After Ortoren took his seat, his gaze swept across the entire conference room. A smile soon appeared on his face as he said, "Why does everyone look so serious? It's been a long time since many of us last met. Ever since we wiped out the Whitebeard Pirates last year, we haven't all gathered like this again. Seeing you all here now honestly makes me happy."
As soon as he spoke, the tension in the room eased. Laughter rippled through the gathered officers, and the atmosphere relaxed considerably.
"Yamakaji, you've been recuperating for almost a year now. How are your injuries? Can you still wield a blade?" Ortoren asked with a grin.
Yamakaji patted his belly and replied, "They cut out a section of my intestines, but it's nothing serious. I'm full of vigor now. As long as you give the order, Admiral, I could climb up Mary Geoise barehanded."
"Careful there, that sounds like you're looking down on Vice Admiral Isshō," Cancer laughed from the side.
Isshō chuckled as well, his face full of smiles. "Mary Geoise may be high, but don't worry. As long as I still have breath in me, I won't let the Admiral climb up on foot."
"I'm fine with taking an elevator," Stainless added with a grin. "Just don't make me climb it barehanded."
Before long, no one knew who started it, but the topic shifted to Ortoren's children, and congratulations came pouring in one after another.
Ortoren was in excellent spirits himself. Gion had safely given birth to a son, and Rouge's time was almost here as well, just a matter of days. Truly, good fortune lifted the spirit.
"Admiral, there's been talk that once someone earns enough military merit, they can be granted noble status. Is that really true?" a Marine Commodore asked expectantly.
The moment he spoke, many pairs of eyes turned eagerly toward Ortoren.
Ortoren laughed heartily. "You kid really do have sharp ears. I've only been thinking about it for a short while, and you've all already heard?"
In truth, if Ortoren hadn't deliberately let word leak out, how could something like this have spread so quickly?
With a great war looming, he did need things like this to further boost morale.
After a brief pause, Ortoren continued, "Yes, there is such an intention. Positions within Totto Land have already been prepared for all of you. What comes next depends on who has the ability to claim them."
"Does chopping off a couple of Celestial Dragons' heads count as ability!?"
"What's so impressive about that bunch of scum? If you've got the nerve to bring back the heads of the Five Elders to earn merit from the Admiral, you'll be made a Grand Duke!"
"If you ask me, Mary Geoise itself won't be hard to take. No matter how much geographical advantage they have, we still hold the edge in both troop numbers and top-tier combat power. The real difficulty is what comes after Mary Geoise falls. Pacifying the four seas is where the real merits will be earned…"
As the discussion went on, it naturally shifted toward the core topic of this meeting: upholding Heaven's mandate, suppressing the rebellion, and marching on the capital to defend the king.
In fact, just as these commanders were analyzing, Mary Geoise really wasn't that hard to deal with. At this point, Ortoren felt no fear toward Mary Geoise at all.
In terms of manpower, the forces under Ortoren's command already surpassed those stationed at Mary Geoise. As for combat power, Mary Geoise's so-called top fighters were nothing special. Even if the Five Elders were all Mythical Zoan users or Awakened, so what?
They hadn't fought in decades. No matter how great their abilities were, their real combat performance was bound to be lacking.
Not to mention Isshō and the others under Ortoren's command. Once he entered his Sulong state, Ortoren felt he could crush them without effort.
On top of that, he had moved early. It was only the end of Sea Circle Calendar Year 1507, and many of the World Government's ultimate weapons hadn't even been developed yet.
Things like the PX Pacifista, the Seraphim, the Mother Flame, and all those other bizarre black technologies didn't exist yet.
Mary Geoise's overall strength simply wasn't that formidable.
However, while Mary Geoise itself was easy to take, what came afterward was the real problem. Pacifying the four seas would be far more difficult. By then, he would have to uproot the fence-sitters, the Mary Geoise-loyalist nobles, local powers, and even Marine factions scattered across the seas.
Those forces might not be strong, but they would be far more troublesome than Mary Geoise itself. After fighting them, he would still need to rebuild order and governance.
Just thinking about it was already giving him a headache.
Seeing the naval commanders drift further and further off topic, Ortoren tapped the table to draw everyone's attention back to him. He then spoke calmly.
"Alright, let's focus on what's in front of us first. As for the plan to deal with Mary Geoise, we're not rushing blindly into battle. Everyone here is one of our own, so there's no need to put on airs. Say whatever you have to say, plainly."
