The Underworld was chaotic, but the positions of its foremost kings had become unshakable.
Victor, the "King of Arms," had monopolized the New World's mid- and high-end arms trade.
His network and trade routes had expanded into the first half of the Grand Line and the underworlds of the Four Seas.
With the shipping channels of the Kronos Kingdom and Umit, the "Deep-Sea Whirlpool," Victor could supply arms across the entire world.
At their source, Victor's weapons came from the Kronos Kingdom.
Beneath Victor were countless arms dealers working with him around the world.
More precisely, they were his distributors.
Victor sold weapons to these dealers at a set price. Whether they used the weapons themselves or sold them on was up to them.
How much they charged or earned had nothing to do with Victor.
This kept costs down and allowed the business to expand rapidly.
There was no shortage of competitors. Other Underworld factions wanted a share of the arms trade, and the World Government was among them.
This arrangement won the "King of Arms" partners across the world and rapidly spread Victor's influence everywhere.
As for Umit, the "Deep-Sea Whirlpool," the Kronos Kingdom's backing had helped his shipping operations in the Four Seas grow steadily stronger.
With its vast number of News Coos, the World Economy News Paper had become the world's largest newspaper. Its influence was also pushing into the Underworld with unstoppable momentum.
The other Underworld Kings were just as difficult to dislodge, each backed by a complex web of power.
Competition at the top of the Underworld had settled down.
Among the New World's major pirate crews, however, tensions were steadily rising.
Against this backdrop, the John Pirates officially announced the fourth Pirate Expo.
It was the fourth because the third had already been