Ortolan: Once This Is Done, I'll Recommend You for Vice Admiral!
March of 1504 in the Marine Era.
More than a month has passed since Ortolan left the Fish-Man Island and the Sabaody Archipelago. During this time, he did not linger in the Sabaody Archipelago, but wandered around with Gion no Uchi without going too far.
Instead, they took the Sea Train to Water 7 and Spring Queen Island.
That's right, the Sea Train project is now operational. It was established by Donquixote Doflamingo, the King of Dressrosa and one of the Shichibukai Heavenly Yaksha, in the name of Dressrosa, and is operated by the Sea Train Transportation Company.
The project is currently thriving in the New World, and at Master Tom's request, Water 7 been included in the Sea Train's operating range as soon as possible. The project is currently receiving high praise, and many island governors and rulers have already started queuing up to apply for Sea Train routes.
This project is expected to become a high-growth driver of G-5 fiscal revenue in the next few years.
Because of the Sea Train, Ortolan was able to travel around this area without delaying his business. His main purpose was to create the appearance of a sweet vacation in Gion, in order to conceal his secret plans.
Dragon and Rayleigh were also very efficient. All the Revolutionary Army's ships were flying various pirate flags and infiltrating the Sabaody Archipelago one by one. Rayleigh, that old guy, really had some prestige among the coating craftsmen. With a wave of his hand, he summoned many coating craftsmen to help the Revolutionary Army with coating.
For about a month, the Revolutionary Army's fleet continued to converge on Fish-Man Island. Roughly estimated, there were at least sixty ships, or even more.
After all, these ships were mostly ordinary small and medium-sized vessels, with relatively few large warships. They were far less capable of carrying two thousand people than warships. Even if Mary Geoise had twenty or thirty thousand slaves, a dozen or twenty warships could easily take them away.
Including the Revolutionary Army on board, even with sixty ships, there might still be a shortage.
But the Revolutionary Army could only muster so many ships in the vicinity in a short time. In the end, it was Fisher Tiger who dispatched a ship from Fish-Man Island as a backup force to cover for Dragon.
Fisher Tiger, as expected of the Supreme Leader of the 100,000 Fish-Man of Fish-Man District, summoned more than 7,000 strong Fish-Man to prepare for action with a single order.
When Ortolan set foot on Sabaody Archipelago again, he saw a smiling face waiting for him at the port.
This guy, Yixiao, wasn't wearing a Marines uniform either. He even made some disguises that, in Ortolan's opinion, were a bit flashy. For example, he was wearing a pair of large sunglasses that covered half of his face, and he had picked out a brightly colored sun hat from somewhere. He wasn't wearing his usual ronin outfit either. He was wearing a blue beach shirt on his upper body and a pair of flashy shorts on his lower body. The only thing he was wearing was his old wooden clogs.
"Here, here~" Yixiao called out to Ortolan and Gion as she saw them.
Honestly, given his appearance, Ortolan didn't want to go up and acknowledge him, but seeing him waving and squeezing his way over, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and go to meet him.
As soon as she approached, Gion covered her mouth and laughed, "Mr. Issho, why are you dressed like this? It's completely different from your usual composed demeanor."
The guy chuckled sheepishly and said, "It's all because of Ortolan. He said he was going to carry out some secret operation and told me not to expose my identity, so I put on some disguise..."
"Looks like I should send you to the Intelligence Department so you can learn how to disguise yourself properly..." Ortolan rolled his eyes.
With a smile and a hint of dissatisfaction, he said, "Tell me, will anyone recognize me in this outfit?"
Since things have been said to this extent, Ortolan could only give Yixiao a thumbs up.
After weaving through the crowds at the port and walking along a quiet, secluded path, Yi Xiao finally removed his sunglasses and asked, "What mission are we on this time? Is it top secret?"
"This is highly confidential. I need you to impersonate Shiki and wreak havoc in Mary Geoise. We'll burn this Holy Land down..." Ortolan said in a deep voice after Observation Haki to assess the safety of the surroundings.
A smile???
A smile appeared on his face as he put on sunglasses, then gritted his teeth and said, "Burning Mary Geoise? Is this something our Marines should be doing?"
"What does our Marines do?" Ortolan asked matter-of-factly.
"Uphold justice and eliminate evil," Yixiao replied without hesitation.
"Do you not know whether Mary Geoise is righteous or evil?" Ortolan asked rhetorically.
