With the addition of 5,000 elite personnel, G-5 base finally looks like a proper Marine Base, so that you can walk a few hundred meters without seeing a single guard.
However, considering that once the 'new recruit training camp' base is built there, there will be a need for sufficient troops to be stationed there, and this number of troops is definitely not enough, the order for the base commander of Ortolan was issued very quickly.
The most important task for the entire G-5 right now is to focus on recruitment!
This is not difficult. The New World is already in chaos, and now it has encountered the wave of the Great Pirate Era. There are people who can eat their fill, but there are even more people who can't get food and want to find a place to risk their lives!
You can go to any island, set up a recruitment office, and immediately a large number of people will come up and line up your ranks all the way to the port!
Now, Ortolan doesn't care about elite troops anymore. Can elite troops be recruited? Aren't they all earned through battle?
Let's recruit 20,000 to 30,000 first. Anyway, we're in the Great Pirate Era now, and there are plenty of pirates. Once the men arrive, and the weapons, ammunition, and ships are all provided, we can just take them out and fight!
If it doesn't work the first time, try again; if it doesn't work the second time, try a third time. Keep trying, and you'll eventually produce an elite force!
Of course, this kind of thing is quite cruel. Without sufficient training, sending new recruits directly to the battlefield will inevitably result in a high casualty rate. But this is not something that Ortolan can solve. He doesn't have the resources to train new recruits at the moment. G-5 has its own training grounds, but it's impossible to take all the newly recruited soldiers there for training. It can't meet such high demands. And he can't rely on headquarters. If Ortolan wants to get G-5 up and running as soon as possible, he has no choice but to grit his teeth and train his soldiers through war.
Even a new recruit needs at least one to two years of formal training before they can be considered skilled, right?
But where would he find the time? If he were to do that, G-5 would never be able to hold his head high during his term!
He couldn't hold his head up high, and others couldn't 'understand' him anymore.
In other seas, he might not have been able to do anything, but in the New World, life is truly cheap, worthless and timeless—that's how cruel it is.
At G-5 Marine Base, Ortolan sat in his office, reading a document, and casually asked, "I won't say anything about the elite forces getting involved so much. It's a small matter, no need to argue with Admiral Sengoku anymore. But fifteen warships, that's in order, right? No problem?"
Yi Xiao nodded seriously. "There are no problems with the warships. They are all new ships, and even the weapons and ammunition reserves have been fully loaded for you by the Admiral."
Hearing this, Ortolan felt slightly better. "I guess the Admiral felt bad for us, which is why he's giving us this compensation..."
After a pause, Ortolan asked Yu, "How's your investigation going regarding shipbuilding technicians? How many skilled workers does our G-5 have? Can we assemble a team and start building ourselves?"
Yi Xiao shook his head and said, "G-5 doesn't have many remaining personnel, only about 600 people. Although many of them are in logistics, there are not many technical workers in shipbuilding. We can't put together a shipbuilding team, so we have to think of another way."
"Is that so?" Ortolan wasn't surprised. He sighed, "Fortunately, some warships from headquarters have arrived, which is barely enough. However, we don't even have enough manpower on board for these fifteen warships. Our first priority is still recruitment. As for shipbuilding, it seems we can't do it internally; we'll have to look for it externally..."
If he remembered correctly, due to the influence of the Great Pirate Era, Water 7, the leading island in the shipbuilding industry, seemed to be on the verge of bankruptcy. The major shipbuilding companies on the island either died or were crippled, and only a few that relied on orders from the World Government to build warships were still thriving.
This situation persisted until Master Tom developed the technology for the Sea Train, which finally revitalized Water 7.
In other words, now is the perfect opportunity for Water 7 poach talent!
The company went bankrupt, and the shipwrights who had accumulated years of shipbuilding experience lost their jobs. As a champion of justice, Ortolan traveled a great distance to provide them with a job. What kind of spirit is this? This is what it means to help those in need!
