Kizaru had officially taken office.
Yes, he had become the Fleet Admiral of the Marine Headquarters.
According to the reports coming back, the man had set about implementing massive reforms the moment he stepped into the role.
As for what those reforms were...
They concerned the Marines' working hours.
Kizaru abolished the "997" grind, strictly enforced a nine-to-five schedule, and mandated triple pay for any overtime worked.
Surprisingly, while these changes were hotly contested among the high-ranking officers, they received overwhelming support from the rank-and-file sailors.
In fact, every high-ranking official who opposed the reform was branded a "slave driver" by the sailors, eventually forcing them all to shut their mouths.
Even Sengoku, who now served as an advisor to the Headquarters, didn't dare utter a word of complaint.
After all... being denounced by over a hundred thousand Marines was a burden that even Sengoku couldn't withstand.
Thus, this unprecedented reform of the labor system was successfully implemented.
However, the Marines were still tasked with hunting pirates, so overtime was inevitable—in fact, it became the norm.
Consequently, the overtime pay became an astronomical sum.
Kizaru, however, remained indifferent to the cost.
Currently, the Marine Headquarters was only responsible for Paradise and the Four Seas, meaning they didn't require such a massive fleet.
Therefore... why not simply reduce the number of warships and downsize the military?
He actually did it. Over a hundred warships were sold off, netting a massive sum of money and saving a fortune in annual maintenance and repair costs.
Additionally, he discharged thirty thousand Marines.
Not only did this cover the terrifying overtime costs, but it actually left a significant surplus. Kizaru then used that extra funding to order over a dozen various types of Ironclad Warships from the Galley-La Company.
Because of these reforms, the Five Elders had even called Kizaru in for a talk. No one knew exactly what he said to them, but in the end, the Five Elders actually tacitly approved of his actions.
This left everyone in shock.
While the reforms at Headquarters were in full swing, the New World Marine—one week after the Dressrosa incident—issued a recruitment notice to the entire world, known as the World Military Draft.
Whether they were from the Four Seas, Paradise, or even the New World, anyone who followed the path of justice was welcome in the New World Marine.
Furthermore, this draft discarded the outdated Marine regulations; only strength mattered.
If your strength was sufficient, it was entirely possible to be appointed as an Admiral immediately.
Once these promotional materials were released, countless powerhouses were instantly enticed.
In the original timeline, the vast majority of strong individuals either became pirates or lived in obscurity, refusing to join either major faction.
Why was that? Was it truly because only a small fraction of people in this world believed in justice?
Clearly, that wasn't the case.
Sean attributed this issue to two main points.
First, the strong typically possess immense pride. If someone has the strength of a Vice Admiral, why would they want to start as a Field-grade officer and slowly climb the ranks through military merit?
Second, there were plenty of strong individuals who harbored a sense of justice.
The problem was: did the original Marine actually represent justice?
They could fool civilians, perhaps, but that limited version of justice couldn't deceive the truly powerful. In the eyes of most experts, the "justice" of the original Marine was nothing more than a joke.
That was the real reason why the strong avoided joining the Marines in the original story. If Akainu hadn't launched a World Military Draft based solely on strength, people like Fujitora and Ryokugyu might never have joined.
Sean's draft eliminated both of these hurdles.
The point about granting ranks based on strength went without saying. As for the second point, the decision to strike Doflamingo before launching the draft was a calculated move.
Doflamingo's status as a former Celestial Dragon gave the New World Marine an infinite boost in prestige. Most powerhouses were aware of what had happened at the Sabaody Archipelago—that Sean showed absolutely no deference to the Celestial Dragons.
Furthermore, didn't Sean have a nickname?
The Warlord Slayer...
From every angle, the New World Marine was far more attractive than the Headquarters.
On the very first day after Morgans spread the announcement, the recruitment centers established by the New World Marine on various islands were nearly submerged by crowds of people.
If Sean hadn't set a basic threshold for this draft, he probably could have recruited a million men without issue.
The basic requirement was a Doriki of 30; only those who passed this and had a clean background check were admitted.
