The war had already lasted a month.
Nearly two months had passed since the Great Pirate Era began.
Most of the Marines' forces and elites had been transferred to the New World to fight its pirates in a Bloody War.
As the Great Pirate Era gathered momentum, the entire sea erupted into chaos.
The final words of "Pirate King" Gol D. Roger had stirred countless people.
People who refused to settle for ordinary lives, mediocrity, or poverty found their ambitions kindled.
They flocked to the sea to seize money and treasure and search for the legendary One Piece!
Pirates appeared everywhere.
Their numbers swelled rapidly, especially across the Four Seas and the first half of the Grand Line.
In just one month, more new pirates had appeared than in an entire year before.
With so many pirates at large, the seas were thrown into turmoil.
Without the Marines to keep them in check, countless pirates ran wild, plundering wherever they pleased.
For an ordinary person, becoming a pirate might take no more than one fight, one act of theft.
And once they had done it once, they would do it again and again.
No one knew how many Island towns had been attacked and plundered, or how many families had been destroyed by the pirates' arrival.
Suffering spread. Without the Marines to hold them back, most Islands struggled to fend off pirate attacks.
Affiliated Nations found both their overseas trade and their coastal regions battered by countless pirates.
Smaller Islands and countries fared better. With enough troops and powerful weapons, they could repel pirate incursions.
Larger Kingdoms had more territory and stronger armies.
But the pirates slipped through every gap, finding unguarded areas to strike.
By the time soldiers or guards arrived, the pirates had vanished, leaving devastation behind.
A