The letter from Sengoku Fleet Admiral wasn't marked "To be opened only by Ortoren," but Strawberry still didn't dare open it on his own.
He excitedly slapped Spandine on the shoulder. "I'll arrange the fastest ship and send you to Totto Land—"
Before he could finish, he stopped himself. Shaking his head hard, he said, "No, no, no. That's still too slow. Even the fastest ship at G-1 would take about a month to reach Ortoren from here. We don't have that kind of time to waste!"
As he spoke, he turned on the fax machine on his desk and looked at Spandine. "Since you're here, you can be my witness. Because of the urgency, I opened the letter without reading a single word, kept it completely intact, and sent it directly to Ortoren by fax."
Spandine nodded in agreement. Soon after, Strawberry faxed a copy of the letter to the warship stationed at Ortoren.
Next, he opened the briefcase and took out a thick stack of documents. These no longer required confidentiality. While preparing the fax, Strawberry glanced through their contents.
Just a single look at the photographs and the specially bolded sections of text was enough to make anger flash through his eyes. He slammed his hand down and growled, "How do they dare?!"
"You didn't know about this?" Spandine asked, surprised by Strawberry's reaction.
Strawberry looked back at him in disbelief. "You knew already?"
"I wouldn't say I knew everything," Spandine replied with a quiet sigh, "but I was aware of it fairly early on. Anyone in CP who sits at commander level or above knows at least a little about this…"
After a brief pause, he continued, "Back when the Admiral was still a Vice Admiral, he asked me to secretly investigate and collect information on these matters. I assumed that Navy Vice Admirals would also know something about this."
Strawberry stared at the documents, pain flickering through his eyes. The files were essentially records of the Celestial Dragons' once-every-three-years 'Human Hunting Tournament' excursions. What happened at God Valley back then was much the same, except that incident had been disrupted.
To be honest, Strawberry had heard long ago that the nobles of the Holy Land lived in darkness, and that the Celestial Dragons, as World Nobles, had committed no shortage of absurd and cruel acts.
But he never imagined it could be this vile. What shocked him even more was that, as a Navy Vice Admiral, he had never heard of any of the things recorded in these files.
That alone showed just how tightly the Holy Land had sealed this information away from the Marines.
And yet Ortoren had noticed something wrong long ago. That meant he might have come into contact with this matter back then.
Or perhaps, when Ortoren was serving at Sengoku's side, he had discovered these secrets by accident.
"No wonder… no wonder Ortoren would do something like this. No wonder he's leading the New World Marines against the Holy Land…" Strawberry ground his teeth. "Those beasts don't deserve to live in this world. To think that for hundreds of years, the name of justice our Marines uphold has been controlled by people like them. To think that for centuries, we've followed the orders of such beasts… the justice we pride ourselves on is nothing but a colossal joke!"
"Ah…" Spandine watched the furious Strawberry, at a loss for words.
But from Strawberry's first reaction alone, he could already imagine how many Marines would respond the same way.
Faced with these documents, it was undeniable. The so-called justice the Marines had upheld for centuries was nothing but a disgrace.
And precisely because of that, once these materials were exposed, Admiral Benn could raise the true banner of justice, answer the call of righteousness, and wipe out the Holy Land and the World Government.
The righteous cause is ours!
As one document after another was faxed to Ortoren's ship, Strawberry's expression grew darker and more ominous.
Before long, once the final transmission was complete, Strawberry had already connected a Den Den Mushi call to Momonga.
"You said Ortoren was waiting. What he was waiting for has already been sent," Strawberry said in a low voice. "Momonga, have you ever heard about the things those beasts have done?"
Momonga fell silent for a moment before replying, "Ortoren mentioned it to me once in passing. When I asked further, he didn't say anything more…"
"Is that so…" Strawberry murmured softly. "All these years, we Marines really have been shameless… calling ourselves justice…"
"And that's exactly why we need to return the favor to those scum in the Holy Land," Momonga sneered.
