One Piece: Kaido the Beast Playing House.

Chapter 696 The War Begins (VI)
"Yes, Saint Nasujuro and Saint Satan said that their main goal is to guard against the opponent's high-level combat power. They are not responsible for other situations. If the navy fails to do a good job, then it is the navy's responsibility."

The CP0 who was in charge of delivering the message said that as a CP0 he had no respect for Sengoku at all. After all, in their opinion, CP0 was never any worse than the navy, especially the strongest shield, who was on par with the navy marshal.

"I understand, please go back."

Zhan Guo also knew that he couldn't change anything, or it was good that these two people could make a move, at least they could replace two high-level combat forces, right? This was enough, but at this stage, the opponent's commander was a very strong character, definitely a professional commander, and every deployment was well organized, so it was difficult for him to take advantage.

"Notify Huoshaoshan and Mole to go to the western battlefield. The enemy will definitely send reinforcements to the western battlefield. Have them go there as soon as possible to provide support. By the way, is there any movement from the eavesdropping team yet?"

Zhan Guo looked at the arrow on the map, thought for a moment, and then sent out two lieutenant generals, Huo Shaoshan and Mole. Then he began to question the person on the other side who had a bunch of black eavesdropping Den Den Mushi in front of him.

"Report! There has been no movement on our side. All of the other party's Den Den Mushi are in silent mode. It's not that the one-way communication cannot be eavesdropped, but there is no movement at all."

The naval captain in charge of monitoring stood up and said.

"What exactly is going on?"

Zhan Guo murmured a few words. He felt that this battle was simply the strangest one he had ever fought. The enemy had fierce firepower and knew how to advance and retreat. It was nothing like pirates at all. But the enemy's communication means were also very strong. There were three islands so large that hundreds of ships could not surround them. Zhan Guo did not believe that they had no means of communication. If the enemy could achieve this level just by relying on the plans made in advance, Zhan Guo would announce his retreat without saying a word. There was no other way. If someone could use the plans to suppress himself on the battlefield, then the gap between the two would be frighteningly large. At that time, as a marshal, Zhan Guo must find a way to ensure the vitality of the navy.

"How's it going, Marshal?"

At this time, a golden light flashed, and Borsalino appeared beside Zhan Guo and asked. At first, he wanted to go to battle directly. Although he usually liked to be lazy and claimed that he was unwilling to move without money, this time was different. If he slacked off at this time, it would be a typical problem.

"Not good. The other party knows our actions very well and has made corresponding plans. Unfortunately, we don't know how they are going to pass on the information."

Zhan Guo said helplessly.

“As for this, I feel like I might know a little bit.”

Borsalino scratched his cheek and said.

"What! Tell me! What's going on!"

Upon hearing Brusalino's words, Sengoku immediately grabbed Brusalino's shoulders and asked.

"Well, I saw someone from the pirate side take out a rectangular thing that looked like a small box and talk to that place, but because the distance was quite far, I couldn't see clearly what it was. Because the person's position was a bit inside, I couldn't run in to take a look."

Borsalino shrugged helplessly and said to Sengoku, it was just a coincidence. The man's position was very hidden. If Borsalino hadn't been watching from high in the sky, he wouldn't have been able to see him. "A small box? What kind of weird thing is this? How many weird things have these pirates made over the years! Damn it, the World Government is too tolerant of them! They let pirates develop to this point!"

Sengoku was very helpless at the moment. The development speed of pirates had now left the navy far behind. This was completely unimaginable in the past. Even though there were a few pirate groups with some technical strength in the past, in essence, they were still some black box technologies that could not be replicated. The navy's technology was still superior. As a result, now the Four Emperors' pirate groups have completely left them behind, and they are still so far behind that they can't even see their taillights.

"Indeed, the Four Emperors' pirate groups have become more and more technologically advanced over the years. The items sold in the Hundred Birds Shop are all kinds of strange and wonderful. New items are added several times a month, and many of the items have never been seen before."

