Starting with two Kamui, they raised the flag of rebellion in One Piece.

"We don't have a name yet, but don't worry, we're just bounty hunters."

Seeing this, Li Mingyuan replied calmly.

"Oh? That's something to celebrate! When did the bounty hunters in the East Blue become so powerful? I didn't even know they could produce such a strong individual."

"If there are more and more people like you in the East China Sea, the East China Sea will probably become more peaceful in the future."

Colonel Rat chuckled sinisterly, clearly not believing Li Mingyuan's story.

However, he didn't press the matter further. He simply stroked his beard lightly and continued in a joking tone, "Speaking of which, there are occasionally some stupid pirates who, after defeating other pirates, are reluctant to part with their bounties. So they disguise themselves and try to exchange their bounties at the naval base... Of course, I believe you two are not those kinds of pirates. After all, most wanted criminals can be recognized by my naval captain's eyes."

"But if you're just a bounty hunter, then surely you wouldn't want to hide your identity, would you? Since you don't have a name, now's the perfect time for you to start thinking. As news of the attack on the Arlong Pirates spreads, your name will surely resound throughout the East Blue."

"Haha! How enviable! A rookie bounty hunter has successfully captured the East Blue's highest-bounty pirate on his very first attempt. It seems like this could be the beginning of a new legend in the East Blue."

As he spoke, Colonel Mouse, in a manner very characteristic of the original work, chuckled softly with a mouse-like expression.

Seeing this, Li Mingyuan, who already looked down on the other party, frowned even more.

If he continued to stare at Colonel Rat's stupid face, he might instinctively retaliate and punch him in the face before the latter even tried to make things difficult for him.

Li Mingyuan, who was a little worried about this, could only cough lightly at this moment.

"Colonel, if there are no problems with the identity check, shouldn't we issue the bounty?"

Li Mingyuan reminded him, "As for the title, it doesn't matter at all. Just call me the Bounty Hunter."

"I don't care about empty fame."

Colonel Mouse, who had been laughing, shut his mouth somewhat sullenly when Li Mingyuan interrupted him.

He glanced at Li Mingyuan with dissatisfaction and embarrassment. He hadn't expected this guy to be so clueless. What was going on? Was there anyone in this world who wasn't interested in fame and fortune? Logically speaking, it was impossible.

"It's alright, we in the navy like people like you. It's only natural to dislike trouble!"

Subconsciously, he sensed something was increasingly wrong, but on the surface, Colonel Rat's expression grew more and more amiable.

He touched his nose, then reluctantly continued the conversation, forcing a smile, "Do you want the bounty to come quickly? Of course, no problem. After the Marines inspected the heads of Arlong Pirates' officers, I personally notified the treasurer to prepare the bounty and bring it over immediately. But as you know, this amount is not small. Suddenly having to pay such a large bounty is quite unexpected for us, so we still need to prepare a bit before giving it to you."

After saying that, Colonel Mouse gave a wink to the two marines following behind him.

One of the marines left the room and quickly returned, as if the bounty had been waiting outside all along. He carried a huge bag and placed it on the table.

"It's all here, 34.5 million Berries."

Colonel Mouse chuckled and said, "You can take your time to count it here. If there are any problems, feel free to let me know. But let me make this clear: once we've confirmed everything is correct and left the naval base, even if they later claim the bounty amount is incorrect, we won't be involved. Please keep that in mind."

Too lazy to pay attention to the smiling Colonel Rat, Li Mingyuan took the bag and handed it to Karina beside him. He wouldn't care if it were a naval base like Smoker's, but he really didn't dare not check the bounty at Colonel Rat's naval base. It wouldn't be surprising if they had set a trap for him.

Everyone has their own expertise, and taking stock of finances is something Karina is naturally better at.

Meanwhile, Karina, a former thief, was entering a naval base for the first time in her life. She was constantly looking around with curiosity until she saw the bag that Li Mingyuan handed her and then she came back to her senses.

