On the island Shiki had set foot on, one table of patrons stood out in a tavern. At their head sat a man with spiky red hair, an air of unruly defiance radiating from him. Beside him was a burly man wearing a mask riddled with holes, his long blond hair spilling out around it. Everyone seated around the pair looked fierce and dangerous, clearly not people to cross. The other patrons treaded carefully, not even daring to look straight at their table.
"Captain, it's getting harder and harder to get by in the New World!"
One of the men at the table complained,
"That so-called Pirate Alliance made it big, and now they want to put every other pirate out of business. They're sending people out to hunt down pirate crews of every size like mad, leaving us less and less room to survive. We can't even push a little farther into these waters, let alone keep sailing!"
His complaint summed up the situation of every pirate crew in the New World outside the Pirate Alliance.
In these waters, people like them had to either join the Pirate Alliance or face its relentless pursuit.
And even joining was no simple matter. The Pirate Alliance had actually set up some kind of screening system, subjecting anyone who sought to join them to stringent scrutiny.
"We only have two options now. Either we pull out of the New World for the time being and return to Paradise to build up enough strength before coming back,
"Or we find allies, band together, and keep holding out against them!"
The burly man with the mask and long blond hair spoke up as well.
As for joining the Pirate Alliance, that had never been an option for them.
After hearing all this, the red-haired