"Goa... Celestial Dragons? And that brat..." Sig lay on the small boat deck, looking at the newspaper he had just received from the News Bird.
News from the Grand Line, especially the New World portion, is generally not disseminated worldwide. This is an unspoken rule that even the old fox at the WEC dares not transgress—unless it's some really big news, big enough for Morgans to dare challenge all the rules.
Similarly, even across the four seas, from the four seas to the Grand Line, news is not readily available. After all, the distance is so vast that for 99% of people it's like another world, and most news has lost its news value.
However, the restrictions are not that strict...
The largest country in the East China Sea has experienced a devastating, suspected man-made Catastrophe, and this major news still made it into the New World newspaper.
In the Kingdom of Goa, a fire broke out at the Terminal of Uncertainties, resulting in the deaths of countless residents of the Border Town and the Terminal of Uncertainties.
Although the WEC did not report the cause directly, it stated in the next edition that Celestial Dragons would soon arrive in the Kingdom of Goa, making the truth behind the fire somewhat obvious.
Of course, Sig also knew another, more fundamental reason...
On the surface, the Kingdom of Goa seems to be simply burning the "garbage" to "clean up the city" and showcase the best side of the most beautiful East Sea country. However, Sig knows that this may be a continuation of the Goa crisis three years ago!
At that time, the Grand Prince of An'er wanted to fight for the rights of the border people, and the source of the planned coup was the Terminal of Uncertainties.
However, because An'er and Shanks, who assisted him, naively believed in King Peter, and because An'er's wife was also "turned to the side," the Goa royal family ultimately completed the decapitation operation without bloodshed!
For the previous two years, the King of Goa did not immediately pursue the matter in order to divide and suppress the rebellion. After the wife of the Grand Duke of An'er was executed, his son was even arranged to be adopted by the nobleman Oteruk.
Now, two years have passed, and it's time to settle accounts...
Back on Dawn Island, Sig disliked Red-Hair's naiveté, so he didn't get involved in the matter.
He'd only "heard" about the result, but now Sig recalled—wasn't that kid named Stelly?
That's quite a coincidence!
If not for the butterfly effect, Sabo, Outlook III's biological son and never considered a suitable heir, might already be "dead" from the shelling.
Of course, in the original work, Sabo actually suffers from amnesia and is rescued by the Revolutionary Army.
In other words, An'er's biological son is now the sole heir of the Otluck family...
Moreover, in the original work, Stelly's "luck" as the chosen one continued. First, he married the Princess of Goa, and then the king and prince of Goa died suddenly and mysteriously, allowing him to become king smoothly.
It's a pity that Stelly received a traditional Gothic aristocratic education from a young age and did not inherit the ideals of his biological father, the Grand Duke of An'er.
Shanks certainly couldn't have foreseen what would happen so far in the future, but the news of the "Goa Fire" alone should be enough to make him reflect on his actions...
As for the news about Goa, although it was on the front page, it wasn't what Sig was most concerned about right now.
After all, the East Blue is on the other side of the planet, and there's not much Sig can do about it. It's more of a "landmark event" that makes Sig deduce that the core members of the Revolutionary Army should also be in the East Blue now—after all, in the original work, it was Dragon, Okama King, Kuma, and others who saved the amnesiac Sabo.
More closely related to Sig and influencing the next steps was another news item published two days earlier, about the World Government increasing the amount of "Celestial Gold" for the New World Affiliated Nation.
The so-called "Celestial Gold" is actually the "protection fee" paid by Affiliated Nation to the World Government, which is also the basis for the World Government to exploit the world and strengthen itself.
Sig could roughly guess the reason for this surge in "Celestial Gold"—the World Government was indeed rotten to the core!
According to Sig's analysis of the situation in the New World, the World Government's military forces have almost completely withdrawn from the New World, which is only a matter of the last two or three years...
In the original work, ten years later, only a scattered and disorganized Marine Branch, led by Doflamingo's undercover agent, remained stationed in the New World. It wasn't until Akainu became the Fleet Admiral that he had the strategic intention to return to the New World.
In other words, the Marine Branch will be disbanded on a large scale in the New World very soon.
After that, whether the World Government likes it or not, the "Celestial Gold" of the New World Affiliated Nation will be greatly reduced - the nominal amount of "Celestial Gold" is also clearly listed by items, among which "maritime military support" is undoubtedly a major item!
There isn't even a Marine Branch in the surrounding area, so naturally no country would approve of this expenditure. Moreover, without military coercion, the World Government wouldn't push too hard and would simply cut off the collection of this "Celestial Gold."
From this perspective, the reason for the current "price increase" is quite despicable.
Nominally, there have been increases in all areas, but specifically not in "naval military support." This way, even after the navy withdraws in two years and this "Celestial Gold" item is cancelled, a certain share can still be guaranteed...
As for whether any countries will withdraw from the alliance in anger?
If we're going to withdraw anyway, we might as well make one last big profit—besides, the World Government can't just withdraw whenever it wants!
However, this will cause hardship for some New World countries that were already facing financial difficulties in the past two years...
For example, Sig's next destination— Dressrosa!
In the original story, around next year, Doflamingo will usurp the rule of Dressrosa, and at that time King Riku couldn't even come up with a "mere" 10 billion.
Of course, in retrospect, this could very well be due to the World Government raising taxes, resulting in Dressrosa's treasury being completely empty.
However, Doflamingo had already been treated to death by Sig six months ago—nominally, he died from Kaido's pursuit.
The crisis in Dressrosa was resolved before it even erupted.
Based on the current situation in the New World, Dressrosa falls within the New World Government's sphere of influence, and no pirates have set foot there...
This is clearly one of the reasons why Doflamingo's plan succeeded in the original work!
If Dressrosa were the territory of a pirate overlord, even if it wasn't a core territory, they wouldn't stand by and watch Doflamingo, Shichibukai, act so recklessly, just to save face.
However, the World Government was already trying to get rid of its burdens in the New World, and Dressrosa didn't even have a pirate overlord protecting it.
Sig's judgment that the New World region, where the World Government currently has strong control, will become the focus of war and the place where new sea emperors set sail and claim territory is entirely predictable.
Meanwhile, Sig was disappointed that there was no news about Shanks in the newspapers, but at least there wasn't any bad news either; he even heard that an "old friend" had made it big...
Not long ago, another Shichibukai was killed by a new, upstart pirate, who was also a lone pirate.
Even Morgans remained tight-lipped about the identity of this rising pirate, only drawing a long sword and a crescent-shaped mustache in the accompanying illustration, and vaguely mentioning that his mother had sailed with a famous Great Pirate —it was almost as if he had written "Whitebeard's illegitimate son" in the title!
Of course, Whitebeard's family affairs have nothing to do with Sig.
Sig mainly noticed was that the new Shichibukai was later awarded to his old friend, Tesoro.