009 A reward of 40 million!
This lieutenant colonel can be said to be the culprit this time, completely disrupting Lin Mu's plan, making Lin Mu have to stand on the opposite side of Marine from the very beginning, which can be said to be a heinous crime!
In the world of One Piece, a Marine lieutenant colonel stationed in the East Blue like the officers seen in early chapters around Shells Town would definitely be regarded as a big figure among local troops, so daring to kill him is practically a declaration of war against the entire branch!
How could Lin Mu let him go!
Not to mention, he alone has twenty points of experience, which is comparable to ten ordinary soldiers!
The only thing that makes Lin Mu feel a pity is that this product didn't drop the treasure chest.
Only killing monsters for the first time has a certain chance to drop a treasure chest, and after killing similar monsters, the probability of dropping a treasure chest is zero!
In other words, if you kill Lieutenant Colonel Marine in the future, you will never be able to drop the treasure chest.
But this time, Lin Mu's experience has increased by nearly 90 points, which is not bad!
Naturally, the onlookers didn't expect that someone would dare to kill Lieutenant Colonel Marine in the street. In the East Blue called the weakest sea people are used to Marines bullying small-time pirates, not being helpless before someone killing an officer. At this moment, they all opened their mouths and looked confused.
The once bustling streets were instantly silent!
However, Lin Mu also knew that it was not advisable to stay here for a long time, and it was better to make a strategic transfer first.
So he ran directly back to the restaurant to get back what he had purchased before, and then ran all the way to the port.
How fast is Lin Mu?
When he ran to the port, Marine Base learned the news. Although they immediately sent troops to block the port just like how Marines locked down the docks when Roronoa Zoro was freed— it was too late!
By the time Marine arrived at the port, Lin Mu had already run a long way!
...
On the boundless sea, a small boat is floating, and on it lies a slightly emaciated teenager, leisurely enjoying the warm sunshine in the morning!
This boy is Lin Mu.
It has been a whole day since he left Kelin Island, an island similar in scale to the minor towns introduced early in the manga, and at this moment, he is heading for the next island.
That was the place he inquired about when he was shopping for clothes. He heard that there had been news of pirates there before pirates worth mentioning in the newspapers, which in early One Piece was normally a sign of someone with at least a small bounty.
For today's Lin Mu, the word pirate and experience mean the same thing.
However, at his current speed, Lin Mu estimates that it will take three or four days for him to reach his destination.
Fortunately, he was well prepared, and some necessities of life had already been bought, even if it was a long trip, there was no problem.
Suddenly, Lin Mu's eyes lit up while lying on the boat, and then he sat up because he saw a sea of seagulls delivering newspapers flying from a distance.
Just like the News Co. birds in the manga who deliver World Economy News, these seagulls also carried the latest headlines.
After waving a seagull and paying 100 Berry for a newspaper, Lin Mu opened the newspaper and read it.
In fact, Lin Mu is still not very clear about what era he is in the world of pirates. He buys newspapers because he wants to judge what era he is in through the latest news whether stories like Luffy defeating Captain Morgan have already happened, or whether pirates like Buggy or Don Krieg have been reported.
As soon as the newspaper was opened, Lin Mu was stunned, because his face was printed on the second page of the newspaper, and it was very clear. It was the scene where he used a bone spur on his fist to push Lieutenant Colonel Marine's throat an image dramatic enough to justify the sudden announcement of a bounty, just as Monkey D. Luffy received 30 million after defeating Arlong, but Lin Mu astonishingly earned 40 million!
The bottom of the newspaper described in detail what happened before, but it was not very true, and wrote Lin Mu as an evil and bloodthirsty pirate remnant.
In typical fashion just as the World Government twisted the reports on Monkey D. Dragon, or how early newspapers painted Luffy as a reckless menace after the Arlong incident the article exaggerated the scene, labeling Lin Mu as someone connected with surviving pirate crews and making him sound like a brutal criminal who butchered Marines without reason.
In the end, it was accompanied by a wanted notice for Lin Mu.
"Troisen D. Lin, there is a bounty of 40 million Berry, it doesn't matter if you live or die!" Lin Mu said, and as soon as the bounty came out, Marine became a synonym for experience for him.
