The Frantic New World, Strong Figures Enter the Fray in Full Force!

Across the oceans, news regarding Shiki and the Roger Pirates joining forces, along with Kaido's capture, quickly sparked intense discussions.

"It's over! Hero Garp just crushed the Rocks Pirates, and now a terrifying force like this has popped up!"

"Look at them leaning against the railing by the street, all with solemn expressions—they must be plotting something big, right?"

"Could it be that this time they're going to attack Holy Mary Geoise?"

"I'm guessing it's Marine Headquarters instead!"

"Come to think of it, why isn't anyone paying attention to Kaido? He actually got caught!"

"Plenty of pirates get caught; why bother paying attention to him?"

"He's just a loser. By comparison, the alliance between the Roger Pirates and Shiki is way more terrifying, wouldn't you say?"

"Who the hell is this "Vikengam"? Never seen him before."

"Never heard of him, but being able to hang out with Shiki, Roger, and the rest obviously means he's no simple character."

"Didn't you see that when he was leaning against the railing over there, he was in the prime spot on Roger's immediate right? Maybe he's already replaced Dark King Rayleigh and become Roger's vice captain!"

"No way, right? That's Rayleigh!"

"What do you mean, no way? Word is Rayleigh snatched Shakky, the ultimate beauty, at God Valley, so he might step down and leave the Roger Pirates any minute now."

"Huh? Put that way, it actually makes some sense!"

Yet only a few days later, Marine Headquarters and the World Government issued a refutation regarding this matter.

They claimed that Shiki's crew had already headed from West Blue to the first half of the Grand Line and had not joined forces with the Roger Pirates, hoping the public would not panic too much over it. Marine Headquarters would do everything in their power to protect the safety of the people across the seas, maintain peace in the Four Blues, and so on.

Over the next few months, the seas were indeed turbulent, especially the New World. It truly was wave after wave, with various explosive news items continuously arriving, making everyone on the ocean exclaim in sheer delight.

First was that bastard Wang Zhi, who was the first to return to the former Rocks Pirates stronghold of Hachinosu, announcing that it would be his territory from then on.

Though that bastard Wang Zhi was despicable and shameless, betraying his comrades, as a pirate, being despicable had never really been a problem.

He also possessed his own influence, having formed a cult on the high seas with pirates as its base of followers, earning him the title of "Pirate Preacher," and he had plenty of followers under his command.

Now, with a wave of his arms on Hachinosu, he actually drew quite a few responders and quickly dug himself in.

Next was Charlotte Linlin returning to her lair, Cake Island, and officially announcing the formation of the Big Mom Pirates.

Not many people across the seas were actually surprised by this; many had anticipated it long ago. That Charlotte Linlin was a veteran pirate, having had a bounty placed on her by the Marines at age five. Running amok on the seas alongside that fellow Streusen, she had her own core group long before joining the Rocks Pirates and had occupied Cake Island for years—it just hadn't been made official until now.

Now, she had made it official, and from then on she was the captain of the Big Mom Pirates.

As for Totto Land, which would later become famous in the New World, its budding signs were also beginning to show.

After that came news of Gan Sui, John, Gill Bastar, and various other former members of the Rocks Pirates.

Without exception, these fellows had each established their own pirate crews and started slaughtering one another within the New World.

In particular, Gan Sui, a Bomb-Bomb Fruit user, and John, a Magnet-Magnet Fruit user, must have harbored bad blood from God Valley. They clashed multiple times in the New World, marking the vanguard of the chaotic internal warfare among the remnant factions of the Rocks Pirates.

Then, at Water 7 in the first half of the Grand Line, Golden Lion Shiki forged his flagship, the Flying Lion, and announced the formation of the Flying Pirates alongside Silver Axe and the Catfish Wrestler Babel, declaring himself captain.

Compared to Charlotte Linlin, Gan Sui, Wang Zhi, and the others, who had previously more or less started fresh and fought solo,

Shiki's Flying Pirates instantly boasted three major former executives of the Rocks Pirates. Their momentum could well be imagined, and before they had even entered the New World, many had already deemed them the pirate faction most likely to conquer the new era.

Yet before Shiki could even enter the New World, King of Giants Harald broke off his own horns at Marine Headquarters—Marineford, shocking the seas.

Afterward, the World Government made him the right and left hand of the Marines, and from then on Harald began a frenzied crackdown on pirate forces across the seas.

As luck would have it, while cracking down on pirates in the New World, he crossed paths with Polo Gram, who had also participated in the Battle of God Valley, displayed a degree of strength, and kicked Silver Axe flying with a single blow.

Although Gram had crossed swords with Silver Axe, it didn't mean he was truly stronger than Silver Axe. The God Valley battlefield had been utterly chaotic, and all sorts of situations happening was completely normal. Borsalino had also once been sent flying by a kick from Marco, but could one say Marco was stronger than Borsalino?

Anyway, whether Gram was stronger than Silver Axe or not was unknown, but he certainly wasn't as fierce as King of Giants Harald.

With absolute superiority, Harald defeated Polo Gram and destroyed his Polo Pirates.

As a renowned major pirate in the New World as well, the defeat of Polo Gram undoubtedly stirred up quite a few waves across the seas, and many suspected whether Polo Gram would sink into obscurity after this battle.

Yet not long after, another shocking piece of news surfaced across the oceans.

Namely, Polo Gram—who had been dealt a heavy blow by Harald not long before—had somehow managed to track down Whitebeard Edward Newgate, who had remained completely quiet ever since the Battle of God Valley.

He then led the remnants of the Polo Pirates and joined Newgate's forces.

Immediately following that, Newgate announced the establishment of the Whitebeard Pirates and declared himself captain!

Whitebeard's personal strength was immensely formidable to begin with. Back when the Rocks Pirates still existed, he was often referred to as the second-in-command of the Rocks Pirates, though Shiki took strong exception to that.

Yet it was undeniable that Whitebeard was truly strong. Following the Battle of God Valley, he vanished from the public eye, leading many to assume he might simply retire into seclusion from then on.

No one expected that after bottling it up for several months, he would pop out with such massive news.

With the tardy arrival of the Whitebeard Pirates, the tides of the New World grew even more turbulent. The mutual conquests of the pirates left the New World shaken and unsettled, causing the influence of the World Government to recede significantly as a result.

The most representative change was that several Marine bases in the New World were uprooted one after another by these pirates.

Even with Harald, the King of Giants, helping to hold down the fort, the Marines currently seemed incapable of saving face in front of this group of savage pirates.

A very interesting phenomenon emerged in the New World.

Namely, regardless of how fiercely these pirates slaughtered one another within the New World, the moment issues involving the World Government and the Marines arose, they could swiftly put aside their mutual disputes, point their spears at the Marines, drive the Marines out first, and only then return to killing each other.

This was especially true for the factions formed by former members of the Rocks Pirates.

Perhaps it was because they had all witnessed that terrifying power at God Valley that they shared such an extraordinary, tacit understanding when it came to opposing the World Government?

Compared to these passionately warring pirates,

the Roger Pirates—who had previously been exposed as joining forces with Shiki—grew increasingly low-key instead, no longer drawing the attention of the masses across the seas.

Aside from occasionally having their whereabouts exposed and kicking up some minor disturbances, the Roger Pirates continuously wandered frantically across various parts of the world, making it completely impossible to calculate their trajectory of movement and appearing thoroughly unique. Nobody had any idea what they were up to.