Starting as a pirate, he rose to become the strongest Shinigami in Soul Society.

Chapter 319 New Dar City, I'm Back!

In the end, he still had to return to Newdale, which made Bane feel a little sentimental.

However, no one had any attachment to the city of Flornick, which was essentially worthless.

Fubuki quickly gathered the underlings she had recruited over the past few days, arranged two pickup trucks, and without any delays, the group began their journey to Newdale City.

In fact, with everyone's walking ability, ordinary vehicles couldn't compare, but that would be too conspicuous, and since it wouldn't make a difference in time, they decided to discreetly travel by pickup truck.

After spending almost half a month, without encountering any major problems along the way, Bane and his companions arrived in Newdale City without any major issues.

Although it had been several years since he last visited, Bann was still quite familiar with the city.

Compared to the dilapidated and neglected city of Floric, Newdale, a city that was once chaotic, is much more prosperous and orderly. Perhaps this is because the Orantok family, the true rulers, still exist here.

Xindal is a modern city without city walls or anything like that. There are only some checkpoints set up in the main traffic areas, similar to toll booths.

Perhaps it was because the imperial order had collapsed and there were many refugees everywhere, or perhaps it was because the people of the West had always been fierce and unruly. Before Bane left, this godforsaken place was rife with gangs and a mixed bag of people, making it unsuitable for a detailed investigation of the people coming and going.

Therefore, the Orantock family did not impose any strict control measures such as martial law on this place; as long as a toll was paid, people could come and go freely.

The pickup truck drove through the city streets and finally came to a smooth stop at an intersection on Sphinx Street.

Bane pushed open the car door, got out of the pickup truck, looked at an old building across the street, and said with a hint of nostalgia in his eyes, "I used to live on the third floor across the street, but I sold the house before I left. I'm not bragging, but I used to have Sphinx Street under my protection."

"Yes, yes, Boss Cantilevers," Nami said as she got out of the car.

"Go ask around this street, who doesn't know the name of me, Bane?" Bane said, feigning importance.

Instead of looking for the house that had been sold, the group decided to find a proper hotel to rest.

Compared to the abandoned hotels in Floric, the city here still maintains order. At least on the surface, people can still live their lives normally, and all kinds of infrastructure are still functioning. The hotels, of course, are also operating normally.

Wealthy and arrogant, Bane carried a large amount of gold with him. Like a local tyrant, he quickly led everyone to an underground gold exchange on Sphinx Street. The owner had changed and Bane didn't recognize him, but that didn't matter.

They exchanged a large amount of gold for pesos. That's right, even if the imperial order collapsed, there weren't many so-called imperial silver dollars in the west; the peso was still the mainstream currency.

After exchanging enough cash, the group headed straight to the Luxury Hotel in the city center. There were no checks or ID checks; as long as the money was there, in a place like the West, no one cared what you did or what your identity was. Besides, the Empire was currently preoccupied with its own problems.

They booked the entire top three floors of the mansion in one go, and Bane and his group settled down in Newdale City once again.

Inside the luxury suite, Bane and his team were inspecting all the facilities in the room.

It took about ten minutes for everyone to gather in the living room. After exchanging glances, they relaxed and sat down on the sofa.

"Looks like we were overthinking it; there weren't any eavesdropping devices or anything like that," Garp said casually.

"Better safe than sorry," said Teacher Zefa as he brewed the tea.

Bane stretched and then said, "The current information is that the Orantock family has built a manor in the suburbs centered around the interdimensional portal. Their main base is there. They control the entire city defense force of Newdale, numbering three thousand. The exact number and strength of the ability users are unknown, but based on my past impressions, Newdale's city defense force doesn't have many ability users, nor any particularly strong ones. But we don't know about the Orantock family. They definitely have their own noble private army or hired skilled fighters. Plus, they've controlled this interdimensional portal for half a year now, so it's very likely they've already obtained strange abilities or helpers from another world."

"In your impression, what level of strength do the strong in this world possess?" Teacher Zephyr asked.

"I've heard that the central region of the Empire, especially the capital, was once home to many powerful individuals. Our native ability users are divided into four levels: S, A, B, C, D, and E. I was once a registered E-level ability user in the Empire, roughly equivalent to a core member of a street gang." Bane's tone turned serious as he began to explain.

"The higher you go, the stronger you become. For example, C-level ability users are usually experts in western cities. As far as I remember, the original commander of the city defense force of Newdale City was a C-level ability user. His information is relatively public. His specific ability is to manipulate flames. I have never seen him make a move, but it is said that he once fought against a thousand enemies on the western frontier battlefield, manipulating hundreds of meters of flames into a dragon and burning all the enemies to death," Bane said.

The saying "Even dogs wouldn't eat roasted fruit" is becoming increasingly relevant.

"Is its strength similar to that of a Logia-type Devil Fruit user?" Zephyr asked, slightly surprised.

