Summary
- One Piece bounties aren’t accurate power indicators, but measure threat to World Government.
- Demalo Black’s higher bounty than Arlong highlights flaws in the bounty system.
- Arlong’s low bounty was intentional due to Navy focus, island operations, and bribery.
The bounty system in One Piece has always been an amazing way to introduce an in-universe explanation for power levels. Being a strong pirate in One Piece means garnering the attention of the World Government, who would in turn put out a larger and larger bounty depending on how hard it was to capture that figure. From here, it makes sense that pirates with larger bounties are far stronger than pirates with low bounties.
However, when using One Piece bounties for power scaling, this system is far from perfect. More often than not, the inner workings of the World Government and errors made by One Piece’s Navy soldiers often lead to some bounties being hilariously inaccurate. This includes one small detail that has left many One Piece fans scratching their heads; Arlong’s bounty is less than the bounty of the ridiculous fake Luffy.
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The One Piece Bounty System Is All Over The Place
Sometimes Weak Characters Are Given High Bounties
While the One Piece bounty system has always been a rough estimate of a character’s strength, this isn’t the exact purpose of the system. Mainly, while many fans and characters in the series alike use it to identify strong pirates, in reality, the bounty system measures a character’s threat level to One Piece’s World Government as a whole. This means that a weak character who possesses hidden knowledge, like Robin when she was little and knew the language of the Poneglyphs, may have an incredibly high bounty. At the same time, strong characters in One Piece are simply more of a threat due to their inherent strength.
Did you hit me knowing who I was? – Demalo Black masquerading as Luffy
During One Piece’s Return to Sabaody Archipelago Arc, a pirate captain named Demalo Black revealed that he was impersonating Luffy during the time skip, in order to raise a massive crew of pirates under his command. However, despite pretending to be a strong pirate, Demalo Black, in reality, was incredibly weak and relied on manipulation to achieve his goals. Despite this, the original figure was said to have a bounty of 26 million Berries.
Arlong’s Bounty Is Lower Than Demalo Black’s In One Piece
Demalo Black Is Still Manipulative And A Fair Threat
- Demalo Black Has A Higher Bounty Than The Notorious Fishman, Arlong
- Despite Being Weak Demalo Black Is Cruel And Manipulative
Funnily enough, when compared to the extremely imposing and relatively important figure, the One Piece Fishman, Arlong, who only has a bounty of 20 million Berries, many fans thought it was very funny that a gag character was more notorious in the eyes of One Piece’s World Government than the former Sun Pirate. Additionally, with the difference in bounties, many fans have even jokingly stated that Demalo Black is stronger than Arlong and could best him in a fight. Although this is hilarious to think about, in reality, it isn’t an accurate assessment of the strength.
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Firstly, bounties often relate to a character’s potential to deal damage to the World Government and not to their raw power. One Piece’s forgetable captain, Demalo Black, although he was incredibly weak, was a dangerous and manipulative person, who was well known for being incredibly cruel to those he met. For that reason, the World Government may have viewed him as a decent threat to the average citizens of One Piece, though not so much a threat to themselves.
Arlong’s Bounty Is Low Intentionally In One Piece
The Fishman Kept His Bounty Low On Purpose
As for Arlong, the former Sun Pirate was hiding away from the World Government in One Piece’s East Blue, where he kept his operations completely confined to a small, remote island. Additionally, even when he was active as a Sun Pirate, the Navy never viewed him as too much of a threat, instead focusing on figures like Jinbei and Fisher Tiger. Finally, Arlong also bribed the Navy officials of his island to keep his bounty low. Without this bribery, his bounty would most likely be higher than Demalo Black’s.
With our abilities, we’re beings of a higher order than you puny humans. – Arlong
With that being said, it’s still funny to think that Demalo Black, of all characters, has a higher bounty than Arlong in One Piece. However, this sort of thing happens frequently in the world of One Piece. With characters like Chopper and Bepo both given bounties under one thousand Berries despite being incredibly strong, bounties in One Piece aren’t the best way of measuring power in the series.
