The New World made sailing difficult due to harsh weather, but it didn't affect Ren's ship, as fish-men were naturally excellent swimmers.
"This is truly an extreme sea," Robin was deeply shocked by the scene before her, having only ever sailed in the West Blue before.
Ren casually slashed a huge hailstone in the air into pieces. "But it's full of a fantastical aura. That's part of why I set out to sea."
"Did you leave Mariejois because of that, Big Brother Ren?" The merfolk on the ship immediately became curious.
"Not really. The main reason is to become stronger." Ren recalled that when he had first shared abilities, his days were filled only with training and challenging strong opponents, never stopping.
After talking with them for a while, everyone continued sailing. Ren looked at Reisa. "Why did you sneak along without telling me?"
"Didn't you notice already?" Reisa snorted softly, staring straight into Ren's eyes.
"This voyage is a bit dangerous."
"But you didn't object."
"Haha, then let's set sail together again," Ren laughed.
"We already are," Reisa laughed along.
Soon, Vivre Card resonated, and Ren and his crew encountered the Mink Pirates.
"Lord Ren, please punish me," Pedro knelt on one knee as soon as he boarded Ren's ship, far from showing the arrogance of a pirate with a 1-billion bounty.
"Good, good. You've all grown stronger," Ren said, clearly pleased.
The rest of the Mink crew stayed kneeling. Their benefactor had brought hope to their home, yet they couldn't help him when he needed it. They felt deeply guilty.
"It's alright. There's still work ahead. Can I rely on you?" Ren gently patted Pedro's head.
"We won't disappoint you, Lord Ren," Pedro said firmly, ready to risk his life without hesitation for Ren.
The Mink Pirates were powerful, not just Pedro. Among their forty members, thirteen had bounties over 100 million. Without a doubt, this was the strongest pirate crew under Ren.
Ren's fleet continued to grow as they sailed through the New World. He had no particular goal, only waiting for a certain event to unfold.
After all the benefits the other side had taken from him, it was time for repayment.
As the focus of the world, Ren's appearance once again shook everything.
He had withstood that kind of world-ending attack, and it seemed that Fish-Man Island hadn't suffered much, which could be seen from the fish-men who had sailed with him.
The whole world began to watch their movements, and the Navy set out toward the New World.
On the second day of sailing in the New World, Ren encountered an unexpected visitor.
"Hancock, what brings you here?" Ren asked as he looked at the Kuja Pirates' ship.
"Whatever I do is my own freedom," Hancock replied.
She then brought her two sisters onto Ren's ship and waved goodbye to the rest of the Kuja Pirates.
"Coming back here doesn't count as freedom, it's actually quite dangerous," Ren said with a light laugh.
"Is there any food? I'm hungry," Hancock ignored him.
The two sisters looked apologetically at Ren, while his crew hurried off to prepare food. Beauty certainly worked wonders.
Soon, dozens of pirate crews arrived.
These pirates were not coming for Ren's fame. After all, the World Government's threat was real, and people climb for power, not for death.
These crews were all former slaves of Ren.
Some had gone out to sea and started black-market schemes. Among them were pirates with bounties in the hundreds of millions, and some in the tens of millions.
Without a doubt, they had come to pledge loyalty to Ren.
Ever since Ren formed his massive pirate crew, its scale was unmatched by the other Yonko.
Besides ordinary pirates, there were the strong Mink Pirates and the Long-Arm Pirates.
A crew of this size instantly drew the attention of the New World, especially Big Mom, who had once fought Ren.
She desperately wanted Ren's bloodline.
To endure attacks of that level, Ren's bloodline must be extraordinarily powerful.
Yet, she could never obtain the blood of the Celestial Dragons.
Morgan first contacted Ren: "Old friend, you're still alive! I have to say, you truly are the strongest in the world."
"Hah, you opportunist. Don't call me your old friend," Ren said sarcastically.
"Hahaha, wherever there's news, there's me. Friendship has nothing to do with it," Morgan laughed.
Now his news business was booming, producing one hit story after another.
He was very grateful to Ren.
As for the World Government's island-destroying attacks? They would first need to find Ren's location.
"Since you're a friend, you'll have to make a story for me," Ren said.
"Hahaha, old friend, you yourself are already headline news. Tell me, what story do you want to spread?" Morgan agreed immediately.
"News about the Four Blues. I need you to report it, and the bigger the better," Ren said, planning to use public opinion to pressure the World Government.
"Four Blues? Fine." Morgans thought of Ren's favor and didn't refuse, though he felt a little regretful that Ren wasn't the big headline this time.
After ending the call, Morgans began digging for stories the Four Blues might expose, and what he found shocked him—during the World Government's fight with Ren, the Revolutionary Army had done something huge.
They had started uprisings in many World Government member nations across the Four Blues and had already turned several countries.
After confirming it, Morgans laughed out loud, "Ren, you really are my golden goose, scoop, big news, everyone, work overtime, another huge story."
Ren's fleet kept sailing and he spared no pirates they met, slaughtering them all. He needed the situation to ferment and force the World Government to divert part of its forces.
He never intended to cooperate with the Revolutionary Army; his initial talks with them were only for this moment—there can't be only benefits and no cost.
"Captain Ren, that's Whitebeard's ship over there, should we approach?" a Mink looked out and asked.
"Mm, make contact." Ren stood.
The two ships slowly closed in, and Whitebeard stood alone at his bow, brandishing a blade with overwhelming presence.
"Well, Whitebeard, been about two years, right?" Ren stepped up to his bow as well.
"Gurararara, Ren, what are you doing here, don't you know this is my turf?" Whitebeard swung without hesitation and a tidal wave surged toward Ren's ship.
Ren returned the strike casually with a single cut that stopped the tsunami, the aftershock pressing toward Whitebeard's ship, and if Whitebeard didn't stop it, the blow could have split his ship in two.
Whitebeard resisted with all his strength, yet Ren's attack kept closing in.
"Pops."
Whitebeard's crew fought back hard and finally halted Ren's assault, and Whitebeard looked at Ren with a solemn face.
Even against Roger, he had never felt such pressure; their strengths were on different levels.
Then Whitebeard laughed heartily, "Gurararara, Ren, are you here to kill me?"
"Not exactly, if I wanted to kill you I'd go all out." Ren said calmly.
"What do you want then?"
"To give you a chance to live, or rather, to give your family a chance to live." Ren's threat was blunt and naked.
His words enraged the Whitebeard Pirates, but one man grew afraid—Marshall D. Teach knew Ren's name well, and Whitebeard quickly quieted his son.
**********
Support me on my patreon and read upto 20 early chapters.
patreon.com/PirateKing24