Naruto Online: Hyuga Branch Family? Let's go all out!

Chapter 330 Bad News Comes in Succession

"Twenty thousand guns? Two hundred cannons?" Looking at the figures on the paper, Cyborg was somewhat bewildered: "Doesn't the World Government's procurement department know I have 38 soldiers?"

"But World Government officials say the World Government is short of funds and can only purchase this much!" The Army Logistics Minister also looked furious. "They also said that because of our war, the price of weapons on the black market is skyrocketing, and there's nothing they can do about it!"

"What does the skyrocketing price of weapons on the black market have to do with them?!" Cyborg slammed his fist on the table and roared, "Do world government officials need to procure weapons from the black market?"

The logistics minister pursed his lips and said, "Of course."

Where do you think the weapons on the black market come from?

Isn't it something that leaked out of the World Government's military factories?

All the weapons have gone to the black market. Where else can you buy them if not on the black market?

Moreover, there's a lot of profit to be made from purchasing!

If firearms are shipped directly from military factories to the army, then only the people working in the military factories will make money.

But if you look around the black market, you'll find military factories that make money from official procurement.

Moreover, who runs the black market?

You mean Doflamingo?

Do you know that Doflamingo is the king of a member state of the World Government and has to pay Heavenly Gold to the World Government?

In fact, the logistics minister did not oppose this kind of transaction, since he could also make a profit.

As for whether this behavior is undermining the world government?

Of course! But who cares!

Besides, the world government is a huge and powerful entity; digging for some money is no big deal.

Steelbone cursed through gritted teeth for a few moments, then could only sit down helplessly.

Despite being the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, he has no power over military factories, government procurement, or even the black market.

He couldn't even control his own logistics manager.

He was just the top military officer, not the top military and political officer.

Even if he were the top military or political leader, he would be powerless against this level of corruption.

The World Government has been established for eight hundred years, and the transfer of benefits over those eight hundred years has long formed a complex network of interests within the World Government.

This kind of network isn't something you can tear apart just by using your strength.

To put it simply, people might use procedural justice to obstruct you, and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it.

For example, this time, the World Government said it had no money. Even if you killed everyone and searched the warehouse, you would never find any money.

Should the person in charge be arrested and severely tortured?

What can you do if someone just randomly puts someone in your shoes and then knows nothing about you?

Unless Cyborg also has a goddess of wisdom, he will have no choice but to admit defeat!

Steelbone had no choice but to make do with the 20,000 new guns he still had.

However, the issue of deducting military pay still needs to be resolved, otherwise the war cannot be fought!

But he was a traditional soldier and didn't really have a good way to deal with the issue of deducting military pay.

Moreover, since he is a member of the World Government, it is not appropriate for him to interfere in the internal affairs of the member states.

After much deliberation, Cyborg summoned Smoker to hear the young man's thoughts.

"How about solving the problem of deducted military pay?" Smoker thought for a moment and said, "There is a workaround, albeit a less-than-ideal one!"

"What's a solution that isn't a solution?" Steelbone asked.

"Since everyone else is cutting military pay anyway, why don't you cut it yourself!" Smoker said.

Steelbone's face immediately darkened: "I already hate people who withhold military pay, and now you want me to do it?"

"But didn't you just teach your students that if they want to go further, going along with the crowd is inevitable?" Smoker said, bewildered. "Besides, I didn't say what you used the money for!"

"Huh?" Cyborg paused, then seemed to have an idea.

"Go on!"

"Others have their money withheld, and they use it for lavish spending, but the money you withheld is all given to the soldiers. How can that be the same?"

Cyborg nodded; he understood what Smoker meant.

In other words, he also wanted to be corrupt, but the money he embezzled was used to support his troops. This not only allowed him to collude with those corrupt officials, but also successfully built a well-funded and combat-ready army!

"You're a real young man, your mind is sharp!" Cyborg patted Smoker on the shoulder. "Go and select 20,000 combat-ready soldiers from the entire army. Once the new guns arrive, distribute them all to them!"

"Once the unit is fully formed, you will lead a portion of it!"

Zephyr was his subordinate, and Smoker was Zephyr's apprentice.

In other words, Smoker is his grandson's generation.

There was already an added bonus of kinship between grandparents and grandchildren, and Smoker suited him perfectly in terms of strength, ability, and ideology.

He wouldn't mind giving this young man a promotion!

"Yes!" Smoker gave a solemn salute.

While Smoker was selecting people, Cyborg quickly found a way to make money.

