Sure enough, news broke within two days that Sig had arranged for a giant Sea King to take the Red Force away from Fish-Man Island —though the newspapers didn't provide any detailed analysis, as this involved the pirate crew's abilities and strength.
Sig estimated that the Navy would become increasingly nervous, and... the higher up the Navy leadership, the more nervous they would be. However, at the level of the World Government's top brass and the Five Elders, there was more confusion than anything else.
The naval high command might have heard of the existence of Ancient Weapon and become nervous, but the Five Elders, and even the mysterious Imu, who should know about the "Mermaid Princess," would only be more confused.
That's why Sig didn't have the seven sea emperors come to pick him up directly; otherwise, he might have been too unprepared.
The World Government will definitely have the idea of "capturing him no matter what," it's just a matter of degree. Once Sig becomes "Sea King," the World Government's determination will be useless, but for now... they still need to carefully consider escalating the situation.
"This is the New World... It's only been two days, how many times has this happened already?" Yasopp looked on helplessly, far away at the stern of the ship, where terrifying "waterspouts" were sweeping in.
Several densely packed tornadoes swept across the sea in an S-shape, like a swarm of bees, but fortunately, they seemed to be moving away from the Red Force.
Or rather...
The Red Force avoided the "waterspout's" path in advance, circling around to the opposite direction.
Two days ago, the Red Force surfaced with its waterproof membrane torn, and since then, it has encountered similar extreme weather conditions several times!
Although the natural world in the first half of the Grand Line is incredibly turbulent, it pales in comparison to the New World.
"That's right, so the pirates of the New World ... even call the first half of the Grand Line 'Paradise'." Shanks is quite familiar with the New World, after all, he sailed the New World with Roger's crew when he was "a child".
The first half of the Grand Line is already a place where strong people gather in the eyes of ordinary pirates. In the eyes of pirates from all over the world, pirates who have been to the Grand Line are all powerful "seniors".
But for pirates in the New World, the first half was practically Paradise...
"No wonder we encountered quite a few pirates 'returning' on Fish-Man Island ... It's said that half of the pirates who come to the New World turn back and sail towards Coated Island in the New World before even reaching their first island, hoping to return to Paradise!" Lucky Roo's tone was somewhat sarcastic.
"The harsh weather is just the first test... With our Navigator here, it seems this test won't be a problem," Beckman said, lighting a cigarette.
"That's right. Half of the islands in the New World are not suitable for ordinary people to live on. The seas, shipping lanes and climates between these islands are extremely harsh, and the environment on the islands is also very bad. However... for 'newcomers,' the most dangerous half is the other half, the islands suitable for human habitation!" Shanks reminded them at this moment.
An island suitable for human habitation means it already has an "owner".
Most habitable islands in the New World are either the territory of a Great Pirate or fly the flag of a dominant pirate. Very few islands are under the control of the World Government.
Even Sig knows...
Compared to twelve years later, the World Government now actually has more control over the New World.
After all, the World Government is only "gradually shifting its policy toward the Revolutionary Army" and is far from "regarding the Revolutionary Army as its greatest enemy."
Therefore, the World Government has not yet completely given up on the pirates of the New World...
In some ways, the New World is actually easier to navigate than the situation ten years later in the original story.
The six major powers are powerful, but in the cracks, there are also many so-called "Great Pirate." The headquarters of three of the Shichibukai are located in the New World, and some Marine Branch also barely control parts of the sea...
It's not that having a navy makes it more stable, but rather that the intermingling of multiple forces makes it more chaotic!
Chaos allows newcomers to get involved and has the opportunity to adapt.
Now it's "without aligning with a dominant force, it's difficult for newcomers to gain a foothold," but after the Four Emperors emerged in the original work, it almost became "without aligning with Four Emperors, it's impossible to establish oneself in the New World." Newcomers... unless they are super rookies like the Supernovas, they don't even have the opportunity to grow in the New World.
Even Supernovas can easily crash and burn.
After confirming that they had escaped the tornadoes, Sig instructed Morio to correct the course and continue toward the target indicated by the Log Pose.
At this point, Sig is using Log Pose, not Eternal Pose, and the Log Pose in the "New World" is different from that in "Paradise".
On a Log Pose dial, there are three pointers—after Record the magnetic field, they will point in three directions. However, each pointer shakes violently, almost like a seizure, Navigator can usually only choose the direction that shakes less violently to sail in.
Therefore, unlike the "Paradise," the normal navigation routes are intersecting, rather than just seven "one-way streets."
Shanks and his crew had previously learned that the Crying Pirates had caused some trouble on Fish-Man Island...
They got into a fight with the Big Mom Pirates and the executives who came to the Ryugu Kingdom to buy sweets!
It is said that the Captain, second Captain, and third Captain of the Crying Pirates were instantly killed by a one-against-three attack.
Although the Captain is a "Supernovas," that officer of the Big Mom Pirates is even more extraordinary, with a bounty exceeding 300 million at a young age!
It was Charlotte Snack, Big Mom's 25th son... about the same age as Hody, but two years older Jack.
In the original work, Snack was also the second youngest top executive of a royal crew after Jack —the fourth of the Four Sweet Commanders of the Big Mom Pirates, with a bounty of 600 million!
However, because he was defeated by Urouge Mad Monk, one of Luffy's fellow Supernovas, Snack had been removed from his position as Sweet Commander and became an ordinary officer when Luffy set off again two years later, and the Four Sweet Commanders had become the Three Sweet Commanders.
Snack is still young and just an ordinary officer, but it would be easy for him to bully ordinary Supernovas —the three Captain of the Crying Pirates combined don't even have his bounty!
However, Snack was then instantly killed by a Two-Sword Style swordsman...
Rumors suggest that the other party is merely a "minor figure" within the Crying Pirates.
After this incident, the Crying Pirates became even more anxious to leave Fish-Man Island.
Although the rumors are vague, Shanks suspects that the Two-Sword Style swordsman is "Yunlai," who previously hid his identity on the Crying Pirates' ship.
At the time, it was probably to repay a favor, or perhaps because he still needed the Crying Pirates' help, that Yunlai displayed his strength, defeated Snack, and then urged the Crying Pirates to leave.
On one hand, he was anxious, and on the other hand... the Big Mom Pirates were not to be trifled with!