The Aging Pride

From far away, a voice drifted over, faint and almost unreal.

Hannyabal stood rooted to the spot. He did not know what Xia Le's choice meant or how it would affect the world. He only knew that the future might change in some unpredictable way at this very moment.

Seagulls soared through the blue sky, and ripples spread across the boundless sea.

Xia Le stood at the bow, smiling with his eyes closed.

The air was nothing like Impel Down's. It felt both familiar and strange, and after so long in the dark, his eyes struggled with the light outside.

But he did not need his eyes to see. Even with them closed, the fusion of Observation Haki and the Rumble-Rumble Fruit let him perceive everything.

With a mere thought, everything within a radius of a hundred thousand meters, two hundred thousand, three hundred thousand, even five hundred thousand meters appeared clearly in his mind.

The sheer range was staggering.

His Observation Haki could now cover an entire island with ease.

Beside him, Fisher Tiger and Kuina looked excited. Buggy, meanwhile, was racking his brain to recount everything that had happened over the years.

What kind of era was this now?

Seven Warlords stood across the world, forming a powerful force allied with the Marines to counter the four Emperors of the New World.

The Great Pirate Era was at its most turbulent.

The four Emperors ruled the seas. Their formidable strength and vast territories even eclipsed the Marines, tipping the balance of power at sea.

For years, the Marines had been pressed back at every turn.

The four Emperors made it nearly impossible for the Marines to gain ground in the New World. Their reach there was even smaller than it had been in Pirate King Roger's day.