Every war was a gamble. Silas used himself as the wager, placing it on the table. Winning meant gaining more territory; losing meant becoming buried dust.
But only at times like these did the World Government have an opportunity to kill Silas, so they wouldn't refuse to gamble with him.
But this time, they lost again!
Not killing Silas meant losing. Not even consuming much of the White Wolf Pirates foundation meant a huge loss. Additionally, giving away half the New World meant losing their shirts.
Imu ultimately didn't cede all of the New World to Silas. Silas also knew this was impossible. But ultimately it wasn't the White Wolf Pirates retreating—it was the World Government and Marines who withdrew.
Imu didn't acknowledge Silas's status in the New World, but she handed over Acropolis Port. With the Marines current strength unable to cross the White Wolf Pirates to enforce law in the New World, this was equivalent to giving Silas half the New World.
Ultimately, this was an understanding between the strong. Through repeated wars and direct confrontations, not sneaky ambushes—losing meant accepting it. Otherwise, Silas could visit Mariejois for raids every few days, and Imu could likewise teleport Holy Knights throughout Silas's territory, causing destruction.
Why would Imu concede the New World to Silas if not for this reason? Previously Silas had nothing—even with forces, he controlled just one island. Now he had substantial holdings. Just the allied nations' dozen-plus islands—hiding temporarily was one thing, but could he really have Ripley shrink people, cramming the populations of dozens of nations into one country, then hiding forever?
Regardless, this was undoubtedly a great victory. Those who died most were pirates Silas recruited with Stussy's youth medicine. Few good people became pirates anyway. Not being direct subordinates, their deaths didn't weigh heavily on him and even facilitated later management.
By comparison, Marine casualties actually made Silas more regretful. Silas and the Marines were enemies, but he didn't hate Marines who fought pirates to protect ordinary people. Unfortunately, the Marines obeyed Celestial Dragon orders. The Marines not opposing the White Wolf Pirates was one thing—but once opposing them, Silas would never show mercy.
Actually, this battle reaching its later stages, that Conqueror's collision between Silas, Imu, and Shimotsuki Ryuma stopped further casualties. Many pirates and Marines fainted, leaving only stronger people still fighting. These stronger pirates and Marines had one prominent feature—vigorous vitality.
Ultimately, excluding minor injuries, the pirates suffered over ten thousand casualties. The Marines side was probably more severe. Imu ceded all of Acropolis Port to Silas but retained Marine G-1 Base to restrain the White Wolf Pirates.
Simultaneously, she declared to nations still allied with the World Government in the New World—the World Government hadn't lost the war with the White Wolf Pirates. This was equal negotiation. The World Government hadn't abandoned them.
However, in many people's eyes, the Marine Fleet Admiral was captured, and the World Government was forced to cede Acropolis—the New World's starting point. What is the difference from defeat?
So the World Government declared its victory externally, the White Wolf Pirates proclaimed their victory. After directly handing the broken Acropolis Port to the Marines, Silas led the remaining pirates back into the lanternfish's belly and launched celebrations!
"Long live the White Wolf Pirates!"
"Haha, haven't fought such a satisfying battle in ages."
"You didn't see that Marine Fleet Admiral's expression—like his parents died."
"Damn, why did I faint halfway through?"
"Blame yourself for being too weak!"
After this battle, pirates choosing to follow Silas gained some White Wolf Pirates identification. In this strength-supremacist world, strength was justice. And having strength while giving others respect was enough to make everyone completely convinced.
Pirates initially joining the White Wolf Pirates for youth medicine and Pure Gold were just mercenaries. But after this battle, Silas began establishing rules for these pirates, distributing benefits. Finishing this battle didn't mean no future wars.
World Government allied nations approached two hundred; the New World had under thirty total—the White Wolf Pirates gained loyalty from eleven allied nations. So the White Wolf Pirates and World Government logistics still weren't equal.
But this was a world of supreme individual might. As long as Silas wasn't killed, the World Government could only accumulate strength, waiting for Silas to place himself on the gambling table again. However, next time would probably be the decisive battle.
CLANG!
The massive beer mug collided with Silas's small cup, nearly shattering it. Harald and several other giants sat together, pointing at Silas while laughing heartily.
