# Chapter 346: The New World Situation
The underworld was chaotic, but the status of the top Kings had been completely solidified.
Victor, the "King of Arms," had monopolized the high-end arms trade throughout the New World.
His faction and trade range had expanded to the First Half of the Grand Line and the Four Seas underworld.
Relying on the Kronos Kingdom and the sea transport channel of Umit "Deep Sea Eddy," Victor's munitions could be supplied to the entire world.
In essence, the munitions of Victor, the "King of Arms," were produced in the Kronos Kingdom.
Below Victor, there were a large number of cooperating arms dealers around the world.
To be precise, they were Victor's downlines.
Victor sold munitions to these arms dealers at a certain price, and whether these arms dealers used the munitions themselves or resold them,
How much money they sold them for or how much money they made had nothing to do with Victor.
This could greatly save on cost and quickly expand the business.
There were quite a few competitors now.
Some factions in the underworld also wanted to encroach upon the arms trade share, and the World Government was one of them.
Victor's method of cooperation as the "King of Arms" allowed him to gain a large number of partners around the world and rapidly spread Victor's influence throughout the entire world.
There was no need to mention Umit "Deep Sea Eddy."
With the support of the Kronos Kingdom, his sea transport faction in the Four Seas was also steadily increasing.
The World Economic Journal, relying on its enormous number of news birds, had risen to become the largest newspaper agency in the entire world, and its influence was infiltrating the underworld with unstoppable momentum.
The other Dark Kings were difficult to shake, and behind them were various complex forces.
The competition among the upper echelon of the underworld had calmed down.
Meanwhile, among the various large pirate crews in the New World, the smell of gunpowder was gradually intensifying.
Against this background, the John Pirates officially announced that they would host the fourth Pirate Expo.
The reason it was the fourth was because the third had already been held a year ago, in the middle of the year.
It was hosted by the Five Peaks Pirates on Honeycomb Island.
Although the third Pirate Expo was not as astonishing as the one hosted by the Pluto Pirates in the second session, it was still exceptionally lively.
Quite a few good things also appeared at it.
Especially since Honeycomb Island was originally the Base Camp of the Rocks Pirates, it had a solid foundation.
The hosting of the World Expo exhibited the great strength of the Five Peaks Pirates and solidified the overlord status of Captain Wang Zhi of the Five Peaks Pirates.
As a result, his prestige greatly increased, and he expanded his considerable military strength.
The growth of the overall faction, having more subordinates, also meant having more power to conquer territory.
The effect this brought was obvious.
Benefiting from the immense prestige brought by the World Expo, the speed of expansion of the Five Peaks Pirates was extremely fast, one could say it surpassed that of the Flying Pirates.
However, Hades could see that Shiki "The Golden Lion" had greater ambition, solidifying his foundation and strengthening his faction, rather than simply expanding territory.
He needed stable rule to satisfy his enormous ambition.
The Flying Pirates had not occupied the vast sea area from the West all the way to Pure Spirit Island.
Territory expansion and consolidation required time.
Shiki also saw the implicit intention of the Kronos Kingdom.
Since there was a clear dividing line, he didn't need to rush.
Anyway, these islands wouldn't escape.
Among them, there was no force that could contend with him, unless they were willing to survive in this gap.
Seeing Wang Zhi's gain, Captain John also couldn't hold back.
He announced this news.
Many Great Pirates had the idea of hosting a Pirate Expo, but the prerequisite was having enough strength to suppress the large number of pirates.
Even if each Hegemon-level Pirate Group sent out a Cadre, added together, it was also a very formidable force.
Like before, Honeycomb Island also caused quite a few incidents, which were ultimately suppressed by Wang Zhi personally taking action.
John had clearly made ample preparations as well.
Hades was happy to see this happen.
Every time the Pirate Expo was held, large amounts of alcohol were consumed.
The auction, as an important segment of it, would also see the emergence of quite a few excellent Devil Fruits.
However, compared to the Sigri Island Auction House, it clearly couldn't compare.
Benefiting from the auction grand occasion of the World Expo, coupled with the confidentiality of the intelligence, the Sigri Island Auction House undoubtedly became the largest auction house in the New World.
Compared to other Great Pirates and Underworld Forces,
The Pluto Pirates, who were no longer expanding territory, not participating in the Great Sea Struggle, backed by the Superpower Kronos Kingdom, and had completely become a Neutral Force, were clearly more trustworthy.
The terrifying overall strength and unique status of the Pluto Pirates in the New World.
Hades' current identity was, to some extent, no longer a secret.
Compared to pirates, as a King, he valued reputation greatly.
Up until now, the Sigri Island Auction had held five large auctions.
From the second World Expo in the year 1486 onwards, up until the present year, 1490, every single Sigri Island Auction would attract the attention of numerous factions throughout the entire world.
Precious Devil Fruits emerged endlessly.
Previously rarely seen rare Devil Fruits could be seen every time at the Sigri Island Auction.
Those who sent auction items here didn't need to worry about their identity being exposed or their money being plundered.
From beginning to end, the origin of these auction items remained unknown to the outside world.
In these past few years, more than ten Ancient Zoan Devil Fruits had appeared.
Two Logia types had appeared: the Snow-Snow Fruit symbolizing the natural disasters of blizzards, which had an extremely high appearance rate on the battlefield in the Previous Era, and the Mud-Mud Fruit, belonging to the deceased Army General "Brown Anaconda."
Numerous Great Pirates were very familiar with this powerful Logia-type Devil Fruit.
In such auctions, strength was not the primary factor.
The Logia-type Snow-Snow Fruit was acquired by the Pluto Pirates for a sky-high price of 1.
3 billion Beli.
As for the Mud-Mud Fruit, it even more so underwent a round of contention and was acquired by an unknown faction for a sky-high price of 1.
6 billion Beli.
However, when it came to financial strength, pirates didn't have a significant advantage in this regard.
1.
6 billion Beli was still a sky-high price that numerous Great Pirates were reluctant to spend.
Although they had plundered quite a bit of treasure, they also spent it quickly; moreover, they also had a group of subordinates to support.
Despite this, various factions all had considerable gain.
Three rare Mythical Zoan Devil Fruits had all appeared.
Mythical Zoan: Bear-Bear Fruit, Great Earth Bear Form.
Mythical Zoan: Great Tengu Fruit.
Mythical Zoan: Human-Human Fruit, Demon Form.
Although Mythical Zoans were even rarer compared to Logia types, in terms of quantity, Mythical Zoans far surpassed Logia-type Devil Fruits.
After all, human fantasy creatures were simply too numerous.
The Great Earth Bear was bought by an unknown faction.
The Great Tengu Fruit fell into the hands of the Pluto Pirates.
It could be seen that the Sigri Island Auction indeed brought considerable gain to the Kronos Kingdom.
As for the Demon Fruit, it was acquired by Nash "Demon King" who spent a large sum of money.
It is said that Nash had a son, and his wife was a member of the Lunarian Tribe rescued from God Valley.
His son similarly inherited the talent of the Lunarian Tribe, and this Demon Fruit was precisely prepared for his son.
That son was named Asmodeus.
Regarding the Pirate Expo hosted by John, Hades only sent the Pluto Pirates Cadre, Russell "Ring King," there.
Other factions would also attend John's event, and at the same time, also wanted to see what kind of things would appear there.
However, they didn't hold too high expectations.
The World Expo was ultimately not an auction, nor was it solely an auction.
(end of chapter)