Chapter 224: Succubus VS Berries
Even without a specialized system like the Seven Warlords of the Sea, it wasn't exactly unheard of for affiliated nations to command a few pirate crews.
Kano Country's Happo Navy was a prominent example. All things considered, Nereus genuinely hadn't done anything massively disruptive to the world order over the past few years.
If he could keep Bullet leashed and prevent him from going on a rampage, the Marines and the World Government would gladly choose to turn a blind eye and pretend they saw nothing.
Besides, the Marines' gaze wasn't focused on Nereus right now anyway. They were up to their necks dealing with the Great Pirate Era on one front, while desperately hunting down Roger's remaining bloodline on the other.
Any suspicious targets were executed on sight, whipping up a terrifying storm of blood and slaughter across the seas.
Even if Garp were to hand Rouge over right now, it wouldn't have any practical meaning. Doing so at this juncture would only invite endless trouble and draw the fire onto himself.
With things escalating to this point, the operation would only cease when the World Government and the Marines firmly believed there were no suspicious targets left.
After all, even if someone were handed over, it might just be dismissed as a smokescreen. No one could definitively prove exactly how many heirs Roger had left behind.
In fact, there was no concrete evidence proving Roger had left behind any heirs at all. This massive purge was inherently a time-based, indiscriminate sweeping operation lacking a specific target.
To a certain extent, the higher-ups were attempting to use the deaths of a few innocents to broadcast the horrific consequences of associating with piracy. They wanted to use this sheer brutality to deter ordinary citizens, thereby reducing the conversion rate of commoners into pirates.
During this grueling process, Garp successfully fulfilled Roger's dying wish. Coupled with Rouge's own fierce maternal perseverance, the great purge completely failed to touch them.
In the blink of an eye, Roger's execution became an event from months ago. By the mid-to-late Sea Circle Calendar Year 1517, the Great Pirate Era ignited by Roger was fully fermenting.
The first overwhelmingly massive wave of pirates had finally begun to bear down upon the Sabaody Archipelago.
At Marine Headquarters, a mountain of intelligence reports was being compiled. Although they were all rookies, there were quite a few incredibly troublesome characters among them. Relying on unique Devil Fruit abilities, they had left the Marine branches in the first half of the Grand Line utterly exhausted.
"This is the sheer chaos Roger sparked. We can't even count the number of incidents caused by these bastards anymore."
Fleet Admiral Kong aggressively rubbed his temples. Lately, the affiliated nations hadn't stopped complaining about pirate raids, and the World Government simply dumped the entire mess straight onto the Marines, giving Kong a prolonged, agonizing headache.
However, the Marines weren't without their own good news. Just as new rookies constantly emerged among the pirates, the Marines naturally produced their own elite rookies.
Sakazuki, Borsalino, and Kuzan had enlisted over the past few years. Honed by the hands of Chief Instructor Zephyr, they had successfully graduated and now carried the moniker of "Monsters" themselves.
Looking at these three, Kong could clearly see the shadows of the future Three Admirals.
Right now, they were all present in the Fleet Admiral's office, auditing the meeting. The Marines had placed immense expectations on them—especially Kuzan.
While the three were roughly equal in terms of raw combat power, Kuzan's specific ability held profound strategic significance for the current Marines.
The Ice-Ice Fruit's power to instantly freeze the ocean could allow the Marines to reclaim the home-field advantage in any potential war against the Fish-men.
Even though the World Government and the Ryugu Kingdom currently had a peace treaty, the Ryugu Kingdom remained the Marines' ultimate imaginary enemy.
"Regardless of everything else, Roger is dead. Compared to him, the pirates currently converging on the Sabaody Archipelago are what truly demand our attention.
"In all my years, we have never seen such an astronomical volume of pirates making landfall on Sabaody simultaneously."
"Actually, we don't need to overthink this. Those pirates won't linger on the Sabaody Archipelago for long," Vice Admiral Tsuru blew gently on her hot tea, taking a leisurely sip.
Right now, she felt that the World Government striking a treaty with the Ryugu Kingdom wasn't such a bad thing after all.
"The Marines just need to monitor the situation over there and prepare for any potential contingencies. Honestly, compared to us, that 'King' probably has a lot more on his plate right now."
Whatever Nereus's motives were, the Ryugu Kingdom's presence would inevitably weed out a significant portion of the pirates at Sabaody, objectively shouldering a massive chunk of the Marines' pressure.
"Increase our warship patrol density. Give those pirates a sense of urgency and force them to coat their ships, dive underwater, and leave Sabaody as quickly as possible.
"For us, this is the method that guarantees the absolute minimum amount of casualties."
There were still Marine-protected territories in the New World that required defending. They couldn't just ignore these pirates once they crossed over, but it was still infinitely better than letting them all fester on the Sabaody Archipelago.
After all, Sabaody housed World Government diplomatic offices, and Celestial Dragons occasionally passed through.
As for the New World...
The unforgiving, apocalyptic weather and the brutal turf wars between pirates would naturally cull their numbers drastically.
Although those who survived the crucible would undoubtedly become much stronger, the vast majority would be forcefully assimilated into the established pirate hierarchy, becoming mere pawns in the endless faction wars of the New World.
"That will be 500,000 Berries."
"Pfft—! How much?! 500,000?!"
Staring down at the single cocktail in his hand, the pirate standing at the bar looked utterly incredulous. In a fit of rage, he smashed his fist violently against the countertop.
"You're charging me 500,000 Berries for a single glass of booze?! Is this a robbery?!"
"My apologies. I misspoke."
"Yeah, that's more like it..."
"Because you just smashed my bar counter, factoring in the repair fees... that will now be 5,000,000 Berries."
Hearing the woman's updated quote, a surge of nameless fury erupted in the pirate's chest. He didn't even make money this fast out on the sea robbing people! Yet this woman casually opened her mouth and demanded an astronomical ransom.
But what infuriated him even more was...
"No problem at all! Whatever you want, it's yours!"
"Here's 1,000,000 Berries! Pour me two more glasses!!"
His own subordinates were completely ignoring his orders. As if completely bewitched, they were literally lining up to hand the woman their cash.
"Stop it, you idiots! This woman is shaking us down, are you blind?!" the captain roared.
"But Boss..." one of his men muttered blankly, "Isn't the bar literally named the 'Rip-off Bar'?"
"..."
That single sentence plunged the furious pirate captain into dead silence. But he quickly chose to break that silence with brute force. Under the heavy impact of his fists, his lackeys finally snapped out of their stupor.
Not only were they no longer going to hand over their money, but they were now preparing to just kidnap the woman instead.
"Are you boys absolutely sure you want to do this?"
Shakky didn't panic in the slightest. She merely lit a thin cigarette with absolute composure. Seeing that these pirates were dead set on their foolishness, she casually blew a smoke ring into the air.
A short while later, Shakky could be seen dragging a massive, bulging burlap sack through the streets, heading straight toward the Ryugu Kingdom's diplomatic office on the Sabaody Archipelago.
Given her and Rayleigh's past identities, it was naturally impossible for them to haul wanted pirates to a Marine Base to claim the bounties themselves.
But here, she didn't need to go through shady Underworld brokers who would take a massive cut. Instead, she could directly entrust the bounties to the Ryugu Kingdom.
In a way, this was the fulfillment of the special "agreement" she had struck with Nanamo...
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