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"Understood. Everyone, please share your thoughts."
After hearing Benimaru out, Kaito gestured for him to return to his seat and opened the floor. As for why a topic as sensitive as military reorganization was being broadcast live, well, all the scheming in the world meant nothing in the face of absolute strength.
"Kaito-sama," Benimaru said, his expression serious as he glanced toward Sengoku and Sakazuki before sitting down, "now that we have a Space Navy, the regular Navy feels somewhat redundant."
"As the Fleet Admiral, I'd have to agree with the Commander-in-Chief," Sakazuki said, propping his chin on both hands. "There are hardly any pirates left worth hunting on the open sea."
Meanwhile, watching the broadcast from the Swan:
"Ness, is this really your brother?" Lashara stared at the small, round-cheeked boy across from her with open disbelief. "Are you sure he's not your father?"
"He's my brother. Kaito Nii brought me back, so the age gap is... what it is."
"Ah. I see."
"Mr. Kaito really is something else," Aura murmured, eyes fixed on Kaito's figure on the screen with quiet admiration.
The others nodded.
Before anyone else could speak, Benimaru's voice came through the broadcast again. "Kaito-sama, the Space Navy's fleet is expanding rapidly, and we're already critically short on personnel. After discussing it with the three Admirals, we'd like to propose folding the Navy into the Space Navy entirely. Ground defense would fall to the Army."
Kaito listened and turned the idea over carefully. It made sense. With piracy all but extinct, a dedicated naval force did feel like an answer to a question nobody was asking anymore. But the Army only had ten legions and 150,000 soldiers. Was that enough to cover four worlds?
"Benimaru, the Army has 150,000 soldiers responsible for defending four worlds," Kaito said. He was referring to the One Piece world, the High School DxD world, the Sky Islands, and the Akame ga Kill world. The other worlds, including the Seikishi no Monogatari world, had no stationed troops, only permanent Dimensional Gates to allow continuous travel. "Is that actually enough manpower?"
"We've thought about that. The proposal is to establish a World Garrison, a local defense force of 200,000 soldiers per world. The Army itself would then function as the Imperial Central Army, permanently stationed in the capital."
"Alright. And after the merger, what role does the Navy play within the Space Navy?"
"The Navy would become a Mobile Unit, accompanying the fleet for planetary occupation and boarding operations."
'Mobile Unit.'
The words hit Kaito and his brain immediately supplied the line from Starship Troopers: 'We grunts just die, you Air Force just fly!' He kept that to himself.
"Fleet Admiral Sakazuki would serve as Commander-in-Chief of the Mobile Unit."
"That works," Kaito said, nodding. Around him, the people who'd been listening started buzzing.
"That's a massive restructuring."
"I didn't expect the Navy to just disappear like that."
"It didn't disappear. They went from swimming in the sea to flying through space."
"..."
What followed was a long and detailed discussion between Kaito, Benimaru, and the others on force structure. By the end of it, the shape of the new military had taken form. The Space Navy was renamed the Imperial Navy. The former Navy became the Imperial Mobile Unit. The Army remained the Imperial Army, but now had the World Garrison operating beneath it.
The rank of Grand Admiral was abolished and replaced with Admiral. Fleet Admiral was separated out as its own distinct rank. Previously it had been a position with the Grand Admiral rank attached, but the two were now cleanly divided. General officer ranks were restructured into three tiers: Major General, Lieutenant General, and Admiral, with Fleet Admiral sitting above them in two grades: Fleet Admiral and Commander-in-Chief.
"Alright. On expansion: the Imperial Navy will grow to one million personnel, divided into three fleets, the First, Second, and Third Imperial Fleets. The Mobile Unit will expand to two million, organized into three Front Armies, each comprising three Legions of 200,000 soldiers, plus one directly subordinate Legion. The Army will also expand to two million under the same three-Front-Army structure with one subordinate Legion. The World Garrison holds at 200,000 per world. Anything to add?"
The military personnel looked around at each other and shook their heads.
"Good. Then I'll announce the appointments."
Whoosh. Every military officer in the hall rose to their feet simultaneously, faces set.
"Commander-in-Chief of the Entire Military: Benimaru, rank of Commander-in-Chief."
"Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Navy: Sengoku, rank of Fleet Admiral."
"Chief of Staff of the Imperial Navy: Tsuru, rank of Admiral."
"Commander of the First Fleet: Azazel, rank of Admiral."
"Commander of the Second Fleet: Uriel, rank of Admiral."
"Grand Admiral Garp has stepped down to retire. Command of the Third Fleet passes to Michael, rank of Admiral."
"Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Mobile Unit: Sakazuki, rank of Fleet Admiral."
"Borsalino, Kuzan, and Issho will command the First through Third Front Armies respectively, rank of Admiral."
"Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Army: Rengoku Kyojuro, rank of Fleet Admiral."
Kaito couldn't help himself. "Not bad. You're quite a bit younger than these old-timers, Rengoku."
"Gobuta, Geld, Ultima..."
"Hold on a moment, Kaito-sama." Ultima cut in before he could finish. "Veyron has put in more than enough time by now, hasn't he? This lady is already swamped judging criminals every single day. I genuinely don't have the bandwidth to manage the Army on top of that."
PS: Long-time readers will remember how Kaito originally roped Ultima into this.
Kaito looked at Benimaru and started blinking frantically.
Benimaru looked back at him. His face went through several stages of internal conflict before reason won out.
"Veyron is qualified for a Front Army command. He's effectively been handling Ms. Ultima's workload all along."
Kaito sighed. "Fine. Gobuta, Geld, and Veyron will command the First through Third Front Armies respectively, rank of Admiral."
He'd been planning to string Ultima along a little longer, but there was no helping it now.
"Gobuta's position as Legion Commander of the Imperial Guard Legion passes to Ranga. The Imperial Guard Legion will expand to 100,000 personnel."
"As for the Commander-in-Chief of the World Garrison, that will be..."