Time flew by.
In the blink of an eye, six days had passed.
Over those six days, the four of them visited six major cities within the Kingdom of Alabasta—roughly one city per day.
After seeing these cities with their own eyes, they finally understood just how enormous Sandy Island truly was.
Each city in Alabasta was comparable in size to an entire East Blue country that possessed only a single city.
In other words, the combined area of just six Alabastan cities already rivaled the total territory of six affiliated nations elsewhere.
And these cities were merely scattered points across Sandy Island.
Between them stretched vast deserts—distances that ordinary people would need half a day, or even a full day, to traverse on foot.
El's Observation Haki could easily cover half of a medium-sized island.
Yet even so, he could not sense Alubarna from Nanohana.
That alone spoke volumes about the distance between the two.
The combined area of those six cities occupied only a small fraction of Sandy Island.
It was no exaggeration to say that this so-called "island" was closer to a small continent.
After witnessing its sheer scale, El found himself even more curious about the Sabaody Archipelago, composed of seventy-nine interconnected islands.
The real world, he realized, was something manga and anime could never truly convey.
Six days later, the Eternal Pose finally finished charging.
Their short vacation came to an end.
The four raised anchor and sailed away from the Kingdom of Alabasta.
"Eh? This is—?"
Not long after leaving port, their small sailboat encountered a News Coo flying in from the direction of Sandy Island.
Nami waved it down and bought a copy of the day's newspaper.
She had barely opened it when—
A bounty poster slipped out.
Her eyes widened instantly.
"Carina! Sister Kuina! Come here—look at Nii-san's bounty!"
"Where?"
Carina hurried over, abandoning her reading.
Kuina, who had been meditating at the side of the ship, opened her eyes, stood up, and walked over as well.
They stared at the bounty poster in Nami's hands.
"One hundred thousand… one million… ten million…"Carina's eyes sparkled."Wah! Eighty million Belly! Nii-san's first bounty is as high as last year's 'Pirate Empress' Boa Hancock!"
She turned toward El—who was holding Wado Ichimonji, temporarily borrowed from Kuina—and shouted excitedly:
"Nii-san, come look! You're famous all over the world again!"
"It's normal to get a bounty," El said calmly."If killing a CP agent who mastered Six Styles (Rokushiki) and its variations didn't earn a bounty, then I'd need to reassess how incompetent Mary Geoise has become."
He paused, then added thoughtfully,
"But compared to the bounty itself, I'm more curious why it appeared in this newspaper."
Hearing that, the three girls carefully flipped through the pages.
After a moment, Carina frowned.
"There's nothing," she said, disappointed."Not on the front page, not on the second page—not even side news explaining it."
"Any bounties for you?" El asked.
"No," Nami shook her head."Only yours."
Carina looked again at the photo on the bounty.
El wore a black robe, sword in one hand, long silver hair tied into a single ponytail.
Her face flushed slightly."Nii-san… this photo is way too handsome. When did they even take it?"
"In that desert battle, my performance was far more conspicuous than your Three Heads and Six Arms or Mera Mera no Mi," El said calmly."And I'm certain no one nearby filmed us."
"Yet only I received a bounty."
He tossed aside a cotton swab and continued slowly:
"It seems that even the all-pervasive World Economy News Paper only knows that Bonier's team is dead—they don't have complete information about us."
"CP agents who master Six Styles and their variations are elite even within CP. Bonier and his subordinates were also Devil Fruit users."
"I'm eight years old—and I killed three superhuman Devil Fruit users."
"No matter how I did it, that alone is enough to make them vigilant."
"Our information is outdated."
"The 80 million Belly bounty is both recognition of my strength—and a warning."
"They didn't publish a special report because they don't want to lose face."
"And because they lack solid intelligence, they've chosen a simpler method."
"By issuing a high bounty, they're letting those hyenas who worship money risk their lives to test us—for them."
"Once enough people die, they'll reassess our true threat level."
"I see!"
The three girls immediately understood.
"What a disgusting method," Carina said coldly."No wonder the Revolutionary Army has been rising in recent years."
Nami sighed."It's a pity. Now that Nii-san has a bounty, we can only turn pirate heads in through the black market."
"It's fine," Kuina said gently, patting Nami's shoulder."Bounties were always just extra income. The real treasure is on the pirates' ships anyway."
"Don't worry," El said suddenly.
The three girls turned toward him.
"We won't be short on money for a long time."
He looked down at Wado Ichimonji, gently stroking the blade.
The girls gathered around him instinctively.
"Nii-san…" Carina said suspiciously, cupping his face in both hands and staring straight into his clear, gem-like red eyes."Did you secretly gather some important information and not tell us?"
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