Ortolan: Who the Hell Dares Say I'm Not the Fleet Admiral!?
After the meeting, the Admiral Sengoku said, "The four candidates from before, come with me."
Ortolan and Sakazuki stood up without hesitation and followed, with Kuzan behind. Borsalino looked at him with a mournful gaze and said, "If it weren't for you, I could already be going back to my afternoon nap..."
Kuzan said through gritted teeth, "You didn't tell me you weren't going to be the Admiral!"
"Do I look like someone who wants to be Admiral?" Borsalino retorted.
"Do I look like someone who wants to be Admiral?" Kuzan pointed to himself again.
"You may say that, but you haven't done anything about it. I did give everyone a heads-up beforehand," Borsalino said proudly.
Kuzan was silent for a moment, then his face twitched and he said, "You win!"
After everyone arrived at the office of the Admiral Sengoku, Sengoku finally spoke, "So, now all four of you have been nominated for Admiral, but there are only three positions available. What do you say?"
"Nomination doesn't necessarily mean I have to be Admiral. I can choose to be Admiral Candidate!" Borsalino answered preemptively.
Seeing Borsalino's eager expression, Sengoku couldn't help but shake his head and say, "It's obvious you really don't want to be this Admiral."
After a slight pause, Sengoku looked at Kuzan and said, "Sakazuki and Ortolan are practically set in stone. They both have a very strong desire to become Admiral. But what about you, Kuzan? What do you think?"
"Admiral, what can I say now? Anything I say now would seem hypocritical..." Kuzan with a bitter face.
"Then let's not talk about it anymore. Since that's the case, let's just finalize the selections. Ortolan, Sakazuki, Kuzan, the three of you will serve as the Three Admirals of the new Marines after I become commander!" Sengoku said without hesitation.
"Everything for justice!" Ortolan and the others responded quickly.
Borsalino looked around and said, "If there's nothing else, I'll head back now?"
"Get back to Punk Hazard this afternoon! Someone like you is just an eyesore at headquarters!" Admiral Sengoku cursed.
Borsalino was the first Vice Admiral he personally took under his wing, and in terms of seniority, Ortolan should be considered Borsalino's junior.
But what's worse is that this guy has absolutely no ambition, which is outrageous!
Think of my Sengoku, how many years did we dedicate ourselves to the Marines? How did we end up producing such a guy?
But clearly, even though the Admiral Sengoku was cursing and swearing, Borsalino still acted like a dead pig that wasn't afraid of boiling water. He gave a fake embarrassed smile and then quickly left.
After Borsalino finished speaking, Sengoku began, "Our Marines has never had a full complement of Admiral in this term. Therefore, the responsibilities of these Admiral have been very poorly defined, which you may not be aware of. However, now that the situation has changed, the responsibilities of the new Three Admirals Marines must be clearly defined..."
Ortolan, Sakazuki, and Kuzan all sat down on the sofa after hearing this, waiting for their boss's instructions.
"As is customary, the three Admiral will be stationed in the New World, Paradise in the First Half of Grand Line, and our Marine Headquarters in Marineford, respectively, to deal with any major events that may occur in these three regions at any time," Admiral Sengoku explained.
The New World and Paradise need no introduction, but the Admiral stationed in Marineford is actually targeting only the areas of Mary Geoise, Sabaody Archipelago, and the trinity of Enies Lobby Impel Down.
As long as nothing major happens in these places, there's basically no need to deploy Admiral.
Of course, this doesn't mean that the Admiral stationed at headquarters has nothing to do. On the contrary, he also has to take on the role of assisting the commander-in-chief and helping him handle many important matters.
"So, what are your individual thoughts?" the Admiral Sengoku asked after giving a brief overview of the division of responsibilities.
Sakazuki immediately declared, "I hope to be able to oversee the New World..."
"Rejected." The Admiral Sengoku rejected Sakazuki's request without hesitation.
Sakazuki?
I told you and you disagreed, so why did you ask me?
"Both I and the Mary Geoise side have already made arrangements for the Admiral to oversee the New World. That general is Ortolan. As for the reason, it's not that we don't trust your abilities in this area, Sakazuki, but rather that his background and identity are more advantageous in the New World than yours. Is that right?" Admiral Sengoku explained to Sakazuki.
Upon hearing this, Ortolan laughed heartily and said, "Sorry, Sakazuki, I won't be modest about giving up this position."
Sakazuki glanced at Ortolan with a hint of helplessness and said, "If it's you, then I feel somewhat at ease..."
With the Admiral Sengoku having already made his point, what could Sakazuki say? Was he supposed to blame himself for not being born into a powerful pirate family?
However, Kuzan, hearing Sakazuki's words, said somewhat angrily, "What does this mean? So you wouldn't feel at ease if I were in the New World?"
"That's about the same idea. Besides, what's with that aggressive tone? You know you didn't support me becoming the Admiral just now, but I did support you!" Sakazuki didn't mince words and gave a direct answer.
Kuzan????
His initial anger was completely extinguished by Sakazuki's words.
"I admit I'm in the wrong!" Kuzan snorted unhappily, and stopped arguing with Sakazuki.
After watching the two of them bicker for a few moments with some amusement, the Admiral Sengoku spoke again, "The New World has already been decided, so let's not talk about it anymore. Sakazuki, Kuzan, what are your thoughts on Paradise and Marineford?"
Kuzan shrugged and said in a dismissive tone, "Let him choose first, after all, he's one of my supporters."
Sakazuki didn't hold back either. After a moment's thought, he realized that bullying a bunch of scum in the Paradise was pointless. Such work was meaningless to him, and he'd rather stay at headquarters.
He originally worked at G-1, and from the perspective of the Marines's strategic policy, G-1 was arranged as a Reserve Headquarters. Therefore, much of the experience that Sakazuki gained at G-1 was very suitable for working at headquarters.
Compared to cleaning up trash in the Paradise, Sakazuki felt that staying at headquarters, working with Admiral Sengoku... no, Sengoku Shusou on important headquarters matters, and establishing connections with the higher-ups in Mary Geoise was more in his best interest.
This way, if he were to compete with Ortolan for the head coach position in the future, he would be able to accumulate more advantages.
That's right, Sakazuki has his own judgment. There are three Admiral positions, so he doesn't need to compete with Ortolan at all, especially with Borsalino slacking off. Given the current state of the Marines, his promotion to Admiral is practically a done deal.
He had already reached this conclusion in his mind after learning that Mary Geoise had been burned to the ground and that the Fleet Admiral had been killed in battle.
Therefore, in this matter, he showed his intention to compete with Ortolan.
The position of commander is different from that of Admiral. There is only one position for commander. Although this matter is still far away, the Admiral Sengoku have not yet actually taken office as commanders. Those who do not plan for a lifetime are not qualified to plan for a moment!
Having achieved the goal of Admiral, Sakazuki's next step in his career planning is definitely to consider the position of general. And this competition has already begun when he and Ortolan both became Admiral!
This is absolutely true!
As for the other competitor, Kuzan, to be honest, if Ortolan hadn't become the Admiral and instead Borsalino had taken over, Sakazuki would still consider Kuzan his rival. But since Ortolan is there, Kuzan has been directly excluded from his list of opponents.
"I'll take charge of headquarters!" Sakazuki said immediately after going through his thoughts.
"Then give me the rest." Kuzan didn't mind and readily agreed.
Anyway, he wasn't considering becoming Admiral. Although he didn't oppose Sakazuki becoming Admiral, if it came to choosing a first-class coach, Kuzan definitely wouldn't support Sakazuki. And since he himself hadn't considered that, Kuzan felt that if it really came to choosing a first-class coach in the future, he would strongly support Ortolan!
Seeing that Kuzan and Sakazuki had both made their decisions, Ortolan smiled.
What's with all this talk about how handsome he is? Your path is within the system of the World Government, while I've long since transcended that framework!
Moreover, is it really possible to elect a position like the commander-in-chief?
In the end, it was nothing more than the end of the life of Admiral Sengoku!
True heroism is earned through battle! Sakazuki!
When I hold the reins of the world's army, commanding far more than ten thousand men, and the entire world trembles at my mere shout, who the hell dares to say I'm not a great commander?!