Bounties

A bounty is a reward, usually monetary, promised for the accomplishment of a certain task. In many contexts, and particularly the world of One Piece, it refers to the sum of money awarded for the capture and/or killing of pirates, bandits, Marines and other persons of interest.

Overview
Most of the world's bounties are issued by the World Government—via the Marines—with the intent of making the public aware of dangerous criminals, as well as encouraging civilians to help capture them. The specific amount of a given bounty is calculated by a special department within Marine Headquarters (currently headed by Commodore Brannew), based on the perceived threat level of a given criminal; the lowest bounty ever given was 50 to Tony Tony Chopper while the highest more than 4,000,000,000. The highest-ever bounty in history belonged to Gol D. Roger, with bounty hunters being promised 5,564,800,000 for his capture.

The standard bounty is issued with a "Dead or Alive" clause, signifying that the criminal no longer has protection from the law and therefore can be killed without repercussion. This makes both live captures and confirmed kills eligible for the reward. However, according to Baroque Works, authorities may detract up to 30% of a bounty if given a dead criminal, as they favor live captures for prison sentences and/or formal executions. Alternatively, an "Only Alive" clause has been knowingly (albeit temporarily) approved for at least one individual, due to political influence from a significant kingdom invested in his survival.

Criminal organizations, such as pirate crews, typically only have bounties on their leaders or figureheads (eg. captains). However, larger organizations, in particular Four Emperors crews and more prominent pirate crews, will have bounties on some or all of their subordinates.

Bounties are not known to carry any statute of limitations; even criminals that have remained inactive for over a century, such as Dorry and Brogy, are viable as bounty heads as long as they have not been confirmed deceased.

Certain circumstances may result in a bounty being frozen, rendering it temporarily inactive and shielding that person from judicial persecution. A notable example is having a membership in the Seven Warlords of the Sea (which extends to all explicit subordinates), as well as slavery under the World Nobles. However, if these circumstances are retracted for any reason, the bounty will automatically be reinstated — possibly even increasing — and re-legitimize arrest.

(A murkier case exists for criminals — e.g. Jango — who are legitimately accepted into the Marines. It is possible that this process includes a full bounty removal, though the details of this process remain inconclusive.)

It also remains unknown how or where exactly bounties are claimed, though the system is apparently reliable enough to support multiple industries of professional bounty hunters. Bounty collection is, predictably, barred to pirates and other criminals, though exceptions can be made for petty miscreants such as the Franky Family.

Issuing and Increasing
A bounty reflects both the threat and power of an individual as perceived by the World Government. Engaging in activities deemed criminal by the World Government or associating with groups that engage in them is enough to warrant significant bounties, even if the criminal is not powerful themselves. In particular, any direct opposition to the World Government, no matter the reason, is treated as a serious offense, and bounties are issued accordingly. Nico Robin, for example, has knowledge deemed illegal by the World Government and was issued a bounty of 79,000,000 at the age of eight, despite not personally participating in any immoral activity.

Simply associating with a notable criminal figure can be enough to get a bounty; for instance, following the Dressrosa battle, several of Monkey D. Luffy's crew members and allies all got flat increases of 50,000,000 regardless of their role or presence during the incident. Pets can also receive bounties, though these bounties are often substantially smaller than human bounties.

Since the Marines can only issue bounties based on their knowledge of the criminal in question (or the knowledge they are comfortable disclosing to the public) a bounty may not necessarily reflect the true threat of a person. Tony Tony Chopper of the Straw Hat Pirates was mistaken for a mere pet and issued a measly 50, as the Marines were unaware he was responsible for defeating Kumadori of CP9. Additionally, Luffy's bounty would have been increased after defeating Warlord Gecko Moria, but as this incident had to be kept secret, no change was made. Arlong, despite being a Grand Line pirate, had a very low bounty relative to his actions in East Blue, as he bribed the corrupt Marine Nezumi to keep his activities secret. In some cases, due to miscommunication or unreported information, the bounty may end up being much higher or lower than what the criminal deserved for their actions. The best example of this is Buggy, whose bounty jumped from 15,000,000 to 3,189,000,000 due to various misconceptions surrounding him after the disbandment of the Seven Warlords of the Sea.

Occasionally, after a bounty is issued, the designated amount on a bounty may increase for any of several reasons:
 * The threat of a person's observed combat abilities is discovered to be greater than previously believed (as stated by Aokiji).
 * More experienced bounty hunters volunteering to capture the individual or group.
 * New crimes being committed by the criminal, often of much greater magnitude than previous crimes.
 * Inspiring criminal acts when provoked or inciting others to act 'criminally' (for example, Whitebeard destroying Marine ships that followed his fleet for reconnaissance and Dragon leading his organization to conquer nations affiliated with the World Government).

