The world's eyes are on me! [Part one]

In the end.

After a full day and night of twists and turns, this battle of unprecedented scale ended in a total Marine victory.

The Beasts Pirates paid an extraordinarily heavy price for this war.

Of their two Calamities, one died and the other was gravely wounded. A full third of their Headliner-level officers were lost, while more than half their ordinary pirates were killed or wounded.

The allied pirate crews that had joined them in battle fared even worse. Of more than a dozen captains, only three returned...

The Marines, by contrast.

Their casualties were far lighter. Although the Headquarters Vice Admirals had all sustained plenty of injuries, none were in danger of losing their lives.

Once the pursuit ended, the Vice Admirals began returning one after another, leading their men in clearing the battlefield amid the ruins, treating the wounded, and arresting and imprisoning every captive who had failed to escape.

Those captives alone numbered two or three thousand, keeping the Marines quite busy.

The dark clouds dispersed, and the downpour stopped.

Noah and Akainu also returned from the pursuit, walking toward the fortress along the shattered harbor.

They ran into several Headquarters Vice Admirals along the way. During their brief exchanges of greetings and conversation, the reactions were much the same: all were astonished by Noah's incredible accomplishments, full of admiration and envy as they marveled at his performance.

"The officers Headquarters sent to fight this time were all veteran Vice Admirals with plenty of experience. Quite a few are from the same generation as old man Garp."

Akainu took in those senior officers' reactions. Once he and Noah were alone again, he shook his head with a quiet chuckle.

"Quite a few of those stubborn old men thought Headquarters had gone overboard promoting you to