Beneath the Red Line, at the New World port of the Holy Land.
Inside the Marine camp, Ortoren sat in his tent.
Sakazuki lifted the flap and stepped inside, looking at Ortoren as he spoke.
"All the bubble elevators have been shut down. There's no way to reach the Holy Land through conventional means."
Ortoren showed no surprise at all. He smiled lightly.
"The main control for the bubble elevators is up in the Holy Land itself. As long as they're not idiots, there's no way they'd leave them running. Besides, even if the elevators were still operating, do you really expect this massive army of ours to ride elevators up there?"
Setting aside the joke, even if every bubble elevator were fully operational, each trip could carry fewer than fifty people, with a round trip taking over twenty minutes. Was Ortoren supposed to attack the Holy Land like that? Send one wave up, lose one wave. That would just be throwing lives away.
"The large-capacity winches can't be used either," Sakazuki continued. "So next… are we relying on Isshō's methods?"
The winches on the Holy Land could transport five warships at once, meaning at least ten thousand soldiers could land in a single operation. It would have been an ideal route, but now it was unusable as well.
"Isshō is one part of it," Ortoren replied. "The other… I'm waiting for the Revolutionary Army."
The moment he finished speaking, the Den Den Mushi Hina was carrying behind him began to ring.
"They're here…" Ortoren chuckled.
Hina took out the Den Den Mushi and glanced at it.
"It's from Dragon-san."
Ortoren took the Den Den Mushi and spoke into it.
"Not here yet? My patience is running out. If you don't show up soon, I'll go up there myself..."
Dragon-san's voice came from the other side, tinged with helplessness.
"We can't even show ourselves right now. Your Marine fleets are everywhere above us. Have you settled things with Sakazuki yet? If our few ships surface and get spotted, they'll be sunk immediately."
It was clear that Dragon and his group had arrived beneath the Holy Land by coating their ships and traveling underwater. From below, they had already seen the sea above packed with Marine warships.
Ortoren glanced at Sakazuki.
Sakazuki stepped forward and spoke into the Den Den Mushi.
"Dragon… it's me."
Dragon had once been a Marine himself, and of course he recognized Sakazuki's voice. He let out a breath of relief.
"So the internal conflict within the Marines has been resolved. In that case, we'll be there shortly."
...
Half an hour later, guided by the fleet, several Revolutionary Army ships docked at the Holy Land port. Before long, Ortoren met Dragon, Bartholomew Kuma, Ivankov, Lightning, and the giant Morley inside the command tent, along with several other key Revolutionary Army figures.
Sakazuki and Dragon had not seen each other in many years. Now that they stood face to face again, both were filled with emotion.
"It's been a long time," Dragon said with a smile. "Do you still think I'm a traitor who abandoned Marine justice, Sakazuki?"
Back then, when Dragon left the Navy without hesitation, Sakazuki had firmly believed that he had betrayed Marine justice.
Now, hearing that question, Sakazuki shook his head, his expression complicated.
"I think I understand now why Fleet Admiral Sengoku and Zephyr-san refused to pursue you back then. At the time, I thought it was because of Garp-san. Looking back now… perhaps they wanted to leave a spark for the future."
As that thought settled in, Sakazuki couldn't help but feel that Fleet Admiral Sengoku had been far-sighted indeed. Over the years, Ortoren hadn't been the only future Sengoku had gambled on. Even earlier, Dragon himself may have been one of the sparks Sengoku planted.
Seen this way, looking back over the past twenty years of the Marines as a whole, Sengoku, as the man at the helm, walked one path himself. Later, he allowed Dragon to leave the Marines, planting a line that would become the Freedom Fighters and eventually the Revolutionary Army. Then, ten years ago, when Ortoren joined the Marines, Sengoku opened yet another path, quietly but forcefully supporting Ortoren's rise.
Three paths, representing three possible roads for Marine justice.
As long as even one of them reached the end, Marine justice would ultimately be carried through.
Dragon listened to this and couldn't help but sigh with emotion.
"Back then, I believed that only by completely leaving the Navy and rebuilding an entirely new system could I change the darkness that spreads out from the Holy Land and shrouds the whole world. Looking at it now, Ortoren's methods and approach were actually far more efficient…"
He had left the Navy and built the Revolutionary Army from nothing. Although its development had been fairly decent, it had never truly gained momentum.
