Talking
With worldwide attention focused on the lack of live video coverage, newspapers around the world experienced a boom, with reporters returning home to begin compiling reports on the Night Pirates' series of battles.
Prior to this, news of the birth of the Seven Demon Kings and the establishment of the Thirteen Demon Generals also spread throughout the world.
Although there are no videos, many people still express their opinions and analyze the strength of the Night Pirates through videos, making it very popular.
"With might shaking the seas, the Seven Demon Kings, the Thirteen Demon Generals, Seventy-two Demon Pillars are born!"
"The era belongs to the darkness!"
The terrifying lineup shocked the world upon its creation.
Many reporters gathered on Pagila Island to interview some prominent figures who were watching the battle, asking them to evaluate the final members of the Night Pirates' Sequence of Battle.
After collecting a large amount of data, the conclusion was reached that even the weakest of the Seventy-two Demon Pillars of the Night Pirates was qualified to have a bounty of 400 million Beli.
This is an absolutely terrifying conclusion, clearly demonstrating the immense power of the Night Pirates.
Below them, there are many more members close to the Seventy-two Demon Pillars, a fact known to viewers who have watched the Sequence Battle.
Ultimately, the weaker of the Thirteen Demon Generals are not that much weaker than the top-ranked Seventy-two Demon Pillars; they are only slightly inferior. Among them are several pirates with bounties approaching 500 million Beli.
The overall combat strength of the Seventy-two Demon Pillars is very balanced, and the difference in their strength cannot be seen with the naked eye.
This influence is still spreading.
"How about it?"
The Beasts Pirates, the Babarossa Kingdom, the Beasts Pirates' base, the Demon Palace.
Kaido, draped in a fur coat, sat on his throne, gazing down Laimo Krell, who had returned from the Night Sea Domain.
He had previously sent the two of them to observe the Night Pirates' ranking system, and they stayed in the Night Sea Domain for a full month.
Kaido naturally paid attention to such a major event as the Night Pirates, and he patiently waited at his base for the past month.
The information revealed by the Night Pirates and the power they displayed forced him to take them seriously.
"Well, how should I put it? The difference is huge." Krell frowned, then said seriously.
"How big?" Kaido asked. He didn't have high hopes of surpassing the Night Pirates, but he was still working towards that goal.
Artificial Devil Fruit, and the Beastman Project derived from research on werewolf corpses, have greatly contributed to the improvement of the Beasts Pirates' strength.
However, the gap in top-tier combat power cannot be bridged simply by technology.
Everyone knows that the Night Pirates have three world-class powerhouses: Dark Emperor, Shadow Dragon, Ares.
Even if Shadow Dragon and Ares are slightly below his level, the difference isn't significant; it's just a matter of time.
In a previous battle, Kaido could clearly sense Ares's terrifying strength, which had inexplicably increased significantly, especially in terms of power. Even he couldn't compare to Ares's strength; in his understanding, no one could match that monstrous power.
Similarly, Ares also possesses the same powerful physique as him, that of Half-Demon, or demon.
The final Shadow Dragon's ability to kill Army Admiral White Ghost alone is enough to demonstrate his terrifying strength.
The power of the White Ghost was demonstrated in the God Island battle many years ago. It is a bug-level ability, and its Ghostly Drive makes it completely immune to physical attacks, which is even more abnormal than the elemental transformation of the Logia.
Also present were other officers of the Beasts Pirates, Kaido's key confidants, "Warhammer" Omon, "King of Flames" Jin, "Queen of Plague" Queen, and others, all well-known powerhouses of the New World.
"If we don't count top-tier combatants like the Governor, the gap between our overall combat strength and that of the Night Pirates is at least four times," Krell analyzed.
"The main reason is that the Night Pirates have many strong members. Although we also have quite a few, we have a gap in mid-to-high-end combat power."
"In terms of the number of members with a bounty of approximately 200 to 400 million Beli, we are dozens of times weaker than the Night Pirates, and this is without even considering their affiliated pirate crews."
"Furthermore, the quality of our members is also quite different. I've noticed that most of the members of the Night Pirates have mastered Haki, and the rest are not far behind. Combined with the terrifying number of Night Pirates, their strength is enough to sweep away all forces in the New World."
A hush fell over the area; no one had expected the Night Pirates to be so powerful.
"What can we do to catch up as much as possible?" Kaido was rational; surpassing the Night Pirates was unrealistic, so he was thinking about how to narrow the gap.
