After hanging up the Den Den Mushi, Ortolan looked at Katakuri and said, "Look, now that I have the Admiral's authorization, why should I worry about the G-5 not succeeding?"
Katakuri witnessed the entire conversation between Ortolan and Admiral Sengoku, and to be honest, this conversation somewhat influenced his judgment of the Marines.
Wasn't that Admiral Sengoku in the Marines known for his 'uprightness and integrity'? How come he's like this in private?
"It seems that the Admiral Sengoku trusts you quite a bit, Torun," Katakuri remarked, snapping out of his reverie.
"That's because I haven't done anything truly outrageous, nor have I disappointed him. Although many things are ostensibly against the rules, they are actually within the tacitly accepted circle. As long as you don't step out of the box, all your actions can be forgiven," Ortolan smiled.
After a pause, Ortolan added, "Actually, these warships don't necessarily need to be exchanged for money; I also need the weaponry."
"You've got your eye on our Totto Land's weaponry?" Katakuri asked curiously.
"That's right. When I was at the headquarters before, I also saw our Marines's evaluation of your Totto Land's weapons. The technology is very advanced and the quality is also very good..." Ortolan said.
Katakuri, somewhat puzzled, asked, "Why does your Marines want to evaluate the weaponry of our Totto Land?"
But after saying that, he immediately realized what he meant and said with a smile, "You're assessing the quality of our weapons to judge our conventional combat capabilities, right?"
"That's one aspect," Ortolan nodded, then whispered, "There are other things, though I haven't heard anything from them, I've vaguely sensed some changes..."
"What changes?" Katakuri asked in a low voice, seeing Ortolan's mysterious demeanor.
"As you know, our Marines's weapons and military spending are all controlled by the World Government. Every quarter or month, they allocate supplies according to the Marines's needs. In other words, our Marines does not have independent control over military production lines. The Science Unit created by the Admiral Sengoku and his team initially wanted to gain this right, but in the end, the World Government only gave us research and development rights, not intellectual property rights..." Ortolan said.
This matter is not a secret; it's an 'open secret.' Almost everyone on the high seas knows about it. This situation also represents a form of control and restraint exerted by the World Government over the Marines.
Katakuri nodded and then asked Yu, "So, has something changed now?"
"There has been some change. Since the major incident in Loguetown, the world economy has been clearly declining. Various forms of commerce and finance have experienced a precipitous drop. Mary Geoise's financial situation is likely to face serious problems. Furthermore, they are extremely corrupt, with many internal parasites. I have a good relationship with Borsalino of the Science Unit. During a previous Den Den Mushi conversation, he mentioned that Mary Geoise's military industry department seems to be preparing to cut funding for the research and development of conventional weapons and equipment in order to alleviate the increasingly enormous economic pressure on the World Government..." Ortolan said.
"What?" Katakuri was stunned and asked in surprise, "Cut off your own weapons and equipment research and development? Isn't that crippling yourself? As we all know, one of the reasons why the Marines is so powerful is that your Marines has always used the most advanced weapons and warships. Now that the World Government is doing this, there will be endless troubles in the future!"
To be honest, although Ortolan foresaw this matter a long time ago, after all, in the original story, the World Government basically relied on Arms Business with Kaido to maintain the weapon supply of its various violent organizations after about twenty years, Doflamingo was the middleman in this deal.
Therefore, as soon as Doflamingo fell in Dressrosa, the World Government immediately dispatched the CP Agency to Wano Country to meet with Kaido to discuss future Arms Business.
The concern is that problems might arise here, causing logistical support for violent institutions like the Marines to fall behind!
No matter how you look at it, the World Government's actions are utterly outrageous. Just as Katakuri said, it's like crippling themselves by handing over the production of weapons and ammunition to outsiders. If Kaido and his crew stop selling, the Marines could probably seize their ammunition reserves in no time!
