A smiling photo of Lius sat on the yellowed wanted poster. He looked exactly like a cheerful young man.
However, the bounty beneath it was completely unimaginable.
"A bounty of seventy-three million beli..."
Ace widened his eyes in absolute disbelief.
"This can't be real. How could a first-time bounty be so high?" he asked in utter shock.
After all, his own seventy million beli bounty had taken several increases to reach that amount.
He never expected this.
The unremarkable guy who had knocked him out earlier was actually this powerful.
"Hahaha, I find it strange too!"
Lius felt a bit puzzled upon seeing his wanted poster, but it put him in a rather good mood.
"Why is it this high?"
Nami stood by the helm, tightly gripping the wanted poster in astonishment.
She knew the Marines would put a bounty on his head.
She just never expected his first bounty to reach a staggering 73 million beli.
It was simply unbelievable.
"Could it be because we claimed Arlong's bounty from the Marines?"
She was full of doubts.
Other than that, she really could not figure out how his first bounty ended up being so outrageously high.
That had to be the only explanation.
"Perhaps. We did extort forty million beli from the Marines after all!"
Lius laughed heartily while sitting at the bow of the ship.
Deducting that forty million left a true bounty of 30 million beli.
That was merely 30 million more than the Straw Hat boy's initial bounty from the original story.
Yes, that made for a much more reasonable bounty!
"I see. Then I'm still the strongest in the East Blue!"
Ace pieced together the situation after hearing their conversation. He let out a sigh of relief as confidence returned to his freckled face.
He looked up at the man and resumed their previous topic. "So? Are you interested in joining?"
"I can join, but I want to be the captain!"
Lius propped up his chin and smiled at the invitation.
The captain?
Ace scowled and snapped, "Do you even know what that title means? Only the strongest person gets to be the captain!"
He made no secret of his belief that Lius was weaker than him.
After all, the teenager believed he had only been knocked out earlier due to a sneak attack.
As a proud Logia type user, he was completely confident in taking on any enemy in a head-on duel.
"We can talk about that after we have a proper fight to decide the winner!"
Lius gave a faint smile and jumped down from the bow to head straight for the cabin.
He suddenly stopped while walking past the boy. "By the way, what made you set out to sea?"
Ace blanked for a moment before blurting out his answer.
"To become the Pirate King, of course!"
He turned to look at Lius with an expression that practically screamed how obvious his answer was.
At those words. The corners of Lius's lips curled up.
He shook his head and continued walking toward the cabin.
"What are you laughing at? Do you think my dream is funny?"
Ace frowned and demanded an answer in a disgruntled tone.
"No. I just thought about how happy I would be if my crewmate became the Pirate King in the future."
He chuckled and stepped into the cabin to prepare lunch.
Left standing alone on the deck.
Ace widened his eyes and snapped indignantly.
"Hey! We haven't even fought yet! We don't know who gets to be the captain!"
"And what kind of big talk is that? Didn't you set out to sea to find the great treasure and become the Pirate King?"
Inside the cabin.
Lius completely ignored the questions outside. He sorted through the ingredients and spoke aloud to himself.
"Did you see that beautiful girl out there? Her name is Nami. She's my genius navigator. As long as she is here, we can sail through any storm."
It was undeniably a beautiful compliment.
Nami puffed out her chest the moment she heard it. Her charming face practically beamed with confidence and pride.
"Miss Nami! I look forward to working with you!"
Ace perked up immediately. He offered the young woman a sincere, gentlemanly greeting.
"Then don't just stand there! You can take the helm until we find a proper helmsman!"
Nami chuckled and immediately stepped away from the wheel. She looked completely relieved to be free of the task.
"Yes!"
Ace had absolutely no objections and naturally took over the steering.
He had not been at sea for very long, but his navigational knowledge was leaps and bounds ahead of a complete idiot like Lius. Steering a ship was practically child's play for him.
After all, he had dared to sail alone from the New World back to the Grand Line in the original story.
He would have been lost in the vast sea long ago if he knew nothing about navigation.
And so.
Ace chose to stay on the ship for the time being to act as their temporary helmsman.
He faced the sea breeze and gazed out at the distant blue waves. Noisy chatter constantly drifted out from the cabin and reached his ears.
For some unknown reason, his restless heart gradually calmed down.
Meanwhile, inside the cabin.
He's just a brat who went out to sea to seek validation. What a troubled youth. It looks like being an understanding Captain won't be easy!
Lius thought to himself as he busied around preparing lunch.
It was rare to encounter someone with such immense potential, and he had no intention of letting the boy go. However, he couldn't afford to appear too eager due to Ace's unique background.
He was the posthumous son of the Pirate King. He had carried the burden of a sinful bloodline since childhood and grew up as an outcast abandoned by the world. Just as he finally found a sliver of warmth growing up, he had to watch his own brother sabo die to artillery fire while setting out to sea.
Any of those experiences would have been enough to push a normal person to the extreme.
Yet Ace never fell into despair. Those tragedies only fueled his hope.
It was as though he became a completely different person from then on.
He purposely sought out the tavern's landlady to learn proper etiquette just so he could carry on Sabo's will. He constantly challenged himself to grow stronger.
Living in the darkness, yet reaching for the light!
That perfectly described someone like Ace!