The Four Blues united beneath an emperor; the founding of an empire shook the Eight Directions!

A year had passed since the Paramount War ended.

Over that year, the balance of power on the seas had been turned upside down. Marine Headquarters had won a pyrrhic victory in the Paramount War, losing more than half its elite forces. With Aokiji's departure and a change of Fleet Admiral compounding the damage, the Marines could only huddle in New Marineford in the New World, barely maintaining their rule over the Grand Line; the Four Emperors stood alongside one another in the New World, and Blackbeard, having swallowed Whitebeard's territory and forces, had firmly secured his position among them, rivaling Big Mom and Red-Haired as the fighting never ceased; the Revolutionary Army remained hidden in the shadows, gathering strength to overthrow the World Government.

But the force that had truly stirred up the entire sea and kept the World Government awake at night was Hua Country, which had already achieved the Unification of the Four Blues.

Within a year, the mighty generals under Chen Yu had swept away every remaining World Government force and pirate band throughout the Four Blues with lightning speed. The Commandery-Country System had been fully implemented across thirty-five commanderies and one hundred twenty-seven counties, and the new policy of Equal Land Distribution and Tax Exemption had reached every island and every village. The people of the Four Blues, exploited by the World Government for eight hundred years, had finally escaped the shackles of the Celestial Dragons and the nobility. Farmers had their own fields, residents had their own homes, no one pocketed lost property on the roads, and doors remained unlocked at night.

Militarily, Hua Country's Naval Fleet had expanded to eight hundred main warships. Its new vessels, built with Sky Island Bega Technology and Treasure Tree Adam Alloy, sailed unchallenged across the Four Blues;