Victor's promotion to Marine Admiral had sent Oren, Mata, and many of his former South Blue subordinates into raptures.
They were all Victor's subordinates and members of the Blue Sea Society. Now that Victor had risen to Marine Admiral, their futures looked even brighter!
Victor had not forgotten South Blue, either. More precisely, he had not forgotten the Four Seas.
He hoped that all four seas, including South Blue, would become his cash cows and treasure vaults.
Thus, Victor took advantage of his leave to return to South Blue first.
The reason he went to South Blue instead of having them come to Marineford
was that he had a deeper purpose in mind.
Oren received a fax informing him that Victor would be returning to South Blue.
The news made Oren incredibly excited.
"See that?" Oren said to the Marines beside him. "Lord Victor values us so much that he came to visit us before his promotion ceremony!"
"Lord Victor remembers old friendships."
"We're Lord Victor's trusted confidants!"
"Lord Victor knows we're his most loyal subordinates!"
"He's seen all our efforts!"
"We must not let Lord Victor down!"
The Marines around Oren were all as excited as if they had been injected with stimulants. Their expressions were feverish.
One had to understand that Victor was now a Marine Admiral, one of the most powerful men in the Marines.
Forget the Four Seas—even the Marines at Headquarters wanted to curry favor with him.
With an admiral's letter of recommendation, one could be assigned to serve in any unit.
Take Smoker, for example. He had disobeyed military orders more than once. If he had lacked connections, he would have been dismissed long ago.
Yet Smoker's rank kept rising.
That was because Zephyr, Aokiji, and the others protected him.
When Smoker wanted to