"Ah..." Yi Xiao rubbed his nose, feeling that he couldn't win against Ortolan on this kind of sophistry, so he changed his tune. "But it's a bit absurd for you to ask me to impersonate Shiki. Who doesn't know that Shiki was personally arrested by you and taken to Impel Down?"
Ortolan grinned and patted Scissor on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Shiki is about to break out of prison... I've arranged everything. Don't ask any questions, just do as I say. Once this is over, I'll recommend you for Vice Admiral!"
Originally, Ichiyo wanted to ask about the situation, but upon hearing this, she immediately patted her chest and said, "If you had said you would recommend me as a lieutenant, wouldn't it have been over by Vice Admiral? It's just a matter of impersonating Shiki and causing trouble in Mary Geoise, leave it to me."
However, right after saying that, Yi Xiao paused for a moment, as if she had realized something, and suddenly asked Yu, "So, you might be promoted to Admiral?"
"This operation was planned to promote the overall progress of our Marines leadership. Not only will you be promoted to Vice Admiral, but I will also most likely be promoted to Admiral, Admiral to marshal, marshal to commander-in-chief, and so on." Ortolan smiled, not hiding his smile.
Yi Xiao listened to this and couldn't quite grasp the logic. The Marines planned an operation to burn down the Holy Land of Mary Geoise, and afterwards, the entire Marines was promoted and made a fortune. What kind of operation is this?
Gion then spoke up, saying, "I was just discussing with him that once he's promoted to Admiral, we should have you, Mr. Issho, take over as the base commander of G-5..."
"Me?" Yi Xiao felt a mixture of surprise and joy.
Before G-5, Yi Xiao thought that the positions held by the admirals at the Marine Headquarters were the best. Backed by the headquarters, the center and core of power, how could they not be good?
But after so many years of being ravaged by Ortolan, G-5 is already obsolete. What are the generals at headquarters worth? Vice Admiral at headquarters, how many troops can he possibly muster when on a mission? Let's say you have ten warships at full strength, maybe 20,000 men at most?
But on our side, G-5, now that we've become the base commander, what about the hundreds of thousands of troops under our command? In the New World, who dares to disrespect G-5?
Don't say that Ortolan is no longer effective without G-5. Yi Xiao knows very well that Ortolan would never give up G-5, as it is the foundation and core interest of their little group!
So, on the surface, Ortolan has become the Admiral, but in reality, he is still G-5's backer!
After a brief moment of surprise, she smiled and asked Yu, "What about the Momonga?"
If we're talking about who in G-5 is qualified to be the base commander after Ortolan leaves, then it's undoubtedly Momonga and Kajiki. Gion's actual organizational structure is still in the Intelligence Department, she's just transferred to G-5. The same goes for that guy, who is essentially under Garp's command.
Neither of them could take over G-5, so only Momonga and Issho were qualified.
Ortolan had considered this matter carefully beforehand, but in the end he decided to hand over G-5 to Issho as the base commander.
It's not that he doesn't trust Momonga or anything like that; on the contrary, if we're talking about trust, he trusts Momonga, his good brother who has been with him ever since he joined the Marines, even more.
The reason for choosing Issho is twofold: firstly, Issho is a very trustworthy person; secondly, Issho's strength is far superior to that of Momonga. Momonga stubbornly refuses to eat Devil Fruit, thus limiting his strength and preventing him from breaking through with the power of Devil Fruit, making it difficult for him to reach the level of an Admiral.
On the other hand, Yixiao has the potential and strength. As the Marines's frontline in the New World, G-5 would suffer sooner or later if it didn't have a powerful base commander in charge, relying solely on his reputation as Ortolan.
Therefore, Ortolan ultimately decided to promote Issho to the position. Of course, he wouldn't treat Momonga unfairly either. After taking over as Admiral, he planned to launch New World conquest. At that time, he would have more power and planned to build some similar Marine Base with G-5 as the core. Momonga was also a newcomer to the world. He had worked with him to build G-5 and was experienced in this area. So, it was time for Momonga to contribute and serve as the base commander of a global base.
Just as they were chatting, the Den Den Mushi that Ortolan was carrying suddenly rang.
Soon, Ortolan Den Den Mushi: "What's wrong?"
"Everything is ready. We can begin." Dragon's voice came from the Den Den Mushi.
Upon hearing this, Ortolan grinned and said, "Then I'll tell Magellan right now..."
After hanging up the Den Den Mushi, Ortolan looked at the tall Yarukiman Mangrove of the Sabaody Archipelago with a hint of anticipation in his eyes. "The show is about to begin."