Bane Rises, King Torun!
North of the Calm Belt, on the edge of the North Blue.
A ship flying the Donquixote Family flag sailed steadily out of the Calm Belt.
This ship is none other than Heavenly Yaksha Flamingo of Donquixote Doflamingo.
At this moment, Marine Admiral Ortolan was standing on the deck of the Flamingo, a cigarette dangling from his lips, gazing at the scenery of the North Blue.
In the distance were several ships, also flying the Donquixote Family flag, but they were not the fleet that had come from the New World to the North Blue. They were crossing the Calm Belt from the North Blue, preparing to head to the New World.
These are all armed transport ships. Judging from their waterlines, you can tell they are loaded with cargo without even asking.
"These are all goods and supplies that the North Blue is transporting to the New World. There might even be some carrying Lead-Platinum Ore. Ship after ship, all of them are our Belly." Doflamingo had somehow walked up to Ortolan and introduced them with a smile.
"I learned from the internal newsletter I received from headquarters that the North Blue has developed quite well in recent years, even more prosperous than before the Great Pirate Era began," Ortolan said with emotion.
"Of course, only with a stable production environment can we better provide supplies," Doflamingo immediately nodded.
The North Blue used to be chaotic. Among the four seas, only the East Blue can be considered a symbol of peace and stability. The kingdoms in the South Blue were corrupt and exploitative, and it has always been the birthplace of righteous armies and rebel armies. To some extent, the Revolutionary Army can also be considered to have originated in the South Blue.
In the West Blue, the culture of the mafia is prevalent. Although it has its own order, it is also dark. The major mafia families often do some shocking things in order to compete for power and wealth in the West Blue.
As for the North Blue, its people are known for their fierce nature, and the constant warfare between the various kingdoms has led to instability. This has resulted in a large number of refugees, many of whom are forced to join criminal gangs in order to survive. This further strengthens the criminal gangs and exacerbates the already dire situation.
As for why the various kingdoms in the North Blue are constantly at war with each other, a large part of the reason is that there is a troublemaker in the North Blue called the Germa Kingdom. Since its establishment more than three years ago and its joining the World Government, this kingdom has been selling war in the North Blue for profit. It even once dominated the North Blue with its powerful military force.
Later, the World Government, fearing that Germa would grow stronger and achieve even greater glory, united with many kingdoms in the North Blue and dismantled Germa. As a result, although Germa is nominally a kingdom in the North Blue and a member of the World Government, it does not have any fixed territory.
After the fall of the evil Germa Kingdom, the North Blue did not calm down. The grudges and feuds accumulated by various countries over the years could not be resolved by Germa alone.
Similarly, although Germa has declined compared to its peak, it still wields considerable influence in the North Blue thanks to its powerful technological strength, and is one of the two leading forces in the North Blue's Underworld.
As for the other leading family, it is naturally the Donquixote Family, which has gradually risen in the Underworld of the North Blue over the past two decades.
In the course of the Donquixote Family's development, conflicts of interest with the Germa were inevitable. As a result, the two major powers had repeatedly antagonized each other in the North Blue, further exacerbating the chaos in the North Blue.
All of this changed in 1498 of the Marine Era.
In the year 1498 of the Marine Era, the Great Pirate Era began. Doflamingo, the young master of the Donquixote Family, resolutely shifted his focus from the dark underworld of the North Blue and entered the pirate industry.
Initially, this greatly boosted Germa's prestige in the North Blue, especially after their King Vinsmoke Judge, who had previously left the North Blue, returned from North Blue New World.
However, before Germa could be arrogant for long, the situation changed again. Doflamingo had crossed over into a new field, and even reached a high level of mastery. He boarded the ship of the Marines bigwig Bane Ortolan and successfully became one of the legendary Shichibukai, greatly increasing his prestige.
Since then, Germa has no longer dared to easily provoke the Donquixote Family. They seem to want to wait for Doflamingo to suffer a big setback in the New World.
Surprisingly, Doflamingo not only avoided disaster but also rose to prominence alongside Ortolan, becoming a renowned figure in the New World. His influence in the Underworld grew exponentially, becoming extremely powerful. This influence, once the North Calm Belt route was fully established, began to rapidly extend to the entire North Blue.
