New World · New World Port of Mary Geoise.
Admiral Sakazuki had already arrived.
The port district was in a frenzy of activity. With the entire New World currently under Ortoren's control, the World Government had effectively abandoned its economic and commercial operations there, suspending all shipping routes from Mary Geoise into the New World.
So the moment Sakazuki reached the port, he imposed military control.
Even before he arrived, the port had already been undergoing full militarization. From the instant Fleet Admiral Sengoku was taken away, the CP organization had been working nonstop through the night, building bunkers, fortresses, and every kind of defensive installation they could cram into the area.
Once Sakazuki brought the Marines in, they immediately garrisoned the place.
Not only that, the giant winch crews stationed here were hauling in warships from Marine Headquarters around the clock, transferring them one by one into position.
The New World port and the surrounding waters were now packed with dozens of warships. If space had allowed it, Sakazuki would've considered dragging the entirety of Headquarters' fleet here.
Before departing, Sakazuki had already stripped many officers at Headquarters of their command authority. So the Marines stationed around Mary Geoise were mostly "neutral faction" personnel he trusted, largely under the direct control of his own subordinates, with Vice Admirals like Onigumo, Doberman, and Dalmatian overseeing the defense.
Only around ten warships had been specially approved by Sakazuki for Aramaki's Mary Geoise-loyalist faction. Other than that, not a single New World Navy faction member had been brought along.
When Aramaki came with Sakazuki, he was in a fantastic mood. Just looking at the setup, it was obvious Sakazuki was standing with them, right?
Before leaving, though, Aramaki had privately felt Sakazuki's move was risky. Handing Headquarters over to the New World Navy faction like that… wouldn't that cause trouble?
But Sakazuki had said that with Borsalino holding Headquarters, the New World Navy faction wouldn't be able to stir anything up.
Aramaki still didn't think it sounded entirely solid, but Sakazuki was the Admiral. And Sakazuki had even said, if Aramaki felt it was unstable, then Aramaki could stay behind at Headquarters while Borsalino was transferred here instead.
The moment Aramaki heard that, he knew he couldn't agree. Showing his face at Mary Geoise was in his best interest, so he ultimately stopped arguing.
To be fair, the Holy Land of Mary Geoise really was a place that was easy to defend and hard to attack. Just shutting down the bubble elevators at the port would give Mary Geoise, perched atop the Red Line, a complete geographical advantage. Even if the New World Navy seized the New World port, it would still be difficult to threaten Mary Geoise itself.
And the CP organization hadn't only fortified the port. Up above, the God's Knights were coordinating with CP forces, mobilizing large numbers of Holy Land guards. They'd even forcibly conscripted tens of thousands of slaves as auxiliary troops and set up defenses there as well.
At this moment, inside the Marines' temporary encampment at the New World port, Sakazuki sat in his tent with a thick document Onigumo had just brought in.
After reading for a while, Sakazuki raised an eyebrow.
"At the fastest, they can reach us within two weeks? And they're actually reporting their itinerary to us? What the hell is Ortoren thinking?"
"I have no idea either," Onigumo sighed. "But Admiral Benn has always been the kind of man who leaves no trace. Who can ever pin down his thinking? If we could, things wouldn't have blown up this far…"
Even though Ortoren had been removed from his Admiral post, Onigumo still called him "Admiral Benn." That was completely different from Aramaki and the others, and it also made it clear that Sakazuki's people, deep down, leaned more toward Ortoren than Aramaki.
"Fair enough…" Sakazuki nodded, then said, "Since he's finished resting at G-3, his next step is to bypass G-1 and come straight here. Maybe… forget it. Better not to hope for anything."
Sakazuki had almost said that Ortoren's attitude might mean there was still room to negotiate.
But the moment he thought about Ortoren's style, he dismissed it. If he'd truly believed Ortoren would return to Headquarters and settle this peacefully, he wouldn't have come all the way here to fortify the port in the first place.
Just as Sakazuki was thinking this through, Doberman rushed into the tent, a newspaper clutched in his hand.
His expression was a mix of shock and fury, with resentment and disbelief burning in his eyes—so complicated it was hard to describe.
Because the tent flap was already drawn back, Sakazuki had seen Doberman sprinting over from a distance.
