Afternoon...
Most of the Strawhats started their day by eating or doing light exercise.
While Luffy and the fanatics kept bothering Luke to create them cloud chair when they saw Robin was sitting one of the cloud chair nearby.
Luke simply waved his hand and the set of cloud sofa was placed beside the main mast. Of course it has a few hours of duration before dispersing, but Robin's cloud is a long-duration type one as it's his welcome gift to her.
Meanwhile, Zoro and Sanji are working on disassembling the seastone cage.
Luke wanted to create something useful with this material. He needed to make things haste for his preparations since he didn't expect Luffy to become Emperor this fast.
He will introduce the crew about the dangerous place called New World. Some powerful pirates there should be preparing to head back and test the might of this young Emperor.
Later the afternoon, Luke made an announcement for a huddle to the crew.
"I have a good news and bad news to announce." Luke stood on the top rail together with Luffy.
"The good news is, Luffy's bounty upgraded after our deal with Alabasta Kingdom. Samurai lady's boyfriend, Smokeman probably reported the danger level of Luffy for defeating Crocodile, a Warlord. That means we are now a renowned pirate group in the seas." Luke explained patiently.
"Really?! How much my bounty went up?" Luffy was too excited to know his bounty as he searched some bounty posters around.
The Strawhats nodded since Luffy deserves a raise of bounty. They were probably thinking about 100 million berries for it.
Luke took out the wanted poster and passed it on to Luffy.
"Woah!! Many zeros in here! Wait! Did my bounty raised by three million? I see 25 here!" Luffy was bad at counting as the raise wasn't that bad for him.
Luke chuckled as he took the bounty poster of Luffy. He then presented the wanted poster to the Strawhats as he announced,
"This is the bad news."
!!!
The Strawhats felt their eyeballs left their eye sockets. They were in total disbelief of what they witnessed right now.
"2-2-2-2-2-2-2..! 2.5 Billion Berries?!!!" Usopp almost lost his voice when he count the numbers.
"NANI!!?"
The Going Merry flinched from the sudden ruckus of the Strawhats.
"WHAT?!" Luffy dropped his jaw to the floor in disbelief.
Luke tossed the bounty paper to the crew for them to examined the numbers further.
Robin merely chuckled by how lively the Strawhats were. She had a deep conversation with Luke for a few hours. During that time, she express more than she imagined. She's more open to everyone especially to Luke.
"This is indeed bad news..." Sanji frowned as he said in a serious tone.
"Huh?" The Strawhats turned to Sanji in confusion.
"Can't you see? Luffy's another bounty has been announced.. But... What about ours?! This is unfair!! I want mine like 2.4 billion berries bounty at the least!" Sanji protested in a loud voice with a downcast expression.
The Strawhats had a realization. Yeah. What about their bounties? Where are their bounties?!
"Yahahahaha!!" Luffy laughed out loud while being proud of himself.
Zoro's facial expression also twitched a couple of times. He clearly defeated a Vice Admiral back then. Wouldn't that mean he won in a fluke? How could he accept such a thing?
"I am Captain Usopp! My bounty should be 2.5 billion too!" Usopp felt indignant with this result.
"Alright. It's not the bad news that you guys think of. It's this kind of bad news." Luke tossed the newspaper to the crew.
Nami took the newspaper and read the details carefully. Then she started to shake while her hands were trembling.
"O-Oh my god! This..!"
The Strawhats were puzzled as they read the newspaper along with Nami.
Like a chain reaction, the Strawhats felt their knees go weak.
"WAAH!!"
The fanatics randomly run around Merry while screaming in horror. Some didn't know what an Emperor is, but it sounds scary.
"What? What did you guys see?" Luffy looked puzzled as he scratched his head.
Everyone stared at Luffy as if he was a monster.
"Okay, settle down. As you guys know.. Luffy has been crowned as an.. Emperor." Luke facepalmed. These Strawhats have less composure and all. He gotta teach them how to compose themselves at the least when facing powerful enemies later. It would be too embarrassing if those pirates see them this chaotic.
Luke explained what can an Emperor influenced the world and their numbers being four.
Becoming an Emperor represents power and prestige.
There is no way for the marines to take down an Emperor by default. That's because Emperors have vast influence all over the world and have power that can threat the seas. Chaos ensued which will be a hard task for the marines to calm the sea if they take down just one Emperor.
Here lies the bad news. Luffy is a new Emperor with no influence. Although very few marines can contend with him, but it's not the case for the pirates and fellow Emperors.
They will surely go and test this new Emperor with zero reputation.
Luke finished his explanation as he let the Strawhats contemplate themselves.
"Basically, Luffy's title spells trouble?" Sanji stared at Luke.
"Sort of. However, not in this part of the sea I guess." Luke rubbed his beardless chin as he thought out loud.
