Ortolan: Looks Like We'll Have to Make the Fleet Admiral Suffer!
On the other side, aboard a standard Marines warship, Momonga held Den Den Mushi) and raised an eyebrow, saying, "Oh? Near Slancliff Island? I happen to be around here. Since we've run into each other, of course I should go check it out..."
After hanging up the Den Den Mushi, Momonga took out a Vivre Card from his pocket and handed it to Marine Colonel Kaguya beside him, saying, "Follow the directions indicated by this Vivre Card."
"Yes, Vice Admiral Momonga!" the colonel quickly replied, taking the Vivre Card to make the arrangements.
Meanwhile, at Marine Base G-5, Ortolan was recuperating, as his command center was not yet completed and his medical facilities were not yet in place.
Although he didn't think there was anything wrong with his injury, at Gion's insistence, he still followed Issho and the others back to G-5 for rest.
He also needs to arrange the relocation. He won't be staying at this base permanently anymore, so Rouge, Robin, and Ace naturally won't be able to stay here either; they'll be leaving with him.
At this moment, at his home in Ortolan, he was lying on the sofa, holding a newspaper in his hand, looking very lazy as he read the newspaper.
There was nothing in the news that he was interested in.
His attention was not on the newspaper at all; he was thinking about other things.
"It's about time we made a trip to the Skypiea. It's about time we started using the gold reserves there," Ortolan thought to himself.
Previously, he hadn't bothered with it because he couldn't swallow that much gold and didn't have a suitable place to put it. But now that he's Marine Admiral and the Governor-General of the New World, he doesn't have as many concerns about taking the gold down anymore. As long as he hides it properly, he can still manage to conceal it.
Ortolan wanted to retrieve the gold for two reasons. First, he needed a certain amount of gold reserves to support Tesoro's "Golden City" project. Second, Doflamingo had launched Marine Security Plan. Although there was no financial pressure at the moment, there would definitely be later. Maintaining tens of thousands of troops was no joke.
Now, Ortolan is considered a wealthy man, but he has many plans to expand and his cash flow is not strong. If the pressure is too great and something unexpected happens that leads to a break in the cash flow, that would be a real problem. Now that he has acquired the Skypiea Gold, he will have more confidence.
As for how to Skypiea, that's not really a problem. There's no need to go to Jaya Island to wait for any Knock Up Stream, nor is it necessary to depart from the World Government's exclusive Sky Skypiea Route - High West.
We can directly arrange for Yixiao to take action; with his abilities, he can take off from anywhere.
Moreover, with the ability to laugh, it would be easier to transport the gold from the Skypiea.
Just as Ortolan was thinking about these things, the Den Den Den Mushi on the coffee table next to him suddenly rang.
Ortolan glanced over, slightly surprised, then Den Den Mushi and said, "Fleet Admiral, what are your orders?"
That's right, the Den Den Mushi that suddenly called was none other than Sengoku 'Marines Fleet Admiral.
On the other end of the Den Den Mushi, Sengoku said in a calm tone, "Ortolan, I have something to tell you. Mary Geoise has sent down a political mission."
"Huh?" Ortolan asked, somewhat puzzled, "What's happened now? Am I going to be dragged into this mess?"
"You could say it's somewhat related to you," Fleet Admiral Sengoku replied, then continued, "Over in the North Blue, there's a group of pirates who claim to have found the Op-Op Fruit. This fruit is specifically requested by the Celestial Dragons of Mary Geoise, and it's priced at 5 billion Beli in the Underworld. This group of pirates also intends to sell this fruit to the World Government, but..."
After a slight pause, Sengoku continued, "However, the leader of this pirate group, named Dias Barrels, was once an officer in our Marine Headquarters. Later, after a failed mission, fearing punishment, he chose to defect and become a pirate. He has a natural wariness and distrust of our Marines and the World Government. Therefore, in this transaction, he chose to find a middleman from the Underworld, Doflamingo, to act as guarantor..."
Ortolan was utterly astonished upon hearing this. The timing was off!
In mid-August of last year, Penn disappeared. In September, it was confirmed that he had disappeared on Hachinosu Island. In October, Ortolan arrived at G-5 and assembled the fleet. In early November, he arrived at Hachinosu Island with the G-5 fleet, which led to the subsequent events.
It's only the beginning of the 1505th year of the Marine Era. He just spent New Year's Eve at G-5 a couple of days ago. In the middle of the sea, although he doesn't remember when the Op-Op Fruit happened, it shouldn't be in this time period. It should be at least a year or two later, right?
