The Blackbeard fleet's retreat was far from easy. Once they began to flee, the Dressrosa army, which had remained still until then, moved at Uchiha Hikaru's command and gave chase.
The pursuit lasted for more than another hour before finally ending. The Blackbeard Pirates abandoned many damaged pirate ships that could not move quickly, while the remnants fought as they retreated. The high spirits of more than twenty thousand men when they had arrived had turned into the miserable flight of only a few thousand defeated strays.
The pirates Uchiha Hikaru had knocked into the sea and who had luckily survived were all fished out and imprisoned. The wounded received only basic treatment. Whether they lived or died was none of Hikaru's concern; he was hardly kind enough to save vicious pirates.
Thus, after winning two consecutive battles, the Dressrosa army finally returned to Dressrosa on the following evening.
They were greeted by a grand naval reception stretching across ten miles of sea. The motley assortment of ships made the massive fleet look rather ridiculous, yet everyone's faces were filled with unconcealed excitement.
"Their acting is really convincing!" Hikaru watched the important figures from various nations lined up at sea to welcome him, each looking as though they had seen their savior, and could not help feeling disgusted.
After Jinbe returned to Dressrosa ahead of them and brought news of the defeat of the Big Mom Pirates fleet, the important figures from various nations who had remained in Dressrosa rather than fleeing were shocked. Then, one after another, they quickly recalled Uchiha Hikaru's previous proposal for a grand alliance.
In an instant, the word regret seemed carved across their minds.
A presumptuous newcomer who tried to form a grand alliance would be wiped out within days. But a fleet capable