We’ve been watching Monkey D. Luffy steadily progress in becoming King of the Pirates through over 1,100 anime episodes and about as many manga chapters. Now that One Piece is entering its endgame and Luffy is an emperor of the sea, he’s closer to being “crowned” King of the Pirates than ever.
There are a lot of ways to measure Luffy’s progress. You could compare his strength at different points in the series, the strength of the opponents he faces, or the level of global importance those opponents represent. But there’s also an easy, numerical way to track Luffy’s progress: his bounty. And, by proxy, the bounties of his crew.
Some members of the Straw Hat Pirates have seen incredibly minimal increases in their bounties (poor Chopper). But most of them have watched—mostly excitedly—as their bounties have skyrocketed after every major arc. So here are the most recent bounties of every Straw Hat crew member, meaning their bounties after Wano Kuni upon Luffy becoming an Emperor of the Sea and the other Straw Hats being dubbed by the Navy as Senior Officers of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet.
Keep in mind, too, that berries, the currency of the One Piece world, are roughly equivalent to the Japanese yen. So 100 berries equals 100 yen, which equals about one dollar (the exchange rate between the dollar and yen right now is wild, but that’s another topic for another day).
“Cotton Candy Lover” Tony Tony Chopper
Current bounty: 10,000 berries; First bounty: 50 berries
Poor, poor Chopper. Despite being the best boy—and one hell of a doctor—the Navy has decreed that “Cotton Candy Lover” Chopper is merely the Straw Hats’ “pet” and they’ve given him a downright insulting bounty accordingly. Chopper’s first-ever bounty was merely 50 berries—which amount to only 50 cents. Our boy was made out to be worth less than a dollar.
Even getting recognized as one of the Senior Officers of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet—the fleet of an emperor!–only raised Chopper’s bounty to 10,000 berries or about 10 bucks.
“Soul King” Brook
Current: 383,000,000; First: 33,000,000
There’s a huge gap between Chopper’s bounty and the rest of the Straw Hats’—which, I’m sure, only frustrates and embarrasses him more.
Brook is one of the few members of the Straw Hats who had a bounty on his head before he even joined the crew. His bounty had climbed a few times during his career with the Lumbar Pirates, where he started as first mate and became captain upon the original captain’s passing. But since all of Brook’s crewmates (and Brook himself, hence the skeleton) died from poison fifty years before Luffy found Brook stranded on his old ship, Brook was presumed dead by the Navy.
When Brook joined the Straw Hats, his bounty was 33 million berries, which has gone up only twice to reach the current sum of 383 million.
“Cyborg” Franky
Current: 394,000,000; First: 44,000,000
Franky was initially quite unwilling to join the Straw Hats. He felt a deep sense of duty to his hometown of Water 7, and his parents were pirates who abandoned him, too. But thanks to some excellent persuasion and the stealing of underwear, Franky joined the crew.
Hot off the tail of the Enies Lobby incident, Franky’s bounty was 44 million. But for Franky, the increase of his bounty to 394 million wasn’t the primary issue after Wano—it was the fact that his headshot had been inexplicably updated to a picture of the Sunny.
“Cat Burglar” Nami
Current: 366,000,000; First: 16,000,000
Nami was technically a pirate before she joined the Straw Hats. Although with a noble ulterior motive, she was a member of Arlong’s crew, as evidenced by the swordfish tattoo on her shoulder she had to have covered. But she didn’t get a bounty until well into her career with the Straw Hats.
The Navy could no longer ignore her after Enies Lobby and, much to her dismay, stuck her with a 16 million berry bounty. Even more to her dismay, the bounty has continued to go up and is currently 366 million.
“God” Usopp
Current: 500,000,000; First: 30,000,000
Usopp’s first bounty of 30 million was under his memorable alias Sogeking, which he used to be able to fight with the Straw Hats at Enies Lobby during a period when he had quit the crew. So technically speaking, a bounty wasn’t given to “Usopp” until after Dressrosa. But the “God” moniker he earned there has stuck, and he’s now worth 500 million berries after Wano.
“Devil Child” Nico Robin
Current: 930,000,000; First: 79,000,000
Robin got a bounty on her head younger than any other Straw Hat. She was only 8 years old when she became the lone survivor of the Navy’s Buster Call on Ohara and had lived with a 79 million berry bounty ever since. Needless to say, it made her childhood hell.
The World Government continues to prioritize eliminating Robin since she’s perhaps the only person alive who can read the Ponegliffs. That—and the fact she’s one of the strongest members of the crew—explains the huge jump between Usopp’s bounty and her current 930 million berry bounty.
“Black Leg” Sanji
Current: 1,032,000,000; First: 77,000,000
Sanji’s history with bounties fills him with dismay. His first bounty—77 million berries after Enies Lobby—was accompanied by a wildly inaccurate drawing of him, which is still one of the funniest recurring gags in One Piece history.
Beyond that, Sanji has always felt a sense of competition with Zoro. And as of Wano, Sanji’s bounty of 1.032 billion is not only below Zoro’s, it’s below Jinbe’s, too. Zoro won’t let him live it down.
“Knight of the Sea” Jinbe
Current: 1,100,000,000; First: 76,000,000
After a very long buildup, Jinbe only officially joined the Straw Hats during Wano, meaning that his current bounty of 1.1 billion is his first bounty as a Straw Hat.
However, it’s by no means his first bounty ever. Jinbe has had a very long career as a pirate, which famously included a stint as one of the Seven Warlords. Jinbe’s first known bounty was 76 million berries, which he incurred decades ago as a member of Fisher Tiger’s crew.
“Pirate Hunter” Roronoa Zoro
Current: 1,111,000,000; First: 60,000,000
As the de facto first mate of the Straw Hat Pirates, Zoro was the first member of the crew other than Luffy to get a bounty for being a Straw Hat. Considering he was previously a bounty hunter, there’s definitely some irony to that 60 million bounty after Alabasta.
Currently, Zoro is worth a whopping 1.111 billion berries, which is a lot. But nowhere near as much as his captain.
“Straw Hat” Monkey D. Luffy
Current: 3,000,000,000; First: 30,000,000
As the captain, Luffy was naturally the first Straw Hat to get a bounty, and he’s the Straw Hat to receive the most updates (seven) to that bounty. He got it quite early on, too, receiving his first wanted poster for 30 million berries after defeating Arlong.
Now, as an Emperor of the Sea and the heir to an awakened Devil Fruit which scares the shit out of the World Government, that number has added a hell of a lot of zeroes. Luffy is currently worth a jaw-dropping 3 billion berries.
Published: May 21, 2024 06:06 am