Noah and his crew secretly sailed in the East Blue.
Before they knew it, it was already the end of the year 1509 in the Sea Circle Calendar.
At this very moment, after more than half a year of probing, the Red Hair Pirates finally decided to launch their assault on the throne of the New World's Emperor.
In fact, back in August of this year, Shanks led the Red Hair Pirates to the Whitebeard Pirates ' territory under the guise of a visit, and had a friendly match with Whitebeard.
Whitebeard clearly saw through Shanks's intentions, but instead of exposing him, he praised Shanks's strength, saying he was worthy of being an apprentice in Roger Pirates.
Morgans published this statement in the World Economy News Paper, and with the help of news media under the World Government, they were trying to push Shanks to the position of the New World's sea emperor.
After all, the remaining territory in the New World is no longer sufficient to support the emergence of a fourth sea emperor.
Without sufficient territory, even the most powerful warrior cannot be called the Emperor of the Sea in the New World; both territory and strength are indispensable.
If Shanks joins the battle for supremacy, he can only wage war against the Whitebeard Pirates, the Big Mom Pirates, and the Sky Empire, and seize a portion of their territory.
Currently, the Whitebeard Pirates ' sphere of influence is located in the waters near the entrance to the New World.
The Big Mom Pirates ' Totto Land is located in the southeast of the Central Sea, while the Sky Empire is located in the center and northwest of the Central Sea.
In terms of the area of sea they control, the Sky Empire has the largest area. Moreover, in the past six months, it has expanded its sphere of influence to about 23% of the New World by exchanging territory with the Totto Land and bringing some semi-independent kingdoms in the surrounding area under its control.
In other words, Shanks ' Red Hair Pirates are now facing a very thorny problem: they must wage war against the Sky Empire in order to gain enough territory to dominate the world.
After all, Shanks can't go and Whitebeard Pirates ' territory.
After the territorial exchange, Big Mom Pirates's Totto Land not only changed some of their previous strategies, completely abandoning some of the peripheral islands and concentrating the entire population in the core area of Totto Land, but also brought two established New World pirate crews under their command.
Charlotte Linlin was clearly very wary of Shiki and the Sky Empire, worried that the Totto Land was too scattered and could be easily attacked and defeated one by one.
After all, the Sky Empire's mobility is terrifying.
This means that if the Red Hair Pirates were to try and seize Totto Land's territory now, they would face a fierce counterattack from the Big Mom Pirates.
However, as the chief strategist of the Red Hair Pirates, Beckman looked at the intelligence in his hand with great worry on his face; the Sky Empire was not to be trifled with either.
No, the Sky Empire is the most terrifying of the three emperors.
Because the Sky Empire's territory is divided into five provinces, and each province is garrisoned by a legion, coupled with its highly mobile Flying Fleet, it is almost impossible to defeat them one by one.
Unless another Emperor of the Sea is willing to step in and restrain Shiki, the Red Hair Pirates have virtually no chance of winning.
Beckman, however, was well aware that given Whitebeard's pride, he wouldn't help Shanks restrain Shiki; the feud between the Big Mom Pirates and the Roger Pirates made it almost impossible for the other side to lend a hand, and they might even take advantage of the situation.
Beckman now in a real bind. Although Shanks has decided to challenge Shiki and the Sky Empire, he has to consider the worst-case scenario.
After all, apart from a few Flying Six who were absorbed by the Sky Empire, Kaido, Queen, and others from the Beasts Pirates have disappeared without a trace, and it is widely believed that Kaido has been killed by Shiki.
Even the World Government ordered Cipher Pol to search for the Resurrected Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon, because they believed Kaido was already dead.
Shiki had already taken down Kaido and Ochoku, who were on the same ship as him, so Beckman didn't believe that the other party would show any mercy to Roger Pirates's apprentice.
However, despite racking his brains, Beckman could not find suitable help or methods to ensure the Red Hair Pirates could escape unscathed.
Looking at Shanks, who was full of vigor at the bow of the ship, Beckman still asked again with concern:
" Shanks, are you really going to challenge the Golden Lion?"
