Bounties

A bounty (懸賞金) is a government-issued reward placed on an individual and awarded to whoever can capture or kill that person.

Becoming Wanted
Normally, a bounty is issued by a government official or by the police. The idea is to tempt others to aid with the capture of the criminal so they can be brought to justice quickly. Bounty Hunters make careers trying to find and capture these wanted people. Bounties are issued with a "Dead or Alive" disclaimer, meaning the reward will be paid so long as the threat gets eliminated.

The amount of a bounty is determined in response to the perceived threat level of the criminal in question; the greater the threat to the world, the greater the bounty. In the eyes of a pirate, high bounties are thus usually seen as a sign of strength. After all, having been assigned a bounty means that the World Government as well as the Marines acknowledge the threat of the person to whom it is assigned. An excess bounty of 100,000,000 indicates that the person to whom it was assigned has committed unlawful acts of catastrophic degrees.

Bounty Issuing
A bounty reflects both the threat and power of an individual. Engaging in activities deemed criminal by the World Government or associating with groups which engage in them is enough to warrant significant bounties even if the criminal is not powerful themselves. In particular, direct opposition to the World Government, no matter the reason, is treated as a serious offense, and bounties are issued accordingly./

A bounty can be increased for several reasons:
 * The threat of a person's observed combat abilities
 * More experienced bounty hunters volunteering to capture the individual or group
 * Further criminal acts beyond the initial one;
 * Inspiring criminal acts when provoked or inciting others to act 'criminally'

Occasionally, a designated amount on a bounty may increase if the criminal in question has committed crimes of considerable magnitude that goes beyond the crime(s) committed beforehand that earned them their initial bounty.

Since the Marines can only issue bounties based on their knowledge of the criminal in question, a bounty may not necessarily reflect the true threat of a person. In some cases, due to miscommunication or unreported information, the bounty may end up being much higher or lower than the criminal deserved for their actions such as the case with Max Hedgedroid as it has been said that he took down many Marine Bases with his partner yet only received a 430,000 bounty. This might be because the attacks may have been unreported or no one had identified who had been attacking them.

Regardless of the discrepancies, bounties are still treated as a way to determine a person's average threat level, being the one facet of society that can be easily compared. Stacking them against averages helps determine threats in relation to location; for example, the average bounty in the East Blue is 10,000,000, so a noteworthy one there would be 20,000,000 or more. Since East Blue is defined as the weakest of the four seas outside of the Grand Line, West, North, and South Blue must have higher average bounties and have a greater number of famous criminals hailing from their waters. However, the four 'cardinal (direction)' seas pale in comparison to the Grand Line (up to Mariejois), where an exceptional bounty is around 100,000,000, and is considered nothing in the New World (or the second half of the Grand Line), where 100,000,000 is common or weak.

While the details of how high a bounty could be are not exactly known, the greatest amount revealed is that of the 640,000,000 bounty of Silas A. Bourne for unknown reasons except the fact that he is a Yonko. While a pirate with a bounty of 300,000,000 is still considered a rookie, once a pirate exceeds that value it is difficult to get any higher and it seems that 400,000,000 is enough to be considered an elite pirate.

In terms of piracy, any rookies who has earned a bounty of over 100,000,000 is considered impressive, and can be considered as a "Supernova" (超新星).

Retracting Bounties
Bounties, once issued, are usually only retracted when the criminal is captured, killed, or is known to have otherwise died. A change in lifestyle will not affect the bounty. Wanted posters are usually marked with a large red X to indicate that the criminal was taken cared of. A bounty can last large amounts of time if the criminal is not proven to have been captured and incarcerated or dead. Aside from death or capture, bounties may be retracted if the criminal can prove themselves an asset to either The Marines or World Government. This is the case with the Shichibukai, who are considered allies of the World Government and have their bounties retracted. With this, they are allowed to continue being a criminal on a conditional basis. A bounty may also be removed by a court of law.

Criminals who end up as slaves keep their bounties on their heads; however, so long as the slave remains a slave the Marines do nothing to arrest them. Once a slave is freed or tossed aside by its owner, they immediately become fair game once more.

Identification
A criminal is, more often than not, known by his poster. Without the issuing of a wanted poster (手配書), no criminal can be made known. These posters are distributed across the world in newspapers and establishments. Marines also keep copies of each criminal at their bases and on board their ships for quick identification. Bounty Hunters may also carry a list and/or wanted posters.

The Poster Picture
The most important part of a poster is the person's portrait. It allows swift identification upon sighting the person and informs everyone in the world of their wanted status. The picture normally takes the form of a photograph; if a suitable photograph is unavailable, an artist's rendering may be substituted. To some, a decent photograph is as important as the bounty itself, it being the only way to be associated with the bounty on the poster. A new picture can be issued to account for any change in appearance.

One of the most mysterious things about wanted posters is the Marines' ability to obtain photos of almost every criminal with a bounty. Alternatively, should a photo be unavailable, a sketch will be made of the criminal.

Nicknames
The Marines give criminals, especially pirates, nicknames with the bounty poster that either describes their appearance (such as "ThunderScar Nitro" or "Crimson Dragon Blitz"), what their powers/abilities are (such as "Wind Walker Max" or "Lightning Lance Ryder"), or what they do (such as "Science Marvel Tech"). Sometimes, it is just the most common nickname a person has.

List of bounties
In the series, many bounties are revealed - either by the authors on this very wikia, by the character page on the comic or in comic via any means. Many of the pirates in Hedgehog Piece have had there bounties revealed via comic, such as the Hyacintho Carpe Pirates and the  ThunderScar Pirates but many have also been revealed by other means such as the ??? pirates being revealed on the character page.

The two known Shichibukai do not have revealed former bounties and the only Yonko to appear in Hedgehog Piece has been confirmed throughout the series with the highest known bounty of 640,000,000.

While several prisoners from Impel Down do not hold any specific value, Impel Down orders its prisoners from the bounty on their head. Levels 3 and 5 require bounties of 50,000,000 and 100,000,000 respectively, and the values required for others levels were not revealed. It is unknown if level 1 and level 2 has a minimal value. Level 6 seems to use special requirements. As such, the values may be just recommendations, and the effort taken to capture the criminals may factor into where they are placed, but not affect their bounty since the Marines see no need to change it now that they have been arrested.

The ??? Pirates bounties
Total bounty: 740,000

Hyacintho Carpe Pirates bounties
Total bounty: 50,000,000

The ThunderScars bounties
Total bounty: 64,250,000

The ??? Pirates bounties
Total bounty: 14,500,000

The Ouroboros bounties
Total bounty: 956,000,000

East Blue bounties
Total bounty: 33,000,000

West Blue bounties
Total bounty: 18,500,000