Following this trail of clues, the investigation into Teach inevitably led to the White Bird Pirates, who were known to have a close relationship with "Ferocious God" Ares.
Soon after, it was discovered that Teach had once appeared on White Sand Island, the former territory of the White Bird Pirates.
More secrets surfaced.
Mostima, a great pirate already approaching Emperor-tier strength, was also connected to Teach. Eventually, someone revealed the truth: both Mostima and Ares were members of Teach's crew.
The person who exposed this information had once served in the Whitebeard Pirates.
According to him, on the day Teach left Whitebeard's ship, he brought Ares and Mostima with him. That night, the Whitebeard Pirates' division commanders jointly attempted to stop Teach. The battle lasted an entire night, and most of the commanders were defeated, losing their ability to fight.
In the end, it was Whitebeard himself who intervened and allowed Teach to leave.
At that time, Teach was only sixteen years old.
Even more shocking was the revelation regarding the White Bird Pirates. Two years earlier, when Teach was just fourteen, he had already subdued them and turned them into his subordinates.
In other words, Teach had already planned to leave the Whitebeard Pirates and establish his own power at the age of fourteen.
Mostima, now known in the New World as the "Wisdom Angel," possessed the Feather-Feather Fruit. That Devil Fruit had originally been in Whitebeard's possession before falling into Teach's hands, who then gave it to Mostima.
As for public opinion, Mostima was calm. The Whitebeard Pirates had always known the truth. If anything, he was surprised the information had not leaked sooner.
He did not publicly explain himself.
Instead, people noticed a change.
On the flying flag of the White Bird Pirates, a new emblem had appeared. The Nightfall Pirates' symbol had been added: three skulls with sharp eyes facing three directions, crossed bones behind them, and a twisted, dark vortex at the center.
That alone said enough.
Only then did the world realize how early Teach had begun laying his pieces in the New World. They had existed for years, hidden in the shadows, only now being exposed.
It was unsettling.
The depth of Teach's planning left many speechless.
As a result, the perceived strength of the Nightfall Pirates skyrocketed. Though still operating in the West Blue, they had already captured the attention of the entire world.
Many understood what this meant.
The Nightfall Pirates were accumulating power. Once their cadres fully matured and their strength rose another step, they would enter the New World as a terrifying force.
Some feared that day.
Others eagerly awaited it.
This revelation also caused unexpected consequences.
Across the world, the prices of ordinary Human-Human Fruits exploded. Even the weakest variants were suddenly worth over a billion Berries.
Before this, almost no one cared about them.
Now, they were priceless.
No one had imagined that ordinary Human-Human Fruits could produce such horrifying results. By allowing ferocious beasts to eat them, and successfully subduing those beasts, one could create monster-level combatants.
It was an idea no one had seriously considered before.
Except Teach.
That difference in vision set him apart.
Still, Human-Human Fruits were rare, and training beasts to become fully human-like required time. More importantly, those beasts were wild and violent. Subduing them required overwhelming strength.
Only a handful of people in the world were capable of doing so.
At present, only one had truly followed this path.
"Beast" Kaido.
Ares had been the first to fall to Kaido, making him the first to reveal this secret. Afterward, Kaido used his connections to acquire a Human-Human Fruit, specifically a powerful Giant form.
Kaido knew the locations of countless beast islands and had defeated innumerable powerful creatures.
From this emerged a new Calamity.
"Beast Calamity" Gates, the Bear King.
He had eaten the Human-Human Fruit, Giant Form. Once the sole overlord of a beast island, he was subdued by Kaido. After transforming, Gates stood nearly thirty meters tall, towering even over ordinary giants.
The Bear King instantly became the Beast Pirates' third strongest combatant, second only to Kaido himself and slightly weaker than the mysterious "Conflagration" King.
King defeated Gates only after battling him for three days and three nights.
After consuming the Devil Fruit, Gates entered a phase of explosive growth. It was widely believed that surpassing King was only a matter of time, which placed considerable pressure on King himself.
With the addition of a new Calamity, the Beast Pirates' overall strength surged.
This put enormous pressure on the other Emperors.
When Emperor-level forces were roughly equal, the most effective way to gain an advantage was to strengthen subordinates and recruit powerful allies. One additional top-tier combatant could tilt the balance of an entire war.
Among all the Emperors, the Big Mom Pirates felt this pressure most keenly.
Charlotte Linlin, Big Mom herself, had once been a core member of the Rocks Pirates. Kaido, by comparison, had only been an apprentice back then.
Kaido owed Big Mom a massive debt.
His Mythical Zoan, the Fish-Fish Fruit, Azure Dragon form, had been given to him by Charlotte Linlin.
