By late October of Sea Circle Calendar year 1498, more than a month had passed since Pirate King Roger's public execution in Loguetown.
By then, the Anti-Crime Adventure Group had vanished from public view after the South Blue incident, like a reef swallowed by the deep sea, its traces all but impossible to find.
Although members of Heavenly Punishment wearing all sorts of masks still occasionally carried out missions at sea-destroying human trafficking dens or intimidating rampant pirates-
the outside world remained completely unaware of Kakarot and his companions' exact movements. Only the Revolutionary Army's senior leadership knew a little, leaving countless guesses to drift through the wind and waves.
Surprisingly, the chaos the Navy had anticipated-a surge in pirate numbers after Roger's execution-never materialized.
On the contrary, the overall atmosphere across the seas was actually calmer than before.
Merchant ships in ordinary waters no longer sailed in constant fear, and civilians on remote islands could put out their lights at night without worry-all of this
was due to the ever-present deterrence of Heavenly Punishment, and even more so to the mark of "justice" left by the Anti-Crime Adventure Group, which kept many restless factions from readily crossing the line.
However, this peace did not extend to the New World in the latter half of the Grand Line.
There, storm clouds had long since gathered, and a drastic upheaval that would sweep through the balance of the Four Emperors was unfolding.
With covert prompting from the Revolutionary Army, Big News Morgans used his keen nose for news to decisively elevate the Whitebeard Pirates to the throne of "Emperor of the Sea."
In countless videos on Mobile Den Den Mushi, Edward Newgate was no longer the "symbol of evil pirates" described by the World Government, but instead became a "giant who