This is a popular question/criticism that I hear all the time. But I think it ignores all the times there were Bounty Hunters and if you give Oda a little lee-way and consider what actions his characters would do outside of what’s directly written we might find more Bounty Hunters.
First let’s list all the people under the title of Bounty Hunters:
- Zoro, Johnny, and Yosaku. The East Blue Group. Problem with them is they aren’t shown bounty hunting.
- Baroque Works: I think a lot of people forget the organization makes it money bounty hunting. Whisky Peak was an island full of bounty hunters right at the start of the grand line.
- Franky Family: Yes they are bounty hunters. They’re more known for ship dismantling, but it was also stated they bounty hunt. Unfortunately like Zoro they aren’t shown bounty hunting.
- Minoruba and Kairiken: OK, now we’re bounty hunting. If you forgot about these two, they attacked Luffy briefly on Sabaody. Yes it was very brief but it is an occasion where the Straw Hats were attacked. And established Sabaody as a haven for Kidnappers and Bounty Hunters. While we’re on that, the Fly Fish Riders being Kidnappers are pretty much bounty hunters as if they captured someone with a bounty, why wouldn’t they cash it in? It is known the nobles have former pirates as slaves. Currently tho, they gave up the kidnapping life.
- Abdullah, Jeet and Jean Ango: Colosseum combatants all listed as bounty hunters. Jean Ango being the most interesting as it’s stated he’s hunting the pirates who escaped Impel Down and has made a lot of money over the past two years.
So that’s all the named Bounty Hunters, and in my opinion they’re pretty spread out across the story. But what if I told you there are more in the story, they just don’t have the title of Bounty Hunter?
So I’ll start by throwing in the Yeti Cool Brothers.
They’re listed as assassins under the employment of Caesar. So if they assassinate someone with a bounty, they get the bounty right? Pretty much making them bounty hunters. Since Caesar has contact with the Marines, they can cash those in as well.
The Marine’s built in Bounty Hunting system: The Warlords
So I know the criticisms of the previous group of named Bounty Hunters is going to be their lack of plot relevance in terms of bounty hunting. So here’s a group of pirates that in all likely-hood have been bounty hunting without the title of Bounty Hunter. They have ties to the Marines and are known to hunt down other pirates, why wouldn’t they collect bounties along the way?
- Jinbe: unlikely Bounty Hunter, was appointed more as a political move and not much info given as what his style was as a warlord.