The existence of the Night Pirates put immense pressure on him. In all his years of navigating the seas, this was the first time he had encountered a pirate crew like this. The chaotic Rocks were no match for them, and the already destroyed Flying Pirates had long been surpassed by the Night Pirates, they had just been lying low.
Perhaps the Night Pirates know all the information about the Flying Pirates.
Because they seized the opportunity so perfectly, and had planned their actions well in advance, even if the Flying Pirates ultimately defeated the World Government, the final outcome would still be the same: Shiki would still die at Teach's hands.
Thinking about it this way is a bit scary. There are many such comments on the forum, and many people firmly believe this.
But it's no use. The Flying Pirates are a thing of the past. It's enough to know that the Night Pirates on the seas.
"Yes, I've been thinking a lot lately about how to quickly increase our combat strength. We currently have 70,000 members, but most of them are cannon fodder. Even the elite members have less than 10,000 members who have mastered Haki," Krell said, somewhat helplessly.
The others felt the same way. They had previously thought the Beasts Pirates were already quite strong, but compared to the Night Pirates, the gap was too great.
"The Big Mom Pirates only have 20,000 members, but their power is no weaker than ours, and may even be slightly greater. Their connections with various forces, including numerous marriage alliances, cannot be judged by appearances alone. Moreover, what truly rules the Big Mom Sea is the Homie created by Big Mom, and the number of Homie exceeds 100,000, many of which possess astonishing destructive Homie."
"Furthermore, the changes in the Big Mom Pirates recently, with many of their children's physiques and strengths increasing significantly, are technologies that the Big Mom Pirates couldn't have researched. I believe these changes are likely related to the Night Pirates." Krell's expression turned somewhat serious as he said this.
"The most likely force to possess the technology to increase human size is the Night Pirates. Moreover, the scale of cooperation between the Big Mom Pirates and the Night Pirates has expanded tenfold compared to six months ago, making an alliance between the two forces highly probable. If the Night Pirates truly possess something that Big Mom desires..."
"Hmm, that old woman has always longed for the technology to grow to gigantic size, so that's very likely." Kaido knew very well about Big Mom's desire, and the Night Pirates had done extensive research on Lineage Factor.
Next, Krell continued his analysis of the Beasts Pirates' current comparison with other forces, stating, "The Whitebeard Pirates, including their affiliated pirate crews, have a total strength exceeding one hundred thousand."
"Although their forces are large, they are mostly composed of ordinary members, much like us. After the great battle with the Night Pirates, the Whitebeard Pirates suffered heavy losses, with many elite members killed in action."
"It's fair to say that, aside from Whitebeard, the World's Strongest, our strength is no weaker than the Whitebeard Pirates. Surpassing Whitebeard Pirates in a few years is a sure thing."
"Besides, Whitebeard is old and starting to decline. He may no longer be the World's Strongest, but he still has the greatest destructive power."
"The overall strength of the Night Pirates has already drawn a line between us. Simply Sea Emperor is no longer enough to show his current status. I think he should be called an Emperor," Krell with some emotion.
"Next, another Sea Emperor will likely emerge in the New World. Besides the Night Pirates, the Whitebeard Pirates are probably the first of the four Sea Emperors to be in trouble, because Whitebeard himself is the biggest weakness. We can prepare in advance."
Krell analyzed the current situation of the various Sea Emperor and top forces, and the others nodded in agreement.
Kaido was also thinking about it. He hadn't noticed it when he fought Whitebeard before, but now that it was mentioned, and thinking about it carefully, Whitebeard was indeed getting old, starting to lose his hair, and his stamina was declining.
However, Whitebeard's formidable fighting prowess caused people to overlook this point.
"Next, I'll talk about the methods for the upcoming expansion of the Beasts." Krell glanced at his notebook and said, "Continue recruiting members, that remains unchanged. We can't let the pirates under our protection continue like this; we need to urge them to become stronger."
"Furthermore, while the internal atmosphere of the pirate crew remains unchanged, we must prevent internal strife and curb internal disputes. Fighting among ourselves is very disadvantageous for us. If there is a real grudge, we can have a life-or-death battle in the arena. This rule must be established. Every year, more than a thousand people die at the hands of their own people. This practice is too foolish."
The environment within the Beasts Pirates is quite brutal; Kaido doesn't care about the conflicts and battles, since it's a world where the strong prey on the weak.
However, in order to preserve their own strength, this situation needs to be taken seriously, as it does them no good.
"At the same time, similar to how those kingdoms in the Four Seas established military academies, we can also recruit some orphans to cultivate reserve forces. I think the Night Pirates are doing this, and with our resources, we can definitely do it too."
