Chapter 307: The Red Tide Rises in the New World

Roger looked up and swept his gaze around. “All of this is worth it if it means we can find the final island. Alright, everyone—set sail! We’re heading for the East Blue!”

…

Bogart was still out on the perimeter, watching for any sign from Cake Island.

After realizing the sounds of battle from the island had died down a while ago, he hurried over to Garp’s side, preparing to wake him.

“Vice Admiral Garp, it sounds like the fighting has stopped inside. Should we keep waiting here?”

The bubble on Garp’s nose popped with a quiet bang. “Huh? What’s going on?”

Seeing Garp’s harmless, almost innocent look, Bogart could only explain the situation again.

Only then did Garp sit up and turn his gaze toward the island. He released his Observation Haki, sensing that there were no signs of life remaining on the seas surrounding Cake Island.

In other words, the battle between those two was over, and Roger’s crew had vanished without a trace. He wasn’t even sure if they’d entered Cake Island as guests.

“Have the intelligence team start tracking the Roger Pirates again. They won’t stick around these waters for long.”

“As for us, we’ve lost their trail, so let’s head back to Navy Headquarters.”

“Besides, I’ve got a few things I need to take care of.”

Who could say when the Roger Pirates would show themselves on the open sea again?

With the target lost, their only real option was to return to Navy Headquarters.

Throughout Garp’s time at sea, more than a few vice admirals thought he was just wasting time.

Matters in the New World should be left to the pirates to work out themselves.

Right now, pirates are cropping up everywhere in the Four Seas and the first half of the Grand Line. The Navy Headquarters doesn’t have enough manpower to keep up.

With pressure mounting from all sides, Fleet Admiral Kong had already been forced to call Garp several times, urging him to return. After all, a vice admiral wandering aimlessly and neglecting his duties didn’t look good.

Little did anyone know, it would be years before the Roger Pirates showed themselves again.

Once Garp left, the New World entered a long period of stable growth. The three great rulers each consolidated their territories.

Golden Lion held the first half of the New World firmly, while Karl and Whitebeard split the second half between them.

During these years, the top pirate crews had occasional run-ins, but they never erupted into full-blown war.

After all, they were all top dogs, and most of them had sailed on the same ship before. As long as there wasn’t a major dispute, nobody wanted a large-scale battle.

While the New World stayed peaceful, the rest of the seas didn’t enjoy the same calm.

The World Government kept up their little schemes, pushing Karl to accelerate the Revolutionary Army’s plans.

Various factions were sent out again and again to save slaves, spreading the fire of revolution across the lands. The most intense action was in the New World.

At first, this didn’t have much impact on the World Government.

Then, just last year, a red force managed to overthrow a World Government member nation with a population of half a million.

That event made the member nations in the New World uneasy. Some even started rethinking their annual tribute—the Heavenly Gold.

After all, even after paying Heavenly Gold, the Navy never showed up to help in the New World. So why keep coughing it up year after year?

News of their reluctance to pay reached the Celestial Dragons before long.

That was the day the World Government really started paying attention. Heavenly Gold was their main source of income, after all.

If large numbers of member nations opted out, it would deal a serious blow to the World Government.

Over the past five years, many non–member nations joined, pushing the total membership back up to 170 countries. But with this new unrest, the number started to drop again.

The Revolutionary Army formally came into being, led by none other than Monkey D. Dragon.

That’s right—Monkey D. Dragon. Karl had invited him to join the Revolutionary Army a full five years ahead of schedule.

Unlike the original timeline, Karl had prepared a massive stack of socialist literature to fuel the revolution.

With the Revolutionary Army staying true to its path, they’d topple a nation and then build it up, slowly gathering funds to fight the World Government in a war of attrition.

Because their first conquest was a member nation within the New World, they avoided any devastating counterstrikes.

In just a short time, the revolution took root. Many non–member countries in the New World fell to the Revolutionary Army, and the fires of war spread out toward the Four Seas and the first half of the Grand Line.

Meanwhile, the World Government was growing anxious—especially after they intercepted the Revolutionary Army’s socialist books.

Hundreds of volumes, large and small.

At first, some people doubted these books would have any real effect.

But after examining some of the economic theories inside, they realized something was wrong and brought in experts to analyze them.

The analysis revealed the books would awaken the people’s desire for freedom, teach them to think and resist, and to refuse to live as slaves—stirring up major unrest for the World Government.

At its core, the World Government was just a massive pirate syndicate, controlling over a hundred member nations and raking in the Heavenly Gold every year without lifting a finger.

But once people developed a sense of freedom, those roots could be shaken—the World Government couldn’t allow that risk.

Unfortunately, their reach didn’t extend into the New World’s Revolutionary Army headquarters. Every time they sent agents and those agents passed through the three great rulers’ territory, they were wiped out.

For now, the World Government had no choice but to abandon the New World and dismantle a few outposts in the Four Seas.

During these five years, the World Government and Karl’s Pirate Crew clashed repeatedly.

From economics to trade to population and resources, the two sides battled fiercely on all fronts.

However, Karl’s foundation still couldn’t quite compare to the World Government’s. Outside the New World, his operations took heavy losses.

The silver lining? His stronghold remained safe—a small relief.

Roger, meanwhile, finally finished his journey around the Four Seas and began reappearing in the first half of the Grand Line, heading for the New World once more.

Garp, his old rival, soon caught wind of Roger’s reappearance. Five years cooped up at Navy Headquarters had nearly driven him mad, so he took his men and set out in pursuit.

Once again, the two plunged into their endless game of cat and mouse.

Unbeknownst to them, Golden Lion had already cast his net in the New World, lying in wait.

Things might’ve been calm on the surface, but on Cake Island it was a whole different scene.

Recently, the Ark Maxim was finally completed. Ledfield immediately took it for a test flight to the Moon.

The world’s black technology didn’t disappoint—even the Den Den Mushi could connect all the way back from the Moon.

In the massive conference hall inside Cake Castle, a video call from the Moon was being projected via Transponder Snail.

“Hello everyone, this is your host—Ledfield.”

“Today, I’ll take you all on a tour of the Moon base.”

Over the past five years, Karl collected all the Lineage Factors and cloned every gene he needed, so now general technology was advancing fast.

E-commerce, livestream hosts, logistics—everyone had access to them by now. They’d even launched satellites into orbit.

Everywhere you looked in the Sweets Sea, it was just like the modern world—towering skyscrapers, bright lights shining everywhere.