As the fighting in the East Blue approached the one-year mark, the major powers around the world, which had relaxed their surveillance as the conflict gradually subsided, once again turned their attention to the East Blue.
In particular, they focused on the Revolutionary Army and the Beasts Pirates, neither of which had directly participated in the fighting.
After all, a year had now passed since the Second East Blue War, and the ceasefire agreement signed back then had stipulated a truce of exactly one year!
Now that the agreement was expiring, no one could be certain whether the two powers, which had more or less consolidated their existing territories, would enter the fray and join the struggle for territory.
If that happened, the fighting in the East Blue, which had gradually subsided, would undoubtedly flare up again. It might even surpass its previous intensity.
Especially since, over the past year, the fighting had been concentrated in areas controlled by the World Government. The Revolutionary Army and the Beasts Pirates had suffered virtually no losses. Instead, they had enjoyed a year of steady development and seized a considerable number of people along the way.
Nor had they neglected combat experience. Their officers repeatedly led large forces into the chaotic battlefields to fight the Marines and the Celestial Dragons' fleets.
In fact, without the constant outside support from the Revolutionary Army and the Beasts Pirates, those small-time pirates in the East Blue could never have held out for a year.
By now, however, they had gradually grown through that experience.
Among the factions still surviving in the East Blue, none of their leaders fell below the level of an elite Vice Admiral. Quite a few were Admiral Candidates, and even Admiral-level fighters had emerged!
The various factions occupied kingdoms large and small,