Rocks was very displeased. He'd rushed all the way, traveling thousands of miles to Acropolis Port—was it purely to help that stinking old man Silas?
Of course not. What he wanted was to make a name for himself in this most elite war!
Though six months ago Rocks defeated Glyndwr, making the world know his name, this was only because his bounty skyrocketed to limits ordinary great pirates couldn't reach.
Once, only Silas had broken through this limit. Now there was another—Rocks.
So the world remembered Rocks, but many thought he was riding Silas's coattails.
Because Glyndwr wasn't famous!
The CP organization was an intelligence organization—even CP leaders would subconsciously conceal their identities, never being ostentatious.
Though rumors said Glyndwr had strength approaching Marine Admirals, the top-tier pirates weren't convinced.
In rumors, which of them didn't supposedly have strength approaching Marine Admirals? But how many times had they been utterly crushed when facing actual Admirals?
Until Silas appeared, killed a Marine Admiral, and shattered the Admirals' myth of invincibility. Even so, Marine Admirals remained this world's most elite combat power.
Defeating a CP organization head didn't count as a real achievement. Defeating a Marine Admiral was where you proved yourself!
So Rocks came this time not just to repay the old man's early guidance, but also to test himself against a Marine Admiral's strength.
The result? He'd just landed when he saw Silas explode into action, demolish two old men, and take them as prisoners.
Instantly, the Marines didn't dare move. Even Imu and two Holy Knights members—who always treated Marines as lackeys and looked down on them—didn't dare act rashly.
The World Government still held the advantage. Though the Marines had almost completely lost combat capability, Kong was utterly exhausted—it was unclear if he could even beat Dorry or Brogy in a one-on-one fight.
But Imu and her contractors were still in good condition. This was the terrifying aspect of immortality. Silas's regeneration relied on his body's cellular healing ability. Each healing consumed stamina. No matter how strong Silas was, continuous healing drained his stamina tremendously.
But the Holy Knights who'd made contracts with Imu were different—wound healing seemed to cost them nothing. They only expended stamina during combat.
So most of the time, the Holy Knights didn't bother using Haki for defense, instead conserving their Haki entirely for attacks.
Even after fighting this long, Saint Lucas and the others still retained at least half their stamina. By comparison, Silas's side was in far worse shape.
Except for the newly arrived Rocks, almost everyone was completely exhausted. Under normal circumstances, they probably wouldn't even be able to stand.
But now, battles could be lost—momentum couldn't weaken. Stussy gave everyone one emotion hormone dose—equivalent to everyone getting an adrenaline shot.
However exhausted, as long as injuries weren't severe, they could continue fighting.
So if they truly continued fighting, as long as Silas held off Imu, their side wasn't without fighting capability!
However, truly continuing would definitely cause the White Wolf Pirates heavy casualties, which is why Silas chose to capture Elephant Yama and Portman Nissen—these two old veterans.
One was Fleet Admiral, one was Chief of Staff. If Imu truly continued fighting, forget the damage to the White Wolf Pirates—as long as Silas escaped, everything was wasted effort, plus they'd face the Marines resentment.
Know that Elephant Yama and Portman Nissen were both former Admirals. Their former students and adjutants were now Marine high officials and officers, with relationship networks spanning all the Marines.
Plus the Holy Knights abandoning the Marines at critical battle moments earlier—the backlash afterward definitely couldn't be easily suppressed.
After all, once is a chance, twice is a pattern. Already having Rona's precedent, even Imu couldn't act arbitrarily.
Hearing Silas's words, Imu remained silent for a long time. She was thinking—considering how much strength Silas still had after fighting until now.
If Silas was exhausted, continuing the battle might keep him here. As long as Silas died, world order would return to the proper track.
But ultimately Imu abandoned this thought, because of Rocks. Though Rocks had run over doing nothing, precisely because he'd done nothing, he was currently the battlefield's best-conditioned Admiral-level fighter.
Even if Silas currently lacked stamina, as long as Silas wanted to flee, he could have Rocks carry him away.
Five years. From Silas and Rocks's first meeting until now—just five years. Must say, Rocks's talent was truly monstrous. Just five years to grow from a nobody into this—you must know even this world's protagonist, when first setting sail, was already quite strong.
Precisely because of this, Rocks became Silas's first Admiral-level subordinate, though this Admiral-level subordinate was currently somewhat rebellious.
"Release them. In exchange, I'll let you leave!" Imu ultimately made her decision. Though Marine losses weren't small, as long as they repelled the White Wolf Pirates, external propaganda could still claim World Government victory. After all, the White Wolf Pirates' target was Acropolis Port. Now they'd repelled the White Wolf Pirates. Wasn't this victory?
"These are your conditions?" Hearing Imu's words, Silas raised an eyebrow, directly retorting, "Then my conditions are simple—from now on, your World Government and Marines can't appear in the New World. This will all be my territory!"
Taking down Acropolis Port was to restrict Marine entry—so having the World Government actively withdraw was obviously a better choice.
"Impossible!" To Silas's conditions, Imu flatly refused. If she handed over the New World, what difference would it make from losing?
Though the New World had barren land, with allied nation numbers less than one-fifth of the World Government's total—this concerned the World Government's prestige. On this point, Imu absolutely couldn't concede.
Actually, once the Marines were defeated with the Fleet Admiral and Chief of Staff captured, the World Government had no prestige left to speak of.
Though she could forcibly keep Silas's White Wolf Pirates here, as long as Silas didn't die, after the White Wolf Pirates' destruction, they'd face a terrifying fighter alone, completely without concerns.
So Imu actually had no choice.
The subsequent negotiation details didn't spread widely worldwide, but everyone knew—in Sea Circle Calendar year 1465, the world was once again divided in two!