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.
- Kuma: unlikely Bounty Hunter, he does what the Government says more than any other warlord. That might involve taking down other pirates but unlikely for their bounties
- Buggy: small chance for bounty hunting. Buggy’s Delivery Service is a mercenary organization. Would that include bounty hunting? Maybe. Buggy surely has a strong motivation to collect bounties. We just don’t get much info on the inner workings of this organization.
- Doflamingo: small chance for bounty hunting, as a leader of the underground it’s likely he has many revenue streams. It’s also known he creates smaller pirate groups like Bellamy’s crew and tells them to harass other pirates with dreams. This part could likely involve collecting bounties.
- Gecko Moria: maybe bounty hunting, he definitely defeats other pirate crews. It’s just a question of if he needs the money. Is Thriller Bark completely self sufficient? or does he need supplies? Does he buy Perona her stuffed animals, or make them himself? In which case throwing the Marines a couple of captured pirates would be an easy source of revenue.
- Boa Hancock: maybe bounty hunting, just like Moria she definitely defeats other crews. When Luffy arrived on her island, she was out raiding other pirates. Amazon Lily is definitely self sufficient. So would she want the money? Maybe. She also has a easy capture method by turning the defeated pirates into stone. She’s also one of the least likely to be in communication with the Marines or care what they have to offer.
- Dracule Mihawk: pretty likely to be bounty hunting, he definitely defeats other pirates. Unlike Hancock and Moria he doesn’t have servants to keep him fed/supplied. So a source of income would work well for him. Also he’s not as isolated as those two either as he travels around more. But there’s also the chance he’s done with bounty hunting and I’ll get into that later
Ok tired of me reading into the story and thinking what could be happening behind the scenes?
Well here are the 4 Warlords who are 100% Bounty Hunters
- Blackbeard: he hunted down Luffy specifically for his 100 million beri bounty. That’s bounty hunting in my book, even if the ultimate goal was to backstab the deal. Now I know unfortunately Luffy escaped , but the dude still tried in a plot relevant way. Luckily he came across Ace and found a new bounty to hunt.
- Law: took Blackbeard’s plan of defeating other pirates in exchange for a Warlord status. This time with the hearts of 100 pirates. Was it stated that those pirates had bounties? No, but how would it be impressive to turn in 100 hearts of people who aren’t wanted?
- Edward Weevil: this man is hunting down former Whitebeard Pirates and collecting their bounties for his mom. The most bounty hunting you can get.
- Crocodile: already mentioned as the leader of an entire organization of bounty hunters. Plus he is shown defeating pirates on Alabasta and has an easy way to collect the bounties since Alabasta is a kingdom under the World Goverment, he doesn’t have to go far to turn them in.
The point of all this is to say bounty hunting has been integrated into the story more than people give it credit for.
*by milkyjoe241
