I just came back from a couple months' break and now there's a new spot on the map?

I assume a plot happened, but it had to have been the briefest plot in history because literally I can't find anything in the news about it, except two posts from a random NPC and one from Tits McGee that has... no resolution whatsoever. Literally, all I can tell is that people were getting tired and then suddenly pirates happened. And there's no announcement of the new area being opened.

Can someone please fill me in? And also, is it supposed to just be a blank (but very pretty) map with nothing to click on? Or would I have had to participate in whatever two-day plot there was in order to get into anything?

- There's a tiny clickable area on the river at the base of the tower that takes you to the floating market. From there, there's one shop available.

This news post was basically the plot's resolution.

Tl;dr: Kiyo became overprotective and hid Shengui Guo from the world. Everyone forgot about the city and the spirits, and couldn't pay them proper tribute so they got pissed off and attacked everyone. So we kicked their butts and now everyone is happy again?

In the end, the pirates really didn't have anything to do with anything.