The tides of the world are growing ever stronger.
The complete annihilation of the Red Hair Pirates, the deaths of the Fleet Admiral and several high-ranking Marines, likely caused grief and anger among many who were closely connected to them.
However, the Liberator Organization, led by Noah, were not concerned about this.
After all, if you choose to be a navy officer or a pirate, you have to be prepared to be killed.
Noah shows no mercy to his enemies, whether they are marines, pirates, Celestial Dragons, or royalty. If they become his enemies, he will not hesitate to take action.
Mercy towards the enemy is cruelty towards oneself, and betrayal of one's comrades.
This is also why Robin killed Mihawk without hesitation. She could have spared Mihawk's life, but given the relationship between Mihawk and Shanks, it was almost impossible for him to join the Liberator Organization, and capturing him without injury would be extremely difficult.
After careful consideration, Robin decided to give Mihawk a quick death.
Noah consistently instilled in his members the principle of being cautious and thorough in dealing with enemies, and of eliminating them completely.
This is also the fundamental reason why most family members are ruthless when dealing with enemies.
Therefore, Noah paid little attention to the enemy's pain and anger.
He was currently busy with various internal affairs.
The new batch of ordinary members who pass the assessment and observation will be promoted to elite members. Noah will personally bestow upon them new badges, uniforms, and, most importantly, the selection of Devil Fruit.
Inside the underground auditorium of York Island base.
The nine elite members who were promoted this time have gathered together, sitting upright in their seats, waiting for that sacred moment.
Besides Penguin, who has already been given the Door-Door Fruit, the other eight are Bepo, Shakky, Ladget, Laki (a female Skypieans ), Don Bachino, Don Brandy, Don Hokru, and Don Alber (female).
A moment later, Noah emerged from the side door.
Everyone immediately stood up.
"Lord Noah."
Please have a seat!
The group then sat down and looked at Noah with reverence.
Noah gave everyone some words of encouragement, and then distributed to each of them a silver six-pointed star emblem representing elite members and a specially made black dress (similar to a German military uniform).
The next step is to give them Devil Fruit.
However, Penguin already has the Door-Door Fruit, Bepo says he doesn't need it, so only 7 people need to distribute Devil Fruit.
" Ladget."
Upon hearing Noah's call, Ladget quickly approached. Gone was the arrogant and unruly figure he had been on Turtle Island. He immediately saluted, "Lord Noah."
"I think you'll like this fruit."
Ladget nervously opened the small box, and when he saw the specially made Devil Fruit inside, his breathing quickened. " Noah, Lord Noah and the family, for your nurturing!"
The fruit inside the small box was none other than the Munch-Munch Fruit, which he had previously obtained from the Drum Kingdom. This fruit held immense appeal for Ladget.
He quickly picked up the fruit, took big bites, and ate the whole fruit without hesitation.
"Make good use of this fruit."
"Yes."
Next, Noah picked up a small box and looked at Laki: " Laki, come here."
"Yes, Lord Noah!" The female Skypieans, Laki, approached with intense admiration in her eyes.
"This is the Cloth-Cloth Fruit, make good use of it."
" Noah, Lord Noah and your family, for your nurturing."
The next few people were each assigned:
Shakky - Island-Island Fruit.
Don Bachino - Crow-Crow Fruit.
Don Brandy - Parrot-Parrot Fruit.
Don Hokru - Ostrich-Ostrich Fruit.
Don Alber - Tree-Tree Fruit.
After seeing that everyone had eaten the Devil Fruit, Noah nodded in satisfaction.
"Next, I will announce your new appointments."
" Laki, Don Bachino, Don Brandy, Don Hokrull, you will be assigned to the New World Governor's Office and placed under Robin's jurisdiction."
"Yes, sir."
The appointments were made based on their specific strengths.
Laki herself is Skypieans, while the three brothers Don Bachino, Don Brandy, and Don Hokrug all ate Zoan- Zoan Devil Fruit to fly, so they were all assigned to the New World Governor's Office.
" Ladget, you are being transferred to the Materials Research Institute under the Department of Science and Education, where you will serve as its director."
" Shakky, you are being transferred to the East Blue Governor's Office."
" Bepo, you are being transferred to the West Blue Governor's Office."
"Don Alber, you are being transferred to the Strategic Support Squad."
"Yes, sir." The four men immediately raised their heads and saluted.
After completing the ascension ceremony, Noah secretly arrived at the Sky Empire's headquarters in the New World.
Sky Dome Island of the Sky Empire.
The interior of the palace was excavated directly from the Flower Capital.
Noah, along with Ray, Laki, and the others, appeared in the specially prepared Teleportation hall. Ray led Laki and the others to report for duty, while Noah went directly to the governor's office.
Robin, Shiki, Black Maria, and others were all there.
" Noah, do you have any other plans?" Robin asked curiously.
Noah nodded. "We can't let this golden opportunity slip by. Although the World Government is wary of the Sky Empire, it doesn't have much energy left to deal with it, because their focus is currently on the Sky Empire of Kingdom of Dawn."
"Well, I have no objection to that. However, the New World has already been divided up quite a bit. The remaining areas are tough nuts to crack, like Elbaf. If we want to expand, we can only start wars with Big Mom Pirates or Whitebeard Pirates. Wouldn't that attract too much attention?" Robin analyzed the risks involved.
"Let me explain!" said Kuro, who walked in from outside, as he took out a world map.
"Currently, the New World is not suitable for large-scale warfare, otherwise it would force the Whitebeard Pirates and Big Mom Pirates to side with the World Government, and at the same time, the New World Governorate would lose two buffer zones."
Kuro pointed to the map and continued, "Therefore, we need to set our sights outside the New World, especially the North Blue region, which is separated from the Sky Empire only by the Calm Belt."
" The North Blue region?" Robin squinted at the map.
The northwestern part of the Sky Empire is the Sky Province, which is right next to the Calm Belt on the North Blue side. Considering the characteristics of the Sky Empire, expanding into the North Blue region would present almost no difficulties.
Kuro held up four fingers. "We have four passages that allow direct access from the New World to the North Blue."
"First, by creating artificial Sky Island, a flight path can be artificially established over the North Blue."
"Secondly, by using Shiki's abilities, they could directly transport the islands, thereby filling in the sea in the Calm Belt to create a land passage or an artificial canal."
"Third, by utilizing Seastone, which can now be mass-produced, we can manufacture ships that can safely Calm Belt."
"Fourth, using Vic's abilities, a stable and narrow underwater canyon can be artificially created in the Calm Belt, and then a submarine can be used to directly enter and exit the New World and the North Blue."
Robin considered the four options. He could first rule out the fourth option because it wasn't really necessary.
Since the Sky Empire intends to expand into the North Blue, it must do so openly and legitimately, so there is no need to do it secretly.
After considering it for a while, she still thought that the first and second options were better, as they could solve the traffic problem once and for all.
However, neither of these two solutions is without its drawbacks.
Security issues, in particular, are a very troublesome matter.
If the passage is cut off by the enemy, it could prevent the two locations from being directly connected.