One Piece: The Cross Guild's bounty system in episode 1113, explained

Titled “Run, Koby! A Desperate Escape Strategy!”, episode 1113 of the One Piece anime focuses on Koby’s attempt to escape from Hachinosu, where the Blackbeard Pirates imprison him. During the siege of Amazon Lily, Koby was abducted by Marshall D. Teach, who planned to use him to blackmail the World Government into officially recognizing Hachinosu as a sovereign country.

In exchange for Koby’s life, the World Government was meant to acknowledge Teach as the monarch of the Hachinosu Kingdom. Teach’s confidence in Koby’s value as a hostage stemmed from the latter’s status as a world-famous hero. In One Piece episode 1113, however, Koby leads an escape across the island, acting as a decoy to distract the Blackbeard Pirates from pursuing the other fugitives.

Koby exploited the stunningly high bounty the Cross Guild had placed on his head to do that. As expected, the considerable reward attracted the attention of the Blackbeard Pirates. Follow this thread to learn everything about the Cross Guild’s bounty system, a groundbreaking idea that reversed the rules of the One Piece world.

The Cross Guild overthrows the One Piece world's Marines vs pirates rules with a revolutionary idea

A surreal organization that quickly gained the status of a Yonko crew

Dracule Mihawk's wanted poster (Image via Toei Animation)

The Cross Guild is a newly established organization created by former Warlords Dracule Mihawk and Crocodile. As Crocodile contacted Mihawk to form an alliance with him, the latter accepted. The idea was to combine Mihawk’s battle power as the World’s Strongest Swordsman with Crocodile’s cunning intellect in order to complete the “Operation Utopia” plan.

Crocodile then traveled to Karai Bari Island to demand back the money he had lent him. Unable to pay his debts, Buggy offered his society to work for Crocodile for free. However, Buggy’s employees misunderstood the course of events and distributed a poster depicting the “Star Clown” as the leader of the Cross Guild.

Initially displeased with this, Crocodile and Mihawk ended up accepting the situation. In fact, Mihawk declared that he had no intention of becoming an Emperor, as he would rather avoid drawing clamor to himself. Thus, letting Buggy be the figurehead leader of the group would have been perfect to alienate any unwanted attention.

Buggy's employees caused a ludicrous misunderstanding (Image via Toei Animation)

In a grotesque comedy of errors, the World Government fell for it, assuming that Buggy had actually recruited the likes of Crocodile and even Mihawk as his subordinates. Considering this and Buggy’s previous fame as someone who “stood up” against Shanks and Whitebeard, the World Government could not help but name him one of the new Four Emperors.

Thanks to Mihawk’s battle power, Crocodile’s funds, and Buggy’s surreal reputation, the Cross Guild gained enough political clout to place bounties on the members of the Navy. Reversing the typical system, in which the World Government issues bounties on pirates and other outlaws, the Cross Guild forced the Marines, who were the hunters, to become the hunted.

How do the Cross Guild’s bounties work?

Buggy and Crocodile (Image via Toei Animation)

Taking inspiration from Dracule Mihawk, being once feared as the “Marine Hunter” for his habit of slaughtering Navy officers, the Cross Guild started to put bounties on the Marines. Needless to say, this highlights the Cross Guild as a massive threat to the World Government’s authority.

Due to its activities, the mere existence of this organization is a danger to the Navy. As long as the Cross Guild operates, the Marines will have no rest, as they would have to worry not only about attacks from pirates but also from bounty hunters and civilians interested in collecting the bounties.

Pirates looking at the Cross Guild bounties in One Piece episode 1113 (Image via Toei Animation)

Needless to say, this initiative granted the Cross Guild immense popularity in the underworld. Putting pressure on the Navy by issuing bounties on its officers, the Cross Guild will indirectly allow pirates to travel without worrying as much about Marines and bounty hunters as they would have done. Even the Revolutionary Army could potentially benefit from this.

Specifically, the Cross Guild’s bounty system for Marines is based on stars or crowns, vaguely resembling the bounties that Donquixote Doflamingo placed on certain individuals during the Dressrosa Arc. In particular, each star equals about 100 million Berries, while one crown equals about one billion Berries.

Broadly speaking, a Marine with the formal rank of Captain is worth one star, while another ranked as Admiral is worth three crowns. Granted, just like the World Government’s bounties, the Cross Guild’s bounties can’t accurately reflect the individual strength of each character.

The Cross Guild's bounty poster for Koby (Image via Shueisha)

The standardized approach, which equates formal rank with overall might, is evidently flawed. Also, just as the World Government’s bounties take many factors into account and are often issued depending on parameters that change from time to time, the Cross Guild’s bounties appear to be no different.

Despite having the formal rank of Vice Admiral, Monkey D. Garp received a three-crown bounty, just like an Admiral. Likewise, Koby’s bounty amounts to five starts, far surpassing the standard for a Captain. Due to his rising Haki skills and remarkable Rokushiki proficiency, Koby is clearly far stronger than the average Captain. However, that’s not the reason for the special bounty.

Koby and Blackbeard in One Piece episode 1113 (Image via Toei Animation)

Koby is held in particularly high esteem due to his reputation as a “Hero,” which he earned for his accomplishments during the Rocky Port Incident. With Koby’s captivity being made public, the World Government wouldn’t look the other way to avoid losing popularity. This explains why Blackbeard was so confident in his plans to use him to blackmail the World Government into giving in to his demands.

Regardless of whether they are issued by the World Government or the Cross Guild, bounties are always controversial due to their frequent inconsistencies. Nevertheless, the new system developed by Buggy and the others stands out as an interesting plot device, which reverses One Piece’s most established trope to throw the world into a free-for-all where anything goes.