Chapter 9: I'm a wanted (8-year-old) man!
Walking in the streets of Mock Town, Sou suddenly stopped, noticing something abnormal. 'A pedophile?' he wondered inwardly, spotting a man discreetly taking photos of him from an alleyway. Hiding his presence, he disappeared from the man's view. The man looked around in confusion, before jumping back, startled, as he looked behind him.
Sou, now directly in front of the man, gave him a wave. "Yo. Why are you taking pictures of me, Mr. Possible-Pedo?"
The man fumbled over his words, before finally managing to get a sentence out. "I'm not a pedophile! I promise! I'm with the... uh.... the Mock Town vacation bureau?"
Sou resisted the urge to facepalm after hearing his horrible excuse. First of all, Mock Town was a pirate town, so there would be no 'vacation bureau'. Second, Sou could clearly see the small Marine logo on his visual Den Den Mushi. 'The marines really need to hire better personnel. It's obvious he's trying to get my picture for the bounty poster,' he inwardly mused.
However, Sou didn't point out his obvious lie. After all, he was fine with getting his picture taken. The marines would eventually get his picture, whether he killed this guy or not. Plus, the pictures the man had taken were probably already transmitted to Headquarters, so he couldn't really do anything about it. "Oh, really? Cool! Want me to pose for a picture or something?" Sou asked.
At this, the man was incredibly confused, but he didn't take his survival for granted. Sou let the man take a few pictures of him, before leaving. After all, if he was going to have a picture of him put on his bounty poster, he wanted them to be good. He'd be pissed off if he got a photo like Sanji's put on his poster. Sou grinned to himself. "How exciting."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A group of high-ranking Marines sat around a round table, fervently discussing. A large, tough-looking man with a cigarette slammed his hands on the table, raising his voice. "Give him a 500 million bounty! This devil child needs to be eliminated as soon as possible. If we let the son of the Dark King live, he will eventually become a major threat to justice." At this, a few grunts of assertion were heard around the room.
"I agree with Sakazuki. Child or not, he has the potential to be dangerous. Considering how he eliminated Vergo, who is set to be promoted to Vice Admiral rather soon, we can see he has high potential. If he becomes a filthy pirate, he can do untold damage to us Marines. We must eliminate him as soon as possible." This sentence came from a buff man with purple hair.
At this, a seemingly lazy man with curly hair spoke up. "Well~ I have to disagree. Even being the son of the Dark King, he is still a child. How can we justify that high of a bounty? Many people have forgotten the terror of the Dark King, and if we were to release the news that our star rookie, Vergo, was defeated by a mere child, we would lose credibility with the general public. For this reason, I recommend a starting bounty of 100 million."
The newly-promoted Fleet Admiral, Sengoku, adopted a thinking pose, sighing. He turned towards the man smoking a cigarette, and the purple-haired man, before speaking. "Admiral Zephyr, Vice Admiral Sakazuki. I have to side with Vice Admiral Kuzan here. 500 million is an absurdly high starting bounty. Even if he were the son of Gol D. Roger himself, 500 million is too much, considering that Fisher Tiger was given a starting bounty of 230 million after raiding Mariejois. However, I can compromise a little. That's why, from now on, Silvers Sou's bounty will be..."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A red-haired man with three scars over one of his eyes snored. slumped over various barrels of alcohol. He was immediately snapped out of his stupor by the sound of a shouting voice. Grabbing a swig of alcohol to remedy his existing hangover, he looked towards the direction of the voice. "Captain! Captain! Look at this!" shouted his crewmate, Lucky Roo.
Seeing the bounty poster shoved into his face, Shanks spit out all of the alcohol in his mouth. "What the hell? That old man Rayleigh had a kid? And what the hell is up with that bounty? They really put that much for a child's starting bounty?" he shouted. Grabbing the poster, he looked closer at it for a while.
"Hmmm. I can see his resemblance with Rayleigh. But his grin and eyes remind me of... no. That can't be it," he mused out loud. Setting the poster down, he quickly picked it back up to stare at it again.
"But maybe it's possible that... never mind," he murmured. Staring at the poster for another good five minutes, he finally set it down.
"Ah, whatever. Everyone let's party!" he said, finishing his inspection of the poster. He was met with a chorus of cheers from his crew.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An old man with a scar over one of his eyes sat in a bar. This, obviously was Rayleigh. At this moment, he was looking at a bounty poster held in his hands. He had a melancholy smile on his face.
"Shakky! Look. Sou has his first bounty. And it's rather big, too," he shouted towards a black-haired woman, handing her the poster. She also gave a smile at this news.
"It's good to see he's doing well."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In a remote town on a remote island in the East Blue, an old, yet bulky man sat on a cliff overlooking the sea. He held a bounty poster in his hands. Rather surprisingly, his face showed no signs of cheerfulness, unlike how he normally would.
He gave a look of nostalgia, musing to himself. "So your son has set out on the seas already, Roger. To think the years have passed by this fast."
He sat up, a cheerful smile now replacing his serious look as if it never existed. He ran into the forest behind him, shouting cheerfully. "Ace! Grandpa is here!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sadly, the old man wouldn't find who he was looking for yet. The child he was looking for, Ace, was currently slinking around in the Goa Kingdom. As he was walking, he stopped, hearing a conversation that piqued his interest.
"To think that devil would have a son," a man said, looking down at a bounty poster.
"Honestly, the government should kill him already. The Dark King's child is sure to be as much of a monster as his father. It pisses me off just looking at his face," another man replied, looking at the same bounty poster. He grabbed the bounty poster from his friend and chucked it away in frustration.
Ace wordlessly picked up the bounty poster, looking down at it. His face showed numerous emotions. He finally spoke, murmuring to himself. "Silvers Sou... so he's also a monster, just like me."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Whole Cake Island, in the New World, a giant, fat woman looked down at a bounty poster. "To think that bastard would have a son..." she thought out loud.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the land of Wano, in the New World, a giant man with horns also looked at a bounty poster. He laughed, before speaking mirthfully. "Heh. So that bastard finally had a child, huh?"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The object of all these people's attention, Sou was currently unperturbed, oblivious to the various reactions of everyone else. He slammed open the door to a room, with a large grin on his face. "Holy shit! Sasaki! Look! I got my first bounty!" he shouted towards a man sitting in the room.
The man gave a rather lukewarm response, responding, "Good job." However, even this could not dampen Sou's cheerful attitude. Why? Because on his bounty poster, clearly printed were the words:
Wanted: Dead or Alive. Silvers Sou. And under those words was his bounty. 150 million!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A/N: I know some people might not like his bounty, but I personally thought this was reasonable. After, all Fisher Tiger, the man who raided Mariejois and freed a ton of slaves only had a starting bounty of 230 million. And since Boa Hancock, an escaped slave was given an 80 million bounty, I thought Sou should have a higher bounty than that. So the bounty range was 80 mil to 230 mil. But since he is the son of Rayleigh, and defeated Vergo, I gave him a 150 million bounty, which seems pretty in the middle.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone