Ortolan mentioned Doflamingo's special identity and keywords like Mary Geoise.
On the other end of the Den Den Mushi, Doflamingo's eyes darkened behind his sunglasses, and even the wicked smile on his face became somewhat ferocious.
He should be a high-ranking Celestial Dragons, but now he has to struggle in the mud.
I saw in the newspaper today that Dragon has formed the Revolutionary Army and declared that he will hang all the Celestial Dragons in Mary Geoise. Doflamingo even feels a little like Dragon Dragon's ranks.
That's right, he, Donquixote Doflamingo, a descendant of ten kings, now wants to drag all those high and mighty Celestial Dragons into this quagmire and hang them!
After a moment of silence, and having composed himself, Doflamingo's lips curled into a wicked smile as he spoke, "I wonder, Vice Admiral Bane, what do you think... would be enough for me to demonstrate sufficient value?"
Regarding the situation in Mary Geoise, Doflamingo felt confident he could handle it.
However, his relationship with the Marines has always been somewhat tense, and the Marines doesn't have enough connections to change anything. Now that Bane Ortolan is willing to mediate, he is naturally quite happy to accept it.
"Give me two hundred million Belly and send the money to G-5. If you can handle things on Mary Geoise, I'll immediately make you Shichibukai!" Without a second thought, Ortolan asked for the money.
Doflamingo was stunned for a moment. Wait, are you really that arrogant?
I know you're Marine Admiral, but if I didn't, I'd think you were Fleet Admiral!
"Two hundred million, that's no small sum..." Doflamingo came to his senses and tried to bargain.
However, Ortolan laughed and said, "Doflamingo, for a villain like you who controls a large part of the North Blue's Underworld, 200 million Belly may not be a small amount, but it's not an exorbitant price you can't afford either, is it?"
After all, Ortolan had spent some time with Garp and had learned a few shameless tricks from him.
Before Doflamingo could speak again, Ortolan continued, "Two hundred million won't hurt you. You won't be cheated. After all, if you pay these two hundred million, and you manage to get things going in Mary Geoise, I can arrange for you to Shichibukai. But if you don't pay these two hundred million, even if you manage to get things going in Mary Geoise, I can still make sure you don't become Shichibukai!"
Upon hearing this, Doflamingo's face twitched unnaturally for a moment before he said in a deep voice, "To be honest, Vice Admiral Bane, if you left the Marines and became a pirate or a gangster, you would definitely have a bright future."
Doflamingo had been a little tyrant in the North Blue for so many years, and now he had joined the pirate crew. He had thought about many possible situations he might encounter, but he never expected that the first time he would be blackmailed would be by the Marines!
"Hey~" Ortolan said in a flippant tone, "A family heirloom skill. With your connections and intelligence network, I guess you should know what kind of blood flows in my veins, right?"
Doflamingo was completely speechless, because what Ortolan said was true. Before he decided to cooperate with Ortolan, he did spend a lot of effort to find out information about Ortolan. With his special status and connections, he did know some secrets.
However, back in the day, Ortolan's special identity was kept under a high level of secrecy. But ever since the Ohara scholar incident, because the Mary Geoise side also took notice of him, the Marines stopped making any more Smoke-Smoke.
For a time, the Marines's Propaganda Department even drafted a particularly clever plan to flaunt the special status of Ortolan, a star Marines officer, in order to demonstrate the Marines's openness and inclusiveness to all levels of society.
Of course, this wise plan was ultimately rejected by the Admiral Sengoku, and the head of the Propaganda Department was demoted.
"Two hundred million Belly is not a problem. I hope Vice Admiral Bane can keep his word." Doflamingo finally took a deep breath and agreed to the condition.
Ortolan laughed and said, "Don't worry, although I deal in arms, take bribes, and extort protection money, my main thing is that I'm a man of my word. As long as the money is right, I'll do whatever I promise you, no problem!"
