Grand Line, New World, frontline Marine command.
After another sleepless night, the command center in the morning was filled with intelligence officers slumped over their desks, catching whatever rest they could.
Vice Admiral Tsuru and Sengoku had also stayed awake through the night.
Ever since the encirclement against the remaining pirates began, Tsuru and Sengoku had practically never left the command center.
At first, things had gone smoothly. The pirates stationed in Red-Hair's territory had all retreated inward, allowing the Marines to reclaim those islands without any obstruction.
But the situation was different now.
The pirates' living space had been compressed to the extreme. Every step the Marines advanced, they ran into large numbers of pirates.
To command the Marine forces in battle, Tsuru and Sengoku had gone several days without proper rest.
Still, the results were obvious.
Under the command of two brilliant strategists, the Marines had achieved the greatest victory with the smallest losses they could manage.
Even so, the casualty reports were still placed on both of their desks.
"Onigumo…"
Looking at the report on the table, Sengoku could not help speaking.
As the former Marine Fleet Admiral, Sengoku naturally remembered Onigumo's name.
However, during his own time in office, he had not particularly liked Onigumo.
The reason was simple.
Onigumo belonged to the hawkish faction.
He also had a close relationship with Sakazuki, putting them in the same camp.
On top of that, during operations, Onigumo often ignored the casualties of his own soldiers in order to complete the mission.
Those were all things Sengoku could not accept.
When he was still an Admiral, Sengoku had been known as a hawk himself, the "Buddha Sengoku" who handled things with iron authority.
But after becoming Fleet Admiral, in order to promote his benevolent image among the lower-ranking soldiers, Sengoku had gradually separated himself from the hawkish faction.
That was why Sengoku and Sakazuki had eventually gone their separate ways.
Even so, Sengoku had no choice but to acknowledge the courage and spirit of sacrifice Onigumo had displayed in battle against pirates.
Facing two opponents who were in no way weaker than himself, he had dragged them down with him.
That, too, was a great victory.
"That man… did something great in the end."
After thinking for a long time, Sengoku finally spoke again and acknowledged Onigumo's achievement.
Tsuru also felt regret over Onigumo's death.
However, as Marines, they had long since prepared themselves for sacrifice.
Forget Onigumo alone. Even if Tokikake or Gion, whom she had watched grow up, died in this war, she would not say anything.
"Onigumo's fleet has suffered too many losses. Arrange for someone else to replace Onigumo's fleet and continue the extermination mission."
After Onigumo sacrificed himself, his actions had greatly inspired the remaining Marine soldiers.
Even before reinforcements arrived, they had clung tightly to every pirate and refused to let them go.
After an entire night of fierce fighting, every pirate who had fled from Whole Cake Island was buried in the sea to accompany Onigumo.
The consequence of that was obvious.
Among the soldiers of Onigumo's fleet, fewer than one in ten remained.
The fleet had completely lost its structure as a fighting force.
For the sake of the battles that would follow, Tsuru could only order the fleet Onigumo had once led to return.
"Tsuru, I don't think those soldiers will want to go back…"
Sengoku hesitated as he spoke.
The first rays of morning sunlight spilled in through the window and happened to fall on Onigumo's photograph.
Tsuru looked at that beam of sunlight and said, "We can't let the Eleventh Fleet disappear completely, can we?"
"Let them return, then inherit that honorable number. That will be the greatest recognition of Onigumo."
"All right. We still need to report to Fleet Admiral Raleigh."
The two exchanged a silent look. After eating breakfast, they submitted the report on last night's battle.
...
Inside the office at New Marineford, Nezumi had already brought in the latest intelligence.
Raleigh carefully read the battle report that had just been sent from the New World.
"Report, Fleet Admiral Raleigh. As of seven o'clock this morning…"
"The New World Marines have completed the mission of advancing sixty nautical miles. Meanwhile, the Totto Land front has exceeded the original plan and advanced one hundred and ten nautical miles. They are currently clearing and absorbing the occupied islands."
"The casualty report is as follows…"
"Twelve thousand seven hundred and seventy-three Marine soldiers killed in action. Twelve thousand three hundred and seventy-three soldiers disabled or severely wounded. A total of seventeen Vice Admirals and Rear Admirals killed in action."
"Vice Admiral Onigumo, Vice Admiral Richardson, Vice Admiral Somerfield, Vice Admiral Myron… seventeen Vice Admirals and Rear Admirals in total have fallen."
