Water Seven. The newly repaired Moby Dick set sail upon the sea once more.
News of the recent punitive campaign had gradually spread across the seas over the past few days.
Most people naturally had no way of learning the specific details, but there was no doubt that the Whitebeard Pirates had emerged unscathed.
Some had expected this outcome long ago, but many were disappointed as well. The Marines' reputation had suffered another blow as a result.
After all, ordinary people cared most about their own safety.
In their eyes, the Marines existed to preserve peace across the seas, while pirates were naturally evil. With the Marines suffering consecutive setbacks in recent years, disappointment was inevitable.
In truth, though some pirates displayed lovable traits—such as innocence, passion, compassion, and dreams...
The relationship between pirates and civilians was never harmonious. What determined their opposing positions was not their individual personalities, but the most fundamental issues of productivity and survival.
In any world, for any race, the first problem to solve was survival.
And survival required the consumption of energy. For humans, eating and drinking were essential steps in taking in that energy.
Even someone as strong as Whitebeard still needed to eat and drink.
And that was where the problem arose. Pirates did not produce anything themselves, yet they consumed enormous amounts of supplies. A single banquet often wasted vast quantities of food and fine wine. Where did those things come from?
Perhaps for a great pirate crew like Whitebeard's, there were many ways to obtain wealth and supplies. They could attack other pirate crews, uncover treasures left behind by their predecessors, or use various other methods.
But even those pirate crews they robbed were not engaged in production themselves. The wealth and supplies aboard their ships had naturally been taken