Chapter 536: The End of the War (Part 2)
Charlotte watched Whitebeard's retreating back, the anger in his heart having no outlet. He turned to look at Charlotte Linlin.
Her eyes darted back and forth. "Since the alliance is over, we, the Big Mom Pirates, will be heading back as well. Until we meet again, Charlotte!"
Without giving Charlotte a chance to speak, Charlotte Linlin led the Big Mom Pirates away, sailing in the opposite direction of Whitebeard.
Watching both pirate crews depart one after the other, Charlotte could no longer contain his fury.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" he roared, repeating the word three times. "Such a perfect opportunity, and they just let the Marines go! Pirates are pirates! They'll never amount to anything respectable!"
His enraged voice carried to every member of the assembled Rockefeller Pirates. They all stared at the furious figure of Charlotte standing in their midst. Bullet, Esdeath, Caesar, Tesla—none of them had ever seen their captain (their father) in such a rage.
But they too were seething with anger. It truly had been a perfect opportunity. If they had united, annihilating the Marine force would not have been a problem. Yet, at the final moment, Whitebeard had allowed them to leave. No one could have predicted it. Was it just because the Whitebeard Pirates had suffered heavy losses? Shouldn't that have been more reason to avenge their fallen crewmates? Why retreat?
In that moment, almost every member of the Rockefeller Pirates felt a deep sense of dissatisfaction with the Whitebeard crew. A stifling frustration hung in the air with no release.
After venting for a while, Charlotte slowly let out a breath. He looked out at the frozen sea around them.
"Let's go! Pursue the Marines! We absolutely cannot let them withdraw from the New World so easily!"
At Charlotte's command, all the Rockefeller Pirates immediately returned to their warships. Because the ice was blocking their path, Rockefeller Trunks had to use his Heat-Heat Fruit to carve out a channel, which took a considerable amount of time.
Three days later, the Rockefeller Pirates, after a hurried journey, arrived at the most important stronghold in the first half of the New World, near its center—the base the Marines had newly designated as G-6. The military fortress had been out of their hands for only half a month before returning to their possession.
When they arrived, the Marines were long gone. All that remained was a field of ruins. Before leaving, the Marines had made sure to burn the most important military fortress in the first half of the New World to the ground. The Rockefeller Pirates spent some time clearing the area and setting up a simple camp.
All the top commanders of the Rockefeller Pirates gathered around Rockefeller Charlotte. The meeting room was completely silent. Charlotte didn't speak, and everyone else kept their heads down quietly.
After a long time, Charlotte spoke. "What were our losses?" he asked, looking at Carter to his left, inquiring about the casualties from the great battle three days prior. For the past three days, Charlotte had been blinded by rage, relentlessly pursuing the Marine fleet without paying attention to anything else. Now that he had calmed down, he began to tally his crew's losses.
Carter stood up, holding several sheets of paper. His voice faltered slightly; the numbers on the page were shocking even to him.
"Captain, our losses this time were not small. We prepared over forty-two thousand men for this battle. After the fighting ended, we had five thousand dead and twelve thousand wounded, for a total of seventeen thousand casualties. Among them, the swordsman division alone suffered five hundred and sixty-two casualties."
Carter knew who Charlotte cared about most. Of the forty thousand men, the three-thousand-strong swordsman division was his primary concern. Each of them possessed combat strength far superior to ordinary soldiers and was heavily relied upon by Charlotte. As for the other casualties, Charlotte wouldn't care. No matter how many of them died, they were just numbers. The New World was full of such cannon fodder. So, Carter reported on the casualties Charlotte cared about most first.
"The swordsman division lost one-sixth of its strength in an instant," Charlotte said with a cold laugh, looking at Esdeath.
Esdeath lowered her proud head. In this battle, she had once again employed her usual tactic of fierce, relentless assaults, leading her subordinates in non-stop charges. The vast majority of these swordsmen had died under cannon fire.
"Before the battle, we deployed a total of one hundred and eight warships. After the battle, seventy-two are still seaworthy," Carter finished, glancing at his captain, unsure of what he was thinking.
Charlotte remained silent, gesturing for Carter to continue, though a cold glint flickered in his eyes. All the commanders held their breath, continuing to listen to Carter's report.
After a long while, Carter finished reading the contents of the papers and sat down.
Charlotte leaned back in his chair with his eyes closed, his face devoid of any expression. Inwardly, he was calm. He had a rough idea of the casualties and losses from this major battle. Overall, it was acceptable. Only five thousand dead in such a large-scale war, with most of the others merely wounded. A large portion of the injured could return to fighting after they recovered. Although they had lost thirty-six ships, Charlotte wasn't concerned. He could have as many ships as he wanted; he hadn't been idle all these years. Knowing that pirates always needed ships, he had ordered his maids to build six shipyards, which could produce a large number of vessels for the crew every year. As long as the Rockefeller Pirates weren't wiped out all at once, they would never be short on ships.
Aside from Whitebeard letting the Marines escape at the very end, Charlotte had no other complaints about the war. Compared to his crew, the Big Mom and Whitebeard Pirates had suffered far greater losses. Especially the Whitebeard Pirates. Didn't Whitebeard let the Marines go precisely because he couldn't bear to see his crew suffer any more casualties? If it weren't for Whitebeard's immense strength, Charlotte would have turned on him right then and there.
At this thought, Charlotte clenched his fists. How long had it been since he had truly trained? When did he start to slack off? Get stronger, become stronger... had he achieved that goal?
Charlotte looked out at the night sky beyond the camp. It was time to reignite that desire to become stronger. This war had taught him one thing: allies could not be trusted. A man must rely on himself.
Charlotte's heart had changed. The aura emanating from him made everyone turn to look at him, sitting in the main seat.
"Rest for one day," Charlotte said to the assembly. "Tomorrow, we reclaim our lost territory."
"Yes, sir!"
Three or four days of non-stop fighting and pursuit had already pushed many of the weaker commanders to their limits. The only ones who could still endure were Bullet, Esdeath, Caesar, and Tesla.
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