Pirate: I was just slacking off, do you really think I'm bad?

In the Kingdom of Sobel in the South Sea, Queen Connie has been in tears every day since the bear left, and Princess Bonnie wants to go to the New World to find the bear.

For Bonney's safety, Dragon had no choice but to order the Revolutionary Army soldiers to keep an eye on her.

Late at night, Long sat alone in the conference room, feeling very conflicted.

Not long ago, Shanks, the Red-Haired Pirate, contacted him through an intermediary, expressing his willingness to fight alongside him against the Navy.

To be honest, I hate pirates more than I hate the Navy.

Although the Navy represents the oppressive nature of the World Government, in reality, within the Navy's jurisdiction, the people will not be subjected to sudden massacres.

But pirates don't care about any of that; they are always seen as representing brutality and bloodlust.

However, given the current situation, if the Revolutionary Army doesn't join forces with the pirates, they probably won't be able to hold out for long.

The Western Sea has essentially fallen.

Since Sabo was recalled by Dragon to oversee the production of warships capable of traversing the Calm Belt, the West Blue has lacked a strong leader to counter Sakazuki's elite vice admirals.

Even that rising naval star named Miles is comparable in combat strength to Mori, the former head of the Western Navy.

Using its superior artillery, the navy relentlessly bombarded the smaller islands, destroying the defenses painstakingly built by the revolutionary soldiers.

In order to avoid causing heavy casualties among revolutionary soldiers and civilians, Long had to abandon many strategically important but small islands.

All forces are concentrated on the defense of the Kingdom of Greifsander.

Call ~

A gust of wind blew by, and Sabo came in from outside, beaming with joy.

"Good news, Chief! We have now produced our first large ship capable of navigating the calm winds."

"And our production line is already set up, and it will only take one month to produce two large ships that can accommodate two thousand revolutionary soldiers."

"Furthermore, I've contacted Belo Betty of the Kingdom of Eryokobu in the North Sea. They've already set up production lines there, and in just one more month, the Kingdom of Eryokobu will be able to produce three large ships a month."

Long's tightly furrowed brows slowly relaxed.

This was good news for him. The Revolutionary Army was unable to defend against the Navy's offensive, and due to Dragon's personal reasons, he did not want to fight the Navy to the death.

The current outcome is the best for him.

"Alright, Sabo. Keep a close eye on this matter. We don't have much time. The sooner the better. Let me know immediately if you need anything. All the resources within the Revolutionary Army will be geared towards you."

Dragon patted Sabo on the shoulder.

Sabo said with great excitement:

"Yes, Chief. I have a preliminary idea. Due to confidentiality agreements, we are currently using the most steadfast fighters in the Revolutionary Army for operations. If we want to speed things up, could we recruit a large number of people?"

After hearing Sabo's words, Dragon fell into deep thought.

To maintain secrecy when selecting personnel for the construction of the warships, Long had no choice but to use only people he trusted.

But now the situation has changed, and the focus is now on accelerating production, so secrecy is no longer as important.

With more manpower, it's impossible to maintain complete secrecy no matter what.

"Sure, go ahead and do it. I'll be there to support you."

"Dragon said with an encouraging smile."

Then, changing the subject, he pointed to the islands on the map and said:

"This is the Kingdom of Greifsend in the Western Sea, and also the last remaining strength of our revolutionary army in the Western Sea. If this kingdom is lost..."

The navy has essentially taken over control of the West Sea.

"But the Navy's current strategic intention is not to completely eliminate our revolutionary army in the West Sea, but to blockade their supply lines by occupying those nearby islands. Can you guess what that means?"

Dragon rarely wants to test Sabo.

Because Sabo is now the Chief of the General Staff, the number two figure in the Revolutionary Army, his views determine the future of the Revolutionary Army.

If one day Dragon leads his army across the Calm Belt to Mary Geoise, then Sabo will have to remain in the Four Seas to maintain the Revolutionary Army's cause.

Sabo raised an eyebrow, hesitated for a long time, and then said:

"Boss, I suspect it's Fleet Admiral Christian Rowley's order. I've researched all his deeds since the East Blue. He's ruthless when it comes to pirates, he wouldn't even spare unborn children."