"No, at least this city defense officer cannot be elementalized, nor does he have the ability to manipulate vast amounts of energy like that of nature-type beings," Bane immediately denied.

After a moment's thought, Bane said, "Based on our Navy's original system, I think it's around 50 million bounty."

"That doesn't look very good," Garp said, pursing his lips.

"But those at the S, A, and B levels are collectively referred to as 'advanced ability users,' and their level is completely different from the subsequent three levels. A B-level user is already qualified to serve as a legion commander in the Imperial Regular Army," Bane said with a serious expression.

Of course, there are many B-rank ability users, but very few legion commanders. It can only be said that only those who reach B-rank are qualified to step into this threshold.

Moreover, there is a huge gap between B-level players; the principle that the strong will always be strong is self-evident.

"To put it simply, according to official statements, a B-rank ability user has the power to suppress a large city. This so-called large city refers to a city with a population of around one million. The Empire divides cities into several categories: capital city, mega-city, large city, and city. In other words, cities with a population of less than one million are not distinguished. Like Xindaer, the population is about three hundred thousand, but we don't know the current number. A B-rank ability user is considered a hero among a million people," Bane said, gesturing with his fingers.

However, as far as Bane knew, there were many B-level ability users, and it wasn't truly a case of one in a million. Ultimately, it was because he himself lacked sufficient understanding of the Empire's powerful individuals, so his description was vague and lacked a precise concept.

Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!

After all, he used to be just a street thug, and from a chaotic western city at that, his access to information and other resources was far from adequate.

"As for the difference between A-rank and B-rank, I don't know much about it, but I imagine that although they are all considered 'high-level ability users' by us 'low-level ability users,' the fact that they are classified means that there is definitely a gap in strength between them, let alone S-rank. When the Imperial Guard was coming to the west to suppress the rebellion, just the rumor alone made our people here restless, and everyone was running away, afraid of being dragged into it. The commander of the Imperial Guard was an S-rank ability user. It is said that the entire Imperial Guard has sixteen S-rank powerhouses. I don't know the specific battle records, but I have only heard that one of them once followed the Dragon Emperor of the Empire and destroyed a world inside a portal." Bane's expression became quite serious as he said this.

"So, gathering a certain number of S-rank powerhouses means having the power to destroy the world?" Zephyr's expression also became serious.

"Of course you can't calculate it that way. If S-rank is that strong, then the capital city wouldn't have been destroyed by those monsters that appeared out of some random interdimensional portal. The Dragon Emperor wouldn't have died so easily either, after all, he was also S-rank." Bane pondered for a moment and added.

"Without knowing the strength of those monsters, we naturally can't measure the strength of these S-ranks. Ultimately, we still need to fight them or obtain more accurate information to make a judgment. However, it's almost certain that there are unlikely to be any B-rank or higher ability users in Newdale City, right?" Zephyr said after thinking for a while.

"Yes, the resources are right here. Although Newdale seems stronger than Floric was before, at least it has preserved order and such, but in the end, it's just a western city with a population of about 300,000. The real strong people don't stay here permanently," Bane nodded.

Unless a portal worthy of attention appears here, why would those powerful beings come to this rural place instead of enjoying themselves in higher-end cities?

Although the imperial order has collapsed, there is no doubt that the central region, with its mega-cities that gather tens of millions of people, is the true stage for the strong.

The same applies to ambitious individuals; it has always been said that only those heroes who have seized central cities like Chang'an, Jinling, and Luoyang dare to raise their royal banners and openly contend for supremacy.

Who would dare to call themselves king after seizing a small county town? Even if they did, they would only be entertaining themselves behind closed doors.

This illustrates the importance of urban resources. Smoker was able to rise rapidly to the rank of Vice Admiral at Marine Headquarters, but after serving as a Marine in Loguetown in the East Blue for so many years, he remained a Captain and his abilities only declined. It's the same principle.

"So, according to your logic, it's impossible for the Orantok family to have any truly powerful individuals?" Karp asked again.

"I think it's impossible." Bane nodded with certainty. "The Orantock family started as a pioneering noble family and doesn't have much of a family foundation. If they had even a B-level or higher expert, they wouldn't still be a baron family. Based on this judgment, we should be able to easily suppress them now."

Although it wasn't said, Bane felt that those S-level powerhouses—and to be a little modest—were probably only at the level of Wang Zhi and Huang Mu, among others.

Newgate, Kaido and other Yonko-level figures, or veteran admirals like Sakazuki and Kuzan, Bane doesn't have much evidence, but this is just his instinctive guess, so they should be considered to meet the S-class standard, right?

After all, judging from their performance, they all have the power to easily destroy megacities with populations in the tens of millions.

I'll be busy with some things for the next few days, so I'll only be updating twice a day for now. Then I'll have a few more chapters to transition before entering the new world. Please support me with your votes!

(End of this chapter)