"The Marine soldiers under their command were influenced by the spirit of their commanding officers and launched suicidal attacks against the remaining pirates. None of the pirates escaped the battlefield. All were annihilated."
After Raleigh finished reading everything, even Momonga beside him was deeply shaken.
One had to know that, generally speaking, the number of seriously wounded Marine soldiers was far higher than the number killed in action.
A ratio of around one to three was usually considered a normal combat result.
For the number of seriously wounded and the number of dead to be close to one to one could only mean that the intensity of the Marines' battle had been extremely high.
That was why even Momonga was shocked.
Raleigh stood, walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, and looked out at the already bustling New Marineford.
Sunlight shone across New Marineford's plaza, dyeing the various stone statues golden.
Only after a long while did Raleigh slowly speak.
"Momonga, record the names of all these fallen officers. Arrange for craftsmen to sculpt statues of them."
"Place them in New Marineford's plaza, so everyone who passes through can see them."
"Include the deeds of these fallen officers in the required knowledge every Marine must memorize. Every soldier who receives Marine training must know of their sacrifice and greatness."
Momonga agreed without the slightest hesitation.
Raleigh sighed.
The deaths before him were already cruel, but compared to the war still to come, perhaps this was only one part of it.
The Marines would not retreat just because some people had fallen.
Everyone had to keep stepping forward.
Only then could they truly win this war.
The New World was vast. Even after eliminating many great pirate crews, the number of pirates left was still not small.
The Marine encirclement also did not mean merely surrounding a few islands.
It included every island currently occupied by pirates across the New World.
Precisely because of that, the Marines were under tremendous pressure.
The number of commanding officers and Marine soldiers used for this operation seemed painfully small when scattered across such a wide sea.
Of the Three Emperors' crews, aside from the core members of the Red Hair Pirates who had not yet been annihilated, there were still tens of thousands of pirates left.
At the same time, independent pirate fighters were still mixed within the Marine encirclement.
These were all problems the Marines now had to face.
What made Raleigh feel both relieved and uneasy was that the Red Hair Pirates did not seem to have realized the Marines were already somewhat stretched thin.
They had not acted to tear open the Marine encirclement and create a path of survival for the pirates trapped inside.
Raleigh turned and looked at the sand table in the middle of the office.
"Order Kuzan and Aramaki to lead their fleets to the New World and take part in this war."
"The Four Blues are stable enough now. They no longer need to continue maintaining Marine governance there."
For some reason, Raleigh felt that the Red Hair Pirates were planning something big.
Because they were far too quiet.
Quiet enough that many people had almost forgotten their existence.
"Have Cleveland's informants send back intelligence. We must find out what conspiracy the Red Hair Pirates are brewing."
Up to this point, the war had never truly slipped from the Marines' control.
But if the Red Hair Pirates had truly found a way to win, Raleigh would do everything possible to strangle them on the sea.
"An ancient weapon?"
"Probably not."
Raleigh's mind searched frantically for any method Red-Hair could use to break the situation.
But no matter how he thought about it, he could not come up with anything.
The only things capable of changing the battlefield would be the appearance of several more Admiral-level pirate fighters or an ancient weapon.
However, one of the ancient weapons, Poseidon, Shirahoshi, was currently staying quietly on Fish-Man Island.
Gion was leading a portion of the Marines to garrison Fish-Man Island right now. She was responsible for preventing Shirahoshi from entering the war.
The second ancient weapon, Pluton, was currently buried beneath Wano in magma.
Sakazuki had secretly led people to Wano to search for it.
The only thing outside Raleigh's control was Uranus, the ancient weapon held by the Celestial Dragons.
But given Red-Hair's identity, even if he had a cooperative relationship with the Five Elders, it was impossible for him to directly borrow Uranus from them.
Besides, Uranus was currently in Imu's hands.
'Forget it. We'll proceed according to plan first.'
Raleigh thought silently.
He had once sent Miles to the East Blue to search for Monkey D. Luffy, but when Miles arrived at Foosha Village, he discovered that Luffy had gone out to sea earlier than expected.
After failing to find Luffy, Miles followed Raleigh's instructions and went to several other places, but he still could not find the other people Raleigh had mentioned.
Roronoa Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, and the others.
Raleigh accepted that result.
The Sun God Nika truly did possess a will of its own, and even with Raleigh changing this world recklessly, fate still existed.
If not, Luffy would not have managed to gather everyone despite setting out early.
Fortunately, the current Luffy no longer had the environment he needed to grow.
