Listening to Kuzan's words, Ortoren fell silent and thought it over for a while.
After a moment, he looked at Kuzan and smiled.
"So what if they're banding together? Why are you telling me all this?"
Kuzan gave Ortoren a meaningful look.
"I'm an Admiral too, you know. As someone at the same rank, you should understand that once you've reached this position, there's very little within the Navy that can truly be hidden from our eyes, right?"
Kuzan had always taken a laid-back, nonconfrontational stance. While he wasn't as openly disengaged as Borsalino, who practically coasted through everything, there was still a sense that he preferred to take things easy.
But as he said himself, once someone reached the rank of Admiral, there was hardly anything inside the Navy they couldn't learn about, as long as they wanted to. There were always channels, always methods.
Kuzan might not show it openly, but he was far from ignorant.
And it wasn't just him. Sakazuki was the same.
In fact, this was one of the less favorable consequences for Ortoren after Sengoku became Fleet Admiral.
Back when Sengoku was still an Admiral and Kong rarely interfered in his affairs, Ortoren, Kuzan, Sakazuki, and the others were Vice Admirals. They were highly regarded, but their rank still placed limits on them. Sengoku and Ortoren could coordinate to obscure certain matters. Even if Kong knew, as long as he kept silent, it was hard for anyone else to notice anything amiss.
Only the Chief of Staff had sensed something early on, and even then, she chose to help rather than expose it.
Now, however, both Kuzan and Sakazuki were Admirals. Their authority and status were firmly established. Even with Sengoku as Fleet Admiral, any covert actions within the Navy involving Ortoren would inevitably leave traces.
If Kuzan chose to look into it, he would certainly uncover those details.
Hearing Kuzan say this, Ortoren let out a quiet sigh.
"How should I put it… these matters…"
"You don't need to explain them to me," Kuzan said. The heaviness in his expression vanished, replaced by a faint smile. "I have no intention of getting involved in whatever you're doing. I just wanted to remind you not to overlook this situation and let it turn into something bigger."
Ortoren paused, meeting Kuzan's eyes. After a moment, he smiled.
"Thanks."
Sure enough, the Five Elders could never truly be as trusting as they appeared on the surface. They would never place complete, absolute faith in Sengoku as Fleet Admiral, or in Ortoren as an Admiral.
Now, they were beginning to rebuild new connections within the Navy, deliberately bypassing both Sengoku and Ortoren.
Thinking about it carefully, this likely wasn't because they had discovered any concrete wrongdoing on Sengoku's or Ortoren's part. More than anything, it was a matter of political balance, an instinctive move to maintain control over the Navy from within.
As always, the World Government never relaxes its grip on the Navy.
Even if Ortoren and Sengoku did absolutely nothing, obediently serving as loyal tools of the World Government, under the current circumstances, Mary Geoise would still make these arrangements.
Trust is trust. Control is control.
Blind, unconditional trust is always the seed of disaster. After ruling for so many years, there was no way the Five Elders didn't understand that.
From the moment Sengoku became Fleet Admiral, a new phase for the Navy had already begun. It was only natural for them to make certain deployments within the current leadership and begin exerting new influence.
One could even say that Aramaki's sudden appointment from Mary Geoise wasn't just meant to bypass Sengoku and Ortoren, but also to sidestep the established figures within the Navy as a whole.
Kuzan, Sakazuki, Borsalino, Garp, Zephyr, and the Chief of Staff were all part of that group.
Before this, none of them had any connection with Aramaki.
Seen from this angle, Ortoren didn't need to worry too much. If anything, it meant the World Government was "distrusting" all of the Navy's top brass equally.
And from their point of view, that made perfect sense.
Still, whether the others had ulterior motives was hard to say. But he and Sengoku truly did. That was precisely why Kuzan had chosen this moment to quietly warn Ortoren, reminding him not to let his guard down.
