A long while later, a piece of news spread throughout the Four Blues.
Sabo had only just arrived at the West Blue defensive line when he saw the report.
He frowned and asked, "What is going on? Did the comrades in the Nitasulo Kingdom not already withdraw?"
A flash of anger crossed his face.
Compared to the Sabo who appeared in the original story, the current Sabo had grown up far too smoothly and was still not mature enough.
Although he had successfully become the Revolutionary Army's Chief of Staff through his own ability, he still tended to act according to his own temperament.
Immediately, Sabo convened a meeting with all the regional commanders in the West Blue, focusing on the threat posed by the Marines.
"Sakazuki has now completely taken control of the Nitasulo Kingdom. According to the leader's analysis, Nitasulo will become the Marines' main base inside the Four Blues. Our current task is to blunt their offensive momentum and buy enough time for the rear to overthrow those remaining kingdoms and complete the unification of the Four Blues."
Before this, although the Revolutionary Army had basically occupied most of the Four Blues, there were still many kingdoms they had not yet overthrown.
The existence of these kingdoms had always been a thorn in the hearts of Dragon and the Revolutionary Army.
Because these kingdoms were World Government-affiliated nations.
They had enjoyed their privileges for far too long. Even for the sake of preserving those privileges alone, they would never side with the Revolutionary Army.
If Sakazuki of the Marines had not suddenly launched an attack on the Four Blues, perhaps Dragon would have chosen to overthrow them slowly.
"In addition, after our earlier discussion, the matter in the Nitasulo Kingdom was most likely done by the Marines. Only they would be capable of arranging the scene so perfectly."
Sabo scratched his head in frustration.
Originally, according to Dragon's plan, they were not only supposed to fight the Marines head-on, but also incite the people on the islands occupied by the Marines to rise up and overthrow them.
But the current situation was that on every island the Marines occupied, the noble forces were constantly being eliminated by Marine soldiers pretending to be the Revolutionary Army.
The common people, however, had not suffered any oppression.
Without oppression, it was extremely difficult to turn those people into Revolutionary Army soldiers.
"The key point is public opinion. Right now, after the nobles of the World Government-affiliated nations learned about the methods of the 'Revolutionary Army,' every one of them has begun actively resisting us."
"And all that wealth was taken by the Marines. We are the only ones left carrying the blame."
Perhaps even the World Government had not expected that the Marines would now play the game in a way completely different from what they had anticipated.
Although they did not particularly care about the deaths of those nobles, they cared very much about the wealth those nobles had accumulated.
Thus, they began issuing orders to Sakazuki through Raleigh, demanding that he attack the Revolutionary Army's territory as soon as possible and rescue the nobles of those kingdoms.
Worse still, the Revolutionary Army had no way to explain this matter to the outside world.
Because the kingdom nobles would never believe the Revolutionary Army that intended to overthrow them.
They would only firmly believe in the Marines who had come to protect them.
The current situation was that, under the banner of suppressing the Revolutionary Army, the Marines had quietly begun cleansing the remaining nobles within the Four Blues while dumping one black pot after another onto the Revolutionary Army's head.
Sabo irritably grabbed at his hair.
How were they supposed to break this situation?
At the temporary Marine command post in the Nitasulo Kingdom, the Marine soldiers were unusually busy.
They were carrying out intense training while also summoning large numbers of the kingdom's citizens to work for them.
Sakazuki sat in the command room without taking any particular action.
At present, the Revolutionary Army was continuously gathering its forces, while the Marines were also steadily transporting troops, weapons, and equipment here without interruption.
Sakazuki had used the supplies he had brought, along with the wealth seized from the kingdom's nobles, to make a deal with the citizens of the kingdom.
He had them begin constructing a Marine base in the capital of the Nitasulo Kingdom.
Once this Marine base was fully built, the Marines would have the confidence to face the Revolutionary Army head-on.
Sakazuki and Raleigh had never underestimated Dragon's threat.
They knew that while the Revolutionary Army lacked top-tier combatants, what they did not lack was a large number of mid-level and lower-level fighters.
If the Marines advanced too quickly and occupied territory before they had time to digest it, they would soon be dragged into a bitter struggle against the endless waves of the Revolutionary Army.
Building solid fortifications and fighting a steady, stubborn war was precisely what Sakazuki needed to do now.
Raleigh had also given him more than enough support in this regard.
He allocated large amounts of supplies to the West Blue, reducing the Marines' need to exchange with the outside world for resources.
Of course, during this process, the World Government had also been forced to bleed heavily.
...
Inside the Sorbet Kingdom, Dragon had been thinking for a very long time.
Facing the Marines' current strategy, he had racked his brain but still could not come up with a better way to solve the problem.
When two forces were both powerful, it was very difficult for a single small matter to determine the victory or defeat of the war.
Moreover, the Marines were even stronger than the Revolutionary Army.
The Revolutionary Army's current advantage over the Marines lay in the fact that they could concentrate an overwhelming force within the Four Blues, as well as their familiarity with the terrain there.
The Marines' advantage lay in having more powerful combatants, advanced weapons, and abundant supplies.
"If only we could force the Marines to stretch out their supply lines…"
Dragon murmured to himself from his seat.
Once the Marines' supply lines were stretched, the Revolutionary Army could weaken them by sabotaging those lines.
But judging by the current situation, unless the Marines made a mistake, they would not give him such an opportunity.
Sakazuki's construction of a Marine base in the Nitasulo Kingdom was precisely to prevent that situation from happening.
Not to mention, behind the Marines stood the enormous World Government.
In truth, Dragon had always hidden a secret in the depths of his heart, one he did not dare tell anyone.
He had no confidence at all in overthrowing the World Government's rule.
When the Revolutionary Army had not yet become strong enough, Dragon had been full of confidence.
He believed that the Revolutionary Army he led would eventually defeat the rotten rule of the World Government and bring about a completely new world.
But as the Revolutionary Army grew stronger and as his understanding of the world deepened, a sense of fear had instead begun to grow within him.
What was even more tragic was that he could not tell anyone about this feeling. He could not even show the slightest hint of hesitation.
The soul of the Revolutionary Army rested on Dragon himself.
If Dragon's faith wavered, then for the Revolutionary Army, it would be a fatal blow from the top down.
The terror of the World Government was something only a small number of people could truly understand.
Its deep foundation after ruling the world for eight hundred years, and that mysterious, enormous power capable of instantly erasing a kingdom or an island—
Everything Dragon knew was merely the tip of the iceberg.
High atop the Red Line, hidden within the clan of Celestial Dragons who called themselves gods, no one knew what secrets still remained.
The Revolutionary Army's foundation was not even worth mentioning before the Marines.