In the world of One Piece, there are two warring factions battling each other for control: pirates, who are outlaws of the sea, and Marines, who wish to arrest and detain the pirates. Both factions have differences. Not all the pirates are strictly evil, and the Marines are not above shady practices in their struggle for control. Since the Marines strive for population control, as well as bringing law and order to the sea, they've instilled a system to help them arrest pirates: the bounty system.
While this has initially put pirates who have fallen under this system at greater risk, the system itself has become something of an identifying factor: meaning that the bigger the bounty, the greater the threat the person associated with that bounty is. In other words, bounties are One Piece's form of power levels. And while unconventional, they might be an even better model for the system.
The Bounty System: Explained
When a pirate has gained enough notoriety to land them in opposition of the Marines, a marine official will place a large sum of money on their capture. Most Wanted posters feature the requisite "alive or dead" rule, although the actual price paid for depends on the pirate's state. Usually, the full bounty price will be paid if the criminal is brought in alive, and 30 percent of it can be taken away if the criminal is dead. This is because the criminal cannot be publicly executed. When a pirate is publicly executed, the public's trust in the Marine's abilities of Justice is reinforced.
Certain individuals have turned hunting pirates for bounty pay into entire careers -- the aptly named bounty hunters. Roronoa Zoro was one such bounty hunter, before he decided to join Luffy's crew and becoming First Mate of the Straw Hats.
The Bounty System as Power Levels
A pirate's overall power and strength can be determined and summed up by the price on their bounty posters, which uses the currency, Beri (sometimes called Belly).
It's a different kind of system to the traditional power levels depicted in Dragon Ball Z, the most famous example of them in shonen. In the Dragon Ball franchise, power levels are based on actual amounts of power within each character, whereas the bounty system doesn't need to be specifically addressed by the characters in One Piece. Rather, readers can get a basic idea of someone's "power level" based on how high the World Government is willing to pay for their apprehension. When a pirate's deeds have gained enough notoriety, they will be placed on the bounty board and if their actions continue, that price will continue to rise, giving a rough idea of how dangerous they are without being too scientifically restrictive about it.
Why The Bounty System is Better
In the case of Dragon Ball Z, a character's power level is translated to the audience by head-mounted scanners worn by some characters in order to determine if a fight will go in their favor. Essentially, a character's power level indicates the kind of fight that they'll put up.
An excessively high bounty is an indicator of a pirate's strength, as well as their rank in the endless power struggle of One Piece's world. What a bounty does not indicate, however, is how tough a struggle with the depicted pirate will be. This makes it better than the power levels in Dragon Ball because the bounties are left vaguer and open to wider interpretation. Bounties are also much more flexible, which prevents the bounties themselves from becoming obsolete should the characters get too powerful, which is what has transpired in Dragon Ball. (And, really, this was the entire point of introducing them in the first place.)
Dead or Alive (Preferably Alive)
Bounty systems, while still acting as a form of power system in One Piece's world, are special because of their unpredictability. While a pirate's general threat level can be determined, the fight itself isn't determined by how many Beris they're deemed to be "worth" by the Marines. There is no real indicator as to how difficult or complicated a battle is likely to be. Luffy's bounty picture, for instance, depicts him as a goofball, which has many of his pursuers underestimate him all the time, despite the large sum on it. For this reason, the bounty system keeps both the series' characters and audience on their toes.
About The Author