According to Jinbe, it is very difficult to make a reward increase further once it reaches 300,000,000.

Identification
Bounties are conventionally issued through wanted posters (手配書): single, easily-portable leaflets depicting each criminal's portrait, name, and reward amount. These are regularly circulated by News Coos across the world, and are commonly posted in public locations such as taverns for civilians, as well as being kept by Marine bases and ships for reference.



The portraits used for wanted posters are typically high-quality photographs, taken by specialists from the Marines' Photography Department. However, their resources are not infallible; if no suitable photograph can be attained, an artist's rendering may be used instead. Like reward amounts, portraits may be updated to reflect significant changes, such as aging or disfigurement, or if a better image is found.

Wanted posters generally print the criminal's full name whenever possible (though active use is prioritized over all, hence Franky's poster printing his adopted name rather than his birth name). In very rare cases, an epithet may be included as part of the name.

Effects
Bounties can be highly effective in publicizing and ostracizing criminals from lawful society, and are hence despised by those like Kuro (and, to a lesser extent, Nami) who seek those very comforts. Indeed, a bounty can turn entire communities against even children, as with Nico Robin in the wake of the Ohara Incident.

On the other hand, those — especially pirates — that embrace criminality and notoriety hold bounties in considerable pride. The male Straw Hat Pirates display theirs near the Thousand Sunny's sleeping quarters (with Sanji in particular being highly opinionated about both his bounty amount and portrait), and regularly celebrate any increases; these celebrations are often mirrored by their friends and allies, civilians included.

If a person wears a disguise that makes them look different, and they are recognized by that disguise, then they can fool the system, as shown with Charlotte Cracker, and also to a lesser extent Usopp whose first official bounty was credited to his "Sogeking" persona rather than to himself.



Despite these shortcomings, both criminals and professional law enforcement commonly use bounties a shorthand for strength. Stacking them against regional averages helps determine threats in relation to location; for example, the average bounty in the East Blue is 3,000,000, bounty heads worth 10,000,000 or more would be considered noteworthy. Since East Blue is defined as the weakest of the four seas outside of the Grand Line, the West Blue, North Blue, and South Blue must all have higher average bounties and have a greater number of famous criminals hailing from their waters. However, pirates of the Grand Line tend to have the highest bounties, as pirates in Paradise can have bounties up to 100,000,000, and New World pirates can have bounties surpassing 1,000,000,000. Any bounty that goes to 1,000,000,000 or over is considered monstrous, even in the New World. High-ranked subordinates of Four Emperors are known to surpass or get close to those figures occasionally since their bounties tend to raise in tandem with their captain's.

While the details of how high a bounty could be are unknown, the greatest amount revealed in the first half of the story was that of Whitebeard Pirates 2nd division commander and son of Gold Roger Portgas D. Ace, worth 550,000,000. The current highest active bounty is that of the former Emperor Kaidou with a bounty of 4,611,100,000.

While a pirate with a bounty of 300,000,000 is still considered a rookie, once a pirate exceeds that value it is difficult to get any higher, and it seems that 400,000,000 is enough to be considered an elite pirate. While the Seven Warlords are also important pirates in the world, some of their former bounties are not particularly high. However it should be noted that these are their former bounties which do not represent the threat that they could have achieved as active pirates. After Jinbe had resigned, his bounty increased to over 400,000,000.

In terms of piracy, any rookie who has earned a bounty of over 100,000,000 is considered particularly dangerous and noteworthy, and is considered a "Supernova" (超新星). The Worst Generation (最悪の世代) is a group of eleven Supernovas rising to power during the Golden Age of Piracy, who almost simultaneously appeared on Sabaody Archipelago. Each holds a bounty of over 100,000,000 and all have advanced into the New World.

Earning a large bounty in a relatively short period of time also gives the pirate notorious attention and a global reputation. After earning a bounty of 80,000,000 in a single campaign, the World Government offered Boa Hancock a position among the Seven Warlords of the Sea. Blackbeard believed he could become a Warlord if he defeated Monkey D. Luffy, whose bounty had jumped from 30,000,000 to 100,000,000 following the defeat of Baroque Works and their leader Crocodile. Blackbeard would settle for achieving his goal by turning in Portgas D. Ace instead, since Ace had caught up with him and Blackbeard emerged victorious.

According to Bellamy, it is common for pirates to exaggerate their bounties and even forge wanted posters to build up an intimidating reputation. However, no actual instances of this (apart from the Fake Straw Hat Crew, who were impersonating legitimate bounty heads) have been seen thus far.