The phrasing was like many early One Piece posters that permitted capture dead or alive, the same phrasing applied to figures like Nico Robin when she was first hunted, and it meant the government didn't care how violent things got.
But what Lin Mu didn't expect was that he killed a lieutenant colonel himself, and the bounty soared to 40 million Berry.
In the canonical progression, East Blue bounties rarely exceeded single digits Buggy began with 15 million in later references, Don Krieg was pegged as a major threat with 17 million, and Arlong controlled Cocoyasi Village with only 20 million so a rookie jumping to 40 million for one incident is extraordinary.
You know, when Luffy first offered a bounty, there were only 30 million Berry, and 40 million Berry was half of Crocodile's.
To be precise, Luffy earned 30 million after defeating Arlong, and Sir Crocodile one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea had 81 million before joining the Shichibukai, so Lin Mu's number placed him dangerously close to a major Grand Line player.
In addition to seeing his own bounty, Lin Mu still hasn't seen any valuable news, so he doesn't know what kind of era he is in.
The paper didn't mention anything about landmark events.no mention of Alabasta turmoil, no reference to Whitebeard's crew, no talk of Enies Lobby or Impel Down meaning Lin Mu could only guess whether he stood before or after Luffy's rise.
The only certainty is that 'One Piece' Gol D Roger is definitely dead, and the era of the Great Pirate has begun.
Just like chapter one established: "Wealth, fame, power the man who had acquired everything, Pirate King Gold Roger… was executed," sparking the global rush for treasure.
As for how long it has been on, it's unclear.
What Lin Mu didn't know was that at the port where Marine Division 42 was stationed at the moment, a warship was ready to go.
This kind of mobilization resembled how Headquarters reacted when Shanks or Whitebeard moved rapid, nervous, and excessive.
More than 200 Marines stood neatly on the deck with their guns on their backs, waiting for their commander to speak!
Their highest commander is a colonel wearing a robe of justice. The colonel is named Charrick, with a majestic body, a pair of leopard eyes with a three-point fierceness, and his face is full of ferocity.
A colonel holds authority just below a commodore, comparable to figures like Colonel Morgan in Shells Town before Luffy knocked him down, meaning this rank was the dominant force across a region in the Blues.
"The remnant of the Patton Pirates, Troyson D. Lindang Street, slaughtered Marine. It was a heinous crime. This time, the crusade against Troyson D. Lin will kill you if you can, regardless of life or death!"
The speech echoed the Marine obsession with wiping out pirate remnants similar to how Smoker later obsessed over tracking Straw Hats because public killings of Marines demanded an overwhelming response.
Charrick's tone made no secret of his resentment towards Lin Mu. Dozens of Marines were slaughtered in the street. This is simply Marine's shame!
And this shame happened under his subordinates, for this, he has been named and criticized by his superiors!
Marine bureaucracy behaves much like when Sengoku scolded Smoker for letting Luffy slip through Loguetown: failure stains careers.
If this crusade can be successful, it will be fine, but if it is not successful, his position as the highest commander of the branch will be unstable.
This oily position, I don't know how many eyes are staring at it and want to replace it.
In the Blues, branch command posts are pathways upward just as Captain Nezumi clung desperately to his privileges in Cocoyasi so many competitors would gladly take Charrick's failure as an opening.
And all of this was given by Lin Mu, so Charrick hated Lin Mu very much in his heart, and wished he could strip Lin Mu's flesh alive!
After the lecture, the warship carrying more than 200 Marines set off from Marine Division 42, and the direction of travel was exactly Lin Mu's destination!
The above situation also happened in Marine's 45th and 48th Divisions. The top officers of the three divisions each led hundreds of Marines to expedition against Lin Mu, which shows how much Marine attaches importance to this matter!
Deploying three branches was unheard of for a rookie far beyond what was done for early East Blue pirates like Don Krieg demonstrating that the government now viewed Lin Mu as a regional threat.
After all, slaughtering more than 20 Marines in the street in a bustling city is literally hitting Marine in the face!
If the initiator cannot be obliterated, then Marine's prestige in West Blue will undoubtedly drop a level, which is absolutely unacceptable to Marine!
...
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