End of November, 1506 (Marine Era).
It took Ortolan nearly two months to finally make his way from the New World, across the Red Line, and to the Marines Headquarters, Marineford.
During these two months, the turmoil in the New World has not subsided.
The remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates were committing crimes in various places. Satch, the 4th Division commander, became the second leader of the Whitebeard Pirates. This generation of the Whitebeard Pirates included Teach, Namul, and some other miscellaneous pirates.
Satch openly declared that he would avenge Whitebeard sooner or later, kill Ortolan, and drive the New World Marines out of the region.
Although there was nothing wrong with his statement from his position and status.
But in reality, everyone regarded their so-called second-generation Whitebeard Pirates as Clown.
As Shichibukai the Sea, Smoker immediately announced a full-scale war to crush Crushing Pirates Whitebeard Pirates and surround the so-called remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates in various seas of the New World.
You know what, once Smoker started something, he really got a huge response from all sides!
The Marines, needless to say, has the duty and responsibility to eliminate pirates.
In the Underworld, things got lively because of this. The loan shark king, Lou Field, angrily and excitedly declared that he had been forcibly exploited and oppressed by Whitebeard for many years, and that Newgate had taken hundreds of billions of Belly from him and refused to pay them back. Therefore, he also wanted to respond to the call to fight against the Whitebeard Pirates and contribute his strength to the peace of the New World.
He then announced that he would donate 200 billion Belly to the G-5 Marines free of charge.
On the surface, everyone praises Lu Field as a generous and charitable businessman, but privately, everyone says that this guy is shameless and has now started to fawn over Ortolan!
Especially the Sea Transport King Umit, who supposedly said in a private setting that Luther Field was already a sycophant of Ortolan, or something like that, basically implying that he disdained associating with such a person.
The very next day, he publicly announced in the newspaper that his New World Shipping Company had been ravaged by the Whitebeard Pirates. Now that he had witnessed Whitebeard's demise, he was filled with excitement and gratitude, and had nowhere to vent his emotions. Therefore, he donated various supplies worth 200 billion Belly to Vice Admiral G-12 Momonga of the New World Marines to help build a powerful Marines to protect the New World!
After witnessing this scene, many bigwigs in the New World cursed Umit, saying that despite his handsome appearance, he was spineless and actually knelt down to the Marines.
These people, on the surface, were criticizing Umit and Luther Field, but then they turned around and rushed to donate this and that to the Marines, basically scrambling to give things away.
It's like anyone who dares not to deliver is an enemy of justice!
After all, back in the day, the New World could have a king and a queen. If the Whitebeard Pirates and the New World Marines had never really clashed head-on, no one could be sure who was the strongest.
The Marines may have a large and powerful force, but the Whitebeard Pirates also have their Strongest Man!
Now, anyone with eyes can see that this big shot, Ortolan, is poised to sweep through the New World.
At a time like this, if you don't rush to give gifts to build goodwill and show your support for the Marines and your determination to uphold justice, then who knows, in a couple of days when the Marines goes out to suppress pirates, you might end up being one of those pirates! An enemy of justice!
Once you're branded as a remnant of the Whitebeard Pirates, you can't shake it off!
Aside from the Underworld, the Big Mom Pirates and the Beasts Pirates only sent a few people to get involved. Their main focus was still on Ortolan. According to unverified rumors, on the sixth day after the end of the Summit War the New World, Kaido had secretly arrived alone on Whole Cake Island in Totto Land Totto Land and had a private meeting with Charlotte Linlin.
This news has been circulating at sea, but it has not been confirmed to this day, or rather, no one has come forward to admit it.
Then came the various kingdoms that flew the Whitebeard Pirates' flag in the former Whitebeard Pirates' territory. The royal families of those kingdoms rushed to the nearest Marine Base, and when they met with the various base commanders, they were all in tears, as if Whitebeard had been so cruel and tyrannical in their territory. All sorts of ridiculous accusations came out, such as sleeping in the emperor's bed, insulting the emperor, and eating human flesh.