Can the World Government restart the production line within two years and meet the needs of its various agencies? If not, the Marines will lose these logistical supplies, and its combat power will definitely plummet. The World Government will also fall into weakness. This seems unreasonable and has endless consequences, but unfortunately, this is exactly what happened.
This shows just how far the World Government had degenerated during this period.
Now, there are already signs of this happening. Right now, they're cutting research and development funding. But what if they find out later that it's incredibly cost-effective to buy goods from pirates at low prices, without having to invest huge sums in research and development every year to upgrade their products? Given the current state of the World Government, this trend might really be unstoppable.
There may be many factors at play that Ortolan is unaware of and unable to consider. For example, they may be facing immense financial pressure and have to make trade-offs under certain circumstances, such as outsourcing weapons production or reducing the privileges of Celestial Dragons and other high-ranking nobles.
Given this extreme choice, their decision to outsource weapons seems somewhat understandable, given their nature.
However, these are not matters that Ortolan should be concerned with.
After pondering for a while, Katakuri suddenly looked at Ortolan and asked, "So, your Marines is now evaluating advanced weapons and equipment on the black market because you have a premonition that after this, not only research and development, but even production may have to stop? In the future, your Marines's weapons and equipment will be outsourced?"
"It sounds outrageous, but it's a real possibility. So I thought I'd give you a heads-up in advance. If your conditions are right, you could start expanding your production line in the next few years. Who knows, maybe we could become a major arms contractor for the World Government?" Ortolan reminded him with a smile.
Kaido had Kui in his hands, he took on the orders from the World Government in the original story.
But now, Caesar is also in the hands of the Big Mom Pirates. Although he is not as strong as Kui, he is indeed a top scientist in the development of weapons and ammunition. The Big Mom Pirates are fully capable of competing with the Beasts Pirates for the World Government's arms orders!
If Kaido this money, he'll use it to open a zoo. But if the Big Mom Pirates earn it, they can use it to make Totto Land Totto Land even more prosperous.
Although Whole Cake Island is a pirate nation, it is also home to millions of New World citizens. Considering this, Ortolan felt that he was doing something of immeasurable merit.
"This news is important. I'll tell my mother when I get back," Katakuri replied earnestly.
Actually, even without this situation, the Big Mom Pirates have recently started preparing to expand their arms production line. The reason is simple: the chaos of the Great Pirate Era is now visible to everyone, and the number of pirates is constantly increasing. These people can't just go out and rob people with harpoons all the time, can they?
If you want to make a name for yourself, you can't avoid the arms industry. It can be said that this market, combined with the current era, is very promising. So even if the weapons produced are not sold to World Government, there are still many customers who need them, so there is no need to worry about unsold goods!
"Well, the reason I'm telling you all this is to further eliminate the middleman. You see, in the future, it's possible that you produce weapons, sell them to the World Government, the World Government then distributes them to the Marine Headquarters, and the Headquarters then distributes them to me. But I have many competitors, and all the major bases are desperately in need of supplies. They can't give me too much, and others won't be willing. Besides, this process is too time-consuming. If we cooperate, it will be simple. I can just raise money in G-5 and then get the goods directly from you. There's no need for the World Government to get involved. It's economical and practical!" Ortolan said with a smile.
Katakuri was about to say, "Isn't what you're doing a violation of your Marines's regulations?"
But when he thought about the Den Den Mushi between Ortolan and their Admiral over the Den Den Mushi, he felt there was no need to bring it up. The Marines was really pragmatic!
"Then let's settle the bill according to the arms trade. If it's settled by arms trade, taking into account the value of that message we just received, it would be reasonable for me to pay you 50 million per ship..." Katakuri said, patting Ortolan on the shoulder.
Thus, within a month and a half of taking office as the commander of G-5 base, Vice Admiral Bane completed a deal with pirates involving the sale of a batch of weapons and warships!
This greatly compensates for the current shortcomings of the G-5 Marines and enhances the combat effectiveness of the front-line Marines. It is a truly righteous and great achievement!