User blog comment:DancePowderer/How Bounties Actually Work/@comment-3119203-20121218000225

Concerning Thriller Bark, I believe that Kuma told his superiors that the Straw Hats escaped somehow. However, the World Government still hushed up the incident because they didn't want to have to get a new Shichibukai and risk losing power.

Excellent blog. I don't think that the Straw Hats are going to see a bounty increase for quite some time, at least not until after the Punk Hazard Arc where someone from G-5 reports their actions. Even then, it might not do much, as defeating Caesar Clown is hardly Luffy's greatest achievement.