Bounties

A Bounty is a set amount of money placed on a persons head for their capture/death.

Becoming Wanted
Normally a bounty is issued by a government official or by the police. The idea is to tempt others to aid with the capture of the said criminal so he can be brought to justice quickly, and the amount increase with the threat. The money often leads people, known as bounty hunters to make careers out of trying to find these wanted people. In the Whiskey Peak arc, the Baroque Works agents state that up to 30% of the bounty money may be lost by bringing in someone dead as opposed to bringing them in alive and promoting a public execution.

In the eye of a pirate, a high bounty may actually be a source of pride for them, as seen in Luffy's enthusiasm on his first bounty, or Sanji's constant complaining of his lack of bounty or bad picture. For others, such as a Kuro, it can be an annoyance.

Bounty Issuing
The average bounty in the East Blue is 3,000,000 Beli, and the big one's are 10,000,000 Beli. The big one's in the Grand Line are greater than 100,000,000, but a common price in the New World.

The full extend of the greatest bounties in the world hadn't yet been shown, the greatest amount seen in the series is the former 340,000,000 Beli bounty of the Shichibukai Donquixote Doflamingo, although it is known that a bounty can achieve 500,000,000 Beli. High bounties are expected of characters such as Silvers Rayleigh (which bounty is still active ). So far Dragon is the most wanted criminal in the world.

In short, the bounty simply reflects how much threat (or potential threat) the said person has to the World Government. However, the bounty is based only on the known information about the criminal. In the case of Luffy both Kuro and Enel did not contribute to his bounty as Kuro was believed to already be dead and Skypiea remains relatively unknown to the majority of the One Piece world. Another example would be Arlong, who paid the corrupt Marine Nezumi money to ignore his actions in the East Blue, thus his bounty did not reflect his potential threat. mistaken as the crew pet.

Retracting Bounties
A bounty is usually given to a criminal for life, so no matter which lifestyle they may follow after its issue, the bounty remains unchanged. The bounty is usually only written off when the criminal dies. The notion that death brings freedom from the bounty was the sole reason for Kuro's plan to escape a pirates life. A bounty can last for over a hundred years if the criminal is not proven to be dead.

With exceptions of death and capture, another method of losing a bounty is to become an asset to either the Marines or World Government.

A bounty may also be removed by a court of law, as Jango's was, during his mini-series after he hypnotised the entire courtroom to dance. Jango's case was further aided by the help and plea of the Marine Fullbody during the case. This later allowed him to join the Marines under the command of Hina.

Every member of the Shichibukai is considered an ally of the Marines and World Government so the members bounties were all removed. This allows them to continue being a criminal on a conditional basis.

Identification
A criminal is, most often than not, known by his poster. Without the issuing of a wanted poster, no criminal can be made known. These posters are distributed across the world in newspapers and establishments. Marines also keep copies of each criminal at their bases and on board their ships so the Marines always have them handy. Bounty Hunters may also carry a list.

The Poster Picture
The most important part of a poster is the picture of the criminal. It allows swift identification upon sighting and informs everyone in the world to be wary of the named criminal. A bounty keep updating the picture is there is a significant appearance change. The picture normally takes the form of a photograph, in failing to retrieve a suitable photograph, a drawing may be used instead as in the case of Sanji. To some (such as Sanji), a decent photograph is as important as the bounty itself as the entire world will see copies of it, though some (such as Bellamy) believe some bounties are fake due to an unintimidating picture.

One of the most mysterious things about wanted posters in One Piece is how the Marines are able to get hold of photos of almost every criminal. Oda later in one of his SBS later reveals that the photos are taken by the Marine Photography Branch Captain "Flaming Attachan". Flaming Attachan apparently gets his name because before he closes the shutter he yells "Fire!". The only exception to this rule seems to be from Mr. 13 and Miss Friday who were used by the marines recently to help draw bounty posters of remaining Baroque Works agents. A new picture is sometimes issued as the person's appearance may have changed (such as Robin).

Nicknames
Marines give pirates a nickname with a bounty that either describes their appearance (such as "Cyborg Franky"), what their powers/abilities are (such as "Black Leg Sanji" or "King of Snipers Sogeking"), or what they do (such as "Burglar Cat Nami" or "Pirate Hunter Zoro"). Sometimes it is just the most common nickname a person has (Luffy was called "Straw Hat" before his first bounty was issued).

The Straw Hat Pirate crew
Total bounty: 700,000,050 Beli

East Blue Bounties
Note: The average bounty for the East Blue is rated at only 3,000,000, making it the weakest sea in the One Piece world.

Shichibukai ex-bounties
Because they are frozen bounties, the Shichibukai bounties do not reflect their true threat anymore.

Trivia

 * Oda confirmed that if Eneru were actually a wanted pirate, he would have had a bounty that could reach up to [[Image:Bsymbol.gif]]500,000,000.
 * Bounties are often the centre of several myths within the fandom.
 * Record bounties:
 * Currently, Dolfamingo's [[Image:Bsymbol.gif]]340,000,000 is the highest known bounty seen, however it is not an active bounty. The highest active bounty known is Eustass Kid's [[Image:Bsymbol.gif]]315,000,000.
 * The lowest bounty known is Chopper's mere [[Image:Bsymbol.gif]]50. Previously, Alvida held that position with her [[Image:Bsymbol.gif]]5,000,000 in the manga, while A.A.A. [[Image:Bsymbol.gif]]2,200,000 was the lowest in the anime.
 * The highest bounty known to be a starting bounty is Robin's [[Image:Bsymbol.gif]]79,000,000.
 * Robin also holds the record for the youngest seen reciever of a bounty in the series being eight when she is given the bounty. Chopper is the second youngest being 15 years old.
 * Luffy's [[Image:Bsymbol.gif]]30,000,000 bounty broke the record for the active East blue bounties, as well as the highest new bounty for a East Blue pirate.
 * The oldest known bounties are joint held by Dorry and Broggy who have held theirs for over a hundred years.
 * The newest known bounties are; Sogeking, Chopper, Sanji, Franky and Nami whose bounties were all release at the same time.
 * The lowest known Shichibukai bounty is Crocodile's [[Image:Bsymbol.gif]]81,000,000, excluding Blackbeard who holds no former bounty at all.
 * Dolfamingo's [[Image:Bsymbol.gif]]340,000,000 is the highest known Shichibukai.
 * The highest combined bounties seen in one crew is the Straw Hats [[Image:Bsymbol.gif]]700,000,050.
 * The known Shichibukai ex-bounties total up to over [[Image:Bsymbol.gif]]956,000,000, including the former Shichibukai Crocodile it would have been [[Image:Bsymbol.gif]]1,037,000,000
 * The Eleven Supernovas bounties total up to [[Image:Bsymbol.gif]]2,152,000,000.
 * The highest organisation (non-Pirate) was Baroque Works, whose bounties totaled up [[Image:Bsymbol.gif]]192,000,000.
 * Wild Joe who appeared in Oda's oneshot Wanted! was given a bounty of [[Image:Bsymbol.gif]]2,000,000.