The camp riot broke out fast and ended just as fast. Once Borsalino arrived, he quickly brought the situation under control.
After that, large numbers of medics rushed in to evacuate the injured. Normally, a chaotic brawl involving thousands of people would inevitably result in deaths.
But this was Marine Headquarters. Almost everyone had fought barehanded, without using lethal weapons. In that kind of situation, whether you had Haki or not hardly mattered. Who here didn't know at least some of the Six Powers?
Tekkai alone was enough to reduce a lot of damage. As a result, there were plenty of wounded, but surprisingly, no one was beaten to death.
After a melee on this scale, the senior officers currently stationed at Marine Headquarters were immediately summoned for a meeting.
Inside the main conference hall of the Fortress of Justice, all officers of Commodore rank and above who were present at Headquarters were already seated.
The Fleet Admiral was absent. Among the three Admirals, Ortoren went without saying. In name, he had already been temporarily suspended, with Borsalino, an Admiral candidate, filling in as acting Admiral.
As for Kuzan, he wasn't even at Headquarters. He normally oversaw the first half of the Grand Line, and no one knew where he was wandering around on his bicycle at the moment.
That left Sakazuki as the highest-ranking authority currently at Headquarters. Once the meeting began, he naturally took the central seat.
In the past, when Marine officers gathered for meetings, the room would be a little noisy before things officially started. People exchanged information they already knew, discussed intelligence, or simply greeted one another.
Factions were visible, but the atmosphere was never particularly tense.
Now, however, the officers sat clustered tightly with their own people. Not only were the factional lines painfully clear, the air was thick with hostility.
The only difference from before was that this was no longer a split between doves, hawks, or neutralists. Instead, it was a direct confrontation between the Mary Geoise loyalists and the New World Navy faction.
At this point, these two factions had effectively eclipsed all others.
After all, there were loyalists among the doves, and members of the New World Navy faction among the hawks as well.
Looking at this scene, Sakazuki immediately understood that this was no longer a matter of differing stances. This was a true political struggle.
In the past, labels like dove or hawk only reflected differences in approach. Everyone still belonged to the same Marine institution.
Now, only those officers who remained neutral could really be considered part of Marine Headquarters' own political group.
Everyone else belonged either to Mary Geoise's political bloc or to the New World's political bloc.
The thought made Sakazuki feel a little absurd. By that logic, did that mean he, Sakazuki, had now become part of the neutral faction?
And given that he was currently the only Admiral at Headquarters with real authority, had he somehow become the leader of the Marine neutralists?
What about his hawk faction? How did it just disappear?
"For something like this to erupt at Headquarters is absolutely outrageous. Those who struck first must be punished severely!" Vice Admiral Aramaki of the Criminal Investigation Bureau slammed his hand on the table, cursing through clenched teeth.
"If you really trace it back to the root, isn't this all because of you, you idiot? Before you came to Headquarters, we were united. Before you took over that damn Investigation Bureau, there wasn't a single violent incident here. The moment you took power, all kinds of monsters crawled out of the woodwork. If anyone deserves severe punishment, you should be the first!" Commodore Raiset was the first to stand up and fire back at Aramaki without holding anything back.
Aramaki froze for a moment, then flared up. "Who do you think you are? You're just a Commodore, and you dare slander me here? Don't forget, I'm a Vice Admiral of Marine Headquarters!"
"Vice what? Admiral what?" Raiset shot back. "I joined the Navy in Sea Circle Calendar Year 1500. I started as a Lieutenant and fought my way through the New World step by step. I earned this Commodore rank with real accomplishments, face-to-face, hard-earned merit. So let me ask you, Vice Admiral Aramaki, what have you done? What major wars have you fought in? What dangerous pirates have you taken down? Huh? Or did you get your Vice Admiral seat by stirring up trouble at Headquarters and stepping on your colleagues?"
Raiset clearly wasn't just New World Navy. He was also G-5.
And everyone knew what G-5 used to be: the Navy's trash bin, a gathering place for thorns and misfits. Raiset was obviously one of them.
On top of that, he'd spent years running wild in the New World alongside Ortoren and the others. They were used to throwing their weight around, not being pushed around. Once his temper rose, he didn't care who you were.
Commodore? Vice Admiral?
Forget Vice Admiral. Even if Sakazuki sat there and talked out of line, Raiset wouldn't give him an inch either.
There were plenty of men like that in the Navy. In their eyes, nobody's words mattered, except Admiral Benn's. Only Admiral Benn could command their loyalty.
"You—!" Aramaki had never been publicly shut down like this in front of so many senior officers. The humiliation hit him hard, and his anger surged. Flames flickered around his fist as if he'd strike the moment someone breathed wrong.
Raiset didn't flinch. So you can spit a little fire, and that makes you something? He slapped the table and leaned forward with a swaggering grin.
