"This concerns our military's next strategic deployment."
"Even if you know, don't disclose it to anyone."
"This is war."
"Put away your misplaced compassion."
"The days of building friendships with pirates are over."
"What we need to do is wipe out every last pirate in the New World, thoroughly and without leaving any room for escape."
"Root them out..."
"Before long, that ridiculous legend of the Pirate King will vanish from history forever, along with the destruction of the Sabaody Archipelago and the deaths of the Four Emperors."
"I don't want anyone holding us back..."
Click-
He hung up.
In truth, destroying the Sabaody Archipelago would have no effect on the war in the New World.
But its significance was enormous. It was not aimed at the Four Emperors, but at announcing to the entire world that the way into the New World was gone for good.
When they had previously announced that the Poneglyph was at Headquarters, they had publicized the path to becoming the Pirate King until the entire world knew about it.
The New World was an unavoidable part of that path, and now that only route would be destroyed...
Anyone hoping to become the Pirate King could keep dreaming...
It was not as though there were no adventuring groups on these seas, but why were there so few?
Because adventuring groups committed no crimes. They made an honest living buying and selling goods as they traveled, but how could that bring in money as quickly as piracy?
Pirates had always been synonymous with brutality.
But as the legend of the Pirate King spread, piracy came to be defined by a whole host of enticing words: freedom, adventure, companionship, loyalty.
Young, innocent children were the most susceptible to those ideas...
Just as every child wanted to grow