Follow-Up
The Whitebeard Pirates were far from calm upon hearing this news; they had already been thoroughly defeated by the Night Pirates.
After all, the Night Pirates' suppressive power was too terrifying. If it weren't for Pops Whitebeard defeating Teach, the Whitebeard Pirates would have truly lost face.
Thanks to Whitebeard's terrifying power, there are now very few forces that dare to offend the Whitebeard Pirates. During this period, the number of their territories has increased by about fifty.
They occupied more than seventy islands in the Flying Sea, and later the Beasts Pirates stole about twenty more islands from them.
Under Whitebeard's immense power, the Whitebeard Pirates' comfortable environment, coupled with reduced external interference, meant that their strength could not increase rapidly.
The Whitebeard Pirates hold at least two or three birthday parties a month, sometimes more, and given their strength, further improvement is naturally slow.
In this situation, the Whitebeard Pirates are constantly being chased and even surpassed by the Big Mom Pirates and the Beasts Pirates.
Meanwhile, the Marine Headquarters also compared the number of key members of the Night Pirates based on information from scouts, updating and adding intelligence.
The analysis of strength and the establishment of bounties, including adding bounties to members who didn't have any, was a busy and large undertaking, but it also gave them a clearer understanding of the Night Pirates' strength.
However, the newly dispatched intelligence agents to the Night Sea Domain also suffered heavy losses, as they were captured by the Night Pirates.
It's normal for some to slip through the net. After all, as long as there's no unusual activity, even "Shar" wouldn't be able to detect it. Moreover, Rediat can't probe everyone's memories. Detecting malice relies more on Pito's Observation Haki.
More importantly, letting a few World Government spies go is also a form of infiltration into their intelligence organization. It is precisely because of the large number of intelligence personnel who have sacrificed their lives, coupled with the difficulty of training intelligence personnel, that these surviving intelligence personnel are all the more precious.
Moreover, a steady, gradual approach can accumulate enough to silently infiltrate the intelligence agencies of the World Government and the Navy. In fact, the Night Pirates have been doing this ever since they obtained the Memory-Memory Fruit.
With the World Government's assistance and Stephanie's help, progress is fast, while the Navy's progress is somewhat slower, but the Night Pirates can afford to wait.
The formidable power of the Night Pirates, coupled with the opening of the Night Sea Domain and the allure of various renowned arenas and Combat Pyramid, has drawn countless pirates to the region, contributing their strength to the development of the Night Sea Domain.
Although the Night Pirates' battle has ended, this is only the beginning.
There are still many things to arrange, and it's not as simple as it seems on the surface.
Teach, Rediat, Ares are the kings.
The Seven Demon Kings, Thirteen Demon Generals, and Seventy-two Demon Pillars are the commanders of the Night Pirates.
Since he is a general, he needs to have his own subordinates, and these will be assigned later.
In Teach's vision, the Night Pirates now number 500,000.
In reality, there are many more people who belong to the Night Pirates. In the Night Sea Domain, there are many people who work for the Night Pirates, but they are all considered to be support staff.
More members are not necessarily better. Teach and his crew have started to consciously control the number of members, and the requirements for becoming a member of the Night Pirates are getting higher and higher. Those who are not strong enough will be eliminated.
Of course, they won't eliminate everyone directly; eliminating too many people would cause internal turmoil.
Although they gradually identify themselves as members of the Night Pirates, they will gradually become marginalized and unknowingly turn into logistics personnel or ordinary pirates.
Although they are called members of the Night Pirates, they only need to do some unimportant work, and in reality, they are no different from ordinary pirates and residents living in the Night Sea Domain.
After discussion, it was decided that each of the Seventy-two Demon Pillars would lead three thousand members of the Night Pirates. This number was also carefully considered, as too many would be difficult to control with their own strength.
Three thousand people are enough. With the competitive mechanism of the Night Pirates, the average bounty of the Seventy-two Demon Pillars can be increased by 200 million Beli. Each of them would be Great Pirate on the sea.
With such strength, leading three thousand people is no problem at all.
Although the Night Pirates have many powerful members, they operate on a voluntary membership Night Pirates until all spots are filled.
