline splashed across the newspaper.
"Captain, that high? A whole billion? He's right up there with Whitebeard already."
"Whitebeard climbed step by step. This kid's first bounty is a billion. What did he do?"
"He beat up a Celestial Dragon, they say. And he snatched Marine Headquarters admirals. Not just one…"
"Seriously? The guy's that wild?"
"Rumor is he fought the lot of them. The Marines walked away with nothing and lost men on top of it."
The crew buzzed with nervous excitement.
"Government just posted the notice. Wanted, Rakuya. One billion berries. Hey, you got the guts to try your luck?" a blond youth joked.
"Try a billion-Berry pirate? Why not just ask me to die? I'm a bounty hunter, not suicidal. I know my limits. I'd try to take his head and he'd take mine."
"Heh. At least you're not dumb."
"Please. One slap and he'd paste you."
New World.
The Roger Pirates.
"Captain, the wanted poster just dropped. Mr. Rakuya's bounty is out."
Silvers Rayleigh, face still pale, approached Gol D. Roger on the Oro Jackson with a folded paper.
"How many zeroes?" Roger asked, eyes alight.
"One billion." Rayleigh raised ten fingers.
"A billion?" Roger looked up, startled, disbelief writ clear.
"Let me see."
He scanned the familiar silhouette and read the line beneath it.
"Rakuya, Bounty: 1,000,000,000 Berries."
"How is it that high?" Roger remembered his own first bounty barely scratching tens of millions. Compared to this, the gap was a canyon. First poster, and already that number? Rakuya's future would be terrifying.
"I know. It shocked me too."
Rayleigh swayed, chest throbbing, and had to sit.
"The New World will churn again," Roger murmured, gaze drifting to the horizon. "It's not just two rivals anymore."
Beyond Whitebeard and Shiki, there would be one more name to watch.
New World.
The Whitebeard Pirates.
Aboard the massive Moby Dick, captains gathered as Edward Newgate sat broad-shouldered on the deck, newspaper in hand.
"Rakuya? A billion? Which sea did this brat crawl out of?"
He had never crossed paths with the man, and the report surprised even him.
"Pops, word is he thrashed a Celestial Dragon and kidnapped Marine admirals. He's extorting the Marines for eighty billion to ransom them," said Marco the Phoenix.
"Eighty billion? Hah. Bold enough, squeezing the Marines that hard."
"Pops, they're supposed to meet in the New World in five days. You think Headquarters will pay up?"
"Pay? After all the dealings I've had with them, when have the Marines swallowed a loss like that?"
"So you think they'll turn on him at the handoff and try to take him down?"
"Nine times out of ten. We'll see if the kid walks away. I hear the fleet admiral, Steel Bone Kong himself, plans to lead the operation."
"Now that will be a show. If Kong is going, the kid's done for."
"Brash without brains. A billion or not, that's a firework flash. It'll end in a fall."
"In this world, outside of Roger being a proper rival for Pops, who else really qualifies?"
"Pops, should we interfere in five days?"
"Interfere? No. The Marines are mobilizing in force. If we stick our necks out, the blowback won't be small. Shiki and Roger are watching too. One misstep and the Whitebeard Pirates could topple. We won't gamble this time."
Across the seas, crews large and small argued over the same name. On Whole Cake Island, on Onigashima, in every bar from Paradise to the New World, people asked who Rakuya was and how he had done it.
Fish-Man Island.
"Your Majesty! A bulletin from Marine Headquarters."
"A wanted poster? For whom?" King Neptune sat upright.
"For our protector. For Mr. Rakuya."
"What? Rakuya, who shields our island? How much?"
"Guess, Your Majesty," a minister said, grinning ear to ear.
"Five hundred million?" Neptune remembered Rakuya's earlier offhand estimate and offered the number at once.
"No."
"Lower or higher?"
"Higher."
"Six hundred million?"
"Still low."
"Seven hundred… Heavens, that already marks a monster," Neptune breathed, almost collapsing onto his seat.
"Not even close. Mr. Rakuya's bounty is one billion."
"One… one billion?" Neptune's jaw went slack.
"By the tides, I asked a billion-Berry pirate to be our guardian. We've struck gold."
"Indeed. With Lord Rakuya's protection, who would dare invade us? Even Whitebeard would think twice before poking our god."
On the island, they already called him a god, the one who had dragged them from the fire.
"At last, light for Fish-Man Island," Neptune whispered, mist-eyed.
Around the world, the chatter swelled. In a handful of days, Rakuya had leapt from obscurity to a pillar who could stand shoulder to shoulder with Whitebeard.
The world was stunned.
And the man who had kicked the hornet nest had already alighted on the Red Line. Ahead lay the Holy Land, Mary Geoise.
"Celestial Dragons," Rakuya said softly. "I'm coming."
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