While 30 Doriki wasn't much for an elite, it was still a very high bar for an average person. Back when Sean was in the East Blue, three rounds of recruitment had only yielded about a thousand men, and the requirements back then were nowhere near 30 Doriki.
However, in the first half of the Grand Line (Paradise) and especially the second half (the New World), there were plenty of people who met this standard.
Consequently, although most people at the recruitment centers were rejected for failing to meet the requirements, the process was still incredibly smooth. With so many applicants, picking one out of every few dozen was more than enough.
On the first day alone, according to reports from the various centers, over 5,000 qualified recruits had been successfully enlisted.
By the second day, although the numbers dipped slightly, they still recruited 4,700 people.
Sean believed that within a month, recruiting seventy to eighty thousand men would be an easy feat.
'''
The eleventh day of the World Military Draft.
Sean received an urgent report from Lucci. One of the key targets he had tasked Lucci to find had appeared at the 7th Recruitment Center of the Grand Line.
A blind swordsman named Issho.
Fujitora, the man Sean had been longing for, had finally appeared.
Then, on the fifteenth day, another Admiral-level figure surfaced.
Ryokugyu Aramaki.
Like Fujitora, he was someone who had joined the Marine and become an Admiral after the Paramount War in the original story. Furthermore, he was a Logia Devil Fruit Ability User.
His power came from the Forest-Forest Fruit.
It was a very unique Logia fruit.
However, regardless of how special that fruit was, Sean placed a higher value on Fujitora's capabilities. Fujitora's fruit didn't just possess immense offensive power; more importantly, if used correctly, its support capabilities were even more formidable.
Because... Fujitora's power was gravity. With that ability, he could create a localized gravity zone.
In other words, with Fujitora around, the Marine could use gravity-based training, which would allow everyone to grow stronger much faster!
Just like in Dragon Ball.
Setting combat power aside, Fujitora was absolutely the person Sean wanted most.
The recruitment drive was originally scheduled to last a month, but Sean was forced to call a halt to it on the twenty-first day.
The number of qualified recruits had already exceeded eighty thousand. When combined with the thirty thousand existing members of the New World Marine, the total force now approached one hundred and twenty thousand.
It wasn't that Sean couldn't afford to maintain such a force; in fact, he had the financial resources to support twelve million men if necessary. The problem was infrastructure. Currently, the New World Marine only had two G-series branches and six outpost Shuttle Forts. To make matters worse, the G5 Branch had been leveled by Akainu and was only just beginning to be rebuilt.
They simply had nowhere left to house the newcomers. For this reason, Sean had no choice but to end the recruitment early.
Another pressing matter was the rank assessment for Fujitora and Ryokugyu. Although Sean was well aware of their capabilities, the rest of the organization was not. He couldn't simply grant them the rank of Admiral; instead, they had to undergo a formal evaluation as per regulations.
Akainu and Lucci were put in charge of the assessments. Akainu was tasked with Fujitora, while Lucci handled Ryokugyu.
In the end, Akainu and Fujitora fought for a full day and night, with neither side able to gain the upper hand. The battle between Lucci and Ryokugyu ended in a similar stalemate.
Both sides were shocked. Akainu and Lucci were stunned to find they had recruited individuals whose strength was not inferior to their own. Meanwhile, Fujitora and Ryokugyu were impressed, realizing that the Marine Admirals were indeed the top powerhouses of the sea—their reputations were no exaggeration.
Consequently, the number of Admirals in the New World Marine grew from four to six: Akainu, Gion, Lucci, Hawkeye, Fujitora, and Ryokugyu.
Below them, the officer corps at every rank had been heavily bolstered. The overall strength of the New World Marine had now... completely surpassed... no, it utterly crushed that of the Headquarters Marine.
Sean was no longer concerned, even if he had to wage war against three Yonko crews simultaneously.
As for the next step... it was time to follow the original plan and intervene in the territorial struggle between the Beast Pirates and the Big Mom Pirates!
On one hand, he would keep these two pirate crews suppressed. On the other, the New World Marine needed to seize some territory to construct more branches and expand its jurisdiction.