The Unparalleled Power

The Shichibukai system had been abolished.

Kaido and Charlotte Linlin, two of the Four Emperors, had fallen one after another.

The balance had already been shattered.

The territories suddenly left vacant would plunge the New World into unprecedented chaos.

No one knew what moves the Red-Haired Pirates, who had remained still all this time, would make afterward.

Yet the Whitebeard Pirates, who had rekindled their flames from the ashes, had chosen to wade into the chaos at Water Seven Island.

After all, it was a direct route to Raftel...

If they were pirates from the first half of the Grand Line who only knew how to indulge in pleasure in Paradise and looked down on dreams, then even if they knew there was a route directly to Raftel, they would not have the courage to compete for it.

By contrast, pirates who had crossed the boundary and entered the New World had no resistance to such temptation.

Thus, even knowing the dangers ahead, the pirates who had roamed the New World for years would never miss this opportunity.

The many pirates along Water Seven Island's coast, as well as the numerous pirate crews that had come from every direction, naturally assumed that the Whitebeard Pirates' fleet had come for the direct route when they saw it.

But in truth, the Whitebeard Pirates had not come solely for the direct route.

"Did you feel that?"

Marco came to the bow and gazed toward distant Water Seven Island.

Perhaps it was an illusion, but the sea wind blowing over carried a faint, sharp edge.

It was like a needle repeatedly pricking the skin from slightly different angles.

"Yeah."

Vista, the Flower Sword, who was nearby, nodded. Like Marco, he stared intently at Water Seven Island and said solemnly, "That's 'sword aura,' isn't