"Ugh, it's so heavy!"

Karina slightly opened the pocket and looked at the stacks of Beli inside, exclaiming in astonishment, "I've never seen so many Beli before! Thirty-four million five hundred thousand? That's outrageous!"

Karina stared blankly at the large sum of money in front of her.

Unlike Nami, even at her wealthiest, Karina never had more than 20 million Berries in savings. Moreover, most of it was just scattered treasures piled up haphazardly, and she hadn't cashed it all out. Now, a full 34.5 million Berries were all turned into banknotes and packed into the same bag. Although the bag wasn't actually that big, the visual impact and effect were still huge. Just the weight of it when she lifted it gave Karina a feeling of immense happiness.

With her eyes already fixed on money, Karina began to quickly count her Berries. She flipped through the bills in her hands with such skill that her fingers almost became blurry afterimages.

Just as Karina began to count Bailey, the rat colonel, who had previously gotten himself into trouble, thought about it and was still somewhat unwilling to give up after his fruitless attempt. He then began to cautiously probe Li Mingyuan again.

Li Mingyuan made some casual remarks, completely ignoring Colonel Rat's expression, and never revealed anything useful. After a short while, apart from the tongue-twisting name Li Mingyuan, Colonel Rat still knew nothing about Li Mingyuan's background.

"Huff huff huff... I've never felt so fulfilled before. Counting such a large amount of Berries in one go, even Nami probably hasn't had this kind of experience."

"It's a pity, I wish this money were mine."

Karina let out a long sigh of relief and looked at Li Mingyuan with a refreshed expression.

"It has been confirmed that not a single penny is missing, and it is all real money without any counterfeit."

"yes."

Li Mingyuan nodded slightly; it seemed the tedious conversation was finally over.

He turned his head and looked again at the rat colonel beside him.

"Thank you for your support, Colonel. If I have the opportunity, I may come back here again to collect my bounty."

"Well then, I'll take my leave now."

Li Mingyuan and Karina stood up together, making a move to leave.

Since his previous two attempts to probe had also failed, Colonel Rat's gaze toward Li Mingyuan was now extremely gloomy. However, seeing that Li Mingyuan was about to leave, he still hurriedly went to greet him with a smile.

"I'm here. If there are any more bounty hunters like this, we welcome them anytime."

"Clearing threats to civilians is precisely the mission of our navy."

"goodbye!"

Colonel Mouse followed Li Mingyuan and Karina all the way out of the reception room. He didn't stop there; he even saw them off outside the naval base before reluctantly stopping to watch their figures recede into the distance.

Once he was certain that the two people could no longer hear or see him, Colonel Rat snorted coldly, lost in thought, his expression constantly shifting between light and dark, and he stood there silently for a long time.

Seeing this, the marine following behind Colonel Rat cautiously asked, "Colonel?"

"Have you memorized the physical characteristics of those two people? Go back immediately and draw their portraits."

Colonel Mouse turned around and said in a deep voice, "When you report the situation of the Arlong Pirates to your superiors, remember to submit the portraits of those two men as well. Especially the man among them, mark him specially. He is a very strong bounty hunter, and we might be able to recruit him into the Navy. Make sure to treat him with special consideration."

"Well--"

Seeing this, the marine looked at Colonel Rat somewhat bewildered, "Is that all the report needs to be said?"

As a marine who had been following Colonel Rat since the time he traded with the Arlong Pirates, he could hardly believe what he had just heard. He never expected that Colonel Rat, whose expression had been incredibly ugly before, would not only not exaggerate the news to retaliate, but would actually seem to be planning to report the news normally for the two of them.

Especially the last sentence, which deserves special treatment. If Li Mingyuan attracts the attention of the higher-ups internally, it is not impossible that he could be recruited into the navy one day. How could the Captain Rat recommend someone he doesn't like within the navy?

For a moment, he couldn't help but doubt his ears, wondering if he had misheard what he was hearing.

