Marineford.
Rock stood before the floor-to-ceiling window of the Admiral's office. Before him lay only a world map covering the entire wall.
Blue represented the Marines.
Black represented Adventure Groups.
Red represented pirates.
Five years ago, dense red markers had covered nearly all of the Four Seas and the Grand Line.
But now, that once-menacing sea of red had begun shrinking back toward the New World for the first time.
Over these five years, the sea had never truly been peaceful, but many things had quietly changed.
The Adventure Group system had been accepted by more and more kingdoms, trade associations, and ordinary people.
Countless young people who might once have been drawn in by the Great Pirate Era now had another path.
They could still pursue freedom and set sail for distant horizons, but they no longer needed murder and robbery to prove they had ever crossed these seas.
The number of Adventure Groups soared.
In contrast, the number of new-generation pirates plummeted.
Marine Branches across the Four Seas had also continued expanding over the past five years.
Warships, manpower, military doctors, and supply systems were reorganized. Branches that had once been able only to huddle in ports and wait for orders began actively patrolling and clearing nearby sea routes.
At the same time.
The Golden Emperor Tesoro's funds flowed into Punk Hazard through countless secret channels.
Vast wealth was rapidly converted into the newest experimental equipment, rare materials, and trial-and-error opportunities with almost no regard for cost.
Vegapunk's research progressed beyond even his own expectations for the first time.
Deep underground on Punk Hazard.
Inside an icy cultivation tank, a fruit intertwined with silver-white and dark red floated in nutrient fluid.
A project that should have taken at least ten years to take shape showed stable reactions ahead