The so-called most heinous incident in the world was still fermenting in the public eye, and the World Economy News Paper had truly captured a massive wave of traffic.
For the past few days, reports surrounding the event from all sorts of angles were published daily, forcing any other events happening in the world to take a backseat.
For example, the ceasefire between the Red Hair Pirates and the Big Mom Pirates.
Before the Sabaody Archipelago incident, their truce would have absolutely been considered a major, world-shaking event, but now, it could only occupy a tiny section in the newspapers.
Barely anyone was even paying attention to it.
Out on the sea, aboard the rapidly sailing Dunn Rose Hunter Ship, Robin held several newspapers, her eyes wide with shock.
When the News Birds delivered the papers from the past few days, Robin, who was only just now learning what had happened, was completely dumbfounded.
Cyrus was, of course, very strong, and Robin, who had been by his side the longest, knew his situation better than most.
No matter what he encountered, Cyrus always seemed to be very confident, a trait that likely stemmed from his immense physical power.
But what happened this time still exceeded Robin's wildest imagination.
At first, she had thought at most that Cyrus would make a move against the Celestial Dragons who came to the Sabaody Archipelago.
Later, the debris that fell into the ocean above Fish-Man Island made her guess that the battlefield had spread to the Red Line, or even Mary Geoise.
Even with that guess, the most she dared to imagine was that the battle had spilled over there by accident.
But now, judging from the detailed reports, Cyrus had clearly been the sole aggressor, and he had even blasted a massive hole straight through the Red Line itself.
This was simply too far beyond imagination.
On the ship, Issho, who was manipulating gravity to propel the vessel, also wore an expression of unconcealable shock after listening to Robin explain the contents of the newspaper.
In his eyes, there was much evil in this world.
The reason he had destroyed his own eyes was that he had seen too many heinous deeds, yet felt completely powerless to change them.
And the greatest evil of all was none other than those high and mighty Celestial Dragons.
"Morgans and Cyrus have a cooperative relationship. Why would he reveal Cyrus's location on Punk Hazard?" Issho asked in confusion after hearing Robin read that the newspaper had reported the Guild Master's current whereabouts.
"If I'm not mistaken, Cyrus probably requested it himself." Robin now had a slight understanding of Cyrus's thought process, though it might not be entirely correct.
But in this situation, she felt that unless Cyrus had explicitly allowed it, this news would not necessarily have been released.
"What is he planning to do?" Issho asked, very curious.
"It's actually quite simple. Cyrus might be testing the upcoming attitude of the World Government and the Marines," Robin said, putting down the newspaper.
"He probably wants to see their reaction to decide what to do next—whether to openly oppose the World Government, or to focus on his own affairs first."
As Robin spoke, a faint smile appeared on her face.
When she first met Cyrus, she could sense that he had no clear goals at the time; he had set out to sea simply for the sake of setting out to sea.
As for his plans after that, they were basically whatever came to his mind on a whim.
Even the current plan for the Hunter Guild was something he thought up on the spur of the moment, and once he thought of it, he just did it.
But now, Cyrus might have become the true driving force behind the coming changes in this world, as his every move could have a huge impact on the era.
Now that he had released his location on Punk Hazard, if the World Government and the Marines joined forces to deal with him, then Cyrus's main objective might shift to confronting the World Government directly.
However, Robin no longer felt the same way about the authorities as she did before.
Previously, the World Government's pursuit had forced her to hide and flee in terror, but now, that feeling was gone for good.
"If that's the case, we need to speed up," Issho said, his whitened eyes looking upward.
Ahead of the Rose Hunter, several News Birds were flying in the air, with some occasionally landing on the ship's mast to rest, while the others continued to lead the way.
...
At the Sabaody Archipelago.
In the previous battle, Area 1 had been completely obliterated, and several surrounding groves were also heavily damaged, leaving the deep scars of the clash still visible.
The Marine warships that had previously blockaded the archipelago had already left, allowing a large number of civilian and pirate ships to once again rush in to dock.
The news that the passage to Fish-Man Island was blocked had now reached Sabaody, and the rumor that the giant fissure beneath the Red Line could act as a new route to the New World had also spread rapidly.
"Do we really have to do this?" Enel slouched lazily in his chair, his eyelids drooping as he looked at Crocodile.
"Since we're the ones who found it, charging a toll fee is a must. After all, the President didn't give me any funding," Crocodile replied, glancing at the skypiean.
This guy's strength was indeed impressive, but he was incredibly lazy and arrogant.
"There's a lot of gold on Sky Island," Enel retorted with a pout.
"It's not easy to transport that gold down at the moment, and it needs to be exchanged on the black market before it can be used," Crocodile said, shaking his head.
When Cyrus contacted him earlier, he had stated that they needed to establish Hunter Guild branches all over the sea, and such a massive, large-scale operation required an equally massive amount of funds.
Although Crocodile had accumulated a considerable fortune during his time in Alabasta, it was far from enough to sustain this plan
Of course, if he used Cyrus's reputation, it wouldn't be too difficult to extort money, but whether doing so would displease the Guild Master was something Crocodile needed to carefully consider.
Moreover, he felt a great sense of accomplishment in personally completing such a grand plan from scratch.
"You continue what you were doing before. With your ability, it will be faster to find those fissures that run all the way through the continent. Your Mantra... Observation Haki can directly search the depths of the cracks, and I will have people assist you," Crocodile ordered.
Enel's eyelids twitched, and he sat up straight.
Yes, this was the exact reason he was somewhat opposed to the toll idea—because he was the one doing all the grunt work of finding the safe passages, which was no easy task.
"Fine!"
As Enel's voice fell, his entire body turned into a flash of lightning with a loud crash, violently smashing right through the roof!
Looking up at the large hole that appeared above, Crocodile's eye twitched frantically.
'Damn it, repairs cost money.'
The aftershocks of Cyrus's attack had already caused damage here, and repairs had already cost a fortune.
These bastards, not a single one of them knew how much he was spending right now!
Just as he was feeling annoyed, Crocodile's expression shifted, and he abruptly stood up to look towards the main door as two people walked in.
"Rayleigh? Didn't you leave?" Crocodile frowned at Rayleigh and Shakky, with a puzzled expression.
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