After taking a few jabs at Ortoren, Doflamingo shifted back to the main topic. "So, regarding the development of this maritime police force, are there any hard targets set?"
"I had Tesoro crunch the numbers earlier. Look, after this year's amber lead, smuggling, and arms trades settle, G-5 alone will still have more than seven hundred billion Belly in surplus. And that's just a rough estimate. If the market improves in the second half... things should be even better. Once this meeting ends, I'm going to take Ochoku off the board on Hachinosu. After that, the Beast Pirates' territory will start generating revenue as well. At this rate, just for this year, our surplus could easily break the one-trillion-Belly mark."
"Plus, now that I've been promoted to Admiral and put in charge of the New World, the potential gains will only grow. In the next couple of years, the Calm Belt's grain and minerals will enter the market. Surplus should reach at least three to five trillion Belly—more as time goes on. And we still have other ventures to launch. I can say with full confidence: as long as we keep this operation running, money will no longer be our problem!" Ortoren said with clear satisfaction.
After so many years of scraping by—from his time as G-5's leader, to stepping down, to rising to Admiral—he'd never once enjoyed financial breathing room. Truthfully, he still owed a mountain of debt. Doflamingo was one of his creditors.
But looking at this year's budget and the projected economic development ahead, the commercial network he'd cultivated for years had finally reached the scale needed to return profits in full force.
Thinking of this, Ortoren couldn't help but laugh. That guy really had luck on his side. When he first took over G-5, he barely had any soldiers. The unit wasn't properly structured, lacked combat experience, and weapons were scarce. Light machine guns? Not even ten across the entire base. Artillery? Old, worn-out barrels with smoothed rifling. What did six hundred-some personnel even amount to? As the Vice Admiral in charge of the base, Ortoren couldn't even assemble a fully staffed warship to set sail.
Headquarters hadn't given him a single Belly. Everything G-5 became was built on the debts and favors he'd scraped together through his personal connections.
Now, years later, G-5 stood strong: a hundred thousand battle-ready troops, warships as numerous as clouds, its presence casting a heavy shadow over the New World. If not for his official position, calling him one of the Yonkō wouldn't have sounded wrong at all.
Issho had really inherited a sweet deal from him.
Now, at long last, life was looking good. They were on track to enter an era where they'd have more money than they could even spend.
While he thought about all that, Ortoren continued aloud, "Next, besides establishing several Marine bases, everything else will follow regular procedures. And unlike G-5, these will be funded by Headquarters. Which means the profits I mentioned earlier are all for our private ventures."
"This Coast Guard force, for example, is a major investment. Develop it however you like. The more people, the better. Aim to hit a hundred thousand personnel in 1506, then keep expanding. Let me put it simply—if you break a hundred thousand by 1510, I'll genuinely promote you to Vice Admiral."
Doflamingo stroked his chin, calculating. "Manpower isn't the problem. The real issue is whether we can sustain such a massive scale."
A million people sounded like a lot, but given the population of the New World, it was manageable. And Doflamingo didn't intend to recruit solely from there. The North Blue was his long-standing foundation, where his influence and reputation were unmatched. Now that he was to serve as Coast Guard Commander, recruiting from the North Blue was completely logical. The New World might struggle to keep up, but the North Blue had people to spare.
As one of the four seas, as long as you could afford to feed them, you could raise not just a million but even three million troops.
"Too small, and people crush you. Medium-sized, and you might still get crushed. But the bigger the scale, the easier it is to hold together. And by then, we won't be the ones living in fear. So act fast. We need to expand before anyone has time to react. Understand?" Ortoren laughed.
By Sea Circle Calendar 1510, if he still couldn't speak to the Five Elders with confidence, he might as well quit.
And unlike when he was a Vice Admiral at G-5, a Vice Admiral—truthfully—didn't have real authority. One order from above, and you were removed.
It wasn't uncommon for Vice Admirals to be demoted after Headquarters ran into trouble. In fact, every few years, at least one or two would inevitably get taken down.
