With the influence of external uncertainties, the tense atmosphere in the valley shifted, and most people focused their attention on the unidentified people who were about to approach!
Whether someone is friend or foe needs to be determined beforehand; this can only be judged after meeting the specific person.
Ace wasn't surprised to see the crowd gathering, because when he led Marco and the others ashore, he had already seen many ships approaching from other parts of the island's coastline.
He just hadn't expected so many people to come here; he figured there must be a large number of people landing on the opposite coast as well!
With so many forces tacitly arriving here, Ace knew it was definitely related to the One Piece that Luffy had obtained. These people were not here to pay homage to the new " Pirate King," nor were they here just to join in the fun. He suspected that the vast majority of them were his and Luffy's enemies!
"Huh? They've Tokikake fighting over there?"
Akainu looked back in the direction he had come from. He had left half of his Marine soldiers on the mountaintop there. Apart from Tokikake and Gion, who were very strong, the rest were the leftovers, just barely capable of following other admirals on missions in the New World —pure cannon fodder!
Sensing the atmosphere of battle over there, Akainu became worried about the Marine soldiers, wondering if Tokikake and Gion could protect the new recruits!
Akainu's sense of justice is indeed a bit too absolute, but it also depends on the time and place. In situations like this, he doesn't want anything to happen to the soldiers he's led, because they are the future of the Navy!
Now that he is the Fleet Admiral, he also has to think about the future of the Navy. His position is different, his perspective is different, and his way of thinking is different!
Akainu's worries were relatively mild; although a battle did occur between Tokikake and Gion, it wasn't as bad as he feared!
There were quite a few forces, large and small, that landed on the island at the same time, all of them rushing over immediately after receiving news of the One Piece.
However, they received the message at different times, seemingly depending on their distance from Lodestar Island. It appeared that the messenger deliberately gathered them together, so they arrived at roughly the same time!
Among these people, some were self-aware enough to come and watch the excitement, while others had connections with the Straw Hat Pirates and were genuinely there to support " Pirate King " Luffy!
There are those who aren't very strong but want to take advantage of the chaos, and of course, there are also those who are strong and want to fight back!
Then these forces, large and small, met in the sea area surrounding Lodestar Island. The weak quickly avoided the strong, and the strong did not want to clash with other strong forces. After all, they had not yet seen the One Piece, so starting a war now would be pointless. Those who wanted to fish in troubled waters would not show anything at this time!
For various reasons, these forces, large and small, maintained a relatively harmonious yet mutually wary distance, and through this back-and-forth, the ships of all sizes seemed to surround the entire Lodestar Island.
Therefore, a force must have passed through the mountaintop where Gion Tokikake are located, and then this group of pirates encountered the Marines stationed there after reaching the top!
The pirate forces want the Navy to clear the way, not wanting to miss out on the One Piece, but also not wanting to clash with the Navy now. But would Tokikake and Gion agree to such a request?
Although Gion received a reminder from her sister, Staff Officer Tsuru, as a naval admiral with a strong sense of justice, how could she possibly give way just because of a few words from a pirate? Even the unreliable Tokikake would never agree to it!
What's the difference between this and being afraid of pirates and compromising with them? Where is their sense of justice?
Therefore, a conflict between the two sides was inevitable. Fortunately, this pirate force was not very powerful. Their captain was just a well-known pirate, not comparable to the Four Emperors who stood at the pinnacle of the sea!
Gion Tokikake were already Admiral candidates more than a decade ago. Over the years, their strength has long since reached the level of Admiral. Although they do not have military ranks or titles, their combat power is definitely not inferior!
Therefore, without the combat power of Four Emperors ), don't even think about gaining an advantage in Gion Tokikake. Even though this pirate crew has many strong officers, they are still no match for two Marine Admiral!
Akainu dared to station Tokikake and Gion here because he valued their current fighting strength. They could serve as support forces later on, or as the vanguard during the retreat. He had two plans!
So although Akainu was somewhat worried, it was unnecessary. There aren't that many Four Emperors- level fighters, and it's not that easy to encounter Tokikake and Gion!
Vic, hidden within the Dimensional Space, frowned as he witnessed so many pirate crews arriving at Lodestar Island simultaneously. This was too strange!
Few people knew that Laugh Tale Luffy Laugh Tale, but now it seems like the news has been leaked everywhere; every major power in the New World knows about it!
At least the forces that came here knew about it, and there were many other forces that knew about it but didn't come. So, there must be quite a few forces that know that Luffy obtained the One Piece. This is very intriguing. If Vic still can't see something, then that's really inexcusable!
But what was the person who spread the news thinking? Didn't they want the One Piece for themselves?
Or is it that the person who knows about Luffy isn't strong enough? Could they possibly steal the One Piece from Luffy on their own or through their own forces? Therefore, they need to spread the word widely to attract attention from various factions and then take advantage of the chaos?
If that's the case, then the Navy and the World Government can be ruled out as the masterminds!
If the World Government receives the news first, Imu won't spread it. It would be completely disadvantageous for the World Government. Wouldn't it be safer for Imu to lead the Holy Knights and the Five Elders to intercept and kill him?
If the Navy is the first to receive this information, they can either choose to report it or choose to keep it to themselves and deal with it alone. The result of reporting it will be the same as above: the Five Elders and Imu will eventually find out!
If they wanted to hide it and deal with the Straw Hat Pirates, Akainu would be confident that he could lead the Navy to face a Four Emperors crew. In that case, the news wouldn't have been spread so widely. So it's impossible that they spread the information!
The Revolutionary Army and the Cross Guild wouldn't do that either. One is the power of Luffy's father, and the other is the power of Luffy's sworn brother Ace. They wouldn't turn against their own family for the so-called One Piece.
Moreover, Dragon had already set the Revolutionary Army's goals and wouldn't change his original intentions because of the pirate treasure game!
Ace is currently more interested in the God Realm than in the One Piece. If his younger brother were to obtain the One Piece, he would only be happy and more focused on breaking through to the God Realm. Therefore, they are also excluded from this possibility!
Then there are Luffy's crew members. They also received the news and rushed over, all coming from Luffy's territory!
Luffy also has his own territory. After all, he is one of the Four Emperors, and he has various relationships with the other Four Emperors. Even if he is not good at managing his territory and power, he still has a considerable territory, enough for his subordinates to operate in!