After denouncing the Whitebeard Pirates' atrocities, they generously donated large sums of money and treasure, hoping the Marines would understand their past absurd behavior of being forced to fly the pirate flag. They also hoped to join the New World Marines, a wealthy and righteous family, and serve under Admiral.
It has to be said that when a wall falls, everyone pushes it down. Although Ortolan was on the opposite side of Whitebeard, he would never believe that Whitebeard was such a cruel person who slept in the emperor's bed, insulted the emperor, and chewed human flesh.
On the contrary, according to the Marines's investigation, apart from collecting protection money, the Whitebeard Pirates did not engage in any particularly brutal acts against the countries under their control; on the contrary, they had protected them on several occasions.
That's just how things are these days... Those royals have no choice. If they don't take a stand now and still dare to fly the flag of the Whitebeard Pirates, they'll definitely be purged in the future. They have to survive, so they're not going to back down.
Even Fish-Man Island has already taken down the flag of the Whitebeard Pirates.
Of course, Neptune was a decent fellow. Before the war even started, when the Marines published its declaration of war against the enemy in the newspapers, Neptune had already made the decisive move to take down the flag.
It can be considered that a choice was made in advance, so it doesn't feel so cunning.
All the forces and nations within the New World Marines's jurisdiction were celebrating the victory in this war. After all, they had long ago shared the same interests with the Marines under Ortolan's command. If the Marines fell, their current status and wealth would be insecure, and the New World would once again become a place rampant with pirates.
They never want to live those hard times again!
Therefore, after the victory in the war, even if it wasn't for any kind of factionalism, but just for celebration and to entertain the troops, everyone rushed to send large amounts of supplies and money to the various Marine Base in the New World.
You know what, Ortolan mobilized a huge force in the New World, gathering over 100,000 elite Marines, building battlefields, requisitioning supplies from various places, and distributing large amounts of compensation. In the end, after defeating the Whitebeard Pirates, he did the math and realized that not only did he not suffer any losses in terms of logistics and finances, but he had already started to make a fortune even before he had eliminated the Whitebeard Pirates' territory!
Justice is indeed a very meaningful cause, and we must firmly uphold it!
The warship slowly anchored in the Marines's Justice Harbor. The gangway was lowered, and soon, Ortolan stepped off the ship.
As soon as he stepped off the ship, the Marines port immediately became lively.
From the janitors cleaning up to the Marine Admiral, everyone who saw Ortolan shouted and greeted him excitedly.
"Admiral!"
"The Admiral is mighty!"
"Standing in the heavens!"
"The Strongest Man!"
As Ortolan waved back to the cheering Marines, he was also trying to figure out who the hell had shouted "Standing in the Sky" just now.
I'm going to skin him alive!
Upon closer inspection, good heavens, it was that Garp!
Well, Mr. Garp is quite old, and Ortolan has always respected the elderly and cared for the young, so he forgave him.
"Damn it, it's all my fault for not being more capable back then, Admiral! If I had been more capable, I could have stayed in G-5 and followed Admiral to fight against the Whitebeard!" A Marines Rear Admiral shouted to Ortolan from the roadside with a look of resentment.
Upon hearing the voice, Ortolan looked over and burst into laughter. "Hahaha, Model, I recognize you. When I sent you aboard the No. 2 warship, you were just a colonel. In the blink of an eye, you're already a glorious Rear Admiral?"
"Admiral!!!" Model was so excited that tears welled up in his eyes when he saw that Ortolan still remembered his name.
As he just said, since the G-5 fleet was limited in size back then, and Ortolan needed to send elites to various Marines to build up its strength, a large number of former G-5 Marines were sent to various Marines.
On the surface, their move to the second department seems like a promotion and a raise.
However, within the G-5 faction, which is now the New World Marines faction, they all believe that they did not perform well enough back then and were not as outstanding as those who stayed, which is why they were forced to be sent to the Ministry and other Marines in various regions.
That's right, they consider leaving G-5 a damn demotion!