Before Doberman could even speak, Sakazuki rumbled,
"Doberman, you've been a Vice Admiral for years. Why are you still this reckless? What's got you so flustered?"
Doberman steadied himself after the scolding. He took a deep breath, forced his emotions down a notch, and slapped the newspaper onto Sakazuki's desk.
"Mr. Sakazuki, we… we…"
"We what? What happened?" Sakazuki's brow furrowed as he reached for the paper.
The next instant, Doberman's palm clenched into a fist. The rage and indignation in his eyes crumpled into pain and grief, and tears burst out all at once.
"We… let's storm Mary Geoise and kill those beasts!!!" Doberman roared through sobs.
The moment those words left his mouth, Onigumo went rigid. He immediately looked toward the tent entrance, launched Soru, and jabbed his fingers in rapid succession, knocking out the two Marine sentries outside.
Then he yanked the tent flap down and glared at Doberman, furious.
"You idiot, do you even know what you're saying?!"
As he spoke, he was already behind Doberman, one hand clamping down hard on his shoulder, ready to take him down at any moment.
In truth, Onigumo and Doberman were extremely close. Onigumo's stance was mainly for Sakazuki to see. If he acted first, Sakazuki wouldn't have to vent his anger on Doberman, and it would give the Admiral a way to step down without the situation exploding on the spot.
Doberman didn't resist at all. Half his body sagged over the desk, his face smeared with tears and snot, even dirtying Sakazuki's spotless white tablecloth.
But Sakazuki didn't show the rage Onigumo expected. He didn't say a word. He just sat there, newspaper in hand, staring blankly as if he'd been struck numb by the shock.
"A… Admiral?" Onigumo called uncertainly at the sight.
What was going on?
"Is this the truth?" Sakazuki's voice came out hoarse. "Back then… was Sengoku-san, when he was an Admiral… forced to be part of something like this?"
The arm holding the newspaper was trembling.
The chair beneath him was already smoking, ignited by the heat he could no longer contain, black smoke curling outward.
On the front page was the Revolutionary Army's latest bombshell report.
It laid out, in detail, the Celestial Dragons' human-hunting atrocity in the Sakon Kingdom of the South Blue in Sea Circle Calendar 1501.
In Sakazuki's understanding, the Sakon Kingdom had been destroyed by the Revolutionary Army in the South Blue. Fleet Admiral Sengoku had even personally rushed there to support the operation, but they hadn't made it in time. By the time the Marines sealed the area off, the kingdom was already gone.
But now, in print, Dragon—the Revolutionary Army's leader—declared that Sakon Kingdom had not been destroyed by the Revolutionary Army at all.
On the contrary, the Revolutionary Army had gone there to rescue it. The country had been slaughtered by the Celestial Dragons, who had turned it into a hunting ground.
The Revolutionary Army claimed that incident was also when they learned the World Government's darker secrets, including a triennial "Kingdom Destruction · Human Hunting Game."
Sea Circle Calendar 1504 should have been the next time those monsters held the game.
And so, to stop it, the Revolutionary Army had launched the Impel Down prison break, rescuing Shiki the Golden Lion, then joining forces with Shiki to attack the Holy Land, Mary Geoise.
That act had pushed Mary Geoise's situation to the brink of losing control. It was the Revolutionary Army's first time striking the Holy Land head-on, and even their Commander-in-Chief had died in that incident.
But it also worked. Mary Geoise had been frightened into canceling that cycle's human hunt.
Now it was Sea Circle Calendar 1507.
Three years had passed again, and that anti-human, anti-intelligent-species atrocity was about to descend on the seas once more.
Yet the Revolutionary Army, having been heavily crippled in the East Blue, claimed it no longer had the strength to stop it this year. So Dragon had decided to risk full-scale war with the World Government to expose the truth to the world.
He was calling on every person of conscience across the seas to resist Mary Geoise, resist the World Government, resist the Celestial Dragons' brutality.
If it were only Dragon's words printed on paper, it would've meant nothing.
But thanks to Spandine's explosive leak, the report now came with proof—pictures, evidence, the whole thing.
That was why Vice Admiral Doberman, a hardline hawk, was now sobbing in rage.
And that was why Admiral Sakazuki, at this very moment, had been hit so hard he couldn't even react.