Without it, Kaido would not have become what he was today.
In the past, Kaido's forces had been clearly inferior to Big Mom's. But in recent years, the Beast Pirates had steadily caught up and were now showing signs of surpassing her.
This filled Big Mom with urgency.
She pushed her children harder, strengthened her forces, and expanded her political alliances through marriage. At the same time, she continued to explore new applications of the Soul-Soul Fruit.
Big Mom's Homies were already infamous.
Zeus, the thundercloud, wielded lightning.
Prometheus, the living sun, commanded fire.
They possessed power comparable to Logia users and displayed combat strength close to that of Admirals.
Her hat, Napoleon, could transform into a massive sword, capable of unleashing terrifying slashes worthy of a great swordsman.
Now, Big Mom took things even further.
She used her children's souls to create specialized Homies, greatly amplifying the Big Mom Pirates' overall strength.
While the Emperors adjusted their positions, new forces also rose.
Among them were the Serpent King Pirates.
This pirate crew had been formed for only a year, yet they had already defeated multiple crews with bounties exceeding 100 million. Their reputation spread quickly throughout the New World.
Their captain, Mobius, possessed monstrous physical strength and a bizarre mental ability that could strip opponents of their five senses.
His second-in-command, the young Voss, was a Mythical Zoan user. He possessed the Snake-Snake Fruit, Great Serpent form, granting him terrifying power.
In just one year, Mobius' bounty reached 320 million Berries, while Voss's climbed to 200 million.
They were both top Supernovas of their generation.
Yet few dared provoke them.
The reason was simple.
From the moment they set sail, the Serpent King Pirates had flown the Nightfall Pirates' flag. They also maintained close ties with the White Bird Pirates, enjoying their protection.
Further investigation revealed the truth.
Mobius and Voss had once been brought to the Whitebeard Pirates by Teach himself and had stayed there for two years.
They were cadres personally cultivated by Teach.
In other words, Teach had begun nurturing his future forces long before he ever planned to sail independently.
The Navy, meanwhile, was far from idle.
While suppressing pirates across the four seas, they began pushing back into the New World. Navy warships patrolled around the G1 Branch, reoccupying the former territory of G5.
It was clear they intended to return.
At the forefront of this effort was Vice Admiral Lloyd.
Though only a Vice Admiral by rank, Lloyd's strength far exceeded that title. He possessed the Paramecia-type Dream-Dream Fruit, a strange and dangerous mental ability.
Several pirate crews with bounties in the hundreds of millions were crushed by him, including one infamous crew with a bounty of 400 million.
Unfortunately for Lloyd, that pirate crew was affiliated with the Big Mom Pirates.
When news reached Totto Land, Big Mom responded immediately.
There were two reasons.
First, to rescue and avenge her subordinates.
Second, to strike a blow against the Navy's attempt to return to the New World.
When the Big Mom Pirates moved, every faction contesting territory with them halted their conflicts.
Charlotte Linlin personally entered the battlefield.
Vice Admiral Lloyd was completely overwhelmed.
He was fifty years old, in his prime, and widely considered a top candidate for promotion to Admiral. Eager to build merit, he had aggressively pushed the Navy's advance.
He never expected Big Mom's response to be so swift and brutal.
The incomplete G5 Branch was annihilated.
The G1 Branch suffered catastrophic losses and was nearly wiped out.
Against the Big Mom Pirates, they had no chance.
If the G1 Branch had not been close to the Red Line, and if Fleet Admiral Sengoku had not rushed to reinforce them, Lloyd would have died.
The battle was entirely one-sided.
When the footage spread, Lloyd and the Navy became laughingstocks among New World pirates.
The world finally witnessed the true horror of the Big Mom Pirates.
An endless army of Homies.
Fire, stone, magma, water.
Creatures animated from candy, animals brought to life with souls.
Calling it Logia-like power was no exaggeration.
Big Mom could create an army by herself.
Worst of all was Soul Pocus.
The moment fear appeared, lifespan was extracted.
Watching a powerful warrior visibly age in seconds was enough to crush anyone's courage.
That battle shattered the Navy's ambition to return to the New World.
The G1 Branch was left in ruins, slowly rebuilding with minimal manpower. Lloyd survived, but he was finished.
Not physically crippled, but spiritually broken.
His lifespan had been drained by thirty years. His strength plummeted.
A future Admiral candidate was erased in a single battle.
Within the Navy, reactions were mixed.
Too many candidates were competing for too few Admiral seats. The struggle had become vicious.
At the same time, pirates flooded the seas. Countless were captured and sent to Impel Down, pushing it toward overcrowding. Even food became a serious burden.
Still, the Navy continued.
Military merit meant power.
And power meant everything.