During this period, the reputation and influence of the Donquixote Family in the North Blue reached its peak!
Unlike Dang, Dang's Doflamingo hoped the North Blue would become increasingly chaotic, so that he would have more opportunities to exploit it.
Currently, Doflamingo needs the North Blue to continuously generate a large amount of agricultural products to sell in the New World. At the same time, he also dumps many of the New World's specialty products into the North Blue. Therefore, Doflamingo hopes that the North Blue can remain stable in terms of both agricultural products and the market, so that he can generate greater profits.
Under Doflamingo's strong intervention, you know what, North Blue's development in recent years has gradually moved towards stability and prosperity.
While Doflamingo may indeed be a notorious villain, it cannot be denied that he has made outstanding contributions to the current prosperity and stability of North Blue.
As the saying goes, actions speak louder than words; whatever Doflamingo's motives may be, the outcome is ultimately the same.
This is also the main reason why Sengoku, the former Marine Admiral and now the commander-in-chief, is able to recognize Ortolan's Doflamingo.
After all, if Doflamingo were just a scapegoat for Ortolan, doing all sorts of bad things and not having a good reputation, would Sengoku, as the Supreme Leader of the Marines, let such a black sheep enter the Marines and ruin Marines reputation?
There must be procedures, evidence, and established rules for cleansing, right?
Doflamingo now has a certain reputation. He led Dressrosa, a New World that was once impoverished, to prosperity and strength. He was once a feared tyrant and gang leader in the North Blue, but now he is recognized by the vast majority of people in the North Blue as the 'Savior of the North Blue'!
In this way, Doflamingo's past misdeeds in the North Blue can be covered up, explained as "a young man about to go astray, a prodigal son returning home," or considered as "enduring humiliation for the sake of the North Blue's prosperity."
"That's exactly how it should be. The Rich First Drive Later. Everyone should develop together, share the market, the profits, and the pie. We shouldn't always think about monopolizing everything. We should think about making it bigger and stronger, getting more people involved, and sharing in our benefits. That's how we can gain more support. Don't underestimate this support. It may not be immediately apparent, but when we really want to do something big, this support will be indispensable!" Ortolan said, exhaling a puff of smoke.
When he served as Commander G-5, he severely cracked down on pirates within his jurisdiction, creating a rare peaceful and stable environment in the New World, which ensured the smooth flow of trade routes and accumulated the trust of the people of various countries within his jurisdiction in their Marines.
It is on this basis of trust that G-5 was able to gain support from all sides. When recruiting, everyone actively participated and was willing to work together to maintain this achievement that everyone had gained together!
The New World is like this, and so is the North Blue.
The support that Ortolan just mentioned is not visible now, but later, if Ortolan turns against the World Government and the World Government wants to besiege Ortolan, cut off his business, or want to stop this kind of trade in the North Blue.
There's no need for Ortolan to say anything; everyone in the North Blue who has benefited from this will stand up against the World Government!
You think you can just stop like that? If you stop this project, how are you going to pay everyone's salaries?
If a person has never seen the light, he can indeed live in darkness his whole life. But if someone has already had the light, and you try to extinguish the torch in his hand, then everyone will fight to the death!
If at that time, they would have the support of Ortolan's powerful armed forces, and the armies of the New World could enter the North Blue to aid them at any time. They might very well rise up in rebellion and shout "Banenxing, King Torun!"
"Admiral insight, General!" Doflamingo gave Ortolan a thumbs-up.
They both burst into laughter.
After laughing, Ortolan seemed to suddenly remember something and spoke steadily, "By the way, where's your brother? And didn't you always say that if you had the chance, you'd introduce me to that Lead-Platinum brat who asked me before if I could cure his paralysis?"
When this was mentioned, Doflamingo said helplessly, "I don't know what's wrong with Corazon, but he always disappears with that kid Law. At first, I looked for them and was worried, but now I'm used to it. Before you came to Dressrosa to find me, they had disappeared somewhere again..."
Upon hearing this, Ortolan nodded thoughtfully, then a hopeful smile appeared on his lips, and he didn't ask any further questions about it.