Over the next few months, Gern shuttled between G-10 and G-2 in the New World, where the New Headquarters was under construction.
Like a top spinning at full speed, he raced back and forth, handling a tangled mass of affairs: taking over territories, building the New Headquarters, and laying out plans for the Grand Line.
He barely had a moment to spare, run off his feet with work.
Meanwhile, within the Marines, a war without gunfire was growing ever more intense.
Although Akainu and Aokiji had each explicitly rejected the World Government's provocative "proposal" in their own ways, the World Government clearly had not given up.
If the leaders did not care, then their followers would just have to push them along!
Thus, the World Government continued secretly supporting Akainu's faction with resources and public opinion.
It sought to maintain the division within the Marines and prevent Gern from becoming the sole dominant power.
And now, Sengoku, who had originally been responsible for keeping peace between the two factions, had completely abandoned his balancing measures and was even deliberately indulging them.
(He welcomed the respite and viewed this as a test of Gern's ability to maintain control.)
The conflict between Akainu's radicals and Aokiji's conservatives had lost its final restraint. Like a wild horse breaking free of its reins, it grew increasingly tense, almost boiling over in the open.
This was especially true after the decision to move headquarters to the New World completely upended the existing power structure and territorial divisions.
How would the spoils of the New World be divided?
Who would control the interests in the first half of the Grand Line?
Which faction's members would fill the important branch posts under the New Headquarters?
Every question struck a sensitive nerve in both factions.
And so, in