Silas's appearance changed the sea's power structure.
A pirate who could directly confront the Marines, a maritime overlord ruling the entire sea, a king among pirates, the strongest of this era.
Countless titles were bestowed upon Silas, even though he knew his strength was far from deserving the word "strongest."
But who cared?
This world had been suppressed too long, and Silas's existence was like the first ray of light before dawn, breaking through the night and illuminating the entire world.
For a full hundred years, finally, a strong fighter capable of resisting the Marines and World Government had appeared.
Of course, to most people, Silas's name was infamous, a fearsome reputation that could stop children from crying at night.
This point was especially prominent among the new generation of Marines.
"Haha, White Wolf Silas, the world's most vicious criminal? Then he will be my target from now on. Someday, I will definitely capture him!"
"After all, I am the man who will become the strongest Marine!"
At a Marine recruit training base, a black-haired youth shouted loudly, making many Marines instinctively avoid him.
Only two people were exceptions.
"Hmph, hot blood alone will not catch White Wolf Silas. That is a fearsome opponent who even defeated Admirals. I heard he is already over seventy this year. By the time we grow strong enough to handle him, he will probably be too old to function."
A youth with an afro snorted softly, but like the black-haired youth, he showed no fear of White Wolf Silas.
"Evil should be brought to justice. If a villain like White Wolf Silas dies of old age, that would be too easy for him!"
"In the entire Marines, only Admiral Rona and Admiral Kong have the ability to pursue White King Silas. To participate in pursuing White King Silas, you must first become subordinates of Admiral Rona or Admiral Kong."
The last speaker was a girl with a single ponytail and a cold expression.
"With your current strength, becoming subordinates of Admiral Rona or Admiral Kong is still far off!"
"I do not want to become anyone's subordinate!"
The black-haired youth shouted loudly, "I will personally capture Silas!"
"I should be the one to capture him!"
The black-haired and Afro-haired youths faced off.
Finally...
"Let us duel!"
"Only the victor has the right to capture White Wolf Silas!"
Watching her two fellow recruits, the girl could not help but sigh.
"Two idiots!"
If White Wolf Silas was so easy to capture, he would not be their Marines' nightmare. If the Silas of two years ago only gave Marines headaches without warranting serious attention, then the Silas of two years later had truly become the Marines' great enemy.
Moreover, according to what the girl knew, White Wolf Silas was cultivating new crew members. Though similar in age to them, they had already attracted Marine attention.
If they wanted to capture Silas, should they not at least handle those new White Wolf Pirates crew members first? Aiming too high served no purpose.
Suddenly, the girl heard commotion ahead.
"Hey, look who that person is!"
"Marine cape, red-haired woman. Am I dreaming?"
"It is Admiral Crimson Snake!"
"An Admiral actually came to observe our training!"
Hearing an Admiral had arrived, the group of Marine recruits became energized and began training twice as hard. Even Tsuru was no exception.
She had joined the Marines because she admired Rona.
You had to know, in all Marine history, female Admirals could be counted on one hand, and Rona was the most beautiful among them.
Seeing her idol arrive, even with Tsuru's cool temperament, she could not help feeling excited.
But Rona had not really thought much about it.
She had just remembered while passing by that these days should be Marine Headquarters' new recruit conscription period. Recalling when she had just become a Marine, she had unconsciously walked this way.
Seeing the excited expressions of the group of recruits, her mood was somewhat complicated.
After all, though she still held the Admiral position, she had spent almost the entire past year cracking sunflower seeds at headquarters, with absolutely no intention of going on duty.
Precisely because of her negligence, the Marines had been pressured to promote Kong to Admiral ahead of schedule. Following normal promotion procedures, Kong, having failed in two consecutive operations, probably would not find becoming Marine Admiral so easy.
So after Kong took over as Marine Admiral and began extensive duty, Rona was even more content with leisure, appearing to have completely lost her fighting goals.
Many Marine higher-ups expressed understanding about this.
After all, she had pursued Silas for so many years. Just when the three-on-one situation offered the best hope of capturing him, Silas escaped.
Anyone would find this unbearable.
In that battle against Silas, Rona had already given her all. Even CP0 intelligence agents could not find fault with her actions.
Everyone just hoped Rona could emerge from the shadows soon.
After all, Rona was still young.
Predictably, she could maintain her combat power for at least twenty more years before entering decline. The Marines had plenty of time to cultivate new successors.
"Kong seems like he will recruit many people from this batch of recruits to build his own team. I will pass. I am not interested in the Fleet Admiral position anyway."
After becoming Marine Admiral, the next promotion was Fleet Admiral. This required not just strength, but also popular support.
During Admiral tenure, cultivating your own students and increasing your influence within the Marines was the simplest method.
Not long after, the trio who had spoken disrespectfully about Silas were all selected for Kong's newly formed fleet.
Their names were:
Garp, Sengoku, Tsuru!
East Blue.
Loguetown was still just an ordinary small island near the Grand Line.
But even on such an ordinary island, pirate news spread everywhere, with the most famous undoubtedly being the recently prominent White Wolf Pirates.
White King Silas, bounty 600 million Belly!
Compared to when he was at Sphinx, Silas's bounty had increased again.
But at this level, more did not matter much.
Because no bounty hunters would be foolish enough to provoke Silas.
This bounty's symbolic meaning exceeded its practical significance.
"How noisy!"
A youth wearing a straw hat looked at the bounty board hanging high in the town square. Seeing Silas's unruly face on the wanted poster, he grinned.
"This sea is so vast. I cannot let you attract all the attention. I am going to sea too, and then, like you, I will turn this world upside down!"
If someone heard the youth's words, they would surely laugh at him.
What gave him the right to compare himself to White King Silas?
But what if his name was Gol D. Roger?
"Someday, I will replace you and then surpass you!"
In the youth's eyes burned flames called ambition.