Summary
- Bounties are a way to show piracy power, not rewards
- Smaller bounties are paid more often in One Piece
- Strong figures’ bounties are more symbolic than practical
The bounty system in One Piece is one of the most important aspects of the series, especially in the eyes of fans. For the Navy, the bounties are a sign of just how dangerous a strong figure in One Piece is. For pirates, it’s a symbol of honor, showing just how far they have gone on their journey. For fans, it’s a fun way of scaling the strengths of characters, estimating how strong they are based on their bounty size. For these reasons, every new bounty in One Piece is always a big deal, showing how well an intricate world and interesting governmental systems can pay off in story writing.
However, while the system itself is very interesting, there is only one problem. While the bounties are meant to be a cash prize that rewards someone for capturing a wanted pirate, it seems like this only rarely happens in the series. Due to this, many One Piece fans have started to wonder: does the World Government in One Piece pay their bounties?
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One Piece Rarely Shows The World Government Paying Bounties
This Was Mentioned More Often Earlier In The Series
Bounties in One Piece are a system created by the World Government to reward individuals for capturing or killing certain people of interest in the world. However, in reality, with very few bounties being claimed, the system functions as more of a way of showing how powerful and notorious a pirate is. With stronger pirates in One Piece commanding higher bounties, rather than being a reward system, overall, this system is better used for identifying strong pirates than anything else.
WANTED, DEAD OR ALIVE. – The phrase written on each bounty poster
However, just because it doesn’t happen much during the story of One Piece, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t happen at all. So far, only a few pirates have been stated to have been captured and turned into the Marines, most notably with the One Piece Emperor, Blackbeard, capturing Ace. Others include Peachbeard, who was captured and turned in for a reward at the Lulusia Kingdom, and various Impel Down escapees, who were said to have been captured and returned by the bounty hunter, Jean Ango.
One Piece Used To Feature Many Bounty Hunters In The Past
Pirates Would Also Be Captured If They Try To Pay Bounties
- Bounties Were Paid More Early In The Series
- Pirates May Be Ambushed When Paying Bounties
Firstly, it seems that smaller bounties are paid more often in One Piece than larger bounties. As many already know, the Straw Hat swordsman, Zoro, formerly made a living as a pirate hunter, collecting bounties from various small-time pirates. Outside of Zoro, there are also plenty of bounty hunters mentioned, so it makes sense that, at the very least, many bounties are paid in full by the One Piece World Government.
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On the other hand, since most of the characters that the audience sees in One Piece are wanted criminals themselves, it seems highly likely that the World Government wouldn’t pay out a bounty to another pirate. If a character like Luffy, who has an incredibly high bounty, were to try and turn someone like the former Warlord, Doflamingo, or Kaido into the World Government, it seems highly likely that the Navy would attempt to capture him rather than pay him. If more relevant characters were bounty hunters, it seems like the audience would see many more bounty payouts in One Piece.
Massive Bounties May Be Impossible To Pay For
The Emperor Bounties Are More Of A Formality Than An Actual Reward
However, at the same time, for the more prominent figures in One Piece, it seems like the bounties are more of a formality to show their extreme levels of notoriety and influence. With bounties reaching well above the billions, few figures in the One Piece universe aren’t affiliated with the World Government or are wanted pirates who could take them down. For that reason, it seems the World Government will most likely never have to pay out these massive bounties.
Ha Ha Ha Ha, we’re wanted dead or alive! – Luffy
In the end, while it seems odd that the World Government seems to rarely pay these important One Piece bounties, it makes sense logically in the universe. As a story, One Piece is well beyond the need to show small-time pirates being captured by bounty hunters, and there are no incredibly strong bounty hunters that can capture relevant pirates in the story. Although it would be interesting to see someone claim the incredibly massive bounty that characters like Luffy and Shanks have, it seems like something that would never happen in One Piece.
