The Red River Valley—that was what people called the newly opened passage. It owed its name not only to the scarlet Red Line on either side, but also to the blood-soaked battlefield within it.
The navy had suffered terrible losses in that battle. The pirates had suffered even worse!
The fighting had lasted three days and three nights. Thousands of pirate crews had poured in to join the carnage. Despite the losses it had sustained in the Paramount War, the navy had deployed elite troops from every quarter. Like a towering mountain, they had crushed countless pirates' ambitions on the spot!
Even a month later, the stench of blood had yet to fade. Blood had soaked the reddish earth of the Red Line until it blazed scarlet, casting its reflection across the entire strait and making the sea look like blood!
This was a road paved with blood in every sense.
In the end, the navy had won by a narrow margin. Apart from its top fighters, it had lost more than half its ordinary soldiers, weakening even its authority across the seas.
And yet...
The Ice Dragon had paid no attention to an upheaval of this scale. He had remained on Turtle Island, cut off from the outside world.
Some guessed that his wounds from fighting Whitebeard had not healed, which was why he had not appeared. Many found that convincing. After all, even before the Red River Valley had opened, the Kid Pirates and Hawkins Pirates had slipped beneath the Red Line and reached the New World. Loa had not struck them down.
Everyone wondered where Loa was. Was he still badly wounded, or was he focused on training?
Whatever the answer, not one person dared provoke Loa now that his name inspired such awe!
The Yonko were