However, considering that Doflamingo was his close partner in Ortolan's original story, Doflamingo was not even Shichibukai Marine Admiral.
Now he is the King of Dressrosa, and many things have indeed changed dramatically.
Doflamingo is a person with extremely strong influence in the North Blue. It's possible that his personal trajectory changed, causing this matter to be brought forward inexplicably.
However, this still surprised Ortolan, because even though the time was earlier, it seemed like there were still the same number of people.
"So?" Ortolan asked.
"Ahem..." Fleet Admiral Sengoku cleared his throat lightly, then said, "Have you heard the legend of the Op-Op Fruit?"
"It seems like there's something that can make someone immortal? I've probably heard something about it," Ortolan replied casually.
Although it sounds incredible, there are actually many legends about eternity on the sea, and the Op-Op Fruit is just one of them.
Things like the legendary Fountain of Youth, the Eternal Wine, and the 'Pure Gold' that Ortolan remembers as being practically proven to be something that can give people eternal power can all be considered as such.
Compared to things like the Fountain of Youth, the Elixir of Immortality, or even the Op-Op Fruit, Ortolan felt they were all somewhat ethereal and unrealistic. The Op-Op Fruit- Op Fruit at least had some semblance of reality, but the conditions were too harsh. First, the user had to Awakening their power, and second, they had to sacrifice their life to perform the Op-Op surgery... It sounded too difficult to implement.
On the contrary, Pure Gold, Ortolan thought, was very promising. If he really wanted to consider lifespan issues in the future, he might as well work on that.
"Hmm..." Fleet Admiral Sengoku responded, then said, "I'm not entirely sure whether it's true or not. The Celestial Dragons seem to prefer killing the innocent rather than letting the guilty go free when it comes to these matters. That's why the Op-Op Fruit has a long-standing bounty of 5 billion on its head in the Underworld. And Doflamingo, he came from Mary Geoise, so he knows these secrets. I'm worried he might have some ulterior motives, which would make things very difficult for us..."
"So you mean, you want me to keep an eye on Doflamingo? And get my hands on the Op-Op Fruit?" Ortolan asked.
"He is, after all, one of your men, and it will be more convenient for you two to communicate." Fleet Admiral Sengoku said softly.
Although it wasn't explicitly stated, the meaning was quite clear.
After a pause, Fleet Admiral Sengoku continued, "The Five Elders personally instructed us to complete this mission. If you handle this well, the Five Elders will definitely praise you highly, which will help you build trust and make it easier for you to act in the New World... It's a win-win situation."
Ortolan thought to himself, "Your godson might not think that way. Rosinante is truly a teammate-sabotage guy."
In the original story, he tricked Doflamingo one moment and then tricked his own godfather, Sengoku, to death the next. Because of his trust in Rosinante, Sengoku did not hide this information when Rosinante asked him about the Op-Op Fruit.
As a result, Rosinante, with the Marines's intelligence, intercepted his father's Op-Op Fruit mission and handed it over to Trafalgar Law.
The end result was that Doflamingo got nothing, made a wasted trip, and even offended the World Government and the Marines once again.
On the Sengoku side, the mission failed completely, and they didn't even see a single hair of the Op-Op Fruit.
Unfortunately, Rosinante himself died, so Sengoku couldn't even vent his anger and had to grieve for his death.
Afterwards, he was probably dragged to Mary Geoise by the Five Elders and severely criticized.
It's clear how much of a jerk Rosinante is. If a father with such a good son were to be driven to illness by Sengoku, it would be no wonder he died a few years earlier.
While thinking these things to himself, Ortolan replied aloud, "Okay, I understand. I'll go and observe the process."
As for the final result, Ortolan had no intention of guaranteeing anything. He certainly didn't intend to complete the mission and offer the Op-Op Fruit to those bastards on Mary Geoise. Wouldn't that be a waste?
If he were to obstruct the process, the responsibility afterwards would be very heavy.
On the contrary, if Rosinante were to step forward and take the blame, Ortolan would be quite happy to see it. After all, his background is powerful enough. He is a descendant of the True Celestial Dragon of the Yellow Banner and has a godfather who is Fleet Admiral. Even if he messes things up, he won't necessarily be killed. Sengoku has no sons, only this one adopted son. As Fleet Admiral, he has the face to spare his life.
However... it's going to be tough on the Fleet Admiral!
"Ugh, what a rip-off," Ortolan thought to himself.