Those with some strength naturally wouldn't rely on them; most would choose to join the ranks of the Seven Demon Kings or the Thirteen Demon Generals, whose leaders are more powerful.
So there's no need to worry about anyone disobeying orders because of their strength. After all, they are all arrogant and won't obey members who are only slightly stronger than themselves.
To prevent any single entity from becoming too powerful, each of the seventy-two Seventy-two Demon Pillars has two deputy commanders under them, each responsible for leading one thousand five hundred people.
The Thirteen Demon Generals will each command 15,000 troops, and each can appoint ten deputy generals under their command.
The Seven Demon Kings each command an army of 30,000 men, and each has twenty deputy commanders appointed under them.
Each deputy commander-in-chief can command 1,500 people, essentially creating an additional cadre position.
While he's far from being a core member of the Night Pirates, he'd be more than qualified to be a member of the executive team.
This way, the internal fighting strength of the Night Pirates can be fully utilized, instead of just the less than one hundred officers, which is far from enough compared to the 500,000 members of the Night Pirates.
The Sequence Plan was Teach planned to implement six years ago, during which time the Night Pirates underwent astonishing changes.
The expansion was so rapid that even Teach himself hadn't anticipated it. So, after discussing it with Mostima and the others, they modified and supplemented the original plan.
More positions can also increase the activity of internal competition. If there are only so many positions, many people will feel hopeless and lose motivation, which is Teach doesn't want to see.
After all, the era of the Night Pirates is about to begin, and it's understandable that the Night Pirates have their own pride. He hopes that the entire pirate crew can maintain its vitality for a long time.
Therefore, the Seven Demon Kings led a total of 210,000 people, the Thirteen Demon Generals led a total of 150,000 people, and the Seventy-two Demon Pillars together comprised a total of 216,000 people.
There are a total of 476,000 people, and this will roughly be the configuration from now on. It doesn't matter if there are a few more people.
The total number of Night Pirates is naturally not only this many; the remaining members will be used to form forces to protect various important areas of the Night Sea Domain.
Just like the Combat Pyramid, the Night Palace, several special islands, and the Dark Camp for nurturing the future Dark Night Pirates.
The various Dark Islands are dedicated to training special agents and intelligence personnel, and also serve as important research bases.
These places all require a large number of people to protect them.
Whether it's the Seven Demon Kings, the Thirteen Demon Generals, or the Seventy-two Demon Pillars, they all have the responsibility of protecting the Night Sea Domain.
Each person is assigned a region that expands outward from the center, and both islands and Sky Island fall under their jurisdiction.
Furthermore, considering that the Night Pirates now have more than fifty affiliated pirate crews, and the captains of each affiliated pirate crew are all quite strong, with the strongest having a bounty of 600 million Beli.
Compared to the time when the Night Pirates were at war with the Whitebeard Pirates, the number of affiliated pirate crews of the Night Pirates has doubled in just two years.
In today's vast ocean, where living space is squeezed, those without the strength to guard a region are best off relying on powerful forces. After the Dark Emperor's battle against Whitebeard, the Night Pirates' prestige became extraordinary, and one pirate crew after another began to want to join Night Pirates.
These are just the pirate crews that are qualified to become affiliated pirate crews of the Night Pirates. There are plenty of pirate crews in the Night Sea Domain who are not qualified. With the Night Pirates' influence, they can gather a terrifying force with a wave of their hand.
Besides their formidable strength, the presence of their mechanical arms makes the Night Pirates that no one dares to offend.
To date, no other pirate crew has ever proactively invaded the Night Pirates' territory.
If you offend the Night Pirates, and you lose an arm or a leg, you will never be able to recover, your fighting ability will be greatly reduced, and you will never be able to become a normal person again.
Moreover, the robotic arm has been around for seven years now, and even ordinary people all over the world can enjoy it. This alone is enough to win over the hearts of many.
At least it won't evoke any negative feelings, since the Night Pirates have never done anything like massacring civilians.
The division of personnel was quick, taking only three days; the Night Pirates valued efficiency.
Most players are now concentrated in the Combat Pyramid, which will begin after the Sequence Battle.
Members can choose to join the Seven Demon Kings, Thirteen Demon Generals, and Seventy-two Demon Pillars. There is a limit to the number of members; once the limit is reached, no one can choose anymore, and they can only choose other people.
