Less than half an hour after the meeting ended.
Orders stamped with the highest level of secrecy were dispatched from Marineford to the major Marine Branches.
Clang—!
Urgent bells rang throughout the naval harbor.
The warships that had been docked in the harbor for resupply quickly raised their sails, their enormous flags of justice unfurling in the wind.
Ammunition, fresh water, medical equipment, and Seastone weapons were carried aboard in crates.
Military doctors checked the medicine, artillerymen inspected the cannons, and navigators spread the latest maps of the New World across the tables.
Everyone completed their departure preparations at top speed.
There was no panic or hesitation.
It was as though this war had not been decided suddenly, but was a blade honed for five years, waiting only for the order to be drawn.
The ones responsible for the first wave of attacks were not the three Admirals.
Sakazuki, Kuzan, and Borsalino remained stationed at Marine Headquarters.
They were both a deterrent and Rock's contingency plan.
As long as the three Admirals did not openly enter the New World, the Marines could claim to the outside world that this was not an all-out war against the Emperors of the Sea.
And once Kaido, Charlotte Linlin, or Red-Hair Shanks personally entered the fray, the three of them could rush to any battlefield in the shortest possible time.
The first fleet to enter the New World was entirely commanded by the Marines' core Vice Admirals.
Bullet was responsible for frontal assaults.
He had only one mission: destroy large pirate strongholds that ordinary fleets could not take down.
Whether the target was an arms fortress built atop a cliff or a supply island guarded by thousands of pirates, once Bullet arrived, the Marines would not need to consider how to breach the defenses.