After a brief pause, he added, "Now that he's received what he was waiting for, the battle on his end should be coming to an end as well…"
…
At the same time, on White Salt Island, Ortoren was still locked in a fierce battle with Charlotte Linlin and Kaidou.
The three of them had fought for an entire day. By now, the one in the most battered and miserable state was Kaidou.
Both Charlotte Linlin and Ortoren possessed bodies like steel and monstrous strength. Kaidou's physical prowess was also exceptional, but compared to the other two, he still fell just a little short. A punch from Ortoren that left no mark on Charlotte Linlin would leave Kaidou bruised and discolored.
In terms of raw power alone, Kaidou was indeed the weakest of the three.
"Raimei Hakke!" Kaidou roared as he swung his kanabō.
At that moment, Ortoren was locked in a contest of strength with Charlotte Linlin. Seeing Kaidou's attack coming, he didn't dodge. Instead, he activated Black Gold Tekkai again, bracing himself to take the blow head-on.
The next instant, Kaidou's overwhelmingly powerful Raimei Hakke slammed brutally into Ortoren's shoulder.
At the same time, Charlotte Linlin shouted, "Soul Sacrifice: Gluttony Power!"
As her roar echoed out, eerie green soul energy erupted from all over her body. It was as if those souls were being offered up and devoured, rapidly sinking into her flesh.
In the next moment, Charlotte Linlin's already massive body swelled even further. The power that had been evenly matched with Ortoren surged by a huge margin!
"You're kidding… you're really burning your life?!" Ortoren cried out as he felt the terrifying, mountain-crushing force pouring out from Charlotte Linlin's arms.
At the same time, Kaidou's Raimei Hakke played a supporting role. With both forces bearing down on him, Ortoren failed to hold his ground. In that brief instant of imbalance, Charlotte Linlin's iron fist overwhelmed his own and smashed straight into his chest.
The blow slammed Ortoren to the ground, driving him deep into the earth!
The entire island shuddered. Cracks exploded outward from the point of impact, tearing open a massive abyss that swallowed Ortoren completely, his figure vanishing from sight.
After delivering that strike, Charlotte Linlin and Kaidou didn't pursue him into the chasm. Instead, they retreated in perfect unison, pulling back to create distance.
"That kind of fighting is going to shave years off your life," Kaidou said, looking at Charlotte Linlin, whose body glowed green and whose size was now approaching that of a giant.
Charlotte Linlin let out a savage grin. "It used to. But now, I don't need to sacrifice my own soul to enter this state anymore. And in Totto Land, the thing we have the most of is soul power!"
If Ortoren could possess an overpowered Sulong state, then why couldn't Charlotte Linlin sacrifice souls to push her strength even further?
She, too, wanted to see the very end of power.
Before the two could say anything else, a hand suddenly reached up from the edge of the hundred-meter-wide chasm, gripping the cracked ground.
Moments later, Ortoren's figure climbed out of the abyss, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
"That was impressive!" Ortoren praised immediately. "That punch, purely in terms of raw power, completely crushed my full strength in a normal state. It was already brushing up against the edge of power, old hag!"
Before his words could even finish, Charlotte Linlin, still glowing green, took the same stance as Kaidou. The difference was that one held Hassaikai, while the other wielded the Emperor Sword.
"This is…?" Ortoren froze, stamping his foot as lightning flickered around him, clearly preparing to dodge.
But it was already too late.
"Elbaph's Spear · Hakai!!!" Kaidou and Charlotte Linlin roared in unison.
Their movements were perfectly synchronized. As they swung their weapons, they stepped forward together. In an instant, a ferocious, violent shockwave and slash merged into one, engulfing everything in front of them.
This was Charlotte Linlin and Kaidou's combined technique: Hakai!
Its range spanned hundreds of kilometers. In the blink of an eye, nearly half of the island before them was swallowed whole. The shockwave then spread outward in a fan across the sea, vanishing at the horizon and devouring everything within sight.
Because of its terrifying area of effect, this attack was completely impossible to evade.