Warning: Contains spoilers for One Piece chapter #1053
The wait is over: after the momentous ending of the Wano Arc, One Piece showed the new bounties for the pirates involved in that battle, including Luffy, revealing who is the new most wanted pirate in the world after Kaido's demise. This is a moment that fans of the best-selling manga always look forward to, and Eiichiro Oda did not disappoint this time either.
Bounties are a big part of One Piece's lore. They have been used since the beginning of the series to assess how much a pirate is considered dangerous by the Marines and the World Government, and as such, they are an indicator of a pirate crew's strength. Bounties are not only connected to strength, however, as often the World Government considers some individuals to be dangerous for their knowledge or other, more subtle reasons, as in the case of the One Piece hero with the most tragic origin, Nico Robin, who has had a huge bounty on her head since she was a baby. However, fans still use these numbers to keep track of the progress that Luffy and his crew are making in the world, and the moment when the new bounties are released (usually after the end of a story arc) is always welcomed by huge excitement.
During the battle on Wano, Luffy and his allies defeated the two strongest pirates in the world, the Yonko Big Mom and Kaido. These two had the largest bounties of any pirate alive in the world (4,388 and 4,611 billion respectively), so fans expected that the three men who put them down, Luffy, Eustass Kid, and Trafalgar Law, would get even higher bounties, jumping at the top of the pirate world. However, chapter #1053 of One Piece proved that this won't be the case. The three pirate captains each got a bounty of three billion each. While impressive, this only makes them tied for second place. The most wanted pirate in the world is now another Yonko, Red-Haired Shanks, with his bounty of 4,048 billion.
This decision comes as a surprise, as many believed that the Straw Hat captain would become enemy number one for the World Government after they found out that Luffy awakened his Nika Devil Fruit. However, in hindsight Shanks must also be considered extremely dangerous, considering that in just six years as a Yonko he obtained a bounty that was only slightly above those of Kaido and Big Mom, who had been active for much longer. There is also a theory that Shanks is actually a Celestial Dragon, a descendant of the nobles who rule the One Piece world, which means he could be aware of secrets that the World Government fears even more than Luffy.
Shanks is now the active pirate with the highest bounty in the world, but that takes nothing away from Luffy, Kid, and Law's impressive achievements. All three have been pirates for just a few years, and they jumped from relatively unimpressive bounties (at least for the New World standards) to a whopping three billion. Luffy is also acknowledged as one of the new Yonko, joining Shanks, Blackbeard, and an unlikely returning character at the top of the pirate world. One Piece's revelation of the new most wanted pirates in the world comes just before the manga takes a one-month break to prepare for its final saga, giving fans something to discuss while they patiently wait for the return of Eiichiro Oda's masterpiece.
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