Every person he should have encountered on his path had already been eliminated by the Marines for various special reasons.
Whether it was Arlong, Dark King Rayleigh, or certain other pirates, all of them had died at the Marines' hands.
Just how far could Nika grow without the proper environment?
Raleigh was rather looking forward to finding out.
...
New World, frontline Marine command.
After receiving Raleigh's instructions regarding the battle situation, Tsuru held today's meeting.
"According to Fleet Admiral Raleigh's orders, the problems we need to face are preventing the Red Hair Pirates from suddenly acting and tearing open the encirclement, as well as shrinking the encirclement as quickly as possible."
"Although we have occupied many islands at great cost, it still isn't enough."
"The encirclement is not small enough. In the coming period, we must advance another two-thirds of the distance to ensure the encirclement is completely sealed, so not a single remaining pirate can escape."
After quietly listening to Tsuru's explanation, Sengoku's thoughts began turning.
Before long, an idea emerged in his mind.
"Why not have some Admiral candidates and elite Vice Admirals form teams specifically to kill the remaining powerful pirates?"
After hearing this, Zephyr thought for a moment before nodding.
"The idea is feasible. We can choose a few officers and test it first."
The plan Sengoku proposed was similar to using special forces for decapitation strikes.
The current situation was that the Marines' firepower far surpassed ordinary pirates, but it was difficult for that firepower to threaten the stronger pirates.
Meanwhile, if Marine officers fought those strong pirates one-on-one, it was difficult to achieve overwhelming suppression.
In most cases, the strong pirates could command low-level pirates to fight the Marines, and that was one of the reasons the Marines had suffered heavy casualties.
Zephyr spoke again.
"Right now, aside from Red-Haired Shanks, the strongest pirate forces should be Red Hair Pirates Vice-Captain Beckman and some independent powerful fighters. Most of them are around the level of elite Vice Admirals or Admiral candidates."
"If we send five elite Vice Admirals and one Admiral candidate to carry out decapitation operations, even if they encounter the entire Red Hair Pirates, they should be able to retreat safely."
"If they run into large numbers of pirates attacking them, this team can also rely on their individual strength to conduct guerrilla operations while waiting for rescue from the Marine fleet."
After hearing Zephyr's words, everyone at the conference table had their eyes light up.
That was right.
Whether it was the advancement of their firepower or the number of powerful fighters, the Marines were stronger than the pirates.
The reason casualties had appeared over the past few days was entirely because the battle line was too long, causing uneven distribution.
Even though the Marines had four Admiral-level fighters in the New World, Sengoku and Garp did not lead fleets, while Borsalino had to watch over those two.
That left only Issho, who was considered weaker among Admirals, and Zephyr to guard against the sudden appearance of the Red Hair Pirates.
But among the Marines, there were still powerful fighters like Enel and Barrett. Tokikake could also count as someone capable of standing on his own.
If these people formed a team, they could deal with everyone except the Red Hair Pirates.
After everyone raised their hands to approve the proposal, Tsuru spoke.
"Pass down the order."
"Have Enel, Bullett, Tokikake, Doberman, and Jonathan form an assault team. Give them half a day to gather and prepare. Starting tonight, they will begin hunting the strong pirates."
The messenger waiting at the door hurried down to transmit the order.
After hearing the chosen names, Sengoku nodded. Then a figure suddenly appeared in his mind, and he could not help speaking.
"Let Rosinante go with them too. Although he is not a Vice Admiral yet and his combat strength is a little lacking, his Devil Fruit ability will be quite useful for the team's hunts."
Sengoku was also acting out of personal motives.
Because he knew very well how terrifying this team's strength would be.
It was not an exaggeration to say that if he faced an attack from this team, the only thing he could do was start thinking about his last words.
Although Enel and Barrett did not yet hold the rank of Admiral, Sengoku always felt that, in reality, they had already reached Admiral-level combat strength.
Tokikake was not as strong as them, but he still had the strength of an Admiral candidate.
Combined with the two elite Vice Admirals, Doberman and Jonathan, this team was strong enough even to surround and kill Red-Haired Shanks.
Following a team like that, Rosinante could easily obtain a large amount of military merit.
Rosinante had not earned merit on the battlefield in a long time, so it was understandable that Sengoku wanted him to gain more military credit under these circumstances.
Tsuru easily guessed Sengoku's thoughts, but she did not expose him.
This was something that could be granted as a favor.
Besides, Rosinante's ability truly was suitable for a team that hunted in the dark.