One Piece: The user of the Nen-Nen Fruit, who overturned the sea.

Tesoro looked at Roy's eyes and said nothing more.

Outside the window, the setting sun painted the entire sea orange-red.

The landscape of the new world has undergone a dramatic transformation in less than three months.

Beehive Island occupies 80% of the sea and islands, while the Beasts Pirates have seized all of Big Mom's former territories and affiliated forces.

The Red-Haired Pirates remained holed up in Elbaf and refused to come out.

The new world's Beehive Island has established a dominant position.

Roy stood by the window watching the sunset for a while, then picked up his pen and continued reviewing documents.

He paused halfway through the approval process, took out the box containing the Tremor-Tremor Fruit from the drawer, and looked at it.

The fruit gleamed with a deep blue light in the dim light, and the crack-like patterns on it were still slowly flowing.

.................................. .................................

Two years. Two full years have passed since the end of the Marineford War.

Beehive Island only managed to conquer these territories through ruthless means.

On the map of the new world, the flag of Beehive Island already covers more than 80 percent of the area.

From the first archipelago at the entrance to the deepest, nameless desert island, from the main shipping route to the remote tributaries,

All the places that used to fly various pirate flags have been replaced with that black flag with the honeycomb symbol.

In the lobby on the ground floor of the Hive Island headquarters, a huge map of the new world hangs on one of the walls.

The map is densely marked with outposts, ports, supply depots, and shipping routes on Beehive Island.

Barrett stood in front of the map for a long time, then turned to Roy and said something.

"Two years. That goes by fast."

Roy sat on the sofa next to him, drinking tea.

"You think it's fast? I think it's slow."

"That's what you think."

Barrett drew a circle on the map with his finger.

"Look at this area—from the entrance to the depths, it's all ours."

I've fought more battles in the last two years than you've eaten meals.

Roy chuckled but didn't reply.

Two years is enough time for a lot of things to change.

The original dozen or so small squads have long been expanded into larger combat units.

Barrett's team has expanded from the initial three people to more than fifty, all of whom are tough guys recruited in the New World in the past two years.

Although Hawkeye and Kuina's swordsmanship team has not expanded, Kuina's skills have improved by leaps and bounds in the past two years, and she can now withstand thirty moves from Hawkeye.

Tesoro and Enel remain the most efficient intelligence-gathering and suppression force on Beehive Island.

Over the course of two years, they traversed almost every sea in the New World, and any force that disobeyed the rules of Beehive Island learned to behave under their thunderous might.

Crocodile and Moria, on the other hand, take charge of the more sinister side.

Those who outwardly obey but secretly plot against you often disappear silently one night. Crocodile's assessment of this is:

"A person who doesn't appreciate being given face doesn't deserve to live."

Lucci's CP quartet has been doing more covert and important things in the past two years—assassination, infiltration, and intelligence gathering.

They played the most inconspicuous yet indispensable role in the expansion of Beehive Island.

Before the underground forces in the New World could even launch their "Anti-Hive Alliance" against Hive Island, Lucci and his crew had already thwarted their efforts.

The seven leaders were assassinated on the same night, and their bodies were neatly arranged at the entrance of their respective strongholds.

The cleanup operation was inevitably bloody.

Not all factions are willing to obediently follow the rules of Beehive Island.

Many kings and their stubborn ministers organized several more rounds of rebellion.

Each act of resistance grew weaker than the last, until finally even the king himself gave up.

He voluntarily removed the crown and delivered it to the stronghold on Beehive Island, saying, "I'm not fighting anymore, do whatever you want with me."

Roy ordered the crown to be returned, allowing him to continue being king, only with a different flag.

After cleaning up the new world, some people will remain on Beehive Island to help with reconstruction.

Road construction, housing building, security team training, and the establishment of a supply line—this entire process has been compiled into a standardized operating manual by Stella over the past two years.

Each team carries three manuals before setting off, and they just need to follow the manuals wherever they go.

This "strike first, then govern" approach has made the kingdoms that were once subdued by force become dependent on Beehive Island.

Because the order brought about by Beehive Island is more efficient and fairer than the rule of the World Government, with lower taxes and better security.

The pirate crews that surrendered also discovered the same principle.

Not attacking civilians means more stable supplies.

Those islands that used to hide from pirate crews are now willing to provide supplies.

Because the pirate crews under Beehive Island don't rob by force, but exchange with equivalent goods.

The rule against selling slaves initially made some old-school pirates very uncomfortable—

Selling slaves was a traditional "business" for pirates, as it was highly profitable and brought in money quickly.

But after discovering that following the rules would provide more stable supply channels and shelter, no one brought it up again.

Regularly reporting flight routes is indeed troublesome, but the route information and weather warnings provided by Beehive Island have significantly improved the safety of navigation.

The captains who had lost their ships in the storms soon realized that the trouble was worth it.

Over the past two years, Hive Island's rule in the New World has evolved beyond mere military force; it has established a new order.

Although this order is still rough and in the process of being broken in, it is indeed functioning.

.................................................. ..............................

The Flying Pirates are the last unstable factor still active.

Shiki the Golden Lion has been harassing Beehive Island quite a bit these past two years.

His Float-Float Fruit ability is incredibly troublesome—ships can fly, people can fly, and he can even move an entire island into the sky.

The people of Beehive Island couldn't catch him, and even if they did, they couldn't stop him.

Barrett was assigned to guard the entrance area to the New World, specifically to deal with Shiki.

As a result, the only thing he did more than before in the past two years was learn to look up at the sky.

"They're here again!!" a sentry shouted from the outpost's watchtower.

Barrett rushed out of the house and looked up—sure enough, the familiar spaceship was floating in the sky again, its griffin statue on the prow gleaming in the sunlight.

"Shiki, are you ever going to shut up, you fucking bastard?!"

Barrett's roar shook the roof tiles.

Shiki's laughter drifted down from high above:

"Haha! Barrett, you little tiger cubs, I brought you a little gift today!"

Then a huge rock with a diameter of over fifty meters fell from the sky.

Barrett cursed, transformed into a white tiger, and charged forward, smashing the rock into countless fragments with its claws.

When he finished dealing with the rocks and looked up again, the spaceship was already a kilometer away.

"I'll dismantle your lousy boat and burn it for firewood one day!"

"We'll talk after you catch me!"

Similar scenarios played out repeatedly over the next two years.

Shiki's Flying Pirates roamed the New World like ghosts.

Today they'll rob transport ships, tomorrow they'll throw huge rocks at them, and the day after tomorrow they'll raid supply depots.

Although Shiki's harassment was annoying, the actual damage it caused was not significant.

Because every time he stole supplies, Roy would take them back in the subsequent raids.

As the battles continued, the Flying Pirates' supplies dwindled, and their fleet grew smaller and smaller.

After two years, the once-large air fleet was reduced to only three ships.