Chapter 596: The Government's Hidden Strength
This was a great battle with a war scale exceeding a million people.
It included all levels of combatant strength.
On The Great Sea, such a war has rarely occurred even in the past eight hundred years.
Even the World Government's wars against Superpowers only had a total military strength of several hundred thousand.
In recent decades, besides this battle, only the Rocks Pirates' war against the Four Seas during their peak reached this scale.
The difference is that the military strength in the Bloody Battle was very concentrated and confined to a limited space, while the war in the Four Seas was extremely dispersed.
Inevitably, this battle received the attention of countless people, but of course, there was no worldwide live streaming.
The World Economic Journal had been restricted; no one wanted their deadly battle to be watched by countless people like monkeys.
Information about the Bloody Battle could only be obtained through various news channels, then embellished and published in newspapers.
The war situation was exceptionally fierce, involving the Marines, Army, CP0 Agents, the secret strength of various Celestial Dragon Families, plus the many factions in Mary Geoise.
Even now, most people still had absolute confidence in the World Government.
The Holy Knights had not yet acted, and there were still two Five Elders.
Adding the hidden combatants of the various Celestial Dragon Families, there were at least twenty Top Tier Combatants who had not yet entered the battle.
This was a conservative estimate.
There weren't many Mary Geoise Top Powers like the Sterling Family, only a few, but combined, they were also a powerful force.
Most factions had to show respect to the World Government, not just for the post-war power distribution and the bargaining chips the Government offered, but also to show the Government they could be trusted.
Of course, they could choose not to act, but then they would certainly not escape the Government's reckoning after the war.
As the representative of the Sterling Family, Victor personally entered the battle.
His opponent was also a Great Pirate who was a Top Tier Combatant.
"The Blaster" Wendigo, who had been famous for many years.
He was one of the rare Overlord-level Great Pirate.
However, Victor's thoughts were more focused on looking after his son, Carlos, who was in the Marines, and Kyle, who was also in the Marines.
With the marriage alliance between the Sterling Family and the Tartarus Family, their connections became even closer.
Victor's participation in the battle was, in essence, to protect Carlos and Kyle and prevent any accidents.
After all, there were simply too many powerful monsters on such a Battlefield.
While Carlos and Kyle's strength seemed decent, in front of those absolute top tier monsters, even if they weren't instantly killed, they certainly couldn't withstand many moves.
Therefore, Victor had no intention of exerting too much effort for the World Government; holding back one Top Tier Combatant was already doing his utmost.
Under these circumstances, once the World Government deployed its hidden combatants, it would surely gain an advantage in the battle situation.
However, whether it was the hidden combatants of the Celestial Dragon Families or the Holy Knights, deploying them was not something the Five Elders could decide.
The Five Elders, the Celestial Dragon Council, and the Holy Knights, although related to each other, were not fundamentally affiliated; they were different organizations.
The Celestial Dragons' hidden strength had barely been used in eight hundred years, only deploying a portion during the Battle of God Valley to protect the Celestial Dragons.
However, it was merely to protect the Celestial Dragons, protect their family members who were in danger in God Valley, and escort those World Nobles to safety; they did not participate in the war.
Under these circumstances, with the Holy Knights being the World Government's final armed strength and deepest foundation, naturally, no one would allow the Holy Knights to be deployed.
For the Holy Knights to leave Mary Geoise, they needed the approval of the Celestial Dragon Council.
For the World Nobles, who were used to privilege and looked down on everything, it was impossible for them to release the Holy Knights unless they reached a true dead end and felt a genuine threat.
Since the battle thirteen years ago, the Holy Knights' training standards had clearly increased several times; after all, stress breeds motivation.
In the Battle of God Valley, the Holy Knights suffered over half their numbers in losses, which was simply a disgrace to them.
To protect those God's Guard Candidates, the corresponding Celestial Dragon Families had dispatched powerful combatants for protection, including some who possessed strength close to that of a Top Tier Combatant.
The Strongmen of the New World were as numerous as carp crossing a river.
Members of the Rocks Pirates who hadn't joined any Faction since the end of the Previous Era, powerful forces that had established themselves among the Major Top Powers.
The many Strongmen who had risen in the New World.
Cadres from the Major Powers, members of some well-known Affiliated Pirate Groups.
The fertile ground of the New World had cultivated too many Strongmen.
In terms of Top Tier Combatants, both sides were evenly matched.
Kaido was under Isaac's suppression.
Grado also had Marine Vice Admiral Kuzan under suppression, and Captain John similarly held some advantage against a certain God's Guard Candidate.
However, in terms of low, mid, and high-end combat power, the Pirate side had a clear advantage.
Not counting the Strongmen within each Faction itself.
The sheer number of Affiliated Pirate Groups alone totaled nearly four hundred.
Most of their Captains were Pirates with bounties close to or exceeding one hundred million Beli.
And under Shiki's deterrence and call, countless Independent Pirate Crews rushed to Blood War Island.
How could the Marines and the World Government possibly match this massive number?
Especially the Army, despite its large numbers, didn't have much combatant strength.
When the pirate strength of the New World gathered together, it was absolutely an unstoppable strength.
The last one to achieve this was Rocks D.
Xebec!
Now, this man's name was Shiki "The Golden Lion"!
The difference was that Rocks D.
Xebec relied on a Pirate Crew that possessed the strength to sweep across the New World.
As for Shiki "The Golden Lion", with the Flying Pirates as the core, he united numerous Top Powers, using his prestige and charisma to consolidate the strength of the entire New World.
This made it feel as though they had returned to the Battle of God Valley thirteen years ago.
The difference was that in that Pirate Crew filled with betrayal, they ultimately did not betray Rocks.
Instead, Rocks used his own strength to cover everyone's retreat.
He allowed them to take the fruits of the war's victory, while his own body was destroyed beneath a terrifying pillar of light.
Even though they had been enemies for years, now that they were united.
As long as the overall situation didn't truly fall into a disadvantage.
Before "Golden Lion" Shiki, their true Alliance Leader, gave the order to retreat, they would not easily withdraw!
From the start, they knew this was a protracted battle.
The previous Bloody Battle lasted for about four months.
This time, it naturally wouldn't be much shorter.
Blood mist permeated the air.
The war was like a meat grinder; the great battle on the first day was exceptionally fierce, with over sixty thousand people dying on the first day of the Bloody Battle, and the injured were countless.
(end of chapter)