"What, you want to hit me? Come on. Try it. You think I'm scared of you?"
Just then, another Vice Admiral from the New World faction, Counterstrike Saonglimah, gave a cold snort and slammed the table.
"Since when did the rules say a Commodore isn't allowed to refute a Vice Admiral during a Headquarters meeting? What, Aramaki, you want to bully people with rank in this room?" He narrowed his eyes. "Fine. I'm a Vice Admiral too. And I'll say it outright: I can't stand you. So what? I also think you should be the first one punished. How about that? Or maybe you should go sit in an Admiral's chair before you try talking down to me."
The moment those words landed, the conference room erupted.
New World Navy officers began pounding tables one after another, shouting back and forth with the Mary Geoise loyalists. The whole thing looked less like a meeting of Marine high command and more like some third-rate gang arguing over who got to be boss.
Still, they were all figures with reputations to maintain. At least nobody actually started swinging fists in the conference room.
After the shouting match went on for a while, it was as if everyone had vented enough. The tension in the room eased, just a little.
Aramaki no longer cared about the embarrassment from earlier. His voice turned cold.
"Regardless, we need to discuss Fleet Admiral Sengoku's orders. If I remember correctly, it's already been six hours since the Fleet Admiral's directives were sent out this morning. Why hasn't the New World Marines responded at all? And why hasn't 'former Admiral' Benn given any reply either?"
"You idiot. Don't you know the New World is at war right now?" Rear Admiral Bastille of Marine Headquarters sneered, his tone full of ridicule. "Admiral Benn personally led the frontline forces to engage the pirate alliance of Big Mom and the Beasts. He's probably in the middle of a brutal fight as we speak. Do you really think he'd have the time to answer a clown like you?"
Bastille had originally served under Vice Admiral Kesha at the G-7 base in the New World. After the annihilation campaign against the Whitebeard Pirates on Archino Island, he had distinguished himself with outstanding performance and accumulated great merit, earning a recommendation to Marine Headquarters.
By all rights, he should have been promoted from Rear Admiral to Vice Admiral the moment he arrived at Headquarters. However, Mary Geoise had already grown deeply wary of Ortoren and had no desire to see the influence of the New World Marines continue to expand within Headquarters. With Aramaki and his faction adding fuel to the fire behind the scenes, his promotion had been stalled to this day.
Bastille was part of the New World Marines faction to begin with, and during his time at Headquarters, he had been constantly suppressed by people like Aramaki. He was already in a foul mood, and now that he had the chance, he did not hold back at all.
As soon as he finished speaking, Rear Admiral Tosa from the Mary Geoise loyalist camp immediately fired back. "Even if the front lines are intense, can they really be so intense that six whole hours pass without a single response from the New World Marines? Vice Admiral Strawberry and the others at G-1 can't all be on the front lines too, can they? Why has communication with Headquarters been completely cut off? I think there's a real possibility that the New World Marines are planning to split from the Navy. We should start preparing for that now…"
Seeing his subordinates arguing endlessly with no progress, Aramaki turned toward the man seated at the head of the table.
"Admiral Akainu, you're currently the Admiral in charge of overseeing Headquarters. In a situation like this, you'll have to make the call."
The moment his words fell, the conference room went completely silent. All the Marine officers present turned their eyes toward Sakazuki.
Sakazuki's expression was calm. He removed the cigar clenched between his teeth, pressed it out in the ashtray in front of him, and swept his gaze across the room.
"Do any of you still look like Marines to me? In all these years, when has Headquarters ever descended into this kind of chaos? When has a meeting ever turned into such a farce?" His voice hardened. "If you ask me, you should all resign."
Then Sakazuki slammed his palm down on the table.
"Effective immediately, Marine Headquarters will enter Level Two martial law. All officers at Headquarters are to surrender all military authority. Acting Admiral Borsalino will take over unified control."
Aramaki froze for a brief moment before realizing what was happening. Sakazuki was taking this opportunity to strip the remaining remnants of Ortoren's influence within Headquarters of their command authority.
He was the first to stand up. "Yes. Admiral Akainu's orders will be carried out to the letter."
Once he spoke, the Marines loyal to Mary Geoise immediately followed suit, one after another handing over their command authority.
The commanders from the New World Marines faction also sensed the looming crisis. But Sakazuki was, without question, a full Admiral. With the Fleet Admiral absent, he did indeed hold the authority to oversee Headquarters. From a legal standpoint, every Marine officer stationed there was under his command.
Now that Sakazuki had issued an Admiral's order, they were left with only two choices.
Either openly resist and spark an armed confrontation, plunging the Marines into internal conflict.
Or obey.
With Admiral Ortoren's side showing no reaction at all, and as Marines who could not casually ignite a civil war without becoming criminals themselves, there was no real choice to be made.
In the end, they could only comply with Sakazuki's command.