Chapter 467: The Bloody Battle Begins
Soon, the agreed-upon one-month period arrived.
The amount in the prize pool had reached an astonishing 30 billion Beli.
In addition to numerous Top Power, many anonymous Factions also contributed to the richness of this prize pool.
This included many Underworld Forces.
30 billion Beli, calculated at the most basic rate of 200,000 Beli per Marine Soldier.
It would take killing at least 150,000 Marine Soldiers to exhaust it.
This already exceeded half of the current total military strength of Marine Headquarters in the Grand Line.
After all, for such a brutal war, it was impossible to transfer military strength from the fragile Four Seas; that would be no different from sending them to their death.
Such a massive amount of funds also shattered the wishful thinking of some people; exhausting the prize pool would require paying an unknown price.
The funds in the prize pool were still slowly increasing, and even the Top Power could inject more funds at any time.
Attracted by the enormous interests, a large number of Pirates were spontaneously drawn to Blood War Island, as were members of Underworld Forces who craved wealth.
This was a Glutton's feast; the more Marines killed, the more money earned.
With Shiki and numerous Top-tier Great Pirates providing endorsement, no one would treat their reputation lightly.
Moreover, each Top-Tier Pirate Crew would send a powerful Cadre to be stationed on Blood War Island.
Representing the Big Mom Pirates was Charlotte Linlin's third son, Katakuri.
Representing the Monster Legion was the Ashura Rhinoceros Beetle, whose origin was unknown and was likely a mutated wild beast.
This also symbolized that the Big Mom Pirates and the Monster Legion belonged to two different Factions.
The Cadre of the Beast Pirates, "Brutal Dragon" Herbid.
The 16-year-old "Undying Phoenix" Marco of the Whitebeard Pirates, having suffered a heavy defeat in war, the Whitebeard Pirates also began to strive harder.
Guarding Blood War Island was also a form of training for Marco, which could accelerate his growth.
The Tyrant Dragon Pirates, Demon King Pirates, John Pirates, Silver Axe Pirates, and Five Peaks Pirates all sent well-known Cadres or those with potential who needed training.
The Flying Pirates even sent "Titan" Atlas to oversee the situation.
As representatives of the various Top-Tier Pirate Crew, their mission was not to participate in the bloody battle for interests, but to target the Strongmen and young Monsters sent by the Marines.
Their goal was sniping them to prevent the combatant strength of both sides from becoming unbalanced.
If Strongmen were left unchecked, the lethality they caused would be terrifying.
This bloody battle would continue indefinitely.
The main force of the war was never the high-end combat power, but the mid-to-low-end combatant strength.
Through this bloody battle, many outstanding Pirates and young Strongmen could also be trained.
For the Marines, it was the same.
Having many Strongmen stationed undoubtedly resolved the worries of many.
With a mindset of curiosity and wanting to make a quick buck, more and more people were attracted to this Island.
Large amounts of supplies were transported to Blood War Island.
The Marines directly established a Fortress on the Island.
The Pirates also built a massive War Fortress.
In such a war, Fortresses were very necessary.
And the logistics reserve for the war was a huge business, taken on jointly by some Underworld Forces.
Before the war even began, tens of billions of Beli from the 30 billion prize pool had already been spent.
The various Top Power jointly formed a Pirate Army of 20,000 to be invested into this war.
This was not coercion; within each Pirate Crew, many Pirates voluntarily participated in this war.
Those confident in their strength and those wanting to make big money did not want to miss this bloody battle.
Cutting off a hand, a foot, or a head represented killing a person.
This process would be fully recorded.
Shiki was ready.
Under his command, there was a Surveillance Fruit Ability User who could create eyes of surveillance to monitor all situations within a certain range.
The range was not large, but it was sufficient for a single Island.
This ability seemed useful, but it was quite redundant for the Flying Pirates because their Territory was too vast.
They also didn't worry about invasion in their core Territory, so it was perfect for use in the bloody battle to prevent cheating.
To ignite the passion for killing, referencing the Hall of Fame and Ranking Board of the Sky Arena,
a Kill List would also be set up behind the Pirate War Fortress.
It would list the top 100 individuals by kill count and publicly display them, allowing them to gain fame in the Great Sea.
It would also record the total Beli obtained from the prize pool through killing, stimulating others' enthusiasm for fierce fighting.
Besides the Pirate Fleet jointly formed by the various Factions,
over the past month, attracted by the interests, more than 6,000 Pirates from around the world in the New World had arrived at Blood War Island.
This included entire Pirate Crew, as well as Lone Pirates, and even Mercenaries including Bounty Hunters.
The number might not seem large, but it wasn't small either.
It was believed that as time passed and the situation developed, the number of Pirates participating in the bloody battle would only increase.
As for the Marines, including the World Government, they sent a total of 40,000 Military.
Among them were 20,000 Marines and 20,000 Army.
This was Shiki's open scheme; the World Government could only let the Army help share the Marines' stress, but the Marines remained the main Force.
The Island was not small, but tens of thousands of Army on the Island were also quite inconspicuous.
Especially with the numerous Pirates operating independently.
Pirate Crew, Mercenaries, Lone Pirates, Bounty Hunters, starting from the War Fortress, scattered into the mountains and forests on the Island, acting independently and searching for targets.
Even Pirates from the various Top Power were the same.
They came voluntarily, and to some extent, they represented themselves.
Of course, there were also familiar people forming squads to act together, which could better improve killing efficiency.
Too large a number also made them easier targets for the Marines.
There were also those like Charlotte Linlin, who wanted to earn back the Beli they put in, and directly created several thousand Homies Army and sent them to the Island.
Without any declaration, the bloody battle began.
On the Marines' side, they also did not choose a large-scale Army model.
Such large-scale group battles could easily be affected by Strongmen and suffer heavy losses.
Instead, they operated in small Force, forming teams voluntarily or acting alone if confident in their strength.
They also carried signal flares.
When encountering danger, they could send a signal to nearby members for help.
The war had just begun, and both the Marines and the Pirates were relatively cautious.
Meanwhile, the Cadres of the various Overlord-level Force appeared in the central Area of the Island at the first opportunity.
Herbid easily wiped out a squad of over a dozen Marines.
Transformed into a Brutal Dragon, he let out a roar in the mountain forest.
Soon, an Unknown Marine Vice Admiral quickly arrived and appeared before him.
The young Katakuri also encountered a strong enemy.
Marco, who could barely be considered high-end combat power, also met an opponent.
Of course, some people had no intention of fighting yet.
On the Island, both sides had already designated battle areas for high-end combat power beforehand.
If someone wanted to fight, they could go directly to that Area.
Both sides had people watching.
If someone didn't fight fairly, then they shouldn't blame the others for breaking the rules.
This was mainly aimed at the Marines.
After all, most of these high-end combat power wouldn't care about the death of other Pirates.
For them, as long as the battle situation remained balanced, the relatively powerful Marines would naturally be targeted by someone.
In various Areas on the Island, Marines and Pirates encountered each other one after another and engaged in fierce fighting without hesitation.
Corpses fell one by one, blood soaked the soil, and blood mist began to permeate the Island.
(end of chapter)