If one had to name the Marines' greatest advantage in this war,
then aside from numbers, it was still numbers.
That number included warships, high-level combat power, and Marine soldiers.
In particular, the number of Marine soldiers was almost overwhelmingly superior compared to the Sky Pirates.
No matter how the Marines calculated it, the Sky Pirates' forces only numbered around twenty thousand. And because the recruitment period had been too short, most of them were untrained small fry, unable to compare with the Marines' seasoned elite soldiers at all.
On top of that...
Thinking of this, Sengoku glanced at the TV Conch placed not far away.
Although this war had been uncontrollably broadcast live to the world by the Sky Pirates, putting the Marines at a disadvantage from the start and passively forcing them onto a battlefield prepared by the Sky Pirates, as Fleet Admiral, he had to do everything possible to turn unfavorable conditions into advantages.
Before arranging this operation, the Marines and CP had analyzed all aspects of the intelligence on Fire Dragon Yemu.
Then they reached a conclusion that was extremely favorable to the Marines.
Fire Dragon Yemu had one obvious weakness in his character, one that was different from other pirates.
That was, whether it was Fire Dragon Yemu himself or the Sky Pirates, they were not people who killed indiscriminately, especially when it came to ordinary people.
The gentleman's agreement between Fire Dragon Yemu and Kuzan in Loguetown, as well as the incident at Sabaody Archipelago, both proved this point.
From the side of justice, this was not a flaw. It was a virtue. The Marines were somewhat despicable for preparing to use this point to influence the course of the war. But since this was war, there was no such thing as despicable or not.
On top of that, since Fire Dragon Yemu wanted to become this world's savior, he would absolutely not be willing to turn himself into a mass murderer under a live broadcast watched by everyone.
That was also why Sengoku had settled on this war strategy.
For this war, what he wanted was not an ordinary victory, but a beautiful Marine victory from beginning to end.
Looking at Yemu in the distance, who was still completely calm, Sengoku could not help but say one sentence.
"Fire Dragon Yemu, from the very beginning, you never had any chance of winning this war!"
...
The New World, Kingdom of Dressrosa.
The Donquixote Family had also gathered today to watch this war.
Looking at the dense swarm of Marines on the TV Conch, terrifying like ants, Doflamingo and his officers all looked rather grim.
Only when the Marines truly revealed their strength would the answer become clear: who was the real ruler of this sea?
Whether it was the past Rocks, Roger, Whitebeard, Golden Lion, BIGMOM, or other monsters, before the true strength displayed by the Marines, they would all seem incredibly small.
This was the foundation nurtured by the World Government that had ruled this world for eight hundred years.
"So, Fire Dragon Yemu, how are you going to respond to this move from the Marines?"
This same question echoed in the hearts of many ambitious men, schemers, and overlords across the sea.
On the flagship of the great Marine fleet, the Marine high command led by Sengoku, Garp, and Zephyr quietly watched Yemu not far away, waiting for his response.
Just then, the sound of orderly, powerful footsteps rang in the ears of every Marine charging toward Golden Crow Island.
Boom, boom, boom...
Boom, boom, boom...
The moment Zephyr heard that sound, he instinctively felt something was wrong.
As the Marines' Chief Instructor, Zephyr was far too familiar with training Marines. He could tell that whoever was making such perfectly uniform footsteps was definitely not some ordinary pirate rabble. Even if they were, they would have needed at least several years of relentless daily training to achieve it.
"Something's wrong!"
Zephyr immediately warned them.
Sengoku naturally understood as well and instantly gave an order.
"All Marine soldiers, stay alert!"
In an instant, the steps of the Marines charging forward slowed. And at that moment, from the enormous air door in the distance, squad after squad of soldiers the Marines had never seen before emerged. They wore white upper garments and gray lower garments, with the number 66 engraved on them. A rifle was carried on each of their backs. With unbelievably synchronized steps, they ran out of the air door and across the ice.
At that moment, on the Marines' flagship, Hammond's face changed drastically as he watched the scene. He roared out in anger.
"Vinsmoke Judge, that bastard! When did he join the Sky Pirates?"
"Vinsmoke?"
That name instantly stirred memories among the Marines present.
After all, the Sky Pirates had once come into contact with Vinsmoke Judge at Water 7. Every member of the Marine high command knew about it.
But weren't those two enemies? Why were they suddenly standing together now?
At that moment, Sengoku looked at Hammond, whose expression was clearly wrong, then looked at those soldiers and asked uneasily, "Hammond, is there some intelligence your CP has been hiding from us?"
Sakazuki, who was born in the North Blue, was especially sensitive to that name and also asked in confusion, "Didn't the Vinsmoke Kingdom perish long ago? The current Vinsmoke Judge is just barely surviving on the sea. There shouldn't be anything to worry about, right...?"
"No..."
Under everyone's gaze, Hammond's expression was ugly as he slowly said, "Because of orders from the World Government, we at CP did not tell the Marines some pieces of intelligence regarding Vinsmoke Judge..."
The moment these words came out, everyone became uneasy.
"And that is, when Vinsmoke Judge was young, he once worked with Vegapunk and mastered a strange technology. Using that technology, he created an enormous army..."
"What?!"
At that moment, everyone was shocked.
Did that not mean...
"How many are there exactly?"
Anger was completely useless now. What Sengoku wanted to know was the new intelligence as quickly as possible.
"A conservative estimate would be over fifty thousand..."
"Fifty thousand?!"
"Hey, hey, you've got to be kidding."
At that moment, even Borsalino, who had looked relaxed from beginning to end, could no longer stay relaxed.
But clearly, Hammond's answer was no joke. In fact, it was even somewhat conservative.
At the very front of the battlefield, the Marines watched squad after squad of Vinsmoke Family soldiers. Whether in number or presence, they were every bit as strong as these elite Marines, if not stronger.
The Marine soldiers who had been charging forward could no longer control their fear and slowly came to a stop.
Eighty thousand versus one hundred thousand.
The difference in military strength that the Marines had originally estimated to be at least fivefold had instantly shrunk to 1.25 to one.
At that moment, the gap of twenty thousand no longer seemed so important.
On the TV Conch's image, the huge gap between the Sky Pirates and the Marines disappeared in an instant. Everything seemed to have become evenly matched.
Across the entire sea, those watching this war, who had originally thought the Sky Pirates were doomed to lose, suddenly felt that the result of this war might no longer be certain.
Countless ambitious men and schemers could not stop themselves from laughing.
"Hahahaha..."
"The future of this world seems to be getting more and more interesting..."