Chapter 146: "Suzaku of God" — Uchiha Itachi
"Next up! 'Black Leg' Senior Sanji! Bounty: THREE HUNDRED SEVENTY MILLION BERRIES!"
The poster on the wall had changed dramatically since the last printing. Gone was the crude hand-drawn sketch that had haunted Sanji for years—the one that made him look like a deformed potato with a cowlick. In its place was a proper photograph. Sanji's visible eye was filled with hearts, his mouth stretched into a dopey, lovestruck grin.
"Oh! Sanji's poster changed from the drawing to a real photo!" Luffy pointed at it with delight.
"Tch. It was funnier before." Zoro took a long drink. "Way funnier."
"Next! 'Cat Burglar' Senior Nami! Bounty: ONE HUNDRED SIXTY MILLION BERRIES!"
Nami's poster showed her tying up her hair, her expression equal parts alluring and calculating—the look of a woman who had already figured out exactly how much you owed her.
"When did she even take that photo?" Usopp squinted at the image.
"Next! Cotton-Candy-Loving Senior Chopper! Bounty: ONE HUNDRED BERRIES!"
Chopper's poster captured him mid-reach toward a massive cloud of cotton candy, his eyes sparkling with pure, innocent desire.
"I don't even know what to say anymore." Franky's metal shoulders slumped. Compared to Chopper, his bounty felt like an insult wrapped in a compliment.
"And 'Soul King' Senior Brook! Bounty: EIGHTY-THREE MILLION BERRIES!"
Brook's poster was taken from one of his concert promotional materials—the skeleton striking a dramatic pose, his afro perfectly coiffed, his violin tucked under his chin. Undeniably the coolest poster of the bunch.
"Looks like everyone's gone up," Law observed. Then he turned to Bartolomeo. "Where's Itachi-ya's bounty?"
Bartolomeo's expression shifted. Something flickered behind his eyes.
Itachi, for his part, wasn't paying attention. His mind was already drifting toward the sea ahead—toward the Thousand Sunny somewhere on the horizon, toward the crewmates they needed to reunite with. The bounty poster was just paper. The number didn't matter.
Bartolomeo clapped his hands sharply. The younger brothers outside scrambled.
"Senior Uchiha Itachi!" Bartolomeo's voice cracked with emotion. "I must apologize! When the great Senior Itachi joined the Straw Hats, we of the Barto Club were... we were UNPREPARED! Our shrine chambers had not yet been remodeled to properly honor you!"
He dropped to his knees.
"To express our deepest apologies, we have commissioned a SPECIAL frame for your bounty poster! A GOLD frame! HAND-CARVED! BY MASTER ARTISANS!"
The younger brothers marched in carrying an elaborate golden picture frame, its surface engraved with swirling patterns of—on closer inspection—tiny Luffy faces.
"A gold frame..." Usopp's voice was flat. "Even if you set it in diamonds, it's still just paper with a number on it. Big Brother Itachi doesn't care about—"
"Show us, show us!" Luffy shoved forward. "How much did Itachi's bounty go up?!"
Law nodded thoughtfully. "The increase probably isn't significant. The Navy must have suppressed information about Itachi's battle with Fujitora. No way they'd publicly admit an Admiral was—"
Bartolomeo pulled the curtain.
"—defeated..."
Law's voice died in his throat.
"THE HIGHEST BOUNTY CURRENTLY HELD BY ANY STRAW HAT!"
Bartolomeo's voice rose to a fever pitch.
"BEHOLD! 'SUZAKU OF GOD'! SENIOR UCHIHA ITACHI!"
"BOUNTY: ONE BILLION BERRIES!!!"
Luffy's jaw hit the floor. Literally. His rubber mouth stretched down to his knees.
"ONE... BILLION?!"
Zoro choked on his sake. Franky's mechanical jaw clicked open. Robin's eyes widened—genuine surprise breaking through her usual composure. Even Law, who had seen more bounty posters than most pirates saw in a lifetime, stared at the number with undisguised shock.
Itachi himself looked mildly puzzled. He didn't remember posing for this photograph.
The image on the poster showed him in mid-flight beneath Green Bit's canopy, the Black Fire Crow blazing beneath him, the Wind-Forest Fire gleaming in his grip. His Sharingan blazed crimson against the dark background. The killing intent captured in that single frame was palpable.
"Look at the epithet!" Usopp pointed with a trembling finger. "It's not 'Hellfire' anymore! It's 'Suzaku of God'!"
The others leaned in. Sure enough, beneath the photograph, the familiar epithet had been replaced.
"Both titles are SUPER cool," Franky admitted. "But why'd they change it?"
"Maybe because of the new photo," Zoro said, rubbing his chin. "The red eyes. The fire bird. Looks more like some kind of divine beast than a demon."
"Whatever the reason..." Robin's smile was warm with something that might have been pride. "It suits him."
Law was still grappling with the number. "This is the first time I've seen a billion-berry bounty on anyone outside the direct crews of the Four Emperors. Doffy's bounty was only three hundred forty million. Itachi-ya... you've entered a completely different category of threat."
