The atmosphere inside the highest office of Marine Headquarters was oppressive. Sengoku and Tsuru did not continue their conversation.
Perhaps to clear his head, or perhaps because he did not know how to face Kuzan, Sengoku left Marineford afterward.
Even if he resigned and stopped serving as Fleet Admiral, the Marines would still have him put his remaining influence to use.
As it happened, the matter of converting the G-1 base into the new Marine Headquarters still lacked someone weighty enough to oversee it.
Tsuru, meanwhile, headed for Mary Geoise, attempting to interfere with something on the Five Elders' side.
During this gap, the two people with the greatest authority and sharpest minds in Marine Headquarters had, by "sheer coincidence," left Marineford.
"The timing is perfect."
Ren withdrew his hand from the Limited Wishing Machine and once again burned through an astronomical amount of Beli.
To be honest, if Tesoro had not completely defected to his side, he might not have been able to afford using this thing.
But what that enormous cost brought him was an extremely valuable opening.
Ren's plan had just passed through its opening stage. At this phase, it officially entered the setup stage.
Stussy drove a group of Cipher Pol agents into action.
One prepared piece after another was activated. This involved not only Ren's side, but also the Revolutionary Army and Tesoro's forces.
After all, the Marines were a colossal organization, one that had existed for so many years.
Making this institution suffer a few problems was very easy.
But making it suffer a truly major problem was not that easy.
Without multiple forces acting together, there was no way to be confident of achieving something like that.
But from this angle, one could also see something else.
The network Ren had pulled together was unimaginably vast.
And that was not all.
Ren had also obtained part of the Whitebeard Pirates' strength.
After Marco received Whitebeard's relics, he brought them back to the Whitebeard Pirates.
There had been some twists and turns along the way, but Whitebeard had clearly considered these things before his death. Through Marco's actions, they were successfully resolved.
Murakumogiri was sent to the island of Sphinx, serving as Whitebeard's cenotaph.
The residents there also returned to the island where they lived during this period, and the members of the Whitebeard Pirates helped them rebuild their home.
After that, the Whitebeard Pirates fell apart. This was also the reason the World Government publicly announced that the Buster Call had, in fact, succeeded.
No matter what, Whitebeard was dead.
The Whitebeard Pirates had disbanded.
Under the massive propaganda machine, that answer could barely be made to hold up.
Some of them became pirates again. Some followed Ace. Some followed Marco.
The portion that followed Marco was the force that had chosen to obey Ren's orders.
They were the bet Whitebeard had placed on Ren. None of them were easy to deal with, so they might as well be put to good use.
At the very least, if the first group accidentally ended up opposing Ren, there would still be room for mediation between the two sides.
"The future era will inevitably belong to Ren."
Marco had said that. It was one of the words Whitebeard had left behind.
No matter what, Ren had unexpectedly, yet reasonably, gained a very powerful force.
This fit perfectly with his usual philosophy: win over those who could be won over, eliminate those who could be eliminated, and gather the strength of the masses to deal with their shared enemy.
In addition, Kuja Island was still continuously giving birth to new angels.
After newly born angels finished preparing their equipment, they would leave Kuja Island and head to the territory of Totto Land, which now served as a major base.
They would join the Cross Guild's purge war in the New World and set out for various places across the New World.
The probability of casualties during this process was extremely high, but they were warriors capable of reincarnation. On top of that, vast resources were being poured into them.
The Angel Legion was growing stronger at an astonishing speed.
The name of the angels gradually became widely known in the New World. Even the Marines would feel wary when they encountered them.
In the past, the Marines' opponents had been scattered pirates. Forget whether or not they were united; when those pirates met each other, there was a high chance they would try to kill one another.
But the Angel Legion was different.
Provoke one, and ten or a hundred would come.
The more one resisted, the more angels would be drawn in.
Unless someone's strength reached a certain level, such as that of a Marine Vice Admiral, the angels would choose to ignore them.
But while Marine Headquarters Vice Admirals seemed common, in reality, they were still extremely rare.
At the same time, in order to secure their own status, Kuja warriors also began joining the Cross Guild one after another, fighting for their uncrowned king.
Hancock did not express any opinion on this.
The current Kuja Island had basically taken Ren's shape.
It was worth mentioning that after Kozuki Hiyori incorporated the prisoner group, she returned to the territory of Wano with Ren's support.
Robin followed up on this part of the plan, ensuring that after the war, Wano would fall under Ren's crew's control.
Yes, after the war.
The struggle between Ren and the two Yonko was bound to happen. Robin was certain that the final victor would be her captain.
That was why some matters had to be arranged in advance.
Ren neither confirmed nor denied this.
His main purpose in placing Kozuki Hiyori as a piece on the board was to restrain Kaido's attention.
This would ensure that before Ren freed up his hands, Kaido would not have the chance to ambush him.
At the very least, there could not be an unexpected factor like the Beasts Pirates attacking.
As for what came afterward, once Vegapunk chose to cooperate and helped him produce that result, there would be no need to worry about anything.
Forget two Yonko.
So what if all four Yonko came at him together?
Ren was extremely confident in this.
