Dragon's First Act as Base Commander!
Sabaody Archipelago, Area 66.
This is the naval branch's base on the island. The adjacent GR Area 62 is assigned to the Fish-Man Island Neptune Army. Basically, the entire GR 60 area belongs to the government and is off-limits to the general public.
While Jinbe, Aladdin, and the others were getting familiar with the environment of Marineford, who had just been promoted to Dragon Vice Admiral and appointed as the base commander, also spent the morning learning about the facilities and personnel within the base, and incidentally transformed into Formless wind to take a stroll around the island.
It must be said that, in terms of the ability to conduct covert investigations and infiltration, the Hurricane Fruit is probably the most useful of all the Logia.
At this moment, he was discussing the upcoming battle plan with the Fish-Man Island Minister of the Right, whom he had invited, in the conference room.
The Neptune Army was not obligated to cooperate with the Navy, but this mission involved rescuing the Fish-Man Race and Merfolk, so Dragon invited them. The latter had no objections and even seemed excited after hearing about the mission.
"I should have requested support from the Fish-Man Unit from headquarters, but Jinbe Colonel Marineford and need to familiarize themselves with life there," Dragon said, looking at the Minister of the Right with an apology.
With orange-yellow skin, clad in armor, and a long sword at his waist, the Minister of the Right, a seahorse-like figure, replied solemnly, "No, it should be that we thank the Navy for allowing the Neptune Army to participate in this liberation operation. Please give us your orders!"
"In that case, I won't stand on ceremony."
Dragon nodded, cut to the chase without further ado, and looked at the map of the Sabaody Archipelago on the conference table.
"I hope the Neptune Army can infiltrate the sea and cooperate with the warships to blockade the entire island, with a focus on the Lawless Zone Area 20 and the Shipyard Zone 50."
"Your mission is to stab through the hull of any One Piece or slave ship attempting to escape at sea and drag it away. If anyone falls into the water, prioritize rescuing the slaves and then hand them over to the Navy. If they are Fish-Man Race or Merfolk, you can take them directly back to the Neptune Army's base; we will not interfere."
After listening, the Minister of the Right felt that what Dragon said made no problem, and readily agreed, saying, "Alright, leave it to us, I'll go and make the arrangements right away!"
After speaking, he turned and left the conference room cleanly and efficiently. This made Dragon, who was cooperating with the Fish-Man for the first time, begin to appreciate them and become more optimistic about the World Government's decision to allow the Fish-Man to join the Navy.
"The news of the Slave King's arrest has been announced, and those in the slave trade on the island should be wary of my arrival. But no one would have expected that I would launch a purge on my very first day in office, would they?"
Dragon shifted his gaze from the Minister of the Right back to the map of Sabaody Archipelago, his smile vanishing and his expression turning blank.
While this operation also included the island's shipbuilding and coating industries, its main target was the Lawless Zone from Zone 1 to Zone 29.
These three areas are connected and are rife with criminal gangs specializing in kidnapping and extortion, while areas 20 to 29 are home to the largest concentration of slave companies, slave shops, and slave auction houses!
It's not hard to imagine that these slave industries, which have been rooted on the island for at least a hundred years, must have a large number of armed personnel responsible for guarding and protecting them, and there must have been many skilled ones among them.
But for Dragon, none of this mattered. In his view, a short, sharp pain was better than a long, drawn-out one. Rather than dragging things out, he preferred to settle things all in one day.
Chaos is inevitable in this process, but how can we remove such a malignant tumor without taking drastic measures?
He felt that this was also the reason why Fleet Admiral Kong sent him to be the base commander; his strength and status were enough to bear all the riots and retaliations.
A regular Vice Admiral won't do!
However, a piece of information given to him by the Fleet Admiral Kong made Dragon cautious, even wary, as he glanced at Area 50 on the map.
"Rayleigh, the Pluton, from the former Roger Pirates?"
To be honest, Dragon didn't want to provoke such a powerful enemy at this time, but given his personality, he couldn't possibly give up regulating the coating industry just because of Rayleigh.
If the need for coating on One Piece ships is cut off, they will be unable to go to Fish-Man Island, let alone enter the second half of the Grand Line. Most One Piece will also lose the opportunity to come into contact with Armament Haki and Observation Haki.
While some One Piece can comprehend and master Haki on their own, that's either due to chance or exceptional talent; it doesn't count as the majority.
If this continues, there will be fewer and fewer One Piece in the 'New World' seas. Without the supply of fresh blood, the power of various One Piece crews will be suppressed, and it will become a cage that is like an arena.
However, Dragon also knew that this cage was not secure at the moment, because the four of them were not strong enough to seal off those great One Piece.
Everything has a beginning, so just take it slow!
Soon, while the people of Sabaody Archipelago were still living peacefully, and the big and small leaders of the Underworld were discussing what impact the arrival of Dragon would have and how they should deal with it, warships sailed out of the Marine Base's port.
Instead of immediately encircling the island from both sides, they sailed forward for a nautical mile before turning back, forming a larger encirclement.
The situation was much simpler for the Neptune Army's soldiers. They simply jumped into the sea and scattered. Following Dragon's orders, most of their forces were concentrated on the seabed of areas 20 and Area 50, while the others were monitored in pairs.
In this way, from an aerial view and perspective, it can be seen that, centered on the Sabaody Archipelago, the Neptune Army and the Marine warship have formed two encirclements, one small and one large, one overt and one covert, and the outer encirclement is rapidly shrinking.
[Bang!]
At the same time, the base gates of the naval branch suddenly opened, and three officers dressed in Coat of Justice stepped out first, leading a large number of marines armed with muskets and longswords, and quickly rushed in three directions!
Eric led his team to Area 70, where the hotel district was located, as they needed to pass through there to enter Area 20.
Lieutenant Colonel Cecil led a team into the Lawless Zone Area 0, namely Area 1 to Area 9. They were responsible for arresting all the One Piece and kidnapping gangs they encountered, so they had the largest number of personnel.
Interestingly, the previous Black Cat Three-Legged Cat and White Cat Fishing Kitten were also among them, dressed exactly like the marines around them, in sailor uniforms and seagull hats.
The last team, personally led by Rear Admiral Ivan, crossed the bridge connecting the two areas and prepared to conduct a thorough investigation of the entire Area 50. Any One Piece ships found undergoing coating were to be seized.
However, Dragon 'Vice Admiral order specifically noted that there was no need to arrest the coating craftsmen involved; a verbal warning would suffice.
Rear Admiral Ivan was actually quite puzzled by this order.
What puzzled him most was why he wasn't assigned to Zone 20, where the slave auction was located, but instead to Zone 50, a less important target area.
I'm definitely much stronger than Colonel Eric!
Little did Rear Admiral Ivan know that Dragon valued his steady character to avoid causing unnecessary trouble.
He can go to area number twenty himself!
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