It's no wonder Borsalino is so helpless. It's just that the speed of updating and iteration of things on the pirate side is too fast. In the past, if there were any new things in a store, it would definitely be snapped up and sought after. But now when this happens, everyone is used to it, which shows how fast the speed is. And this is the things released by the Four Emperors. What about those that have not been released? God knows how many there are.

This battle in particular was shocking from the very beginning. Not to mention the thing that might be a walkie-talkie, the coastal defense guns alone had a firing rate and power that were more powerful than the cannons mounted on the navy's latest ironclad ships, which was enough to shock the navy. There were also countless powerful individual weapons.

"Let's not talk about that for now. We have another problem now. That is, the number of mid- and high-level combat forces on the other side is beyond our imagination. In the past, many people who we always thought were only major generals are actually lieutenant generals, or even lieutenant generals of the headquarters or base commanders. This is indeed something we did not expect at the beginning."

Zhan Guo frowned deeply, he discovered a little bit of the opponent's plan, which was crazy pairing. No matter what the opponent did, they would keep pairing up and trap all the people on their side. This kind of plan required a very strong quality advantage, and the quality advantage of the Four Emperors now seemed to exceed their navy.

"Indeed, do we need to ask Vice Admiral Tsuru to bring all the people left behind at the headquarters? After all, judging from the current situation, this place is no longer something we can solve simply by ourselves. Neither winning nor losing may be the best outcome."

As one of the people with the best overall view, Borsalino could also understand the situation on the scene. He even felt that not only the Four Emperors thought so, but also the Five Elders. Otherwise, why did they only come with two of the Five Elders? No more, no less, just enough to make the two sides' top combat forces tie in number. It would be weird if there was no idea behind this!

"No, the people in the headquarters cannot move. There is nothing wrong with neither winning nor losing. In fact, this is the best outcome. Given the current situation of the Four Emperors, we can no longer think of defeating them in one battle. We just need to get enough intelligence in this battle. Even if we lose to a certain extent, it doesn't matter. It just makes the World Government nervous, so that we can get more funds from the World Government. Don't forget our plan."

Zhan Guo said very seriously, although this may seem a bit cruel, it is a necessary sacrifice. The navy’s funds are becoming increasingly insufficient, and the cooperation with Jemal 66 is becoming more and more in-depth, which requires more funds. Although the channel left by Marshal Kong can provide funds for the navy for a long time, the current scale is not enough to provide funds for the entire navy. Their main source of income still needs to rely on the world government’s funding. In this way, if they lose this war, as long as the defeat is not too tragic, then Zhan Guo can go to the Five Elders and cry poor, saying that it’s not that the navy is not working hard, but there is a generation gap in the technological strength of the two sides, and the navy’s armaments need to be increased!
"You are still taller, Marshal."

Borsalino twitched his lips. As expected, these scheming people were all filthy-hearted. He had never thought that the situation where the pirates became stronger and the navy could not cope with it could be used to obtain military funds. He had learned something.

"Alas, if possible, I don't want to risk the safety of my soldiers to do this, but you know the current situation. It's not a question of whether we want to do it or not, but we have to do it. The Navy has reached a decision point. This time the Four Emperors have surpassed us, but what about next time? Will they crush us? We must be prepared. You three are the future of the Navy, and you are the most mature and have the best overall view among the three of you. I don't expect you to understand me too much, but I hope you can understand that sometimes you are destined to give up in order to gain."

Zhan Guo patted Borsalino's shoulder helplessly, then stopped looking at him and turned to continue observing the situation on the battlefield, while Borsalino looked at Zhan Guo's back in a daze.

"I'm not as mature as you think, Marshal. Otherwise, I wouldn't be so naive to participate in his plan. It's not just me, the three of us are the same."

Borsalino pondered in his heart.

(End of this chapter)