Hearing the marine's questioning, Colonel Mouse gave him an annoyed look, stroked his mustache, and said, "Marine, are you questioning my decision?"

"Ah! No..."

"Hmph, that's why I say, a guy like you has no future."

Colonel Rat shook his head, his expression contemptuous. "Use your brains and think carefully. What good would it do us to offend those two? Since they're not pirates, we can't just take the initiative. Although that man is indeed a bit arrogant, at least he's better than those disgusting, lowly fishmen, right?"

"As long as there are benefits, I don't even mind cooperating with those fishmen. What does it matter now that things have come to this?"

Although in his heart, Colonel Rat was indeed very unhappy with Li Mingyuan. Destroying the Arlong Pirates meant that he had lost a source of income and a means of secretly attacking his opponents.

However, despite this, he did not intend to become an enemy of the bounty hunter whose strength was unknown.

He was able to rise to the rank of colonel because he was quick-witted and adept at networking. He would befriend anyone who could benefit him. In the end, if befriending Li Mingyuan might be advantageous, why wouldn't he do it?

Moreover, the fact that a wanted criminal of Arlong's caliber in the East Blue had his bounty redeemed would have to be reported anyway. If the higher-ups really had some ideas about this guy who wasn't a pirate but was still very powerful, his adding fuel to the fire would only make things worse.

"We not only need to report it, but we also need to report the true situation of the Arlong Pirates. If the higher-ups find out about Arlong's affairs in the East Blue, they will pay more attention to the Arlong Pirates, which means they will also pay more attention to that bounty hunter."

"The destruction of the Arlong Pirates is an irreversible fact. Fortunately, the news that we made a deal with them has not spread. Under these circumstances, the key is to figure out how to recover our losses."

Colonel Mouse patted Marine on the shoulder and grinned wickedly. "You still have a lot to learn, Marine."

The marine swallowed nervously.

Faced with the gaze of the rat colonel, he couldn't utter a single word of refusal.

At the same time, carrying bulging packages, Li Mingyuan left the naval base.

Even though the person had left, he remained vigilant, always on guard against a possible counterattack from Colonel Rat. He secretly observed his surroundings while leading Karina on the round trip.

Li Mingyuan finally breathed a sigh of relief after he was fully back on the ship.

Although it was somewhat unexpected that the rat colonel, who looked quite grim, didn't resort to underhanded tactics, this saved him some trouble by avoiding a massacre, which could be considered a good thing.

After all, he had been on a killing spree all day, killing all day long, and he was very tired.

"Hehe, hee hee hee."

Karina was still clutching her bag, a silly grin on her face.

Li Mingyuan glanced at the package. The newly exchanged bounty was 34.5 million Berries. He already had 15 million Berries on him, plus the 18 million Berries from the Arlong Pirates' treasure, which was close to 70 million Berries. If he also included the various thank-you payments, some of the loot seized from the ship, Karina's ransom, and Nami's promised deposit, the total amount could easily exceed 100 million Berries.

This net worth wouldn't be considered worthless even in the Grand Line, and in the East Blue, it goes without saying that he could probably live like an emperor on any island.

He certainly had enough money to live a carefree and happy life, but it was still a bit meager if he wanted to do something big, so he couldn't spend it extravagantly.

Adhering to the principle that the more money the better, accumulating grain and delaying the declaration of kingship was what he should have done.

"Hey, how's it going? How are you feeling now?"

Karina, who was chuckling foolishly, suddenly nudged Li Mingyuan's shoulder and said, "Don't keep a straight face, how about we tell the truth? Even though you said those things in front of that Marine, once the matter of defeating Arlong's Pirates is settled, it won't be long before your name spreads throughout the entire East Blue."

"With such a large sum of money, plus the money you already had, you're not short of money now, and you've also gained a reputation. Even if you just retire here, it would be a perfect bounty hunter career."

"Um?"

Li Mingyuan looked at Karina beside him.