The Night Pirates had plenty of men, and soon most of these units were at full strength, and even those that weren't at full strength were almost there.
Most of the powerful members joined the Seven Demon Kings and Thirteen Demon Generals under their protection. This was inherently a competition, so those who were stronger would naturally be faster.
Some members, preferring to be big in a small pond rather than small in a big pond, chose to join the Seventy-two Demon Pillars, since the position of deputy commander was very attractive, while the competition for the Seven Demon Kings and Thirteen Demon Generals was extremely fierce.
The extra members will be assigned to guard various important locations.
Currently, they are nominally Teach's direct subordinate force, and then managed by Mostima.
Once the number of people reaches a certain level, they will assign positions similar to deputy commanders, among which there will naturally be many strong individuals.
For now, Kaguya is the leader and doesn't need to manage things, which is enough for her. In any case, they will continue to recruit people in the future, and most of the pirates they train will join them.
The successful conclusion of the Night Pirates' battle and the initial completion of follow-up arrangements brought the Night Pirates' morale to its peak, allowing them to begin envisioning the future.
And this is just one of the goals the Night Pirates have set after becoming the rulers of the New World.
Now that this matter is basically completed, they should discuss the next phase of the plan.
Not long after the personnel arrangements were completed, an important meeting was held in the Night Palace, in the Hall of Domination. The number of attendees was small, consisting of only Teach, Rediat, and Mostima.
Many clandestine schemes don't require many people to know about them.
"Did we find that thing?" Teach asked Mostima.
Most of the time, Mostima manages the Night Pirates' massive intelligence network, possessing a vast amount of information.
Prior to this, Teach had arranged for Mostima to do an important task.
"I'm sorry, it was hidden too well. We couldn't find the location where the Navy stored the Power Stone." Mostima shook his head somewhat ashamedly. After learning about the existence of the Power Stone, he knew the terrifying power it brought. He never expected that the Navy and the World Government would be hiding such a terrifying weapon.
Power Stone, a special type of rock, exists deep underground in the sea. It explodes upon contact with air, possessing astonishing destructive power to destroy an island, no less than that of Ancient Weapon.
Only the navy has the capability to mine Power Stone.
Teach had Mostima search for the location where the Navy was hiding the Power Stone. Just like Uranus, something that poses a huge threat should be destroyed immediately or brought under our control.
Unfortunately, it's difficult to get to the Navy's true secrets just by relying on the words "Power Stone." This kind of thing is likely known only to the Navy's high command, specifically Admiral.
"It's alright, we're not in a hurry." Teach didn't blame Mostima, after all, this mission was inherently very difficult and unlikely to succeed, and he hadn't given Mostima much time.
"However, I have identified a naval officer who knows about the Power Stone. He is a Marine Vice Admiral, and his mission is to guard the Power Stone and prevent it from being stolen," Mostima said. "He will appear at the naval meeting and will disappear soon afterward, disappearing into the waters near the Red Line in the New World."
"There must be a secret naval base hidden there. I've now obtained intelligence that the Marine Vice Admiral is in Marineford, which means there must be an important meeting at Marine Headquarters. This is our opportunity."
"Oh? Rediat, I'll have to trouble you this time." Teach's eyes lit up as he looked at Rediat.
"Leave it to me." Rediat nodded and smiled.
This kind of mission requires his skill; there are too many islands near the Red Line that can be located, and they might even be in the Calm Belt.
With Rediat around, all we need to do is wait for that Marine Vice Admiral to arrive in the New World, and we can obtain Vice Admiral memories. Memories cannot hide secrets.
"But how do we do it?"
"Don't act for now. Obtain the location of that island, information about the Power Stone, and the technology to mine it." Teach shook his head, tapping his fingers lightly on the throne as he pondered. "Don't act immediately. Think about whether we can plan something to cause trouble for the World Government's Navy."
"It's better to reveal this kind of weapon at a critical moment. Even if we take the Power Stone, the navy still has the technology to continue mining it."
With the right technology, we can continuously mine Power Stone. But if we take direct action, we might alert the enemy.
"From now on, let's focus on the wedding. After all, we've been preparing for so long, we can't afford any surprises."