The videos circulating across the seas were already shifting the world, though most people had yet to understand how deep the change ran.
A small spark had taken root, a desire for power brighter than any torch. These recordings revealed a world far larger and far stranger than what most people believed possible. For the people of the Four Seas, whose lives were confined by poverty and routine, the videos were a brutal reminder of how small they were.
Some lived in remote corners of the ocean, places where they had only heard of mighty battles through newspapers. Seeing the footage with their own eyes shattered their sense of reality. Numbers, cannonballs, and firearms, the tools they had always believed defined victory, meant nothing in front of men who could wipe out towns or unleash flying slashes that split landscapes. Many realized just how much like frogs in a well they had been.
The Great Pirate Era had already buried the poor beneath unbearable weight. They were squeezed by nobles, taxed by the wealthy, and hunted by pirates. Life had always been a struggle. Now, watching these videos, an entirely new struggle bloomed inside them.
In a dim corner of a city, a group of ragged workers gathered around the only visual Den Den Mushi they owned. They had scraped together every coin for it, many going hungry for days. The screen glowed with the image of a fierce New World battle between a Marine Vice Admiral and a powerful pirate.
Hope pulsed in their eyes. Their bodies might have been weak, but their yearning for power roared like a growing storm. If they had such strength, no one could oppress them. They could live without fear, without bowing to anyone.
They leaned close, eyes red from exhaustion, trying to memorize every movement, every technique. Even learning a fraction would be enough to defy armored soldiers and tear through rifles. With power, they could crush the ones who tormented them and finally set sail toward freedom.
In their hearts, the seeds of rebellion were planted. Ambition took root. Hope sprouted.
This was only one spark. Across the world, countless others were forming, growing with each passing day. The World Government neither noticed nor stopped it.
Inside the headquarters of the World Economic News Agency, Morgans and his staff watched the restored footage. The true power of the Dark Dark Fruit unfolded before their eyes. The blast that consumed the palace shifted the tide of battle in a single stroke. Where Teach had once struggled against Jones, the Dark Dark Fruit transformed the entire fight. What had been endurance and attrition became domination.
The Dark Dark Fruit had turned Teach into a nightmare for Devil Fruit users. Morgans and his editors, however, did not yet understand the full extent of the fruit's nature.
The final image displayed the entire Nightfall Pirates crew gathered before towering heaps of treasure, a sight that seemed almost unreal.
There was no follow-up scene. As soon as Teach turned his head toward the reporter bird, the terrified creature had fled without hesitation.
"Have you chosen the cover image for the newspaper?" Morgans asked, already knowing what answer he wanted.
"We have two," an editor replied excitedly. "One is the captain using that attack called Dark Devour. The other is the final group shot with the treasure piled in front of them. That one will really catch the eye."
Morgans nodded. "Exactly as I thought. Use the treasure image for the cover. It will sell better. The Dark Devour scene is great too. Place it inside alongside the destroyed palace. A before and after comparison creates impact."
A cover needed to hook the reader at first glance, and nothing drew attention like mountains of treasure.
Far from the bustling newsroom, the Nightfall Pirates encamped along the coastline between the Kingdom of Tirisfal and the former Kingdom of Kraken. Most of the crew remained within Tirisfal, since the nation provided almost everything they needed. Materials for Otto's mechanical arm, even restricted substances, were easy to acquire through Redyat's network.
The crew was flush with wealth. Otto's grin stretched so wide it looked like it might split his cheeks.
"How is the new member recruitment?" Teach asked, looking toward Wallace, who oversaw that department.
"Almost complete," Wallace replied. "We selected several strong candidates and quite a few promising youths. By tomorrow, recruitment should be done."
Youth meant potential, and potential meant investment. The Nightfall Pirates had existed for barely a year, making them a young crew both structurally and in terms of average age. Every executive was under twenty.
They had lost some members during the recent war, a normal reality in the Grand Line. The funerals were held quietly, half the ashes buried, the other half scattered at sea. The victory felt hollow with comrades gone.
They needed to replenish and grow. Their force of eight hundred had already become too small. In the New World, pirate forces counted their followers in thousands, sometimes tens of thousands. Teach could not rely on winning while outnumbered forever.
Since the battle with Jones had been broadcast, along with Gar's fight, applicants flocked to them. Even without footage of the other executives, people could infer their strength from the outcomes. The Nightfall Pirates had crushed the Kraken Kingdom's elite Royal Guard captains.
Recruitment spread like wildfire through Tirisfal. Despite the chaos earlier, the Nightfall Pirates behaved peacefully, and the citizens gradually relaxed, though a quiet wariness remained. Even those who hated pirates dared not provoke someone who could level a town with a single attack.
Teach looked over his companions with a faint smile. "Take these two days to explore. There are not many countries like this one. We may never find another with this level of peace and prosperity."
Tirisfal had no visible slums or collapsing districts. Even the poorest citizens held hope for their future. In most places, that hope had long rotted away.
Some crew members grew silent. Many of them had been among those hopeless people before finding the sea.
Teach set his cup down. "None of this changes our path. We will not drift forever. We will eventually claim a territory. I already reserved one. It is a super large island in the New World, a bit smaller than Kanosfa Island."
Excitement rippled across the table.
Tirisfal's island, Kanosfa, measured around two hundred thousand square kilometers, a landmass large enough to be considered a continent. Teach had to stretch his Observation Haki to its absolute limit to sense across it.
Islands this large existed throughout the world, many split among warring nations. The World Government preferred such fragmentation. It kept powerful states from unifying.
The Nightfall Pirates finished their meal and dispersed to wander the town.
That evening, Teach and several executives were eating in a restaurant they had booked when a crewman rushed inside, breathless and clutching a slip of paper.
"Captain, someone told me to give this to you. It has a number. They want you to call it."
Teach frowned and accepted the paper. "Who is it?"
"No idea, but the man gave me this card." The pirate pulled out a business card featuring a plump bird wearing a suit and top hat, thin neck, sharp eyes, unmistakably theatrical.
Teach recognized the figure instantly. "Big News Morgans."
"What could he want? Probably something related to the broadcast."
He lifted the Den Den Mushi and dialed the number.
Buruburu, dong.
Morgans had been waiting since receiving his messenger's report. He snatched the receiver the instant it rang.
Teach heard a joyful burst of laughter.
The Den Den Mushi transformed into an albatross grinning at treasure.
"Wahahaha. Marshall D. Teach. I finally get to speak with you. This is Big News Morgans. You know who I am, yes?"
"Of course. But why would a busy man like you chase me down? If you had news about me, you would not need to call."
Nearby executives leaned closer. Talking to Morgans meant talking to one of the most influential men on the seas.
Morgans cleared his throat theatrically. "There is something I require your approval for. It concerns the footage of your battle. I recorded all of it, and it will be released tomorrow. I will give the full profits to you."
His tone was very different from before. Teach's dominance had shaken him. Morgans was not a man who underestimated someone twice.
Offering the profits cost him nothing compared to the potential gain.