"But for the mafia in the North Sea, he is willing to let go of those who have not done much evil, and only punish the ringleaders. He is also very protective of civilians. I even heard a half-true story that he once slaughtered a kingdom's nobles because of the deaths of the people in a village."

"Overall, Fleet Admiral Raleigh doesn't see us as mortal enemies like pirates, but rather as adversaries with different beliefs."

Long nodded in approval.

It seems that Saab has indeed grown faster recently than before.

As someone who had worked closely with and collaborated with Raleigh, he naturally knew Raleigh's personality.

If Raleigh is truly that kind of cruel person, then the workers' uprising in the Kingdom of Eryo will be followed by the Navy and the World Government.

A coordinated massacre by the organization.

But the fact that Raleigh was willing to let them go shows that he is not actually a bloodthirsty person.

"You're right, Sabo. I'm glad you can see that, so my decision is for the revolutionary soldiers of the Kingdom of Gravesend to remain inactive."

"I even explicitly told Mori and Usiano that if they were truly unable to fight against the navy led by Sakazuki, they could surrender to save themselves if necessary."

Long spoke calmly.

A flicker of panic and confusion crossed Sabo's eyes, but he quickly regained his composure:

"Why, Chief? We're clearly no less capable than the Navy."

The dragon stood up from his seat, opened the window, pointed to the sky, and said:

"Sabo, perhaps the recent turmoil and the deaths of your comrades have clouded your judgment."

"I ask you, what were the revolutionary army's original intentions? What were the revolutionary army's goals?"

Sabo was about to speak when he suddenly realized:

"I understand, Boss. The Navy is not our goal. Our initial intention is to bring freedom to all the people of the world. Our goal is to overthrow the oppression of commoners by the World Nobles, led by the Celestial Dragons."

The dragon turned around, a joyful expression on its face.

"Now that things have come to this, I won't hide it from you anymore, Sabo."

"Before I started the Revolutionary Army, I worked with Raleigh, and it was after that that the Revolutionary Army began to flourish."

Sabo nodded. Although this matter was rather secretive, as the second-in-command of the Revolutionary Army, he had heard about it from others.

"What you've heard is just one event, but what you don't know is that it was the clash between Raleigh's ideas and those of the Kingdom of North Harbor that led to the revolutionary army's mission. However, at the time, Raleigh and I had some disagreements."

"I believe that to make people all over the world live happily, we must overthrow the rule of the Celestial Dragons. And to overthrow the Celestial Dragons, we need to have our own power. Although the Navy is powerful, it is controlled by the World Government, so I left the Navy."

"But Raleigh's view is different from mine. He believes that as long as pirates are eliminated, the people of the world will be happy."

"At the time, I didn't understand Raleigh's thinking at all. I felt he had gone astray, but now it seems he was lying to me. I clearly saw him gradually concentrating power in the Navy, and the foundation of the World Government's rule over the Navy was being uprooted by him," Dragon sighed.

"If Raleigh had been born twenty years earlier on this sea, perhaps we wouldn't have needed to form the Revolutionary Army at all, because the world would have been changed in the direction we wanted by Raleigh."

Dragon had only recently revisited Raleigh's rise to power, especially his recent ascent from lieutenant general to admiral.

He discovered a terrifying fact: Raleigh was the most powerful and least controlled of all the Fleet Admirals.

Furthermore, the World Government has no way to limit Raleigh's power.

Now, almost all the mid- to high-ranking officers in the Navy are siding with Raleigh, not to mention the lower-ranking soldiers.

The emergence of the Revolutionary Army forced the World Government to reluctantly acknowledge that Raleigh was concentrating power to fight against both the Revolutionary Army and the pirates.

After Sabo left, Long became more and more excited as he thought about it, and sweat even appeared on his back.

"As expected of you, to have played this game to such an extent."

After figuring everything out, Dragon understood Raleigh's scheme and the treacherous nature of it all.

"If you lose one move, the game is completely ruined."

Dragon couldn't help but marvel at Raleigh's audacity.

The Revolutionary Army, pirates, the World Government, the Celestial Dragons, and even the common people are all acting according to Raleigh's plan. If any one of these parties goes wrong, the plan will fail.