After listening to Ortolan's generous self-introduction, Doflamingo didn't bother to argue anymore. After quickly fooling Ortolan for a couple of minutes, he hung up the Den Den Mushi.
Ortolan looked at the Den Den Mushi had been hung up on, shook his head helplessly, and said, "Really, so many people are eager to give me money, but I don't care about any of it. Doflamingo, you'd better seize this opportunity..."
As he pondered this, Ortolan went through the candidates for the Shichibukai again in his mind. He thought to himself, since Shichibukai anyway, why not find a way to become the middleman? Which pirate who wants to become Shichibukai has to pay me a 'self-recommendation fee' first, and then I'll approve him?
Once Crocodile becomes Shichibukai and things have been brewing for a while longer, a large number of pirates will probably be interested in that position, right?
If each person earns 200 million Berries, then seven people together would amount to 140 million Belly, enough for Ortolan to build a week's worth of warships!
"Damn it!" Ortolan thought to himself, and immediately took out the notebook he was carrying and wrote an IOU.
"You bastard Crocodile, you owe me two hundred million Belly! If you dare to renege on that debt when Belly run into you, I'll turn your other hand into Golden Hook!" Ortolan muttered to himself after quickly writing down the IOU.
Even after writing an IOU, Ortolan still wasn't satisfied and immediately dialed the Den Den Mushi Momonga Den Mushi.
The Momonga is currently temporarily taking over the position of base commander of G-5, Ortolan. That's right, Ortolan's departure this time is a paid leave. As the G-5 base commander, it's perfectly reasonable for him to approve his own leave, right?
"Hello? Ortolan?" The Momonga answered the Den Den Den Mushi with some confusion. "Judging by the time, you should already be in the Sabaody Archipelago, right? Is there something you need?"
"Okay, about the Sabaody Archipelago. Um, could you help me find the contact information for Sand Crocodile, the Shichibukai appointed Crocodile? Since he's now Shichibukai Division should have this information. After you find it, please contact him and tell him to pay back the 200 million Belly he owes to G-5 as soon as possible..." Ortolan instructed.
The Momonga was dumbfounded, and asked in a daze, "Wait, when did we G-5 ever do business with Crocodile? Where did he owe us 120 million?"
"I just made a deal with Doflamingo. For 200 million Belly, I'll make him Shichibukai the Shichibukai. You know I'm all about fairness and impartiality. Doflamingo paid to become a Warlord, so why should Crocodile get it for free? Tell him that if he dares not to pay, he should steer clear of me from now on, or I'll break his legs!" Ortolan said arrogantly.
The Momonga scratched its head on the other end of the Den Den Mushi and said in a bewildered tone, "When I was investigating anti-corruption cases before, I heard about cases of corruption involving the sale of ranks and positions in various branch Marines. But selling the position of Shichibukai directly like you does is something I've never heard of before!"
"Tell me whether this violates our Marines's regulations or not," Ortolan sneered.
The Momonga clicked its tongue and said, "You know what, there really aren't any regulations on that!"
"I'm still a law-abiding Marines, what are you afraid of? Just collect the debt from him! Not just that Sand Crocodile, but anyone who becomes Shichibukai in the future, you collect the debt from him. If anyone wants to reason with me, tell them to come to me personally!" Ortolan said confidently.
If I can't handle Whitebeard, can't I handle you Shichibukai?
While listening to Ortolan claim to be a 'law-abiding' good Marines, the Momonga squirrel wanted to complain, but then he remembered that he had previously suggested to Ortolan that they set up roadblocks and collect protection fees from merchants and travelers, and felt that he didn't really have the right to say anything.
Sigh, he wanted to be a naval officer, and he joined the Marines officer family with a sense of justice. How did he end up in such a sorry state?
Meanwhile, far away on Spring Queen Island, Crocodile, who was about to head to Alabasta, suddenly sneezed. Somewhat puzzled, he looked around, wondering if some scoundrel was plotting against him.