**Chapter 552: Chaos and Cleanup in the Four Seas**
The war subsided, and the Roger Pirates disappeared from the Great Sea.
The Great Sea still hadn't returned to peace.
Although there was no great battle, it was even more chaotic.
To support this war, the Marines mobilized a large number of Marine Soldiers from the Marine Bases in the Four Seas and the Grand Line.
Initially, the Marines dispatched a total of 100,000 Marine Elite.
After the war continued for two months, they were reinforced with another 30,000 Soldiers.
The military strength lost alone was close to 50,000.
In terms of losses, the World Government side far exceeded the Pirates.
Although no one calculated it, it could be seen through some channels.
In terms of mid to lower-tier combatant strength, facing the Pirates who survived in the brutal New World, they were completely at a disadvantage.
Over the years, the Marines withdrew from the New World.
Even the Marine Bases established in the New World, apart from G-1 Fortress, were only a few.
Apart from passive defense, they basically had no ability to launch active attacks against Pirates.
First, there was the cleanup of the Former Half of the New World, then the long-term war with the Byrnndi Pirates in the West Blue, and finally, the sudden downfall of tens of thousands of Soldiers.
Coupled with Blood War Island, which had been continuously consuming the Marines' strength since its outbreak.
Although the Marines were undergoing recruitment, the elite were constantly suffering losses, and their numbers were few.
Having lost the tempering of the harsh environment of the New World, even the so-called Marine Elite were nothing special.
After all, in the Marines, being able to survive two or three wars without dying was already considered a veteran.
Although the number of Pirates was small, their average strength was completely dominant.
With a large amount of military strength withdrawn, the ruling power over the Sea Area would naturally decline.
Especially in the Four Seas, there were only a few Marines who could be called strong and possessed deterrence.
They were all suddenly transferred to the New World, directly leading to the decline in the overall strength of the Four Seas Navy.
This situation gave opportunities to those Factions hidden in the shadows.
The Pirates gathered in the Chaotic Sea Area and Chaotic Island received the news and were all eager to make a move.
Just one month after this war broke out, the Trade Routes in the Four Seas and the Grand Line suffered invasions from a large number of Pirates.
Although the Marines were prepared and prevented many Pirate attacks, a large number of merchant ships were still plundered, and the Four Seas Navy itself suffered significant losses.
Conversely, some Guilds hired to protect merchant ships gained instant fame.
As long as a certain amount of money was paid, they could attract Guild Strongmen with decent strength.
Of course, there were also failures.
Many Guild missions failed, and they were defeated and killed by ferocious Pirates.
However, outsiders never paid attention to these failures.
Instead, the media and newspaper agencies extensively reported on the successful Guilds, and their reputation soared for a time.
In contrast, people only magnified the Marines' failures and constantly criticized them.
It couldn't be said that Guilds were better than the Marines, but many Factions were tacitly carrying out suppression against the Marines' development.
The World Government was weakening, and the Marines' influence and Faction, as well as their scope of activity, were constantly weakening.
This was especially obvious in the past twenty years.
If one could draw a map, it would be clear that the Marines' frequent activity Area had been continuously shrinking.
In many Sea Areas, the Marines' influence was already negligible, and the order represented by the Marines was gradually being replaced.
The Marines had always had the idea of expanding recruitment, for example, expanding recruitment to one million.
At the same time, they wanted to establish more Marine Bases in the Four Seas to cover more Sea Areas.
However, such plans had always been in execution, but none had succeeded.
The overall military strength had not increased, nor was there extra money to establish Marine Bases or build more warships.
And the chaos of the World, in a sense, was also related to the decline in the strength of the World Government and the Marines.
The weaker the Marines' Faction, the more chaotic the entire World became.
This shows the importance of the Marines for World peace and stability.
The chaos of the Great Sea severely impacted the interests of the Member Nations, the World Government, and many other Factions.
Besides searching for the whereabouts of the Roger Pirates, the Marines also needed to send people to stabilize the Trade Routes that were no longer safe, and to clear out and expel the rampaging Pirates.
If necessary, they also had to recover the supplies and money that had been plundered.
Disposing of various supplies was actually very troublesome.
Pirates did not have the ability to sell these supplies.
Even the Underworld Forces, not many people would want these supplies.
Except for those that were truly valuable, or munitions.
This gave rise to another profession, dark merchants.
They would buy the contraband for money far below the actual value of the supplies, and then let them flow into the market through special channels to be sold.
For Pirates who were unclear about the specific value, these dark merchants could often madly drive down prices.
The lower the price, the more they earned.
Some well-known dark merchants could often make a fortune.
The more chaotic the Great Sea, and the more Pirates there were, the more they earned.
It's hard to say that they weren't secretly promoting the numerous Pirate attacks on the Trade Routes this time.
For interests, they would do anything.
Especially the chaos in the Four Seas this time was a gluttonous feast for them.
A large amount of supplies flowed into the Island of Chaos, Dark Island, and the Black Market.
Many dark merchants were on the islands selecting suitable goods.
These islands were where they sourced their goods.
Facing those Pirates waiting to sell goods, whose eyes revealed foolishness, they were nothing but idiots delivering money in the eyes of the dark merchants.
Supplies that could sell for 100 million Beli could be obtained by them for only 10 million, or even just 5 million.
Wasn't this just plundering money?
Most Pirates were people who didn't know the value of goods; those with foresight were ultimately only a minority.
The Four Seas were the foundation of the World Government's rule and absolutely could not afford to have problems.
With the end of the war, a large number of Marine High Command and mid-tier combat power were transferred to the Four Seas.
Marine Headquarters had already issued an order to conduct a thorough cleanup of the Pirates in the Four Seas.
They must ensure the Four Seas were completely stable and deal with the Pirate Crews that had emerged.
(end of chapter)