Variants
Thus far, at least three other bounty/wanted systems have been known to exist outside the standard World Government system:
 * Fish-Man Island, for a time, circulated posters for Vander Decken IX (and possibly his ancestors). These, notably, were headed with "DANGER" and displayed neither "DEAD OR ALIVE" nor a specific bounty.
 * Dressrosa, by decree of its king, Donquixote Doflamingo, briefly placed bounties on the five Straw Hat Pirates and seven independent allies opposing the Donquixote Pirates' rule. These were organized along a five-star rating scale, with each star promising 100,000,000 for their capture.
 * In the early years of Doflamingo's reign, Kyros — as "Thunder Soldier" — was independently placed on a wanted poster. This poster (like Decken's) displayed neither "DEAD OR ALIVE" nor a specific bounty; what authority issued it remains unknown.
 * The Cross Guild, an organization established by former Warlords of the Sea Buggy, Dracule Mihawk, and Crocodile, has begun issuing bounties for Marines. Similar to the bounties placed by Doflamingo, the bounty amounts are indicated by symbols rather than monetary units. These symbols include stars (★) or crowns . Different ranks among the Marines are worth different stars or crowns and the higher the rank, the higher the reward is, with a Marine Captain for example being worth one Star and an Admiral worth three crowns. However, special titles or promotions can make exceptions and offer more. Each star is worth roughly 100,000,000 and is offered in chests, while one crown is equal to about 1,000,000,000.

Anime and Manga Differences
While the manga depicts wanted posters with only the standard "WANTED/DEAD OR ALIVE" labels, names, and bounty amounts legible, many anime episodes also expand the text in each poster's bottom-left corner into legible (if facetious) text:

KONO SAKUHIN WA FICTION DESUNODE JITSUZAISURU JINBUTSU DANTAI SONOTA NO SOSHIKI TO DOITSU NO MEISHOU GA GEKICHU NI TOUJYOU SHITATOSHITEMO JITSUZAI NA MONOTOWA ISSAI MUKANKEIDESU.

This is a rough romaji transcription of the Japanese for, "Because this performance is fiction, existing characters, associations and other organizations with similar names which appeared during the play are without exception unrelated" (この作品はフィクションですので実在する人物団体、その他の組織と同一の名称が劇中に登場、したとしても実在なものとは一切無関係です)—essentially an "All persons are fictitious" disclaimer.

Translation and Dub Issues
Due to its general censorship policies, the 4Kids-dubbed anime sometimes removes the "Dead or Alive" text from wanted posters. In a few instances, it has been known to remove the "WANTED" as well.

More generally, wanted posters are often edited to match the official English names from 4Kids and/or VIZ Media—e.g. Zoro to Zolo, Brogy to Broggy, and Bon Kurei to Bon Clay. These tend to be given little, if any, weight when determining canonical name spellings.

The Funimation dub does not do so, leaving posters completely unedited even when name changes — e.g. Sogeking to Sniper King — are observed by dialogue.

Merchandise
While wanted posters are usually not sold as standalone merchandise, they are frequently incorporated into others, such as the packaging of various toys and the character galleries of various video games. Many of these tend to be mock-ups, using the poster layout to depict characters with canonically unknown — or even nonexistent — bounties.

The One Piece Magazine includes a complementary wanted poster with each issue. These expand the bottom-right text into: "The World Government is offering a reward for information leading directly to the capture of this individual. If you have any information please contact Naval Authorities".

Posters

 * Technically, joke character Mikio Itoo was the first bounty depicted in the series, with his wanted poster hanging on a back wall of Partys Bar.
 * Law's wanted poster shows Bepo appearing in the background with his head turned in the same position and stance as Usopp in Luffy's first wanted poster photo.
 * Wanted posters have been known to print epithets with the names of six individuals — "M" Caesar Clown (Master), "God" Usopp, "SK" Brook (Soul King), Capone "Gang" Bege, Eustass "Captain" Kid, and "Sir" Crocodile  — canonically. Non-canonically, Lip "Service" Doughty's poster was also depicted thus in One Piece: Stampede, as well as all the posters given to One Piece Odyssey original characters.
 * Aliases have been printed for three individuals—"Sogeking" (now recognized as Usopp), "Mr. 2 Bon Kurei", and "Thunder Soldier"—canonically. Non-canonically, all of the Vivre Card mock-up posters for Baroque Works' Officer Agents—except Daz Bonez's—also use their codenames, as well as Galdino's bounty poster from One Piece: Stampede.
 * Sanji's first bounty poster is the only one known to use a sketch instead of a photograph for the picture. As a consequence, this poster is also the only one to depict another person in the picture entirely, as the drawing ended up perfectly resembling Duval, though unintentionally.
 * Sanji is the only known bounty holder to have been wanted "Only Alive". This was due to his father pulling strings to ensure his son's live capture so he can use him to cement his alliance with Big Mom. Subsequent bounties, however, have since reverted to "Dead or Alive".
 * In the real world, it is actually more common for bounties to be "wanted alive". However, this is due to the reasons for the bounty, and in One Piece bounties are people the World Government wants to either execute or imprison for life. Real world bounties may be for people the authorities simply want to question as part of an investigation. In such cases killing the individual would completely negate the purpose of the bounty.
 * All five members of the boy band Arashi also had "Only Alive" on their posters during the A-ra-shi: Reborn music video.
 * The five Where's Waldo had "Only Alive" on their posters during the Where's Wally x One Piece crossover event.
 * The Red Arrows Pirates are the only crew where every member shares one single bounty.
 * While most bounty posters are printed with English letters, characters exclusive to One Piece Odyssey had bounties written with Japanese characters.

