The battle between Kaido and Big Mom and their two pirate crews, which was fought for the Poneglyph, lasted for a full fifteen days. When the casualties on both sides were incalculable, Big Mom called for a ceasefire and decided to retreat.
As a battle maniac, Kaido's first reaction was, of course, to pursue. But after his subordinates reminded him of the thousands of Marines and the presence of Garp and Sengoku a few nautical miles behind them, Kaido was silent for a moment before finally choosing to withdraw his forces.
Both sides knew their strength was evenly matched. If they kept fighting to the death, they'd only be handing a victory to the Marines. The Poneglyph leading to the final island, Laugh Tale, was important, but nothing was more important than their lives.
After fifteen days of brutal war, the Big Mom Pirates kept the red Poneglyph they had acquired. If Kaido wanted one, he'd have to reorganize his forces to fight Big Mom again or find one of the other three.
On a Marine warship in the distance.
Garp took a final bite of his doughnut and looked through a single-sided telescope, watching the two pirate crews sail away in opposite directions. "You were right, Sengoku. They stopped fighting."
Sengoku crossed his arms. "Of course. Why would they fight to the death and let us Marines reap the rewards?"
Although Kaido was a muscle-brained idiot, his crew wasn't short on brains, not to mention the strategic prowess of Big Mom.
Just then, a Marine Rear Admiral walked up behind them and saluted. "Vice Admiral Garp, Admiral Sengoku, we just received a message from headquarters. The battle between Whitebeard and Alucard is over. We have also confirmed that the remnants of Golden Lion's great fleet—the Magical Scientist Dr. Indigo, Iron Mask Matthew, Blade-Sword Stragus, and others—have joined Alucard's crew."
Sengoku turned around abruptly, a sharp glint in his eyes. "Those are all Shiki's former... veteran officers. Besides the non-combatant Dr. Indigo, the rest are all villains with bounties over 200 million Berries."
The Rear Admiral hesitated for a few seconds before continuing his report. "There are also a few other things. Fleet Admiral Kong wants you both to return to headquarters as soon as possible for a meeting. First, the Donquixote Pirates have entered the Grand Line from the North Blue and seem to be heading for the New World. Second, the Red-Hair Pirates' influence is growing rapidly in the Grand Line."
"The Donquixote Pirates?"
"The Red-Hair Pirates?"
Hearing the two names, both Sengoku and Garp's expressions changed, reacting strongly to the two crews. The captain of the Donquixote Pirates, Doflamingo, killed Sengoku's adopted son, Rosinante, while the captain of the Red-Hair Pirates, Shanks, was the one who lured Garp's grandson onto the pirate path.
Hearing the names of these two crews, neither Sengoku nor Garp had a pleasant look on their faces.
"Set sail! Return to headquarters!"
Afterward, the battle between the Alucard Pirates and the Whitebeard Pirates and the battle between the Beasts Pirates and the Big Mom Pirates dominated the headlines for an entire week. Even powerful crews like the Donquixote Pirates and the Red-Hair Pirates were pushed out of the spotlight.
After seeing the news of Kaido and Charlotte Linlin's battle in the newspaper, Wolf, who acted as a living warship and guard dog, twisted his still-healing body excitedly. "Can we use this opportunity to take out Kaido or Big Mom?"
His suggestion was immediately opposed by Stragus and the others who were living with him.
Alucard had given one of his remaining ten islands, Lesvor, to the thousand-plus members of the former Golden Lion's fleet led by Dr. Indigo. This was the smallest island in Alucard's possession, so small it wasn't even a country, just a town. But Stragus's group had been the ones to ask for it.
They were all old-timers and knew that when joining a new crew, you had to keep a low profile. By choosing the smallest island as their territory, they were actively doing so.
Their position was also lower than that of the Kuja. After their battle with the Whitebeard Pirates, the Kuja had lost more than half of their elites. Hancock, as the Empress, was planning another expedition to recruit new members after they recovered. Hancock had no idea that this expedition would plant a future source of trouble.
With these events, the situation in the New World was becoming clearer. The latter half of the New World was controlled by the Whitebeard Pirates. The middle-front half was controlled by Big Mom. The middle and middle-back sections were partially controlled by Alucard and Kaido.
Whitebeard still held the most territory, and his position as the strongest of the four remained unchanged.
The newspapers didn't explicitly state who won the wars, but the ambiguity fueled speculation.
Who was truly the strongest of these four? The world hadn't yet realized that the Three Monsters were slowly being elevated to the same level as Whitebeard.
But rather than the Three Monsters' level approaching Whitebeard's, it was more like Whitebeard's level was declining.
....
In an island within Whitebeard's territory in the latter half of the New World. "Ugh..."
Whitebeard's face changed. He seemed to have something caught in his throat before bursting into a violent fit of coughing.
A few nurses with large IV bags came over, climbing a ladder to replace the empty bag beside Whitebeard. "Captain, after this bag, there are four more to go."
"You idiots! These things are a pain to have on me!" Whitebeard said, trying to pull out the needles in his arm and the tubes taped to his chest.
"Whoa! Stop it! Stop!" "Calm down, Pops!"
The Whitebeard Pirates below quickly tried to stop him.
Standing not far away, Marco and Vista spoke with each other. "Pops's health seems to have gotten a lot worse."
"Ah... He overused his Devil Fruit ability during his fight with Alucard last time," Marco said with a hand on his hip.
"That move... even I was terrified just watching it. The scarier thing is that Alucard was able to stop it. Isn't he still under thirty?" Izou said with a hint of fear.
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