"Didn't we win? Why look so worried after winning?"
"Kekekekeke, this was truly a great battle!"
"Too bad we didn't capture that Marine Admiral—our strength still isn't enough!"
Captains Dorry and Brogy laughed cheerfully. On the other side, Rocks also found Newgate again, sneakily extending an invitation.
"Newgate, want to set sail with me?"
Having left the White Wolf Pirates just two years yet possessing Admiral-level strength, Rocks felt he could now directly clash with Silas, so he decided to start recruiting early. Then Newgate turned around.
"Who are you?"
Rocks immediately fought with Newgate. "Brat, just two years and you forgot me?"
"What beggar—don't you know I'm the White Wolf Pirates chief crew member?"
Newgate truly didn't recognize Rocks. After all, Rocks's current appearance was worlds apart from his White Wolf Pirates days. On the White Wolf Pirates, Rocks at least regularly groomed his beard and hair, and his clothing was reasonably neat—after all, being too slovenly would earn beatings from Silas.
But out alone with no one managing him, plus roughing it outdoors, living in Magra Kingdom's sewers for half a year—though still young, compared to before, Rocks seemed aged ten years.
After proving his identity later, Newgate looked disgusted. "How did you end up so pathetic?"
In Newgate's view, successful pirates—never mind being like Silas with neat clothing, beautiful female crew members serving, several large ships, and several forces pledging loyalty—at least shouldn't be complete slobs, right? But looking now, Rocks was like some street thug. Where was his presence as a great pirate?
It was one thing for Newgate to think this. Hearing Newgate's words, even Rocks's recently recruited crew members looked at Rocks doubtfully. The most familiar, Patrick Redfield, looked at Rocks even more disdainfully.
"This is your supposedly loyal little brother?"
If not for being wanted together with Rocks, Patrick Redfield wouldn't want to set sail, let alone follow Rocks, who went hungry more often than not. Did they think sailing was simple?
Even with a large ship gifted by the Magra Kingdom, with Patrick Redfield serving as an amateur navigator, eating and drinking remained major problems. Two men couldn't manage logistics. Sometimes Rocks impulsively departed with an empty shiphold, confidently thinking a few fishing hooks would let them catch all the fish they needed at sea.
The result? Three days without catching anything. Finally diving for fish, they caught poisonous ones. Without strong abilities and Life Return mastery, they'd have died at sea already. After finding two more crew members, the Rocks Pirates barely qualified as a proper crew.
But Rocks wasn't satisfied, because these pirates he found, though young and seemingly of decent strength, were nothing compared to top-tier pirates—they were still far from even qualifying as great pirates.
Take Patrick Redfield—though Rocks used Silas's old training methods on him, after all this time Patrick Redfield had merely learned basic Rokushiki, nowhere close to learning Haki. Other crew members were even worse. The entire Rocks Pirates currently had no one capable of fighting.
So when Rocks announced he wanted to participate in the Acropolis Port war, the other young pirates nearly fainted from fear. To be blunt, was this a level they could participate in?
He had no choice. Rocks's location then was the Grand Line's first half—everything was fine except pirates were basically all rookies. Stronger ones existed, but most would rather die than submit. Even vice-captain Patrick Redfield was tricked aboard by Rocks through deception.
After all, natural-born Observation Haki users—you couldn't find many across the entire seas! But good talent alone didn't translate to strength. The current Rocks was no different from when Silas first obtained his system, preparing for a comeback—had some strength, had people? None. He could only train them himself.
This was why Rocks sought Newgate. Training them himself was so slow! How could it compare to finding a good brother for help?
But he'd overestimated his position in his good brother's heart. After learning he was Rocks, if not for feeling that Rocks coming to support the White Wolf Pirates after their World Government war showed some conscience, Newgate wouldn't even look at him properly. Then there was Silas.
"Brat, if you want crew members, find them yourself, train them yourself. If I weren't seeing you still have some conscience, I'd throw you out right now!"
"Tsk, I was just worried you'd die on the battlefield!"
Rocks naturally wouldn't admit he came to help Silas. In his view, Silas was his future world-dominating strongest opponent—how could he die at the so-called World Government's hands?