"These effects are rather slow, and now is not the time for rapid expansion, so improving the strength of our subordinates is the most important thing. Now that the Six Powers training method has spread throughout the seas, there will be more pirates with decent strength. If our subordinates are too useless, it will be a disgrace to us."
"These are the general guidelines, but the truly effective methods for enhancing our strength still require Mr. Queen's research."
That's right, Artificial Devil Fruit and beastman experiments are the most important things. Either one can greatly enhance strength without requiring a long period of training.
If everyone in the Beasts Pirates could equip themselves with these items, their overall strength would definitely skyrocket.
Of course, they wouldn't dare say they surpassed the Night Pirates. After all, who knows what the Night Pirates are secretly researching? They might research Artificial Devil Fruit why wouldn't the Night Pirates? It's foolish to place your hopes on others.
"That's settled then, let's increase the investment." Kaido.
"We can't increase it any further. It puts a lot of pressure on our finances. There are taxes, money paid by various islands and forces, arms trade, revenue from the arena, and revenue from Golden Island. Although we have a lot of revenue, the pirate crew needs a lot of funds to maintain it. The research base has many projects, each of which is a money-guzzling machine that only swallows money and doesn't give it back."
"The current investment is already sufficient. The research base has never stopped operating, and investing more would not be of much use. The progress is already very fast. This is not something that can be completed faster simply by investing more money."
Krell, unusually, refused, shook his head, and tried to persuade Kaido.
"We still have some funds as reserves, and we need to purchase supplies, Devil Fruit, and the like. Rather than investing funds, it would be better to find more scientists. To avoid increasing the burden, it would be even better if we could obtain an additional source of income."
"No matter how many Beli we have, to be honest, we can't withstand this kind of extravagant spending. We've almost reached our limit."
"Is that so?" Kaido's gaze fell on Queen.
"That's right." Queen nodded. "Every lab is operating. What we're doing now is accumulating data. We've definitely reached our limit. Just wait patiently. We have plenty of research funding right now."
"If we want to speed things up, we can shut down a few weapons research bases and switch to researching orcs instead."
"Of course, investing more funds will allow us to build more laboratories, and the data accumulation speed will also be faster."
Queen would certainly be willing to increase research funding, but he also needs to consider the overall interests of the Beasts Pirates.
"So, does that mean we need an additional source of income?" Kaido was determined to accelerate his research, and he was thinking about where he could acquire a large fortune.
My first thought was to rob someone; robbing is a quick way to make money.
"Heavenly Gold." Seeing his governor's expression, he knew that the governor wanted to increase investment, and following the governor's wishes, he immediately thought of Heavenly Gold.
"Oh ho ho ho! Then let's rob the Heavenly Gold!" Kaido's eyes lit up and he laughed loudly. He didn't care about the World Government's authority at all. Now that the World Government's full strength had been revealed, he was no longer so afraid.
Although the World Government and Navy are powerful, they dare not come to the New World to cause trouble for them.
The World Government and the Navy need Heavenly Gold to recover, and seizing some Heavenly Gold would also weaken the World Government, so he had no psychological burden about it.
"The Heavenly Gold is being transported in three batches. The last batch of Grand Line Heavenly Gold will be transported to the Red Line in a few days. Each warship transporting the Heavenly Gold is guarded by powerful naval personnel and World Government agents, heavily fortified. We are not worried about their strength, but we do not know the transportation route of the Heavenly Gold. Without knowing the route, it is difficult to plan ahead."
Stealing the Heavenly Gold isn't difficult, but Heavenly Gold secrecy is excellent; the transportation route is unknown. If you don't even know the target's location, how can you even attempt a forced takeover?
"Find JOKER, he should know the route for transporting the Heavenly Gold. If all else fails, ask the Night Pirates. No matter what, I'm going to steal this Heavenly Gold."
The exposure of the World Government's true nature also reveals some things, including Doflamingo's surname Donquixote. Doflamingo must have some connection to it and know the route of the Celestial Gold, after all, he became a Shichibukai by stealing the Celestial Gold.
Moreover, he now wields considerable power.
Development is the only way forward now; the peak of the struggle for supremacy has passed.
Meanwhile, on the Big Mom Pirates, "Mama Mama! That's fantastic! Next up is the wedding. I heard Teach even invited the giants of Elbaf!"
Upon receiving the news from the Night Pirates, Big Mom was undoubtedly the happiest. This proved that her initial decision was correct. Cake Castle, looking at her tall children sitting on equal footing with her, her dream had come true. However, the only downside was that the Growth Potion was rather scarce and precious.
