Sea Circle Calendar Year 1507, May.
After issue after issue of the World News hit the streets, the entire world was thrown into an uproar, like it had suddenly sprinted into a brand-new era.
"New World Navy Crushes the Main Forces of the Big Mom Pirates and the Beast Pirates!"
"Admiral Benn Ortoren Defeats Charlotte Linlin and Kaidou!"
"Beast Pirates Announce Disbandment; All Subordinate Forces Fully Incorporated into the Big Mom Pirates!"
"Big Mom Pirates Captain Charlotte Linlin Announces the Disbandment of the Big Mom Pirates!"
"World Government Issues Amnesty Order and Letter of Reconciliation, Fully Pardoning the Crimes of the Big Mom Pirates and Totto Land!"
"New World Totto Land Fully Incorporated into the World Government; Queen Charlotte Linlin Announces Her Intention to Visit the Holy Land, Mary Geoise, for the Next Reverie!"
"World Government Gains Another Powerful Ally in the New World: Totto Land Becomes a Member Nation!"
"New World Peace Unseen in a Century Is Within Reach!"
"Admiral Benn Ortoren Has, in the Truest Sense, Brought the Great Pirate Era to an End!"
Honestly, each issue was more unbelievable than the last. Plenty of people woke up, saw the headlines, and thought they'd somehow jumped twenty years into the future.
The New World, the sea everyone called the most chaotic and vicious, had suddenly been pacified?
Last year the Whitebeard Pirates had just been wiped out. This year wasn't even halfway over, and Admiral Benn had already subdued Kaidou and Charlotte Linlin?
And now the biggest "pirate" in the entire New World was Smash-Strike Slekemind!?
But everyone knew that guy was one of the Shichibukai and fiercely loyal to Admiral Benn. Could you even count him as a real pirate?
So by that logic, the whole New World had basically fused into one.
Yet before those mind-blowing stories could spread for even two days, another bombshell slammed into the seas.
"Admiral Benn Suspected of Corruption and Collusion with Pirates!"
"Admiral Benn Responds to Corruption Investigation, Announces He Will Comply with Headquarters Orders: Effective Immediately, He Will Temporarily Step Down from His Post as Marine Headquarters Admiral and Return to Headquarters to Cooperate with the Investigation!"
"Demonstrations Erupt at Marine Headquarters; Multiple Marine Officers Dismissed!"
"Numerous North Blue Member-Nation Royals Publicly Declare They Do Not Believe Admiral Benn Committed These Corruption Crimes, and State That Marine Headquarters Is No Longer Worthy of Trust!"
"G-5 Base Commander Vice Admiral Isshō Launches Internal Impeachment Against Criminal Investigation Bureau Chief Vice Admiral Aramaki, Accusing Him of Abusing Power and Suppressing Dissent!"
"Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral Tokikake Deploys to the North Blue; North Blue Marine Branches Enter Wartime Drill Status!"
"New World Dressrosa King and Shichibukai Donquixote Doflamingo Declares the Criminal Investigation Bureau's Probe into His Alleged Corrupt Collusion with Admiral Benn 'Complete Nonsense'; Doflamingo Claims He Is a Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral, Codename Flamingo, Assigned to the Intelligence Division and Undercover in Pirate Circles for Years!"
"Revolutionary Army Grand Line Army Commander and Chief Spokesperson Anburio Ivankov Says the Revolutionary Army Has Obtained Evidence of the World Government's Anti-Human and Anti-Intelligent-Species Crimes, and Will Reveal It Soon!"
"Revolutionary Army Leader Monkey D. Dragon Says the Crimes Committed by the World Nobles, the Celestial Dragons, in Mary Geoise Are Too Numerous to Record!"
"Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp, Recently Taken Away by CP for Investigation, Is Suspected to Have Been the First to Discover Mary Geoise's Crimes and May Have Been Silenced!"
"World Government Claims the Above Statements Are Yet Another Revolutionary Army Plot!"
"Five Elders Order All World Government Departments to Intensify the Crackdown on the Revolutionary Army!"
"World Government Declares the World News an Illegal Propaganda Outlet and Urges Citizens Not to Believe Its Reports!"
"Admiral Benn Calls on All Marine Factions to Remain Calm, Not Be Swayed by Chaotic Information, and to Stay Loyal to the Marines and Loyal to Justice!"
Starting in May of Sea Circle Calendar Year 1507, dizzying headlines flooded the papers day after day—each one more exaggerated, more outrageous than the last.
All factions seemed to be launching propaganda wars against one another, trading accusations and slander back and forth.
At the beginning, when news spread that the pirate threat in the New World had been completely eradicated, people genuinely believed that world peace had arrived and that better days were just around the corner.
But as the propaganda battles between the various sides grew more intense, anyone with even a bit of sense began to realize that a far greater storm was already brewing across the seas.
Look at what was happening.
The Marine Admiral who had pacified the New World was suddenly placed under internal investigation, accused of corruption and collusion with pirates.