Right—after hearing Silas dominated the seas and then declared war on the World Government, with everyone saying Silas wanted world domination, Rocks suddenly felt his previous perspective was too small. What sea domination? He wanted world domination!
However, Rocks could only think about it for now. Though Admiral-level wasn't his limit, wanting to challenge Silas required surpassing even ordinary Admiral-level strength. Even if he matched Silas's personal power, what about forces?
So Rocks unceremoniously brought the Magra Kingdom into his fold, never considering that the Magra Kingdom wanted White Wolf Pirates protection. The Rocks Pirates had only Rocks himself capable of fighting, relying entirely on the White Wolf Pirates reputation.
Before completely breaking with the White Wolf Pirates, most people would think he was helping the White Wolf Pirates expand their territory—after all, Rocks grabbed territory but didn't defend it. Ultimately, it still required the White Wolf Pirates to send people to support those territories, didn't it?
Silas also looked over Rocks Pirates and immediately found it interesting. Beyond the surprise of finding Patrick Redfield, among the other three crew members, two were ones he recognized. In this era, if he recognized them, it meant they had either strength or talent.
And among Rocks Pirates were two notable crew members—one was a young man named John, one was a young pirate named Wang Zhi. Both weren't particularly strong yet, but as future powerhouses second only to the legendary pirates, their strength would eventually rival future Linlin.
However, this time with his coaching, though not eating the Soul-Soul Fruit, Linlin's achievements definitely wouldn't be worse than her original future self. At least now, Linlin—gradually maturing—was no longer the chubby girl from before, her figure becoming slender. Combined with an increasingly refined face, she'd earned the title "Pirate Princess" among pirates.
Young yet possessing 200-million-level combat power. Many pirates believed once Linlin reached adulthood, she'd be another legendary pirate!
Adding Rocks whose strength was World Government-certified, even if some pirates remained unconvinced, they wouldn't think Rocks lacked top-tier great pirate strength. So the White Wolf Pirates had both the present and the future secured.
Unless Silas died someday, the White Wolf Pirates were destined to become a behemoth standing in the New World. Many joining the White Wolf Pirates were veteran pirate crews who had hit their limits, seeing no future—so joining the White Wolf Pirates gave these veterans no guilt whatsoever.
As for disobedient subordinates? When the White Wolf Pirates went to war, they'd be thrown to the forefront as cannon fodder. The exact death toll from these great battles was unknown, but those charging first definitely died earliest. Top-tier fighters excepted.
After this great battle, whether the White Wolf Pirates or World Government, in total, only one top-tier fighter actually died—that Holy Knights vice commander slain by Shimotsuki Ryuma's blade. Beyond that, even the most severely injured Ortega survived.
However, this was only on the surface. After this battle, though Elephant Yama and Portman Nissen didn't die, having been taken captive by pirates, they were as good as dead. They'd become a permanent stain on the Marines reputation.
But what could they do—had they made major command errors? No—Imu had betrayed the Marines! Strong fighters' strength was greatly affected by morale. After this battle, even if Elephant Yama and Portman Nissen's positions didn't change, their already-diminished Admiral-level strength would disappear entirely.
Sure enough, soon after, the Marines announced new information. Fleet Admiral Elephant Yama and Chief of Staff Portman Nissen resigned. Admiral Ortega Sivan assumed the new Fleet Admiral position. Admirals Kong and Haines Oran—positions unchanged. The Marines launched worldwide conscription again.
Originally before the battle, the Marines barely had five Admiral-level fighters. But after this battle, though people didn't die, one Fleet Admiral and one Chief of Staff's resignations severely damaged the Marines.
As for worldwide conscription, where could Admiral-level fighters be easily found? As these seas most elite fighters, even one era couldn't produce many. Since they couldn't be found, they could only be cultivated.
To handle the increasingly powerful White Wolf Pirates, the World Government finally relaxed restrictions on ordinary Marines, seriously beginning to cultivate newcomers. Sengoku and Garp welcomed their spring.
And at the new year's beginning, Sea Circle Calendar 1466, a small pirate ship carrying several rookie pirates sailed from the East Blue into the Grand Line.