Luffy was pounding the deck with both fists, tears streaming down his face. "WHEN IS MY BOUNTY GONNA BE HIGHER THAN ITACHI'S?! I'M THE CAPTAIN! THE CAPTAIN SHOULD HAVE THE HIGHEST BOUNTY!"
"That's not how bounties work," Usopp said. "That's never been how bounties work."
"SHUT UP! I'M GONNA SURPASS HIM! JUST WATCH!"
"Suzaku of God," Itachi murmured, testing the title on his tongue.
In the world he had left behind—the world of shinobi and chakra and endless war—his ring had been marked with the same symbol. Suzaku. The Vermilion Bird. The guardian of the southern heavens. A name he had worn in darkness, as a tool of the Akatsuki, as a weapon aimed at his own village.
And now this world's Navy, interpreting a photograph they barely understood, had given him the same name.
He found that he didn't mind.
"It's acceptable."
"Oh! And there's one more thing everyone should see!" Bartolomeo pointed toward Sanji's poster. "Look closely at the fine print!"
The crew leaned in. Beneath Sanji's bounty amount, a single line had been added in small but unmistakable text.
ONLY ALIVE
"What's that supposed to mean?" Zoro's eye narrowed.
"It's Sanji." Usopp crossed his arms with the confident air of a man who had figured out the answer. "Probably some woman-related thing. He got on the wrong side of some powerful lady, and now she wants him captured alive so she can beat him up personally."
"That makes perfect sense." Franky nodded.
"Absolutely." Luffy nodded.
"Definitely a woman problem," Zoro agreed.
The crew's collective assessment of Sanji's romantic entanglements settled over the cabin like a comfortable blanket.
The Coast of Dressrosa — Prisoner Transfer Warship
The warship carrying Doflamingo had cleared the harbor and was making steady progress toward the open sea. The Warlord himself was secured below decks, wrapped in enough Seastone chains to anchor a battleship, guarded by Vice Admiral Tsuru and a detachment of her most trusted officers.
On the upper deck, two old men sat together over bowls of noodles.
"Rice cracker?"
"I'll take one." Fujitora accepted the snack, and for a moment, the two aging warriors ate in companionable silence.
"You have my gratitude, Sengoku. For what you did back there."
When CP0 had moved to arrest Fujitora—when the Seastone cuffs had closed around his wrists and Captain Sicily had smiled his cold, professional smile—it was Sengoku who had intervened. Not with force. With words. A direct communication to the Five Elders themselves, calling in decades of accumulated political capital to suppress the arrest warrant before it could be executed. The three CP0 agents, Sicily included, had been detained and remanded to the custody of the nearest Marine branch.
"You don't need to thank me. You've fed me several meals now." Sengoku waved his chopsticks dismissively. "WAHAHA!"
But Fujitora didn't laugh. "The World Government attempting to arrest me... that much I could understand. What I cannot comprehend is the method. No notification. No formal charges. A covert extraction by intelligence operatives. It was as if..."
"As if they didn't want anyone to know you'd been taken."
"Exactly."
Sengoku's glasses caught the light, obscuring his eyes. "Then you must have touched something they consider extremely important. Something they can't afford to have exposed."
He set down his noodles.
"Smile. What exactly did you do on this island?"
The silence stretched. The waves lapped against the warship's hull. And finally, Fujitora spoke.
He told Sengoku everything. About the conversation in the Flower Field. About the plan Itachi had proposed—the false battle, the hero's mantle, the sacrifice of a pirate's reputation so that an Admiral could stand in the light. About CP0's surveillance. About the two agents Itachi had killed to protect him. About the illusion that had conveyed truths too complex for words alone.
When he finished, Sengoku was utterly still.
"I know that hearing this will come as a shock, Sengoku."
"You could say that."
"I ask that you keep this secret. For his safety."
Fujitora touched the bandages on his chest—the wounds from the Seastone bullets that Tsuru had washed from his body using her Wash-Wash Fruit abilities.
"Given my current level of danger... if this secret were to be revealed, it would place him in extreme jeopardy."
Sengoku exhaled slowly. He picked up his noodles and resumed eating.
"I truly never imagined. A second person like this... among pirates."
"Second?" Fujitora's head turned sharply.
But Sengoku had already moved on, his expression shifting. "I think I finally understand what Sakazuki meant. Smile, you should apologize to him. You drove that man absolutely insane."
"That boy is obsessed with face."
"Apologize?" Fujitora's voice hardened. "This old man will not apologize."
"Why not?"
"Because this old man also has face to maintain."
Sengoku stared at him. Then his composure shattered. "WAHAHAHA! You—! WAHAHAHA!"
He laughed until tears streamed down his face, until his noodles nearly spilled across the deck, until he had to clutch his stomach with both hands.
"You two are absolutely...!"
But when the laughter faded, his expression grew thoughtful. He stared out at the endless sea, his ancient eyes seeing something far beyond the horizon.
"In the end, I do understand Sakazuki a little better now. That boy always looks like he's about to erupt. Everything makes him furious. Everything is an insult to his justice. But..."
He tapped his chopsticks against his bowl.
"Beneath all that rage... he's actually quite sharp."
(End of Chapter)
✨ If you're enjoying this story, please consider supporting me on Patreon:
Patreon.com/TofuChan
Get Access to Bonus Chapters