Super Card System

Chapter 560: News gathering

Just like the battle between Ian and the Marines on Salamis Island, which was once reported by an intern journalist, Pritz, the reporters in this world were unstoppable in their passion for grabbing news.

During the period before, when the Marines continuously gathered elite Marine soldiers from various parts of the world, many reporters sensed something unusual.

This led to a large number of reporters camping outside the Marine Headquarters, wanting to understand the specific situation.

However, when the truth was uncovered, the reporters were stunned. Subsequently, they went crazy and spread the truth they had dug up all over the world.

The Marines were actually going to take action against the Whitebeard Pirates!

This news was like a super bomb, causing the whole world to boil. Although in the eyes of the world, a showdown between the Marines and the Four Emperors was inevitable, nobody had expected this battle to come so soon.

Moreover, the Marines chose to target Whitebeard, who was the most renowned among the Four Emperors…

Once the news was reported, it could be said that people all over the world were in a state of anxiety because no one knew which side would emerge victorious in this battle.

If the Marines were to win, they would take a big step forward in their mission to end “the era of the Great Pirates,” and the power of the pirates would be severely weakened, and justice would undoubtedly prevail.

If the Whitebeard Pirates were to emerge victorious, then the Marines would no longer be able to halt the peak of the Great Pirate Era. The Grand Line would see an increasing influx of pirates, and as long as Roger’s Great Treasure remained unfound, this situation would persist.

At the same time, the reputation of the Marines and the World Government will suffer a fatal blow, especially the World Government, which already has deep conflicts among its member countries due to the incident with the Celestial Dragons. If they are defeated again, various opposing forces will emerge, weakening their rule until the member countries start to break apart.

Without these member nations, the World Government would essentially collapse…

Hence, although the World Government doesn’t interfere with the decisions of the Warlords, they’ve made it clear to them that if they are going to fight, they must win!

On the Sabaody Archipelago, thousands of reporters had gathered, most of them serving under major news conglomerates, while others worked for smaller newspapers. Without exception, they were all diligently collecting every bit of information about the war, turning it into news and disseminating it.

And no matter how obscure the newspaper or magazine, as long as it was related to this war, it could achieve enormous sales.

To put it bluntly, even if an entire magazine was blank, just writing a headline like “The New Battle of Edd War” could sell tens of thousands of copies…

The fleets of the Marines were continuously dispatched towards the New World, and the journalists stationed here were using every means possible to tally the specific military strength deployed by the Marines this time.

However, when they finished tallying, they were horrified to discover that the Marine Headquarters had almost emptied its reserves this time.

The number of warships mobilized exceeded 540, carrying nearly 100,000 elite Marine troops. Among these Marines, there were hardly any ordinary soldiers. The lowest rank was that of a sergeant, with over ten thousand warrant officers, thousands of lieutenant commanders, and over a hundred commanders.

Not to mention, among them were not only more than ten renowned Marine vice admirals, but also the three Admirals, the highest fighting power of the Marines, who had taken the field. The Fleet Admiral himself was personally leading the command, looking as if they were prepared to determine the outcome of the battle with the Whitebeard Pirates once and for all.

Such a massive Marine force left the journalists dumbfounded, but then they felt an inexplicable sense of excitement.

How should I put it? These journalists were mostly aligned with the World Government and the Marines because the news media was under the control of the World Government. Therefore, even the reporters under its banner were inclined towards the Marines and the World Government.

However, when they managed to obtain the approximate information about the Whitebeard Pirates, their smiles vanished.

The Marine force was formidable, but the Whitebeard Pirates were equally formidable. The Whitebeard, Edward Newgate, hailed as the strongest of the Four Emperors, was not just a legend.

The Whitebeard Pirates themselves had a force of over 1,600 people, led by sixteen division commanders. In addition, under Whitebeard’s command, there were also a large number of powerful pirates. In total, there were forty-three pirate crews, with a total number exceeding fifty thousand. The combined number of ships under their command was nearly twelve hundred.

Just seeing this data, the journalists couldn’t help but gasp in shock, because from the perspective of this data alone, it was clear that the Whitebeard Pirates were almost evenly matched with the Marines…

How terrifying! Is this the power of the strongest of the Four Emperors!?

During the process of continuous digging and reporting, the journalists also realized a major issue: there was a serious vacancy among the Seven Warlords of the Sea participating in the war on the Marine side.

Currently, the only Warlords summoned to participate in the war were Hawk-Eye Mihawk, Gecko Moria, Pirate Empress Boa Hancock, and… Bartholomew Kuma!

The first three were no surprise, but what surprised the journalists the most was Bartholomew Kuma. Everyone knew he was a former member of the Seven Warlords! His position had already been replaced by the Black Dragon Ian.

