After the smoke cleared, the Holy Knights's camp discovered that the situation was not quite what they had expected.
Although the Marines vanguards who were caught in the explosion also suffered some losses, it seemed that the losses were not serious. Moreover, after being bombed once, they did not rush to attack the second line of defense. Instead, they continued to clean up the battlefield and clear away the corpses and debris in an orderly manner.
This made the members of the Holy Knights, who had been very excited just moments before, lose their enthusiasm for talking and boasting, Saint Figarland's expression was not very pleasant either.
The plan was supposed to be successful, but it didn't work, which was frustrating.
While the vanguard cleared the land, a steady stream of Marines gradually landed on Mary Geoise.
From dawn until midday, the Marines's 10,000-strong force finally landed in Mary Geoise and confronted the Holy Land Guards of Mary Geoise.
Only a small portion of the makeshift tent had been erected, and Ortolan was standing inside it.
Many Marines officers also gathered here, each offering their opinions.
"The port and this area are completely different, so we can't generalize. We need to be prepared. The safest way is to build a military camp here and let the rear settle down first."
"That would waste time. We've managed to get the people up here, but it's not easy to get the supplies and other things up here."
"I object! We cannot build a camp here. Now is the time to go all out. We have no way out on Mary Geoise. Only by fighting to the death can we wipe out all these scum on Mary Geoise in one fell swoop!"
Ultimately, after some debate among the generals, Sakazuki made the final decision: no more camps would be built, and the decisive battle would take place on the 1st!
Ortolan had no objection to this; he also agreed. The Marines's advantage lay in its large number of soldiers and generals, possessing superior strength in both manpower and the combat effectiveness of its commanders.
Therefore, the best tactic is to force Mary Geoise into a decisive battle as soon as possible!
"Stralt!" Ortolan called out.
Vice Admiral Stralt, commander of the vanguard force, immediately stepped forward and said, "Admiral, I'm here!"
"The vanguard is to move out immediately and attack the second line of defense!" Ortolan ordered.
"Yes, loyalty!" Stralt replied immediately.
After nodding, Ortolan looked at the generals in the other tents, and saw that they all looked eager and impatient.
As for the powerful Marine Admiral such as Momonga, Issho, Hoshigaki, Onigumo, Doberman, Ortolan only glanced at them and let them go. These people were meant to be challenged to a duel.
After a moment, Ortolan said in a deep voice, "Stainless and Stolobey, you two, lead your respective troops and launch an attack from the left and right flanks respectively, in coordination with the vanguard. You must take care of this damned Holy Land Guard as quickly as possible, and then continue to advance. I want to see the Holy Knights appear in front of my army before sunset!"
"Yes, loyalty!" Stolobey and Stainless responded quickly, and then walked out of the tent with Stralt Vice Admiral Stralt.
Soon, the army began to mobilize, and the vanguard began to enter the new battlefield in an orderly manner, quickly breaking into the Holy Land Guard's defenses. The Marines under Stolobey and Stainless also began to exert its strength. Before long, the roar of cannons and gunfire, along with shouts, began to resound over Mary Geoise once again.
Inside the tent, Ortolan stood with his arms crossed in front of him, seemingly waiting for something.
About half an hour later, Rear Admiral Smoker lifted the tent flap and came in, excitedly saying, "Admiral Kuzan and Mr. Borsalino have crossed Fish-Man Island and arrived at the port. They will be able to come aboard soon."
Sakazuki and Momonga others showed no surprise, but Kaisa seemed somewhat astonished. "Wasn't Admiral Kuzan heading to the Marine Base in the First Half of Grand Line to suppress the internal strife? Wasn't Mr. Borsalino stationed at the front?"
"Just a trick." Sakazuki waved his hand dismissively. "Whether it's their combat strength or their status as Admiral (Borsalino previously acted as Admiral of Ortolan), it's impossible to prevent them from participating in this decisive battle in Mary Geoise, otherwise, it will cause trouble later..."
As Marine Admiral, their influence and status are too special. If these two Admiral don't come to Mary Geoise, it will not have a good impact on the postwar Marines. It will seem that they are not united enough, and it seems that there is a sense that they are being excluded.
"The Holy Knights alone claim to have five Grand Knights, plus their Commander, that makes six experts whose true abilities are unknown. And besides those six, according to Spandine's intelligence, CP also has a guy codenamed Night Owl, who happens to be from Mary Geoise. As far as I know, all Five Elders are awakened Mythical Zoan Awakening, so they should be quite strong. In total, that's more than a dozen experts. If I don't call Kuzan and Borsalino, I'm really worried we won't be able to handle the situation..." Ortolan laughed heartily.
Actually, there might be even more.
Before the Marines surrounded Mary Geoise, something quite comical happened: the CP Agency's Chief of Staff fled with a group of elite CP personnel to escape punishment. This directly resulted in the CP Agency only having one decent fighting force left on Mary Geoise: a guy codenamed Night Owl, and it was unknown what his current situation was.
The reason why the CP chief fled to avoid punishment was because of Spandine's treachery.
It should be noted that before Spandine completely defected, the CP Chief trusted him greatly, often making him a role model for the CP Agency, promoting Spandine a raise, and even publicly promising that Spandine was the most likely candidate to succeed him as CP Director.
All of this is normal, nothing to worry about. But Spandine jumped, he was immediately put in a bind.
Spandine escaped! Who else but him can take the blame for such a huge mess? The Five Elders will surely skin him alive!
Good heavens! After realizing the consequences, he immediately took advantage of the Five Elders' inability to react and hold him accountable, and led his group of loyal followers to defect overnight. Now, no one knows where they have fled to, resulting in the loss of CP's high-level combat power.
"What do these guys think they are, the Marine Admiral? They either claim to be no weaker than the Marine Admiral, or stronger than them. I really don't believe that a dozen or so such powerful individuals could suddenly appear in Mary Geoise!" Issho said with a face full of disdain, sharing the same opinion as Sakazuki.
In fact, Ortolan felt the same way.
Don't be fooled by the dozen or so seemingly powerful figures that suddenly appeared in Mary Geoise. Ortolan estimated that the three genuine Marine Admiral, Sakazuki, Borsalino, and Kuzan, were more than half as strong as these dozen or so people.
This is a good opportunity to give the sea a good thrashing and stop any of those monsters and demons from jumping out and daring to make such outrageous claims as being no weaker than Marine Admiral.
What kind of trash dares to mess with our Marines Admiral?!
Just as everyone was talking about this, a series of footsteps came from outside. Soon, Kuzan and Borsalino walked into the tent.
Moreover, unexpectedly, it wasn't just the two of them who came. Teacher Zephyr, who had been retired from the front line for a long time, also came in, wearing Justice Cloak, Admiral's epaulets, and a cigar in his mouth.
As soon as Teacher Zephyr entered, all the Marines officers in the camp became excited, including Ortolan.
"Teacher, what brings you here?" Ortolan quickly stepped forward and asked.
"Although I am old and my health is not what it used to be, I can still play a role, right? The Marines has committed so many atrocities over the past few hundred years. As a member of the Marines, it is time for me to uphold my own justice and atone for my sins..." Zephyr said with a smile.
With this, the Marines has gained another high-level combatant!