Not long after, Gion walked in from outside on her long, slender legs.
Seeing Raleigh reading through files, she smiled.
"What made you so diligent today?"
After saying that, she sat down beside Raleigh.
Raleigh put down the files in his hand and said, "Cleveland came by just now. Belo Betty sent word that the main force of the Revolutionary Army has already left the Four Blues and entered the Calm Belt. I need to verify it."
Raleigh would never tell Cleveland that he had another spy in the Four Blues, and that this spy was specifically responsible for watching Belo Betty.
Likewise, within the Marines, there were also some people absolutely loyal to Raleigh who helped him monitor the movements inside the organization.
Gion nodded. She took out a special Den Den Mushi from her coat and made a call.
A short while later, Gion ended the call and confirmed to Raleigh, "The main force of the Revolutionary Army has indeed entered the Calm Belt, and they have already disappeared for several days."
The spy Gion had contacted was none other than the young mistress of the first mafia family Raleigh had saved back in the North Blue: Salisbury Alice.
Now, she had long since joined the Revolutionary Army. Relying on her family's power, she had become a regional commander in the North Blue.
Unfortunately, her importance was far below Belo Betty's, so Dragon had not brought her along. Instead, he had left her to guard the Revolutionary Army's old home, the Far North Country.
Raleigh's expression did not change at all.
He was certain that Belo Betty would not betray him, but at the same time, he had to leave a fallback in case Belo Betty really did betray him.
"The war is about to begin again."
Raleigh let out a tired breath.
Gion stood behind Raleigh and stretched out her ten slender fingers, massaging his shoulders.
...
Another hour passed.
After arranging everything properly, Momonga pushed open the door of the Fleet Admiral's office with an exhausted body.
Gion had already gone back, but her fragrance still lingered in the air of the office.
Seeing Momonga walk in, Raleigh quickly stood, poured a cup of hot tea, and handed it to him.
Momonga did not stand on ceremony and drank it in one go.
"How is it? Has everything been arranged?"
Raleigh and Momonga sat together on the sofa. When he saw Momonga put the cup down, Raleigh filled it with hot tea again.
Momonga exhaled deeply and said, "Everything has been arranged. A large amount of supplies will be transported by warship across the Calm Belt to the base in the West Blue. Now we can launch the counteroffensive in the Four Blues."
A smile appeared on Raleigh's face.
As expected of his good brother.
Back then, he had already felt Momonga was reliable when handling matters. Now it seemed he had been completely right.
Although Momonga's combat power had no possibility of rising further after reaching elite Vice Admiral level, Momonga no longer needed to fight now.
His coordination ability had instead become something Raleigh valued.
"The New World side also needs large amounts of supplies because of the Red Hair Pirates and the Big Mom Pirates."
"Although we achieved great victories in both battles, we also lost quite a few personnel and supplies. We still need a large amount of manpower and materials to maintain the current offensive."
"What worries me most now is that the Red Hair Pirates and the Big Mom Pirates may unite in a joint defense. If that happens, it will be very difficult for us to open the situation with our current forces."
Raleigh was well aware of the problems Momonga was thinking about.
Moreover, Raleigh also knew things that Momonga did not.
That was because the World Government had already begun reducing material support to the Marines.
The supplies being consumed now were, in fact, supplies from one month ago.
War was fought with money.
War was fought with production.
The reason the Marines had been able to achieve their current results was partly because of their top combatants, but the rest was due to their artillery advantage, weapon advantage, and most importantly, their warship advantage.
Once the World Government refused to provide enough supplies, the Marines would quickly lose the first two advantages.
But Raleigh had long anticipated such a situation, which was why he had made arrangements in the Four Blues early.
Dragon's industrialized production was also something he had been keeping a close eye on.
Although Dragon had still left a large number of Revolutionary Army troops to guard those production bases, in Raleigh's eyes, a base without middle- and high-level combat power was nothing more than a piece of meat.
He could eat it whenever he wanted.
"There is no need to worry about supplies. For now, reduce the supplies sent to the New World by half. Tell them to absorb the islands they have captured, build fortresses there, and prepare for the next offensive."
As for the New World, Raleigh had no intention of pressing all the Marines in at once.
After all, the situation in the New World was extremely complicated.
The civilians there had a very low sense of identification with the Marines, even lower than their opinion of some pirates with slightly better character.
Even after Raleigh took office and issued iron-blooded rules, even after he dealt with several great pirates one after another, he still could not completely erase the idea of becoming pirates from the minds of the New World's people.
In response to this situation, Raleigh's method was simple: build solid strongholds and fight a slow, grinding war.
With the scale of the New World, it was simply impossible for it to resist the combined scale of Paradise and the Four Blues.
As long as the Four Blues were taken, the pirates of the New World could only walk step by step toward death.
There would be no second outcome.
Raleigh dialed Sakazuki's Den Den Mushi.
...
At the Marine base in the West Blue, Sakazuki was carrying out a situation simulation when the Den Den Mushi in his coat suddenly rang.
Sakazuki took it out and glanced at it, immediately knowing who was calling.
"Hello. Calling this late, is there something urgent, Raleigh?"
Sakazuki's expression was serious.
He knew that if Raleigh wanted idle conversation, he would never call him at this hour. A call at this time meant something major.
But Raleigh did not give Sakazuki time to think too much. He spoke directly.
"Sakazuki-senpai, Revolutionary Army leader Monkey D. Dragon has led the main officers of the Revolutionary Army, along with a large number of middle- and high-level combat forces, into the Calm Belt. Right now, there is no one left in the Four Blues who can resist the Marines' offensive."
"The Four Blues Plan can begin."
A smile appeared on Sakazuki's face.
Back when he first came to the Four Blues, he had originally wanted to rely on the Marines' powerful weapons to quickly seize control of the situation there, but Raleigh had rejected it.
Although he had already occupied the vast majority of territory in the West Blue, Raleigh had never allowed him to continue attacking.
During this long period, the supplies sent from Headquarters had already piled up like mountains.
Sakazuki had also prepared several plans for the Four Blues and even conducted multiple simulations.
Now, he could finally stretch his hands and feet.
"Oh, right, Sakazuki-senpai. I will send you several locations in a while. They are the Revolutionary Army's production factories and material storage bases. These places must be taken, and they must be kept intact."
"We need those production factories and supplies to prepare the Marines' offensive against the New World."
Sakazuki nodded.
Even if Raleigh had not said it, he had already intended to do this.
"Very well. Tomorrow, you can wait for good news from the Four Blues."
After Sakazuki ended the call, he summoned his adjutant and began notifying every officer stationed in the West Blue to attend a meeting.
He would take out the most perfect version of his plan and assign every task to every person.
Tomorrow, before the sun rose, he would launch an offensive that would shock the entire world.
...
In Foosha Village in the East Blue.
Makino, who had originally been in a good mood, turned pale with shock when she saw the note left on the counter of her tavern.
There were only a few crooked lines written on it.
"Makino, I am going out to sea."
"I am going to find Shanks and ask him why he did not go to the Marine base to save Uta."
"I am also going to send that bastard who killed Uta flying."
"Makino, I will become the Pirate King."
Even though no name had been left behind, Makino recognized that this note had been written by Luffy.