The World Government will not relinquish power unless the Revolutionary Army grows stronger.

If pirates are powerful, then the Navy will not be able to spare the resources to suppress them, and the support rate among the people in the territory will not be so high.

"But what exactly is your goal? To overthrow the old government and establish a new one?"

In the deep darkness of the night, no one answered the dragon's question.

Inside Marshal Marineford's office in the new world.

At this moment, Raleigh and Gion are looking out the window at the scenery. They haven't enjoyed such a peaceful time in a long time.

Gion nestled gently in Raleigh's arms.

"Rayle, I wish these days could last longer."

After relocating the Marine Headquarters, Raleigh and Gion held a low-key wedding with few attendees.

Gion knew that he couldn't take up more of Raleigh's time at the small wedding attended only by Borsalino, Sengoku, Tsuru, Rat, and Cleveland.

She's not just a pretty face; she knows how big Raleigh's ambitions are.

Raleigh held Gion's hand tightly and said tenderly:

"I'm sorry, Gion, I couldn't give you a grand wedding, but I promise you, after everything is over, I will give you a grand wedding."

A knock on the door interrupted their sweet moment. Gion and Raleigh parted ways, and Raleigh whispered:

"Enter."

Mouse walked in from outside carrying a pile of documents. He looked at Raleigh and Gion in the office without showing any embarrassment.

"Marshal, I have collected all the information on the newly discovered Devil Fruit users."

Raleigh sat in his office chair, flipping through the files in his hands. After a long while, he looked up and said:

"Can the locations of these ability users be determined? I've seen quite a few users with special Devil Fruit abilities."

The mouse smiled:

"I've already arranged for people to secretly monitor them, and unless something unusual happens, they won't find out."

"Recently, we've seen many rare Devil Fruit users that haven't been seen in the catalogues for decades or even centuries, so we're running short of manpower. I suggest we retrieve a batch of Devil Fruits to free up some of our personnel."

Raleigh nodded. Rat and Cleveland were now very mature generals, and their ideas were highly aligned with Raleigh's. In many cases, their opinions only needed to be told to Raleigh before they could be implemented.

"At this stage, our main focus is on recovering Paramecia-type Devil Fruits. If there are any Zoan-type Devil Fruits that can increase our combat power, we should try to collect them."

The Devil Fruits collected by the Navy can be given directly to the officers who have made meritorious contributions, thereby enhancing the Navy's overall combat power.

Those trash Zoan-type and Logia-type Devil Fruits are not needed for now.

Just like the Mist-Mist Fruit of the Rat, its current development has reached the limit of Elite Vice Admiral, and it is not easy to improve further.

"By the way, have Cleveland go to the Kingdom of Castro; there are some things he needs to take care of."

"Yes."

The mouse nodded, then quickly walked away.

In the New World, the Kingdom of Castro is far from peaceful in the dead of night.

The reason is that a bizarre serial killer has recently appeared here.

Rumor has it that the killer is extremely swift and can commit murders without anyone being able to see them.

As soon as night falls, this killer will appear in various parts of the capital and indiscriminately kill people, targeting everyone from high-ranking officials to wealthy businessmen.

Even several high-ranking nobles in the capital were assassinated.

The king of the Kingdom of Castro originally wanted to resolve the matter on his own, but after losing several hundred men, he became so fearful that he sent a request for help to the Navy Headquarters.

As a kingdom within the sphere of influence of New Marineford, Raleigh cannot allow such a situation to occur.

So he sent Cleveland to the Kingdom of Castro to see what kind of murderer he really was.

Inside the capital of Castro, in a magnificently decorated ancient castle, a woman with golden hair and a white cloak, like someone from a fairy tale, gently holds a rose in her hand.

Cavendish, a prince born in the Kingdom of Brugesonia, was so handsome that no young woman in the kingdom wanted to marry him, and in the end, the king had no choice but to send him away to escape.

When he traveled to the Kingdom of Castro, he awakened his second personality, and his long-suppressed emotions were released, which made him revel in the feeling. Tonight, he also plans to go to bed early and release his second personality.

As the handsome Cavendish fell asleep, the wicked smile on his face grew wider and wider. Finally, when Cavendish opened his eyes, the house was empty the next second.