So during his vice admiral days, Ortoren had always kept those risks in mind. If he overstepped and Admiral Sengoku couldn't withstand the political pressure, he'd be removed immediately—possibly forced to return home and inherit the family business.
But once you become an Admiral, that problem disappears. Admirals are the true upper echelon of the Marines. Yes, a Fleet Admiral can promote someone into that seat, but removing an Admiral? Nearly impossible. Not just for the Fleet Admiral—even the World Government struggled to demote someone already seated as an Admiral through normal means.
In the original story, that guy Issho, even after bowing his head and apologizing and deliberately letting the Straw Hat Pirates go, still retained all the status that came with his rank. What could the World Government do? When the Reverie convened, Issho went to Holy Land as he pleased.
Sakazuki, as Fleet Admiral at the time, could yell at Issho, ban him from Marine bases, and throw tantrums—but so what? It barely made a dent.
No matter how furious Sakazuki got, all he could do was rant. There was no way he could strip Admiral Fujitora of his rank.
And that was when Fujitora had entered the Admiral position via the World Military Draft—without a faction or a solid power base in the Marines.
And what about Ortoren? He was the real deal—climbing step by step from a Navy cadet to an officer. Along the way he accumulated everything: classmates, comrades-in-arms, mentors and elders, superior officers, distinguished service, frontline experience. Nothing was lacking. He was the orthodox, textbook, top-tier Admiral.
He'd also formed his own loyal faction—not just Issho, Momonga, Gion, and Tokikake, but also the steady stream of field-grade officers G-5 had supplied to Marine bases and Marine Headquarters over the years.
So now that he sat in the Admiral's seat, getting him there had been easy. Getting him out would be a nightmare. As long as Ortoren himself refused, even Fleet Admiral Sengoku would have a hard time forcing him to step down.
That was the chasm between an Admiral and a Vice Admiral—that was the true weight of an Admiral's authority.
Thus, upon returning to the New World, Ortoren took the unprecedented step of calling all his partners—Black, White, Gray and the rest—together for a meeting.
The reason was simple: his status had changed, his power had grown, and most of the old restraints were gone.
From here on, he no longer needed to tiptoe around. He could act boldly.
Anyone who wanted to remove him from his position would first have to ask whether the Marines agreed, whether his hundred thousand elite troops agreed, and even whether the big shots of the New World agreed.
Today, he, Ortoren, was an Admiral and the New World remained peaceful.
Tomorrow, if someone tried to push him out, the New World would instantly erupt into chaos.
By the third day, Holy Land might very well be burning again.
If he was cautious before becoming an Admiral, and still cautious after becoming one, then what was the point of becoming an Admiral in the first place?
Doflamingo was also someone who feared nothing. Seeing Ortoren so firm and confident, he stopped pressing. He immediately said, "If you can shoulder it, then the scale isn't an issue for me... But I can't afford to feed that many troops. Whether it's funding, logistics, or weapons, you'll have to supply everything!"
"No problem," Ortoren replied without hesitation.
Doflamingo was no fool—that was why he insisted on clarifying this part.
And in truth, Ortoren dared to entrust this matter to Doflamingo for two main reasons.
First, while Doflamingo was highly capable and strong, his strength remained only "considerable." With his conditions, it would be extremely difficult—nearly impossible—for him to reach the monstrous level of Kaidou, Whitebeard, Charlotte Linlin, or the Marine Admirals.
He fell just a bit short. That slight gap meant Ortoren could keep him firmly under control. That was the first point.
Second, although Doflamingo would serve as the commander of this Coast Guard force, he lacked the capacity to provide it with full logistical support.
He had money, yes, but not enough to sustain a force of that magnitude. He had no warship technology, no weapons-manufacturing capability, and not enough supplies or food reserves.
If he couldn't afford to maintain the force, he'd end up in the same position as the Marines—dependent on whoever funded them, forced to obey whatever the World Government demanded.
From that perspective, Doflamingo was the Marines, and Ortoren was the equivalent of the World Government.
Combined with several other factors, this was why Ortoren could confidently entrust such a major responsibility to Doflamingo.
...
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