Ortolan never took Aramaki seriously, and from beginning to end, he didn't even bother to say a word to him.
He did not regard the Marines of the 2nd Division as an enemy, even though the leader was Sakazuki.
Just like before, when he rode in his flagship and entered Sakazuki's fleet encirclement alone, he was not afraid at all.
Firstly, because he possessed sufficient strength; secondly, because of trust.
This trust came partly from Sakazuki, a Marines colleague with whom he had worked for many years. Ortolan believed that Sakazuki was not the kind of person who would betray the Marines and trusted that he would make the right choice.
But the greater trust was placed in the Warring Fleet Admiral Sengoku.
There's not much to say about Ortolan being away from the territories most of the time, but Fleet Admiral Sengoku is stationed in the territories almost every year. Since he was Admiral, he has basically never left the territories.
His influence and control over the department can be described as extraordinary.
Even so, before leaving the Second Division for Mary Geoise, he didn't touch Sakazuki, leaving Sakazuki in charge of the Second Division. This already speaks volumes.
The World Government's attempt to control the 2nd Division through people like Aramaki is a gross underestimation of the Fleet Admiral of the Sengoku.
However, it's not entirely incomprehensible that those people on Mary Geoise all suffer from arrogance and a lack of practical skills.
Ortolan and Sakazuki's warships arrived at the port of Mary Geoise New World at the same time.
When Ortolan disembarked, he saw Onigumo and a group of Vice Admiral arresting another group of Marines and forcing them to kneel on the shore of the harbor.
Two of them were Marines officers with Vice Admiral epaulets on their shoulders, and Ortolan actually knew them.
They are all veteran members of the Marines.
"What is this?" Ortolan stood in front of these people, raising an eyebrow, and asked.
"Admiral Sakazuki ordered us to take them all down as soon as we received his signal," Onigumo explained, then added, "They are all Loyalist Faction Marines from Mary Geoise..."
Ortolan nodded first, then looked at the Marine Admiral who was being forced to kneel on the ground, and said with a somewhat sad tone, "Sleiman Vice Admiral Slieman, Vice Admiral Vander, don't you feel ashamed?"
The two Marine Admiral looked up, gritting their teeth, their eyes filled with resentment. "Ortolan, don't you feel ashamed? You actually betrayed the World Government!?"
"The old stars really misjudged you!"
"You're just an ambitious warlord. The Marines is doomed to fail sooner or later if you put it in your hands!"
Ortolan sighed softly, "All these years, justice has not shrouded you... It seems that you have only ever used justice as a slogan to be used. Mary Geoise deceived our Marines, causing us to falsely claim justice. Over the years, our Marines have been numerous and heinous... Forget it, what's the use of telling you all this?"
Ortolan waved his hand dismissively, no longer wanting to say anything more to these die-hards.
"Borsalino will also purge these people from the other side," Sakazuki said at this moment.
"Does Borsalino have enough men?" Ortolan asked.
"He will probably work with those New World Marines people you planted in the headquarters. Don't worry, how could he not do such a small thing?" Sakazuki said without hesitation.
"That's true." Ortolan nodded.
"So, what should we do with these people next?" Sakazuki asked again.
Vice Admiral Dalmatian hesitated for a moment before speaking, "Sleiman Vice Admiral leads the charge in battle. He nearly died in battle in 1502 of the Marine Era, which is when he was promoted to Vice Admiral. He is considered a man of outstanding merit in our Marines..."
Not only Vice Admiral Sleiman, but also Vice Admiral Vander. It can be said that among the Marines personnel, very few who can be promoted to Vice Admiral through normal rank are like Aramaki, who was parachuted in without any merit.
They were all highly decorated and accomplished in battle.
Ortolan was silent for a moment, and it was clear that Dalmatian wanted to plead for them.
After a while, Ortolan finally spoke, "Let's take them all into custody for now... we'll deal with them after we've dealt with Masayuki."
Dalmatian breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this and nodded in agreement, "Yes."
As long as they aren't executed on the spot, these people will likely not be executed later. They'll be imprisoned for a while, and if Admiral Bane gets in a bad mood later, he might just purge the Marines and get rid of them.
In this way, it can be considered as taking into account the friendship between them as Marines colleagues over the years. Although they belong to different factions, they have actually helped, rescued and supported each other many times during their many years of working together on the high seas. How could they really be heartless and ungrateful?
Meanwhile, on the Holy Land of Mary Geoise.
At this moment, the Divine Knights, leading the Mary Geoise Guard and CP Agency personnel, are stationed in the port passage defense zone.
The entire camp is shaped like a ring. The outermost layer consists of slave soldiers recruited by Mary Geoise to form a servant army, which is supervised by CP Agency personnel. The second layer consists of various nobles, Celestial Dragons servants, and guards from Mary Geoise to form a support army. The third layer is the official Mary Geoise guard army.
And inside the guard army camp are the people of the Knights of God and the CP organization.
At this moment, the Chief Director of the Divine Knights, Figarland Saint Figarland, was sitting in his tent.
Behind him stood eighteen knights dressed in various types of armor.
Including him, there are a total of nineteen people. These nineteen people are all the members of the Divine Knights Order. That's right, this knight order only has nineteen members, each corresponding to one of the nineteen Celestial Dragons families currently existing on Mary Geoise. All of them are Celestial Dragons.
"Have all the Marines in the port below defected? Indeed, that idiot named Aramaki is a complete waste, and that Sakazuki... is certainly not trustworthy either." Saint Figarland listened to a CP Agency member kneeling before him reporting this situation, and spoke in a very calm tone.
It's clear that he wasn't surprised by this outcome.
A moment later, he waved his hand, dismissing the CP person.
Once only the members of the Divine Knights remained in the tent, the Saint Figarland spoke, "To let a domesticated dog turn against you to this extent, those five have really been lax these past few years, making such a fool of themselves..."
"Lord Gringu, perhaps this is an opportunity for us?" a knight said with a sneer.
"It is indeed an opportunity. The five positions of supreme power have not changed for too long. This embarrassing incident may make Im-sama decide to replace them with a new group of people. And we are the most qualified people to take these positions." Saint Figarland's lips curled up slightly, and he said with some anticipation.
As members of the Divine Knights, they all knew of Im-sama's existence.
After a slight pause, Saint Figarland sighed again and said, "Yes, now is not the time to fight for these rights. We need to deal with these snarling dogs who are baring their teeth at us first... Bane Ortolan... who claims to have reached the end of power and become a man on the other side. Speaking of which, I used to think quite highly of him... If he can follow the advice of those five gods and become Celestial Dragons, my Figarland clan would still welcome him."
Saint Figarland believed that the Divine Knights were very strong. The eighteen knights behind him were all very powerful, and five of them, the Great Knights, possessed the strength of Marine Admiral.
He himself believed that he was stronger than these people.
Even so, despite his confident demeanor, he was actually somewhat worried about Ortolan, the ruthless man who had defeated Whitebeard head-on. Right now, apart from Whitebeard, who had truly fought him, no one could gauge just how strong Ortolan really was.
As for Kaido and Charlotte Linlin, the outside world is unaware that they had engaged in a fierce battle with Ortolan, fighting two against one and still losing.
"However, I only need to do my best. No matter how powerful Ortolan is, Im-sama will surely be able to suppress him..." Saint Figarland thought to himself.