The former site of Water 7.
The sea was still turbulent, but suddenly, several flashes of black-red Haki lightning streaked across. A large mass of seawater abruptly bulged upward, then exploded with a crash.
Taking advantage of the gap created by his punch just moments ago, Garp carried Sengoku on his back, while his adjutant Bogard carried Tsuru on his. Using Geppo (Moonwalk) and Soru (Shave), they swiftly escaped from the seabed.
It was also thanks to the airburst York used. Although the part of Water 7 above the sea surface had been wiped flat, the underwater portion hadn't actually been destroyed very deeply.
It was more like an incredibly powerful shockwave had compressed the part of Water 7 originally above the surface downwards.
Therefore, the underwater crater York blasted out was only about ten meters or so from the sea surface.
Otherwise, it wouldn't have been so easy for Garp and the others to escape from there.
Carrying Sengoku on his back and stepping on the air with Geppo, Garp looked down at the surging sea below with a complicated expression.
This time, in order to capture York, they had mobilized 10,000 elite Marines.
As a result, with just one sun explosion from York, almost all of them were killed in action.
Currently, he only knew that the four of them had survived.
"It's truly tragic..."
Garp let out a long sigh. Together with Bogard, carrying the heavily injured Sengoku and the unconscious Tsuru, they used Geppo to rush towards the nearest support fleet.
...
The battle of Water 7 shook the world.
That bright sun on the sea was clearly visible even from Alabasta, let alone other islands closer to Water 7.
Not just the Grand Line—even the East Blue and South Blue, separated only by the Calm Belt, saw the pure white blazing sun rising from the sea.
The news couldn't be hidden at all.
However, the World Government was ultimately the ruler of this world.
Under their invincible power of wealth and influence, media outlets all over the world twisted this incident into a meteorite falling from the sky, destroying Water 7. Fortunately, a Marine fleet was nearby at the time and rescued a large number of innocent civilians from Water 7... and so on.
Of course, this was just the news most ordinary people learned through newspapers.
Those overlord-level forces with their own independent intelligence networks more or less found out the truth about Water 7.
The Marines had mobilized a large force to encircle York's gang, remnants of the Rocks Pirates. That pure white sun illuminating the night sky was a product of this battle.
After learning this news, all the major powers were itching with curiosity, dispatching more intelligence units in an attempt to learn more detailed specifics of the battle.
However, under the full cover-up by the World Government and the Marines, they couldn't find out the specific losses of both sides in this battle at all.
Even when Garp appeared unharmed in the New World, the various powers couldn't help but speculate whether York's gang had already been wiped out.
After all, Garp was the Marines' highest combat power, and he had explicitly appeared at Water 7.
Since Garp was unharmed and York was missing, it was only natural to assume Garp had won and York's gang had been annihilated.
"Tsk tsk tsk, that guy Garp really is a monster!"
"That sun couldn't have been created by his punch, could it?"
"To defeat the remnants of the Rocks Pirates single-handedly, the title of Marine Hero really carries weight!"
...
Almost everyone thought this way.
But a few days later, the situation suddenly reversed.
York's bounty skyrocketed from the previous 3 billion Berries to 4.5 billion Berries, a full increase of 1.5 billion Berries—essentially increasing by half of his previous value.
At the same time, apart from York, the bounties of the other members of the Red Flag York gang remained almost unchanged. Only a big-headed Ivankov and the former Marine recruit, Monkey D. Dragon, were added.
Red Flag Pirates Apprentice · Emporio Ivankov — Bounty: 5 million Berries.
Red Flag Pirates Apprentice · Monkey D. Dragon — Bounty: 50 million Berries.
This sudden and abnormal change instantly attracted the attention of major powers.
"York isn't dead!!"
"And there's a high probability he hasn't been caught either!!"
"Otherwise, his bounty wouldn't have jumped so much all at once!!"
"Does this mean that the sun that lit up the night sky that night was actually created by York?!"
"Come to think of it, York's ability seems to be emitting light..."
Speculations rose and fell, detonating the world once again.
Whitebeard looked at York's new wanted poster, a trace of reminiscence appearing on his face.
"Surpassing my bounty so quickly, what a monster brat."
No wonder York and Rocks had always had a good relationship back when the Rocks Pirates hadn't disbanded.
"That kid, without Rocks suppressing him, has thoroughly bloomed with his own light."
But sighing was just sighing. Whitebeard looked up and saw a pineapple-headed boy not far away, and a smile reappeared on his face.
"Gurarara~~ There's no need for me to compare myself with York. My goal is just to have a family."
Not far away.
Only 8 years old, Marco noticed Whitebeard's gaze and immediately ran over happily.
"Pops, what happened?"
Whitebeard casually handed him the wanted poster.
"An old friend from the past. He's become even more formidable than me now."
Marco looked at the numbers on the wanted poster, and after counting them clearly, he couldn't help but exclaim.
"4.5 billion?! His bounty is even higher than yours, Pops?!"
"And he looks so young!! How is he so powerful?!"
"Gurarara~~"
Whitebeard smiled and rubbed Marco's little head.
"You don't need to compare yourself to him. That guy is a monster. Just focus on training your Yamata no Orochi fruit."
"Mhm~~"
Marco nodded gently.
Mature for his age, he didn't have thoughts of comparing.
But deep down, he was still somewhat unconvinced.
Because in his perception, Pops Whitebeard was the strongest man in the world.
This person named York had a bounty higher than Pops—did he do something particularly evil on purpose?
Sky Island.
York actually hadn't suffered any injuries.
Just as he said when he returned, he had merely exhausted his stamina from using his awakening ultimate move, and had fully recovered after a sleep.
The reason he hadn't appeared in the outside world was purely because some affairs had piled up on Sky Island that needed handling.
By the time he finished handling them, his new bounty was just about released.
After quickly purchasing outside newspapers and the new wanted poster through Stussy's Mirror World, everyone in the Red Flag Pirates jumped up in excitement.
"Haha! 4.5 billion Berries!! Surpassed Whitebeard! Shiki! And Roger!!"
"Captain York is now the world's number one expert!!"
York raised his hands slightly, temporarily suppressing everyone's excitement.
"Whether I'm number one in the world or not, I don't care."
"But at least after the battle of Water 7, the World Government shouldn't dare to act against us easily anymore."
"So I've decided to officially set sail from Sky Island! Head to the Blue Sea, and begin our pirate crew's expansion journey!!"
Hearing this, the Red Flag Pirates were stunned for a moment, then erupted in even more enthusiastic cheers.
"Awesome!!"
"Set sail!!"
"Expansion!! Recruit people!!"