The fact that the Elbaf Giant race agreed to attend the wedding of the Night Pirates and the Big Mom Pirates as guests was undoubtedly a great honor for them and showed a willingness to reconcile. Nothing could have made Big Mom happier.
She naturally had her own pride. The power displayed by the Night Pirates was intimidating, but the huge gap made Big Mom lose the will to compete with the Night Pirates.
Big Mom is a pragmatic person. Now that the two sides are united by marriage, they will soon become family. She actually hopes that the Night Pirates will become stronger, so that the two sides will benefit more from the alliance.
Although they have lost their five daughters, they will continue to serve as a link between the Night Pirates and the Big Mom Pirates.
At the same time, the Growth Potion has greatly enhanced the strength of the Big Mom Pirates' top combatants. Many of Big Mom's children, whose increased size does not affect their strength, have already taken it.
This included Katakuri's two younger brothers, Charlotte Daifuku and Charlotte Oven, important Big Mom Pirates. They quickly adapted to their enlarged bodies, resulting in significantly improved physiques, strength, and power.
Moreover, during this period, he was constantly training under the intense pressure of Big Mom, and he was subjected to even greater trials.
After all, the Big Mom Pirates' combat strength is really insufficient. Although their strength is enormous, they don't have many affiliated pirate crews. Relying on their children's growth is inherently slow. It can be said that the Big Mom Pirates' strength is relatively weak, with a large part of it revolving around Big Mom, especially the Homie.
Big Mom single-handedly built a massive power.
Aside from creating Homie, the only other way to quickly increase one's strength is to enhance the power of one's own children. The destruction of the Flying Pirates and the overwhelming power of the Night Pirates served as a wake-up call for Big Mom.
After all, on the surface, the Big Mom Pirates are the weakest of the Sea Emperor, with few members. If someone wants to target them, they will definitely be the first to be targeted.
After all, Katakuri seems to be the only face of the Big Mom Pirates. Although some of her other children are quite powerful, their prestige is undoubtedly much smaller, and their bounties cannot compare to Katakuri's.
Aside from the Whitebeard Pirates, which have sixteen division commanders, the Beasts Pirates also have their own scourges: Omon, Jin, and Queen, all three of whom have bounties exceeding one billion Beli. Laimo also close to one billion Beli, and there's also a young monster like Krell, Mythical Zoan Fruit user.
From this perspective, the Big Mom Pirates seem easier to bully, and she herself thinks so too. Therefore, she always sets aside some time during this period to train her children.
Big Mom has never trained properly, and her physique has not been properly developed. Even though she has mastered Conqueror's Haki Entanglement, she relies more on her talent. Her skillful application of this technique is not refined, and its power is not strong.
After a period of training, even with only one hour a day, Big Mom underwent an amazing transformation. Her Conqueror's Haki became more refined, and her use of Observation Haki and Armament Haki also improved significantly.
More importantly, her steel body seems to have been further enhanced.
Big Mom's accumulated potential was further unleashed through training, resulting in a significant increase in her strength. This rate of progress was Kaido's.
The pressure intensifies when facing one's own children.
Big Mom's figure, although she has gained a little weight, has been maintained. What makes her children happy is that through exercise, her Hunger Pangs seem to be suppressed. They no longer erupt without warning. She may want to eat certain foods, but she won't lose her mind.
However, if she doesn't wait for a long time, Big Mom loses patience, then loses her temper and wreaks havoc.
Her children have all improved significantly, inheriting Big Mom's bloodline. Even if it's just a little, they all have the potential to become powerful. And Big Mom is now focused on developing that potential.
Pressure and war are both nutrients for improving strength.
Now, after her battle with Whitebeard, Teach is no longer seen as a young brat.
"We can start sending out invitations now. A month is enough time. To avoid any unforeseen circumstances, we don't need to notify unimportant forces," Katakuri said. His current aura was also terrifying. He hadn't taken Growth Potion, but his strength had increased rapidly under Big Mom's pressure.
His physique and the Three Types of Haki have both made significant progress. His next goal is to master the internal destruction techniques of Haki and the technique of entanglement with Conqueror's Haki.
He is now undoubtedly one of the top combatants on the sea. Even if Big Mom 'Hunger Pangs flare up, he can hold her back and prevent her from causing greater damage. Moreover, he also has the power of the Homie, which he can flexibly combine with his own combat system.
"Let's begin then, I can't wait, Mama!"