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 death) 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 criminals and how dangerous they are, as well as spurring others on to help capture them. The specific amount of a given bounty is calculated by a special department within Marine Headquarters ( based on the *perceived* threat level of a given criminal; the lowest known bounties have been less than 100, the highest more than 4,000,000,000. The highest-ever bounty in history belonged to **Khrono Atlas** .

The standard bounty is issued with a *"Dead or Alive"* (making the wanted criminal an outlaw in the literal sense, i.e. someone from whom the protection of the law was withdrawn; who could be killed with no official reprecussions besides the decreased bounty) clause, making both live captures and properly-confirmed kills eligible for the reward. However, according to certain bounty hunting organisations, authorities may detract up to 30% of a bounty if presented with a dead criminal (as they favor subjecting criminals to 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 the criminal was connected with that was invested in his survival. With other instances of *"Only Dead"* clause being approved for at least one individual due to influcence of a high ranking marine.

For criminal groups—*e.g.* pirate crews—it is typical for only the groups leader(s) and their most prominent subordinates to have bounties. However, it is not unknown for bounties to be passed on every member of a particularly troublesome group. Of course, even for a small group it is very rare for every member to hold a bounty.

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

Certain circumstances may result in a bounty being frozen, shielding that person from judicial persecution. A notable example is having a membership in the Eight 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 whatever reason, the bounty will automatically be reinstated, perhaps even with a possibility of increasing from its previous amount, and re-legitimize their arrest.

A murkier case exists for criminals — *e.g.* Ikah — who are legitimately pardoned and accquited of his criminal record by the Marines. It is possible that this process includes a full bounty removal,.

It also not really exact as to how (or where) exactly bounties are paid out, 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, excepting petty miscreants such as Pirates with a bounty of 1000 or less.

### Issuing and Increasing

A bounty reflects both the threat and power of an individual. 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, direct opposition to the World Government, no matter the reason, is treated as a serious offense, and bounties are issued accordingly. Kali for example, assaulted a Celestial Dragon publically infront of an entire nation of the World Government & Infront of a Marine Admiral, the gravest and most illegal crime set by the by the World Government and was issued a bounty of 200,000,000 as their first bounty due to the seriously grave action she took, with her actions covered up to prevent a mass outbreak of panick.

Just being associated with a notable criminal figure can be enough to get a bounty, as it happened at the end of the Dressrosa Arc when Cain, as member of Pythios Blizzard under Taejin & Misterio, recieved a bounty of 70,000,000 regardless of his repuation or postive presence presence on the World. Even the pet of a criminal group may be issued a bounty, albeit usually a small one. An example being Doodle of the Cool Doodle Squadron

Since the Marines can only issue bounties based on their knowledge of the criminal in question, or the knowledge they are comfortable with the public knowing about, a bounty may not necessarily reflect the true threat of a person. Mercator Combo was originally mistaken for a mere Crack Addict and issued a meeasly 50, as the Marines were unaware of his powerful abillites or captain status of the Long Don Pirates. Additionally, Shizuka's bounty would have doubtlessly been higher if her true abillities of her devil fruit were known as well as her defeat of Rear-Admiral Paeden. Tucker , despite being a member of the revolutionary army with a powerful ancient zoan, had a far lower bounty than his overall threat level to the South Blue, as his activities were ignored by the uncaring Marine Taro, allowing the fishman 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. Two prime example of this were the massive skyrocket of Tamme's bounty due to being mistaken as his brother Clouds, as well as Ketokiri Metohara bounty being alot higher than his threat level; due to the blaintent miscommunication by Maximus as a cold cunning ploy for the Cold Emperor to have the revolutionist pursued and killed by marine and bounty hunting forces; all whilst pursuing himself

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 .
* More experienced bounty hunters volunteering to capture the individual or group (Such as Radiance, Mutazz Mercenaries or infameous bounty hunter such as Allister Smite).
* Further criminal acts beyond the initial one, usually of considerable magnitude that go beyond the crime(s) committed beforehand that earned them their initial bounty.
* Inspiring criminal acts when provoked or inciting others to act 'criminally' (for example, David leaving an entire ship of marines stuck in the flooring of the ship; that were just delivering supplies to Polestar Island; leaving them all to starve to death besides the ships Captain and "Golden Falcon" encourging civillians to pay for him to assassinate marines; making them unwilling criminals in aiding the death of said marine)

### Identification

Bounties are conventionally issued through **wanted posters** (手配書, *tehai-sho*?): 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 found in public locations such as taverns in addition to standard Marine Bases and ships.

The portraits used for wanted posters are typically high-quality photographs, taken by specialists (*e.g.* Denny Denny the 4th) from the World News or a member of 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.

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