Late at night.
New World, New Marineford.
Inside the Fleet Admiral's office.
Carlo walked in with the latest compiled report in hand. "Fleet Admiral, the newest intelligence summary is ready."
At the desk piled high with documents, Sakazuki did not even look up as he signed transfer orders one after another.
"Read it."
"Yes." Carlo opened the file. "As of 23:00 on the 17th, our initial strategic objectives have been achieved.
"Regarding Emperor Big Mom, the core of her third defensive island chain has been breached. Follow up fleets are advancing, and all are expected to reach their designated positions within four days to begin the next assault.
"Regarding Emperor Kaido, due to the destruction of the 37th, 38th, and 43rd fleets by him, along with the sinking of Allen Port, a gap has appeared in our three pronged formation. The pirate side is organizing a counterattack.
"Regarding Emperor Shanks, Soter's floating fleet captured four of his islands within two days. All defensive measures on those islands have been destroyed. Residents willing to leave the New World have already boarded, but many still refuse to do so.
"Soter asks whether to proceed according to the original plan."
Sakazuki's expression remained unchanged as he replied, "Tell him to carry out the order."
Carlo nodded. "Yes."
He continued reading, "Regarding Emperor Knox, his first wave of reinforcements has arrived at the forward camp. Our deployed forces are also prepared for defense. However, the sea between them is currently the battlefield between him and Admiral Kuzan. Their battle has not ended.
"Based on reports, the range of the Admiral's ice field is slightly smaller than Knox's steam domain. Our intelligence personnel cannot approach an Emperor level battle, but there should not be major issues."
Sakazuki gave a soft response. "Mm. You may leave. Report if anything changes."
"Yes."
Carlo withdrew slowly, leaving the office with only the steady sound of papers being signed. Outside, headquarters remained noisy and busy, but inside, there was only silence.
The war had only just begun.
In a battle between an Emperor and an Admiral, before any imbalance in strength appears, neither side can completely overwhelm the other.
At present, aside from Sakazuki and Sengoku, the Marines' top tier strength was evenly matched against the pirates. Except for Kuzan's battlefield, most deployments were arranged as two against one, making it difficult for either side to kill the other.
Kuzan's situation was different because of the nature of his Devil Fruit. He was better suited for prolonged entanglement, so one opponent was enough.
The extra strength provided by Sakazuki and Sengoku would become the final weight that crushed the pirates.
The reason they had not yet joined the battle was simple. There were too many pirates in the New World.
Under Kaido alone, there were more than twenty thousand pirates, not including the islands he controlled. Big Mom's Totto Land ruled over thirty four islands along with affiliated pirate crews. Shanks had gathered many wandering forces who refused to join the other three Emperors, and together they numbered in the tens of thousands.
The most troublesome was Knox. As the world's largest underground emperor, his gangs and pirate forces nearly equaled the combined numbers of the other three. Although his top fighters were fewer than the other Emperors, his lower ranks were overwhelming.
Eliminating the Four Emperors did not mean peace would follow.
If these lower level pirates were not worn down bit by bit, future trouble would be endless.
In this era, there was no system of identity verification. There were only bounty posters, and those targeted leaders and major figures. The lower level pirates, when added together, numbered in the hundreds of thousands, and most of them were not even qualified to have a bounty.
If the Four Emperors were crushed purely through overwhelming force, those hundreds of thousands of low level pirates would scatter. The Marines would have no way to track them down.
No bounty posters. No identity records.
If these people insisted they were civilians, the Marines would have no way to prove otherwise.
It was not that they could not be killed. It was that the justification would not stand.
You look like a pirate, so you are killed. You deny it, and are still killed.
The consequences of that were unpredictable. The number of innocent people who might die would far exceed the pirates who escaped, and many would still slip through the net.
If the Four Emperors remained alive, however, they could mobilize those pirates to the greatest extent. The Marines could fight a war of attrition and slowly wear them down.
The price would be the sacrifice of countless Marine soldiers.
If the Four Emperors died too soon, the lower level pirates would scatter. Hundreds of thousands of sea rats would blend into the civilian population, untracked and unrecorded. The New World would fall into chaos, and the pressure and public anger would fall entirely on the Marines.
Right now, the Marines lacked an opportunity to gather all the pirates in one place.
Even though the Four Emperors were allied, they still fought their own battles. The front lines were stretched too long across the entire New World.
That opportunity lay with either Big Mom or Kaido.
That was why Sakazuki kept pouring forces into their fronts. He intended to seize the initiative.
* * *
The next day.
The mountain of files that had once covered the desk was gone, clearly all handled. Sakazuki had not slept all night, yet it did not affect him. He ordered that new documents be delivered.
At that moment, the door to the Fleet Admiral's office was pushed open.
He looked up at the visitors and smiled.
"What brings you two here."
The two men standing at the door returned the smile.
They were Zephyr and Morris, who had been training soldiers and compiling manuals at the former Marine Headquarters.
Morris walked in first and said, "The three books you mentioned have been preliminarily edited. We brought them for you to review. I originally planned to inform you through Den Den Mushi, but this old man insisted on coming to the New World to fight, so I came along."
Walking in behind him, Zephyr shook his head.
"What, you did not want to come?"
Morris laughed. "Hahaha. Of course I did. Assign us a mission, Sakazuki."
Sakazuki gestured for them to sit, then took the three books Morris handed over.
"No need to rush the mission. Let me look at these first."
He opened them and began reading.
The other two did not sit. Instead, their eyes were drawn to the massive sand table in the room. They walked over and examined the current strategic deployment of the Marines and the pirates.
Every island marked on the New World sea chart was represented there, all placed in strict proportion.
From the sand table, it was clear that the Marines' primary targets were Big Mom and Kaido at the center, with the assault aimed straight into their core territory.
And it was precisely because of this that the two of them began to frown.
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