By his own estimation, even if everything had gone according to his original plans and expectations, it would still have taken another fifteen or sixteen years before the Revolutionary Army gained the strength to pry at the World Government.
And that would only be prying at it.
In Dragon's view, it might take the efforts of two or three generations to truly succeed. He himself was nothing more than the one who lit the initial flame.
It was entirely possible that even in his lifetime, the World Government would never fall.
Yet Ortoren was different.
From the moment he had been specially recruited into the Marines by Garp until now, barely ten years had passed. And in that short span of time, Ortoren had forcibly carved out a new path from within the Marines themselves, borrowing existing structures to create something entirely his own, then growing it larger and stronger.
While the Revolutionary Army was still struggling in the South Blue, Ortoren had already surrounded the Holy Land with a massive force.
The comparison left Dragon feeling deeply inferior.
Ortoren, however, didn't pursue the topic further. Instead, he spoke with visible interest.
"That coalition government your Revolutionary Army recently set up in the South Blue… It's still a makeshift operation, crude and immature in many ways, but I think it's quite promising."
Dragon chuckled softly.
"Isn't that South Blue Alliance meant to fit into the framework of the Seven Seas Alliance you want to establish, the one intended to replace the World Government's order? After all these years of struggle, the Revolutionary Army has to secure a place in the new order eventually. Otherwise, all that time would have been wasted."
Sakazuki frowned slightly as he listened.
"The Seven Seas Alliance? What does that mean?"
"A preliminary concept," Ortoren replied casually. "The so-called 'alliance' is only a transitional stage. In the end, it will evolve into an entirely new ruling-class order."
Behind him, seeing Sakazuki's interest, Hina quickly pulled a document from her briefcase and handed it over.
"Sakazuki-san, this is a rough proposal. It's still in its early stages. Do you have anything you'd like to add?"
Sakazuki took the proposal and began flipping through it. Before long, he understood what the so-called "Seven Seas" referred to.
The four major seas—East, West, South, and North—remained unchanged. However, the Grand Line had been completely split in two. The New World was the New World, Paradise was Paradise, no longer unified under the single concept of the "Grand Line."
At the same time, the two Calm Belts to the north and south were divided between the New World and Paradise based on distance and geography, expanding the territorial scope of both regions.
As a result, the world was divided into six seas.
The seventh sea was the concept of the sky islands.
In this way, the entire world was divided into the Seven Seas.
As for the Red Line, it was a new reserved territory and exclusive sphere of interest that Ortoren had left to the Marines.
"Each sea establishes its own federated government, seven in total," Sakazuki muttered as he read. "The leaders chosen by these seven federated governments then undergo further integration to form a world-level ruling order. This 'Seven Seas Alliance' would replace the World Government as the supreme authority…"
The more he read, the more appealing the idea seemed.
Compared to the World Government, however, this structure did feel somewhat loose, lacking a sense of firmness and cohesion. There was clearly something missing.
That said, its advantages were obvious.
Power would no longer be concentrated in the hands of a single fixed group. And the major sea regions…
Sakazuki suddenly paused.
It hit him all at once.
Under this system, the Marines—who controlled the most powerful military force on the seas—would become a decisive power that stood above the Seven Seas themselves. A force that every sea would scramble to win over.
For example, judging by Ortoren's current layout in the New World, the Marines' military budget was already self-sustaining.
But even if they could sustain themselves, they couldn't be expected to spend their own money alone to maintain world peace forever.
That would make them fools.
Burning themselves to light the way for others?
Once the new order was established, military funding would inevitably be distributed outward. Whichever of the Seven Seas wanted more Marine support would have to take the initiative to provide funding, cover military expenses, and compete for greater Marine involvement.
In that scenario, the relationship between ruler and subordinate would be completely reversed.
In the past, the Marines had to ask the World Government for money. Now, the Seven Seas would be lining up to offer it, all while waiting to see whether the Marines were even interested.
"Being loose has its benefits," Sakazuki said with clear satisfaction. "Dividing the top level of authority into seven parts greatly reduces the risk of violent dictatorships like the current World Government. It's also more advantageous for the Marines, completely separating political power from military power. The Marines retain their purity as a military force, which aligns better with justice itself, ensuring that justice is no longer entirely dictated by politics."
He looked up from the document.
"Excellent. It's still just a rough framework, full of flaws and unresolved issues, but the idea itself and its starting point are genuinely impressive."