Amounts

 * It is possible for pets to earn bounties, which are far lower than standard. Both Tony Tony Chopper and Bepo, mistaken for pets, were given such a treatment.
 * Ironically, while Bepo's bounty is a mere 500 because of his appearance, fellow Minks Pekoms and Pedro managed to earn a much higher 330,000,000 and 382,000,000 bounties respectively.
 * In real life, the highest known bounty for piracy was £1000, placed on Henry Avery and his crew by Great Britain's East India Company. Due to the many historical fluctuations of the pound sterling, sources differ on what exactly this should amount to after adjusting for inflation; the highest estimates place it around £153,000 (approx. $199,600 or ¥21,330,000) circa 2020.
 * However, rewards as high as $25,000,000 (£19,167,625 or ¥2,671,762,500 circa 2020) have been offered on modern-day criminals such as Osama bin Laden, merely for valuable information rather than death or capture.
 * Oda stated that if Enel were actually a wanted criminal, he would have a bounty that could reach up to 500,000,000.
 * In the first databook, Kuro's bounty is stated to be 16,000,000. However, in the Movie 9 opening sequence it is incorrectly shown as 14,000,000.
 * The second volume of the One Piece Magazine has a list of 67 known bounties at the time of its release, organized in descending order.
 * For some reason, the list does not include Bepo, Wellington, and Mikio Itoo.
 * The bounties of the Four Emperors and Gol D. Roger seem to feature goroawase wordplay in the smaller digits.
 * Shanks' bounty of 4,048,900,000: 4-8-9 can be read as shi-ya-ku (シヤク). This could refer to his given name "Shanks" (シャンクス).
 * Charlotte Linlin's bounty of 4,388,000,000: 8-8 can be read as ha-ha. 母 (haha) means "mother", which could refer to her epithet, "Big Mom" (ビッグ・マム).
 * Kaidou's bounty of 4,611,100,000: 110 as a whole number is hyaku-jū. This could refer to Kaidou's epithet, "Kaidou of the Beasts" (百獣のカイドウ).
 * Edward Newgate's bounty of 5,046,000,000: 4-6 can be read as shi-ro. 白 (shiro) means "white", which could refer to his epithet, "Whitebeard" (白ひげ).
 * Roger's bounty of 5,564,800,000: 6-4-8 can be read as ro-shi-ya (ロシヤ). This could refer to his given name "Roger" (ロジャー).
 * Marshall D. Teach's bounty of 3,996,000,000: 9-6 can be read as ku-ro. 黒 (kuro) means "black ", which could refer to his epithet, "Blackbeard" (黒ひげ).
 * Buggy's bounty of 3,189,000,000: 1-8-9 can be read as ichi-ya-ku. 一躍 (ichiyaku) means "suddenly" or "overnight", which could refer to his sudden rise to power.
 * Going strictly by in-story revelations, the manga canon's highest-known bounties have been thus:
 * Ch. 1—73: Higuma (8,000,000)
 * Ch. 74—94: Arlong (20,000,000)
 * Ch. 95—112: Monkey D. Luffy (30,000,000)
 * Ch. 113—117: Crocodile (80,000,000)
 * Ch. 118—233: Dorry and Brogy (100,000,000 each)
 * Ch. 234—600: Donquixote Doflamingo (340,000,000)
 * Ch. 601—658: Monkey D. Luffy (400,000,000)
 * Ch. 659—800: Trafalgar Law (440,000,000)
 * Ch. 801—808: Monkey D. Luffy and Trafalgar Law (500,000,000)
 * Ch. 809—859: Jack (1,000,000,000)
 * Ch. 860— 902: Charlotte Katakuri (1,057,000,000)
 * Ch. 903 - 924: Monkey D. Luffy (1,500,000,000)
 * Ch. 925—956: Marshall D. Teach (2,247,600,000)
 * Ch. 957—Present: Gol D. Roger (5,564,800,000)

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