"What do you mean? This is Grandline, right? There should be many powerful pirates heading our way to take Luffy's head." Sanji further asked.
"Not necessarily the case. Nami, bring out the outline map of the world." Luke glanced at Nami.
Nami brought the said map outline.
"This.. is Paradise or so we called as Grandline, right? Nami already explained it to y'all." Luke pointed at the Grandline. His finger then pointed at the other half of the Grandline,
"This is the New World, the other half of the Grandline. Apparently, ninty percent of the strong pirates are here in this area. The four Emperors are also here spreading their influence. It is a very... very chaotic sea that once our Going Merry sailed over there, it won't last even for an hour due to the strange weather."
"There's even more chaotic weather than this Paradise?" Nami's eyes shone. She couldn't help but wonder what kind of place is this New World.
"The current Luffy is indeed strong. However, pirates in the New World may be stronger. Emperor levels are more stronger. Just imagine that Admiral we defeated, an Emperor there can easily defeat that Admiral in one on one duel." Luke said.
"So you say someone in the marines are playing with us? Maybe to exact a revenge?" Sanji asked.
"Whatever the reasons why, we need to prepare. Our type of adventure just upgraded. More danger may come and more opportunities will present on us." Luke shrugged.
"Who are the other three Emperors?" Luffy asked. He assumed a poker face this time.
"I know one. He's called Whitebeard. A very dangerous pirate." Zoro commented.
Everyone stared back at Luke when no one followed up with Zoro.
As if already getting used to their stares, he stated,
"Edward Newgate, also known as Whitebeard."
Everyone acknowledged while Usopp kept nodding while taking notes.
"Whitebeard has a bounty of more than 5 Billion berries."
Luke suddenly dropped a bomb which almost caused the souls of the Strawhats to leave their body.
Even Robin felt overwhelmed by this information.
"Next-"
"Wait! H-How come he has so high of a bounty?!" Nami felt dizzy by these numbers. A pirate with a bounty of 5 billion?
"Bounties don't define by power alone. Some have high bounties because of the influence. The many territories an Emperor have, the more dangerous he is to the World Government." Luke explained.
The Strawhats heaved a sigh of relief. They probably thought this Whitebeard have many territories.
"Whitebeard's 5 billion berries bounty is by his power alone. He is so strong since he has the power that can literally destroy the world." Luke smiled from ear to ear.
"Luke, you evil man! You want us to die from heart attack!?" Nami and the other scardies cried in fear. Their mood went from hell to heaven then back to hell. How could someone wield such a terrible power? To destroy the world? Why not declare himself as a God?
"He's that strong?" Luffy felt a wave of battle intent when he heard such a powerful man.
"Not so fast, Luffy." Luke chuckled. He continued, "I hate to say this but your bounty is not that high."
Everyone got puzzled.
"The Marines declared Luffy as the Emperor and gave him a whooping 2.5 billion berries of bounty. However, here's my evaluation of Luffy."
"He is strong indeed but his real power only reach 1 billion berries in my opinion. If he totally lost it and went all out, his bounty should be 1.5 billion at most." Luke finished his theory.
"This means the marines are messing with us big time?" Sanji now felt the gravity of their situation. The marines basically found trouble for Luffy and placed him to the category of an Emperor with fellow Emperor have 5 billion bounty. The marines must have gone insane for declaring such a mess.
"Don't hate the marines too much. They are merely following the orders of the World Government." Luke waved his hand. He continued,
"Second Emperor, Kaidou. He has a bounty of more than 4.6 billion berries. His bounty is based on his power alone."
The Strawhats took a deep breath. Today is a headache summoning day. Every information revealed by Luke made them feel sick.
"Third Emperor, Red-Haired Shanks. He has a bounty of a little more than 4 billion berries. His bounty also based on his power alone." Luke finished introducing the other three Emperors.
"Shanks is an Emperor? Is this true?" Luffy's eyes lit up. This means he reached Shanks level in terms of title.
"Yes." Luke nodded in confirmation.
"I have a question." Usopp raised a hand while hesitating.
"What is it?" Luke turned to Usopp.
"This.. Will Going Merry... I mean, why not stay in Paradise, right? It's more safe in here." Usopp kept on trying to convince Luke and the Crew that there's no need to go to the New World since there are so many powerful pirates out there.
The Strawhats went silent. The topic for replacing Going Merry is a little bit sensitive in some way.
Luke glanced at Usopp for a while before closing his eyes.
"It's not my decision to make. Anyway, let's talk about this for another time. The huddle is done. Everyone is free to do what you want, train or relax, go ahead." He then left to go to his favorite spot at the back.
The Strawhats also dispersed while doing their own business leaving Usopp alone. Even Luffy is silently staring at the distance sea with a poker expression.
Some things are meant to be unspoken.