The new shichibukai didn’t participate in the war, but instead, the former shichibukai who had already been deposed were sent into battle. What was going on?

Just as the journalists were still wondering, not long after, news of the attack on Impel Down spread. After the journalists flocked to the Marine Headquarters for interviews, they learned from Vice Admiral Gion’s mouth that the attacker was none other than the newly appointed shichibukai, Black Dragon Ian!

He not only attacked Impel Down, killing all the prisoners on the fifth and sixth levels, but also escaped with all the remaining prisoners!

When they first heard this news, the journalists felt only one thing: deep fear! They finally understood why Ian wasn’t summoned to join the battle, because he had completely turned against the Marines!

In response, the Marines even released news of revoking Ian’s title as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, and increased his bounty to a staggering amount, one billion Beli!

This was equivalent to the Marines acknowledging that Ian’s threat had reached the level of one of the Three Disasters of the Beast Pirates, Drought Jack… or perhaps even surpassed it…

Under the journalists’ relentless probing, they finally understood the reason why Ian chose to stand against the Marines.

It was simple. Ian was the brother of Portgas D. Ace, the second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. When the Dragon Hunters pirate crew was pursued by the Marines, it was Whitebeard, Edward Newgate, who intervened and drove off the Marines to save Ian. In other words, the Whitebeard Pirates owed Ian a debt!

So, Ian’s decision to oppose the Marines at this time was only natural.

And because of Ian, this time the Marines’ summoning of the Seven shichibukai was incomplete. Crocodile and Jinbe were rescued by Ian from Impel Down, while Doflamingo was exposed by Ian’s actions, revealing his criminal deeds to the public, making it impossible for the Marines to shamelessly bring him back as a combatant.

As a result, including Ian, the Marines lost the combat strength of four shichibukai…

Although the Marines have now added a new shichibukai, Blackbeard Teach, to their ranks, to be honest, many people haven’t heard much about this guy called Blackbeard, and they know nothing about his strength.

So, in the minds of many, Teach isn’t really counted among the combat forces of the shichibukai.

This situation… While the journalists are still trembling with fear, they don’t know how to evaluate this matter.

Although when Ian joined the shichibukai, there were already rumors from high-ranking Marines (Vice Admiral Doberman) that it was a wrong decision, and that the position of a shichibukai couldn’t restrain Ian, but at that time, no one would have thought that this day would come so soon.

Everyone vaguely feels that when Ian joined the Seven Warlords, it was just a means for him to preserve himself, and now his wings have begun to grow, ready to leave the nest…

Nowadays, Ian, Crocodile, and Jinbe, these three former shichibukai have disappeared after the Impel Down incident, but everyone knows that the Marines may need to be more wary of the Dragon Hunter Pirate Crew. It’s just that no one knows how much the strength of this Dragon Hunter Pirate Crew has grown…

Oh, right, there was another hidden figure who escaped with Ian, the clown Buggy! When the crew of the Pirate King appeared before the world again, it inevitably stirred up the terrifying memories of the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, in everyone’s minds…

As journalists who have obtained first-hand information, they naturally feel concerned about the Marines’ loss of combat strength, but there is some good news: Whitebeard, Edward Newgate, has been seriously injured!

To what extent was he injured? Is there still a possibility of him participating in the battle? These things were unknown to the journalists, but this could indeed be considered good news.

The only thing that made journalists curious was how Whitebeard was injured! Although various events indicated that Whitebeard’s injury might be related to the Navy’s planning, because when the news of Whitebeard’s injury first came out, Admiral Akainu had already appeared in the Edd War Sea in the New World, journalists would not believe there was no connection in this matter.

However, as for how Whitebeard was injured, even the Marine Headquarters was evasive and did not provide specific explanations, so despite the journalists’ probing, they still couldn’t find out.

There was nothing they could do. The World Government had issued a gag order on this matter, after all, they had used the Blackbeard Pirates, which wasn’t a very glorious thing. If it leaked out, it might damage the illustrious image of both the Navy and the World Government. Therefore, both the high-ranking officials of the Navy and the World Government remained tight-lipped in response to the journalists’ inquiries.

Moreover, now that the Navy and the World Government had received news of the sudden disappearance of Blackbeard Teach, many people had a foreboding feeling about this matter, feeling that something big might happen…

The intelligence agencies of the World Government were already trying to track down Blackbeard’s whereabouts, but the problem was that the war between them and Whitebeard had already begun, and most of their attention was focused on this matter, making it difficult to devote too much energy to dealing with Blackbeard.

Amidst all this commotion, the image from Sabody Island finally came through, immediately attracting countless people to gather around to watch.

The live broadcast of this war was finally underway, which also meant that the Navy’s arrangements had been completed, and they were about to take action against the Whitebeard Pirates…

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