Of course, all of this was still only at the stage of faint signs and early movement. Although Aramaki had been parachuted in from Mary Geoise with a solid background and enjoyed the backing of many Marines who were absolutely loyal to Mary Geoise, he was, at the end of the day, still just a Vice Admiral. And one who had been dropped in from outside, at that.
To Ortoren and Fleet Admiral Sengoku as they were now, Aramaki was little more than a minor figure. He was far from capable of putting either of them on the defensive right away.
Otherwise, all the years they had spent building influence within the Navy would have been nothing but a joke.
Compared to Aramaki, what occupied Ortoren's thoughts more, after Kuzan laid things bare, was Sakazuki.
As fellow Admirals, anything Kuzan could notice, Sakazuki could not possibly miss. Especially since Sakazuki was stationed at headquarters, it was even more unthinkable that anything there could be kept from him.
Yet up to now, Sakazuki had never intervened in matters concerning Ortoren and Sengoku. No displeasure, no reaction of any kind, no emotion at all. It was as if he genuinely knew nothing.
But Ortoren could never believe that.
Bringing Doflamingo back to headquarters and openly revealing his identity to Sakazuki had, in fact, been a form of testing. Otherwise, why would Fleet Admiral Sengoku have summoned Sakazuki into the office as well? If secrecy were truly required, Sengoku could easily have sent him away.
Ortoren had also taken Doflamingo to "hang out" with Sakazuki more than once, which carried the same probing intent.
And the result of all that probing was silence.
Afterward, Sakazuki showed no reaction whatsoever.
That was what made Ortoren uncertain. If Sakazuki had shown even the slightest movement, whether opposition or something else, Ortoren could have gleaned something from it.
But Sakazuki remained completely still, leaving Ortoren unable to read him at all.
From that alone, Sakazuki proved himself to be a man of real depth.
As an Admiral, Sakazuki was nothing like a small fry such as Aramaki. His influence within the Navy was not something that could be ignored.
Kuzan, at least, had begun to show his hand. Even though he claimed there was no need for explanations and that he had no intention of getting involved, that stance already leaned subtly toward Sengoku and Ortoren.
Only Sakazuki stood firm, unmoving like a mountain, giving no hint of what he truly thought. Enemy or ally? It was impossible to tell.
First of all, in Ortoren's view, Sakazuki undeniably had close ties with Mary Geoise. For example, he had been stationed for years at the G-1 Marine base in the New World. G-1 itself carried heavy political significance and was closely connected to Mary Geoise. High-ranking officials from Mary Geoise frequently visited, inspecting the base one day, holding joint gatherings the next.
Under those circumstances, Sakazuki and Mary Geoise must have forged a stable relationship.
And because of that, Sakazuki was inevitably influenced by Mary Geoise to some degree. This was also why, among the Navy's top figures, he leaned more toward the World Government. When conditions allowed, he would actively safeguard the interests of the World Government and Mary Geoise.
However, Ortoren did not believe Sakazuki was a blind supporter of the World Government.
As Kuzan had said earlier, Sakazuki was a "Navy-first" man. He would protect the World Government only insofar as it did not harm the interests of the Navy.
After so many years serving together, Ortoren was certain of this. Sakazuki's stance was firmly rooted in the Navy itself.
What worried Ortoren was something else entirely. Sakazuki's definition of "the Navy's interests" might differ from that of Sengoku and Ortoren.
After thinking it through for a while, Ortoren let out a faint, self-mocking chuckle. If Sakazuki chose not to move, then there was no need for him to panic.
Letting himself be led around by the nose over this would only make him look foolish. Since Sakazuki wasn't making a move, Ortoren would simply continue doing what he needed to do, step by step.
That was the right approach.
Still, beyond all this, the actions of the World Government, while not yet constituting a real threat, did leave Ortoren feeling faintly uncomfortable.
Or perhaps it was more accurate to call it pressure.
He was already pushing himself to move as fast as possible. But maybe, just maybe, he needed to go even faster.
...
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