Working for a company, who knows when it might go bankrupt? It's not as good as having a permanent position in the Marines! The benefits are pretty good too!
"Speaking of which, this Master Tom, shouldn't he be entangled with the CP Agency now? They're trying to convict him, aren't they? How can we waste such a highly skilled technical talent? He should serve in our Marines, atone for his sins, and continue to shine for justice like Professor Clover and Dr. Vegapunk..." Ortolan thought to himself.
He planned to take some time to contact Spandam and see if he could pull some strings to get Master Tom and a batch of Water 7 ships to work at G-5 in the New World!
In addition, a stable channel for selling stolen goods needs to be found. After the G-5 Marines has almost finished recruiting, it will be hunting pirates and making them elite forces. At that time, they will definitely seize a lot of supplies. Ortolan needs a stable channel to continuously convert these supplies into cash.
The Big Mom Pirates are actually a very good channel, but when he communicated with his adoptive mother last time, Ortolan could sense that Charlotte Linlin still had a 'controlling desire' for him, which was actually quite normal, Ortolan didn't think there was anything wrong with it.
But he doesn't want to be controlled by others; he wants to be the boss himself. If he were to stabilize the channels with Big Mom now, it would mean losing some initiative and becoming somewhat dependent.
Therefore, this is a usable channel, but it cannot be considered the only usable channel in his possession.
He needs to find a channel that is dependent on him, not a channel that he is dependent on.
He had already considered this goal: the Donquixote Family.
Doflamingo is a smart guy, and his business is quite large. He has some influence in the Underworld, but his business has always been limited to the North Blue. Judging from his situation in the original story, he will definitely expand his power after this. Even twenty years later, he will become one of the big shots in the Underworld and gain a foothold in the New World.
Judging from this, Doflamingo is very likely looking for a reliable partner to expand his business from the North Blue. Wouldn't Ortolan be a perfect complement to Doflamingo?
He brought all his business to the New World. Given Doflamingo's strength and influence, it's clear that he can't stand firm in the New World for the time being. He needs to find a backer, and Ortolan thinks he can be that backer!
However, how to contact Doflamingo and how to establish trust is a bit difficult... Thinking of this, Ortolan wondered if he should betray Rosinante?
But considering that Admiral Sengoku might be so angry he'd die if he found out, he decided to let it go.
As Ortolan pondered these things, his hand, which was flipping through the recruit documents, paused slightly. He raised an eyebrow and thought to himself, "Huh? This Vergo... he's already in G-5 so soon?"
Indeed, the identity document in Ortolan's hand contained information about Vergo. According to the information, he was a new recruit recommended to the 2nd Division by the base chief of a branch in the North Blue in early 1498 of the Marine Era, which was not long after Roger's execution. Because of his decent strength and talent, he was recruited by the 2nd Division and given the rank of Lieutenant.
Ortolan could tell at a glance that Vergo had definitely been hiding his true abilities during the assessment; otherwise, he should have had no problem getting a colonel position.
However, in his memory, although Vergo later became the head of G-5, he did not start out in G-5. He had served in the military for many years and even participated in the Ope Ope no Mi on Minion Island in the North Blue a few years later, along with the Chief Staff Officer.
Why did they bring in a G-5 so soon?
Although slightly surprised, Ortolan thought about how he had asked Admiral Sengoku for troops and it seemed to make sense now. Perhaps it was because he asked for troops that Vergo's fate was altered, and Admiral Sengoku casually brought this guy who was supposed to develop his territory to G-5.
But that's good too. With him around, it will be easier to communicate with that Doflamingo guy.
Just as Ortolan was pondering these thoughts, suddenly, Momonga walked in with a report in his hand, looking surprised, and said, "Ortolan, the latest intelligence from the Second Division: Sand Crocodile challenged the Crocodile Whitebeard Pirates and was defeated in the Lansco Sea..."
"What does this have to do with me? It's not even in my jurisdiction." Ortolan had absolutely no interest in the news.
"The infighting among pirates is just something to listen to for fun," the Momonga laughed.