Inside the royal palace of Alabasta.
Sean stared at the data delivered by Igaram and the others, momentarily stunned.
Over the course of twelve days, the total number of applicants had reached 1,273,255.
Because Vivi had ensured the basic requirements were clearly listed on the recruitment notices posted throughout Alabasta, the pass rate after testing was a staggering 92.1%.
That left a total of 1,172,667 qualified candidates.
He had to hand it to them—Alabasta truly lived up to its reputation as the largest nation in the pirate world, boasting a population of over twenty million.
Sean had only intended to recruit 450 people, yet over a million had met the basic criteria for the branch's new recruits.
It was absurd...
Of course, as Vivi had pointed out, while the number of applicants was high, the number of qualified candidates was equally vast. But that just meant they could select the best of the best.
A million people with a Doriki of 10?
No problem. He simply raised the requirement to 20!
What? There were still tens of thousands who qualified at 20?
No matter. Raise it again!
In the end, the strongest 450 were filtered out from the initial 1.17 million. Even the weakest among them had a Doriki of 37, which was quite impressive.
But it didn't end there.
Next came the background checks for these 450 candidates.
Anyone with a criminal record? Out!
Anyone with twisted values? Out!
Anyone with a questionable background? Out!
Consequently, the group of 450 was whittled down to 377.
What about the 63 vacancies? Simple. He just filled them from the remaining pool based on the strength rankings.
By the third day after Sean's arrival in Alabasta, the final list of 450 recruits was confirmed.
Simultaneously, Sean held a private meeting with King Cobra regarding the first phase of military aid for Alabasta.
This package included 20 small warships and 8 medium warships, along with all the necessary accompanying weaponry and equipment. These would be delivered incrementally over the next six months.
As for large warships, the number of available docks was limited. Besides his own needs, Sean had already made a promise to Akainu. Supplying large warships to Alabasta in the short term was impossible.
Furthermore, building a Marine didn't happen overnight. It was better to start with small and medium ships to train the troops. Once they had a mature body of royal naval officers, they could consider larger vessels.
Besides, one shouldn't underestimate the small and medium ships; these were ironclads powered by cola. Generally speaking, as long as Alabasta wasn't going to war with the Four Emperors or the Marines, these 28 ships would be more than enough to deal with coastal pirate harassment.
As for the military base and training camp being constructed in Yuba, they were more than halfway complete and would be officially operational within a month.
With that, the deployment of the instructor team was put on the agenda.
According to Sean's plan, he would dispatch one chief instructor and two companies of Marines to be stationed there as a training cadre. Once more recruits were trained, he would send three additional companies.
Ultimately, Sean would deploy one chief instructor and five companies of Marines in Alabasta, totaling 241 personnel.
With hundreds of thousands of royal army and royal Marine soldiers already in place, supplemented by these elite branch Marines, this force would be enough to maintain a deterrent presence in the Grand Line—even after Sean eventually departed for the New World.
Five companies might not sound like much, but these weren't ordinary Marines. The fact that they had passed the recruit exams meant their Doriki was at least over 300.
Sean wouldn't be heading to the New World for at least another year. By then, it was likely that every single one of these Marines would have reached the "superhuman" level Lucci had described.
Two hundred and forty superhumans, led by a field-grade officer.
He wondered which pirate crew in the first half of the Grand Line could possibly stand against that?
It would be like... well, like imagining Luffy trying to take on 240 Kalifas at once.
Moreover, in a year's time, it was probable that none of these 240 men would be weaker than the original Kalifa. After all, her Doriki in the original story was only around that level.
And even in the worst-case scenario, if they encountered an insurmountable enemy, Blueno was always there. He could simply transport high-level combatants to the scene at a moment's notice.
In short, Sean's grand strategy was to use Alabasta to control Paradise and eventually exert influence over the four seas, while he took his primary combat force to settle things in the New World.
'''
Once everything was settled, Sean bid farewell to King Cobra.
After loading over six hundred people onto the warship, they set sail once more, beginning their journey back to the East Blue.
This time, Cobra no longer worried about Vivi. After she had returned to Alabasta, she had demonstrated her current strength to him, nearly scaring the life out of the King.
Although Vivi's Doriki relied almost entirely on meat jerky for growth and currently sat just above 300, she possessed a Devil Fruit. Not only was it a Logia type, but it was a fruit that perfectly suited her.
It could be said that among the branch's personnel below the rank of field-grade officer, no one was Vivi's match—except for Ace and Sophia.
Ace possessed the Flame-Flame Fruit; even though he hadn't awakened Armament Haki yet, he could already generate temperatures close to 3,000 degrees. At that heat, he could directly vitrify sand, making him the hard counter to a sand-based fruit.
As for Sophia, she had the Seastone weapons given to her by Lucci, coupled with her immense physical strength.
And Zoro... well, without Seastone weapons or Armament Haki, he would be completely helpless against Vivi, left with nothing to do but stare in frustration.
After all, why else would Enel call himself a god?
'''
Two days later.
The Calm Belt.
On deck, Sean pondered whether he should hunt a Sea King before heading back. He quickly shook his head and dismissed the idea. Even if he killed one, he couldn't bring much back.
The warship was already packed. By design, the ship's full complement was only 218 people, yet they currently had over 600 crammed on board. Where would he even put a Sea King?
Speaking of which, maybe he should ask Barry and Franky to build a ship specifically for hunting Sea Kings. It wouldn't need the high specifications of a warship, but it would need to be incredibly spacious.
That seemed like a good idea. Otherwise, every time he went hunting—even for a three-hundred-meter class Sea King—a single ship might not be enough to carry the haul, forcing him to bring an entire fleet. That was far too wasteful.
Ironclads were expensive to operate. While he wasn't short on money, efficiency still mattered.
"Vice Admiral! Pirate ship spotted at one o'clock!"
While Sean was lost in thought, a lookout from the rear tower suddenly shouted down toward him on the deck.
"Have you identified the pirate crew?"
"Reporting, sir! It's the Kuja Pirates of the Warlord, the Pirate Empress Boa Hancock. They're heading straight for us!"
"Nami, adjust course! One o'clock!"
"Yes, Vice Admiral!"
Upon hearing that Boa Hancock was the one approaching, Sean leaped up and landed just outside the bridge, barking orders to those inside.
'The most beautiful woman in the world, huh?'
He was actually quite intrigued; it would be worth taking a look. Furthermore, Amazon Lily had already been a key objective in Sean's long-term plans. Much like Alabasta, it was a territory he intended to secure.
Most importantly, despite being a society of women, the island was teeming with Haki users. It was undoubtedly a far superior source of recruits than Alabasta.
'Hmm, forming an all-female battalion... that has a nice ring to it.'
After all, once he reached the New World, he would need a massive army. As for today, he would start by making himself known, and then...
He'd leave her with an impression she'd never forget!