Then, almost immediately after, one of the Shichibukai abruptly revealed himself to be Vice Admiral Flamingo, a Marine Headquarters officer who had been undercover within pirate ranks for many years.
Next came demonstrations erupting at Marine Headquarters itself, with multiple high-ranking officers dismissed from their posts.
After that, royal families from the North Blue inexplicably stepped forward to voice their support for Admiral Benn, while the World Government was exposed by the Revolutionary Army for possessing all kinds of dark secrets.
The news was tangled and chaotic, but when laid out carefully, one thing became unmistakably clear.
The Marines, the dominant power ruling the seas, were suffering from a severe and dangerous internal fracture.
At the same time, the conflict between the World Government and the Revolutionary Army had suddenly become extremely sharp, making it obvious that massive upheaval was imminent.
What was especially striking was the Revolutionary Army's public appearance and declaration that they possessed evidence of the World Government's innumerable crimes against humanity and intelligent races. That alone was deeply suggestive.
In short, the suppression of the New World's pirate menace had not brought peace to the world at all. Instead, it had only intensified the clashes between every major faction.
What made it even stranger was that, despite the Marine's internal split reaching such a critical level, Fleet Admiral Sengoku had still not appeared even once.
As a result, all sorts of rumors and whispered speculation began circulating across the seas.
Some claimed that Fleet Admiral Sengoku had already been secretly arrested.
Others said that Fleet Admiral Sengoku and Vice Admiral Garp might have uncovered certain unspeakable crimes and secrets of the World Government and had been silenced together.
Then those rumors escalated even further, suggesting that Admiral Benn's decision to return to Headquarters for investigation might be because he too had learned of some of the World Government's crimes. According to this version, he had been framed, and there was a chance he would ultimately be eliminated in secret as well.
Of course, there were also those who insisted that all of this was nothing more than a Revolutionary Army conspiracy. After the Marines completely pacified the New World and suppressed the so-called Great Pirate Era, the Revolutionary Army feared that the World Government and the Marines would turn their full attention toward wiping them out. So, at this critical moment, they had begun stirring chaos to sever the close relationship between the Marines and the World Government and create more opportunities for themselves.
In any case, every version of the story was flying around.
Public opinion across the seas had already descended into utter chaos.
...
Meanwhile, in a certain region of the New World.
The dragon-headed ship of the Revolutionary Army's leader, Dragon, drifted quietly across the sea.
Inside his cabin, Dragon sat holding a Den Den Mushi, speaking with someone on the other end of the line.
"I've done everything you asked me to announce publicly. Now it's time to hand over those dirty secrets, isn't it?" Dragon said with a cheerful laugh.
These past days had been exhilarating, almost intoxicating. Especially after learning that Ortoren was preparing to turn against the World Government, Dragon's mood had grown even lighter.
On their own, the Revolutionary Army still lacked the strength and influence to overthrow the World Government. Dragon understood that clearly. They were still far from capable.
But if Ortoren made his move, the World Government might not be able to withstand it at all.
Dragon had founded the Revolutionary Army not for power or personal ambition. Even knowing that, after everything was over, the Revolutionary Army might not be the ones to define the new world order, he was still filled with anticipation.
He eagerly awaited Ortoren's judgmental fist smashing the World Government to pieces.
After all, no matter how authoritarian Ortoren might be, he was ten thousand times better than the scum running the World Government.
Just look at the New World. Under Ortoren's iron-handed rule, a place once mired in chaos had become lively and prosperous. Could the World Government ever achieve something like that?
"I'll fax you a copy later. After that, we'll publish all of this under the Revolutionary Army's name in the newspapers," Ortoren replied on the other end of the Den Den Mushi, chuckling as he smoked.
"So in the end, I'm the one taking the blame," Dragon said with a sigh.
"Don't put it like that. This is a major achievement for your Revolutionary Army, isn't it? Exposing the dark side of the World Government gives you real standing. When the time comes to establish a new order, you'll at least have the right to speak. I'm not treating you unfairly," Ortoren replied with a laugh.
In truth, after careful consideration, Ortoren had concluded that it wouldn't be appropriate for the Marines themselves to expose these scandals.
It was better to have someone else wield the knife.
And so, Dragon, his trusted and reliable bearer of blame, once again became part of Ortoren's plan.
The Revolutionary Army would tear away the curtain and reveal the truth. Then Ortoren, the loyal Admiral preparing to return to Marine Headquarters to cooperate with the investigation, would suddenly realize that the strange orders previously issued by Headquarters were likely all fraudulent.
At that moment, he would "receive" an imperial edict, risked out from Mary Geoise by the imprisoned Fleet Admiral, ordering him to act as Fleet Admiral and command all Marines.
When things reached that point, Benn Ortoren could legitimately raise the banner of Marine justice, act in accordance with heaven's will, march on the capital to quell the crisis, and defend the rightful authority.
Everything would appear perfectly reasonable.