"Next, it's time to complete the objective."
At this moment, Robin's voice was ringing beside Ren's ear, reporting on various matters.
This secretary, capable in every sense of the word, had already become an indispensable pillar of the entire team.
Under Robin's watch, the preliminary steps of each plan proceeded in perfect order.
Miss Luck, Baccarat, had been following Saint Charlos all along. This lucky lady still had not awakened.
Ren had drawn a luck-related item for her, which allowed her luck ability to exert influence externally.
Put simply, she could absorb other people's luck and gather it onto herself, then use that accumulated luck as the cost to activate the item.
Combined with the fact that the guard team was basically made up of their own people, as well as the two Celestial Dragons having been given suggestions, this side could be said to be smooth sailing.
On the other side, inside Marine Headquarters, Stussy went all out and mobilized various resources, using deception, concealment, secret missions, and other methods to drive a batch of chess pieces.
Together with the forces of the Revolutionary Army and Tesoro, they infiltrated and took control of the organizations involved in managing the Buster Call.
Very subtly, the Revolutionary Army had also dispatched a very interesting newcomer.
He had only recently joined the Revolutionary Army. For him to appear in such an important plan, there was one and only one reason.
He was a Devil Fruit user.
More precisely, he possessed the Inu-Inu Fruit, Mythical Model: Nine-Tailed Fox!
This fruit's previous user had been killed by Ren in Impel Down.
After the fruit reincarnated, this lucky person happened to find it and eat it. Later, because he was persecuted by the nobles of his kingdom, he was absorbed into the Revolutionary Army.
Although his degree of development was insufficient, he could perfectly transform into someone he had touched.
Stussy used his ability to replace a rather important Marine officer within the Marines, and used that as a radiation point to control a large number of Marines, making them serve the entire plan.
The Revolutionary Army's hidden pieces were also activated and given the command that they had to make the Buster Call successfully launch.
But the most unexpected thing was the financial corruption from Tesoro's side.
After the Marineford War, the justice in many people's hearts had collapsed along with the crumbling Marine Headquarters.
That was why a large number of Marines left to follow Zephyr, while a very small number followed Smoker. Among those who remained were these Marines who had abandoned justice, and even treated justice as a joke.
Corrupting them was as easy as insects hollowing out a tree trunk.
Many Marines had sensed that the state of the world was becoming more and more unstable. Having abandoned justice, they naturally did not want to risk their lives.
There were plenty of people who thought of making a fortune and then running away.
This was also the reason Ren had gone to such lengths to make Whitebeard say those words.
When the bottom line of a collective consensus was openly broken, what followed would be the terrifying result of a rapid plunge into the abyss.
No matter who it was, no one had the ability to stop it.
After the three sides converged,
Ren used the Limited Wishing Machine while activating that long-sealed Golden Den Den Mushi!
Buru Buru.
Accompanied by that sound, the Buster Call was launched.
Target location—
Sabaody Archipelago!
"Hey, hey! A Buster Call has been launched?!"
"By whom?"
"It's Admiral Akainu's Golden Den Den Mushi! The target is... the target is Sabaody Archipelago!"
"Is there something dangerous in that place?"
"That's not right. Admiral Akainu isn't out on a mission, is he? I think he's still recuperating while on leave."
The Marines involved in the Buster Call fell into some confusion, but a Marine officer immediately stepped forward.
"Admiral Akainu must be thinking of the world even while on vacation, never forgetting to strike down evil. That must be why he encountered a situation where a Buster Call had to be launched."
If it had been only one person, there would still have been Marines who dared to say something.
But the one who had spoken was only the beginning. Another Marine officer stood forward.
"What are you all questioning? Since Admiral Akainu launched the Buster Call, then he must have his reasons.
No matter what, immediately assemble the personnel. Ten large warships. Set sail at the fastest speed!"
The extremely high ranks of these officers left the Marines below them not daring to question the order in the slightest. One Marine officer after another stepped forward and applied pressure.
"I'll contact the Vice Admirals. You handle the other procedures quickly."
"Hurry and report it upward."
"Report it to who? Fleet Admiral Sengoku. If he isn't here, then call him by Den Den Mushi!"
Under layer after layer of pressure, the steps that should have been repeatedly confirmed were passed through with ridiculous ease.
"Yes..."
Someone insisted on reporting upward according to standard procedure. After all, something like a Buster Call affected everything once set into motion.
When the report reached the upper levels, the Marine disguised and replaced by the Revolutionary Army's Devil Fruit user naturally approved it.
The report continued upward.
Then, in the form of a Den Den Mushi call, Sengoku approved the launching of the Buster Call.
In the eyes of most Marines, although Sengoku had many problems, and although he had already submitted his resignation, before the next Marine Fleet Admiral took office, he was still Marineford's Fleet Admiral.
Thus, without Akainu or Sengoku knowing anything, the Buster Call was successfully launched.
Ten large Marine warships arrived in the waters around Sabaody Archipelago.
At the head, Vice Admiral Strawberry, his entire body wrapped in bandages, clenched a cigar between his teeth and frowned as he looked toward Sabaody Archipelago.
(End of Chapter)