Compared to Hashirama's popular day-to-day life at Marine Headquarters, the Third Raikage, stationed at a Marine Base in the New World, spent most of his time surrounded by steel and fire.
Eager to quickly win the admiration and loyalty of the Marines at the base—and having rediscovered the joy of battle—the Third Raikage had led them out on multiple occasions to fight pirates passing near the base.
With his formidable strength and decisive, hard-edged nature, the Third Raikage had been hungry for an impressive record. In that time, he had successfully captured and killed quite a few major pirates with bounties in the hundreds of millions.
His actions had earned him considerable renown in the New World, along with the respect and loyalty of many of his men.
At the same time, however, he had become the target of many pirates' hatred.
The New World was a paradise for major pirates. Those able to establish themselves there either had considerable strength of their own or had joined one of the Four Emperors and gained their protection.
Some of the pirates the Third Raikage had captured recently were followers of the Four Emperors. Some had happened to pass near the base while out plundering, while others had been transporting cargo on orders from one of the Four Emperors.
In the past, when no Admiral was stationed there, the bases along the front lines of the New World generally didn't take the initiative to hunt pirates. Their primary duty was defense.
As a result, many pirates paid little attention to the bases and didn't bother steering clear of them in their usual travels.
The Third Raikage's arrival had changed the status quo and caught the pirates off guard, inflicting heavy losses on them.
As it happened, the latest pirate fleet intercepted by