" Beckman, don't worry, we're very strong." Shanks knew Shiki was very powerful, but he believed that even if he and his crew couldn't defeat Golden Lion and the Sky Empire, they could still escape unscathed.
" Beckman, don't worry, my sniper rifle is itching for a shot." Yasopp laughed heartily.
The other members of the Red Hair Pirates also joined in the shouting, instantly lightening the atmosphere considerably.
But this still did not dispel the dark clouds in Beckman's heart.
As the Red Hair Pirates ' large sailing ship Red Force, passed through the Whitebeard Pirates ' territory, it finally began to enter the central waters of the New World.
Meanwhile, intelligence agents from various factions also discovered the Red Hair Pirates ' movements and increased their attention to them.
Especially when they saw the Red Hair Pirates sailing northwest towards the central sea of New World, all the factions guessed that the Red Hair Pirates ' target was that sky overlord.
Sabaody Archipelago.
Shakky's Rip-off Bar
"Did he still make this choice?" Rayleigh frowned.
Shakky took a drag of her cigarette. "Phew... You're not thinking about New World, are you?"
"Hehe..." Rayleigh chuckled dryly and shook his head, "How could that be? I'm just a little worried about Shanks. After all, Golden Lion is too strong. He doesn't really need to be in such a hurry."
"Following his current course, he will soon encounter the Sky Empire's Blazing Sun Legion. The Blazing Sun Legion's commander is Blazing Sun, and the vice commander is Shanks ' old acquaintance, the one who betrayed the Cipher Pol, Fortz Fur."
Shakky continued, "Considering the security of various parts of the Sky Empire, it's estimated that Shiki will personally take action. According to my intelligence, the three chief stewards at the Sky Empire's headquarters are no ordinary individuals."
" The Hermit is Devil Fruit User, knows Three Types of Haki, and is also extremely skilled in marksmanship and hand-to-hand combat..."
" Black Maria was one of the Flying Six of the original Beasts Pirates. She is Ancient Zoan Devil Fruit user in the Model: Rosamygale Grauvogeli, and is skilled in both dual-type Haki and physical combat..."
"As for that most mysterious Flower Garden, no one has ever seen her make a move, and even her gender is just speculation. Since this person can become one of the three chief stewards of the Sky Empire, her strength is obviously not weak."
The more Rayleigh listened, the more uneasy he felt.
Meanwhile, at Marineford, the Marine Headquarters.
Kong, who had not yet stepped down as Fleet Admiral, looked at the intelligence in his hand with a serious and thoughtful expression.
Although the Navy was fanning the flames behind the scenes, hoping that the Red Hair Pirates would clash with other forces in the New World, he did not expect that Red-Haired Shanks would be so eager.
Crane was also filled with surprise and uncertainty. Based on her assessment of the Red Hair Pirates, although they were basically qualified to contend for the New World, it was clearly not a wise move for them to rush straight towards the Sky Empire right away.
" Fleet Admiral Kong, should we take measures? The Red Hair Pirates can be defeated, but they cannot be annihilated. Otherwise, no one can shake the Sky Empire's rule in the New World in a short time."
Sora nodded. " Sengoku had the same idea. He believed that they should take this opportunity to tie down some of the Sky Empire's high-end forces and prevent Golden Lion from focusing all his efforts on annihilating the Red Hair Pirates."
"If we need to restrain Shiki, then we can only have Borsalino or Kuzan take action; both of them are suitable candidates to do so..."
After a moment's thought, Kong said, "Let Borsalino go! After this incident, have him stationed in G1 for a while to prevent the Golden Lion from going berserk and retaliating."
"I understand." Crane nodded.
The navy secretly began its operation.
Meanwhile, the World Government also took some actions. Although the Five Elders believed Shanks was a traitor, they still considered the bigger picture and decided to use their power to increase the strength of Shanks and the Red Hair Pirates.
The purpose of this was to further test the Sky Empire and to make the Red Hair Pirates a pawn in restraining the Sky Empire.