To the outside world, it looked like Ortoren was only just preparing to make his move.
But within the upper circles of the New World Navy, preparations for attacking Mary Geoise had been underway for a long time already. Ever since they finished off the Whitebeard Pirates last year, starting from September, everything had been quietly set in motion.
For example, the supplies needed for the second plan, the siege of Mary Geoise, including food, weapons, and other logistical materials, had been continuously transported to the G-1 Marine Base since the end of last year.
To handle this massive influx, Strawberry had specifically selected two uninhabited islands near G-1, stationed two fleets there, and built large storage facilities. Only then were they able to accommodate all those supplies.
For this campaign of upholding Heaven's mandate, Ortoren had no intention of mobilizing excessive manpower. The plan called for fifty thousand troops, and by now, nearly all of them were already in position, deployed in fleet formations scattered throughout the New World's gateway waters.
As things stood, G-1's logistical reserves were sufficient to support fifty thousand Marines for two full years.
In other words, Ortoren didn't even need to directly assault Mary Geoise. As long as he seized the two ports linking the New World and the first half of the Grand Line, he could simply encircle and besiege the place. Give it two years, and Mary Geoise would be completely paralyzed, unable to act, slowly starved out.
According to Spandine's intelligence, Mary Geoise didn't have anywhere near that level of reserves. At most, they could hold out for half a year.
Of course, dragging things out like that would offer a higher success rate and greater stability, but it would also have a massive impact on the world's already crumbling situation. If Ortoren concentrated his forces here and spent two years locked in a standoff with Mary Geoise, problems would inevitably erupt across Marine forces everywhere else. And the longer he delayed, the more opportunities it would give to ambitious schemers around the world, making things even more troublesome in the end.
So, when it came to Mary Geoise, it had to be a swift, decisive strike. One blow to crush it completely.
With the overall strategy confirmed, the Marine commanders began presenting the various plans they had long since prepared.
From the level of detail and completeness in those proposals, it was clear that these men wearing admiral-grade insignia had already been thinking about rebellion for quite some time.
"That Sakazuki bastard is guarding the New World port. We'll have to deal with him first…"
"Why even bother dealing with him? In my opinion, we should just have Isshō lift G-1 into the air and launch an aerial assault on Mary Geoise like Shiki did back then. Why waste time grinding it out with Sakazuki?"
"Then why not just have Vice Admiral Isshō summon meteorites and let the Admiral unleash the Bull of Heaven to burn Mary Geoise to the ground? Why even bother landing troops?"
"Are you out of your mind? The Commander-in-Chief and the Fleet Admiral are both trapped in Mary Geoise. How could we fight like that?"
"Ahem… speaking a bit out of turn, if the Commander-in-Chief and the Fleet Admiral were to… wouldn't that actually align better with the Admiral's… well, that sort of thing?"
Seeing them get more and more carried away, Ortoren immediately slammed his hand on the table.
"Watch your words. From now on, don't say things like that," he said sharply. "Commander-in-Chief Kong raised me up from nothing, and Fleet Admiral Sengoku treated me like his own son. Their kindness toward me is as heavy as a mountain!"
The officer who had made that "out of turn" remark was a Rear Admiral. In truth, he had spoken under the subtle encouragement of several Vice Admirals, probing to see what Admiral Benn's true stance was.
Some things were impossible for the Admiral himself to say outright. Subordinates had to step forward and test the waters.
Whether or not the Admiral actually harbored such thoughts, everyone needed to understand his position clearly, to avoid making disastrous mistakes later.
From the way things stood now, it was clear that the Admiral had no intention of using this opportunity to pull any underhanded moves.
That disappointed some of the younger commanders, but it greatly reassured veterans like Momonga and Yamakaji.
Those younger officers had risen entirely within the New World Navy. They had little emotional attachment to Marine Headquarters, and some of them had never even met Fleet Admiral Sengoku, so naturally they felt no sense of restraint or hesitation.
But people like Momonga had all come up through Headquarters. How could they bring themselves to be that ruthless?
"Always remember this," Ortoren said, slapping the table again. "Our mission to Mary Geoise is to uphold Heaven's mandate and defend the rightful authority. We must be loyal."
"Yes, loyalty!!!"
The moment the word left his mouth, the Marine commanders reacted almost instinctively, each of them shouting their allegiance at the top of their lungs.