He was, after all, the Commander-in-Chief of the three armed forces. He didn't make money in the past because it was unnecessary, not because he didn't know how.

For this war, the world government allocated a large amount of money to him for purchasing military supplies, as well as for post-war compensation and awards to meritorious soldiers.

This portion of the funds has certainly already gone through a process, but what ultimately ends up in Steelbone's hands is still a huge sum.

Steelbone decisively diverted the funds intended for purchasing military supplies and awarding prizes. After all, he had lost 100,000 men in the two battles. With more dead people, the consumption of supplies would naturally be less, and the money for purchasing military supplies would be saved.

As for the prize money, that's even simpler. If you've never won a battle, what prize money could you possibly have?

With manpower and money, a brand-new unit directly under Steelbone was born.

Steelbone named it the Steelbone Force, which consisted of an army of 1.8 men and a navy of 2000 men and four warships.

This unit was selected from 38 elite soldiers and was equipped with the latest rifles, such as the 98K, which fires a bullet by pulling the bolt. Every junior officer was issued a revolver.

Don't think that revolvers are outdated; in this era, they are already the most advanced handguns.

Because the soldiers were well paid, the fighting spirit of each soldier in this unit was very strong, and at least there would be no situation where they were ambushed and their camp collapsed.

Of course, it's unrealistic to send the newly formed army to the battlefield immediately; they need at least half a month of training to practice coordination.

But just as things were starting to look up for Steelbone, bad news began to arrive.

First, the revolutionary army, having probably gained experience from using small boats to bomb large ships, sent out many more suicide boats.

These ships were over a meter long and packed with gunpowder. They could be driven by just one person and traveled at great speeds along the rivers that led to the Goa Kingdom's sea route. Naval vessels lingering at the river mouth had no chance to turn around and were caught off guard, resulting in the destruction of three of them.

Left with no other choice, the navy had to clear the river's outlet to the sea.

Fortunately, these flatboats don't travel far, so warships only need to keep their distance to avoid being hit.

However, the warships were too far from the Goa Kingdom, and several were destroyed, which widened the gaps between them.

Then transport ships would secretly cross the transport lines at night to deliver supplies to the revolutionary army.

Smoker, who was patrolling the sea, discovered this scene and quickly intercepted the transport ship, while also contacting Steelbone.

Cyborg was overjoyed, thinking he had captured the Revolutionary Army's logistics network, but after interrogating them, he realized something was amiss.

This is indeed a good logistics network for the revolutionary army, but it doesn't belong to the revolutionary army; it belongs to the world's nobility.

The revolutionary army charged high prices for supplies, but since it was all money from the Goa royal family, they didn't care.

When the purchase price is high, there will naturally be businessmen willing to take risks. As mentioned earlier, in this context, there are very few pure businessmen; most are front men for nobles.

And so, Cyborg has caught the white glove of the world's nobles.

He had only been arresting people for three hours, and the interrogation wasn't even over yet, when the World Nobles called and demanded their release.

It is worth noting that while Celestial Dragons are World Nobles, World Nobles are not Celestial Dragons. Nobles who exist in dependence on Celestial Dragons are also World Nobles, such as Spandam, the leader of CP9, who is a World Noble.

These world nobles are like lapdogs in front of the Celestial Dragons, but outside of Mary Geoise, they are equivalent to the Celestial Dragons.

Aside from the fact that no admiral would intervene if they were attacked, their other benefits and treatment were no different from those of the Celestial Dragons.

After all, they work for the Celestial Dragons, and you don't know whether what they do is on the orders of the Celestial Dragons or on their own initiative.

Cyborg wanted to stand his ground: "I won't release them, and I'm going to kill them all. What can you do about it?"

But in his anger, he only got angry for a moment.

He couldn't do that.

He was not only a marshal, but also a husband, a father, and a grandfather.

He's already quite old, and he probably won't be able to stay in this position for many more years.

But his son and grandson were not as capable as he was.

With his son's abilities, even becoming a branch colonel would be difficult, and Steelbone was not happy to have a son who was a branch colonel.

To preserve his family's wealth and status, Steelbone chose another path: to become a world aristocrat!

In reality, his position as Commander-in-Chief of the three armed forces was, in a sense, a world aristocracy. However, this status was not lasting; once he stepped down, everything vanished.

He didn't want his family's status to vanish, so he had to associate with other world nobles.

Offending them is absolutely out of the question!

Steelbone released the merchants transporting supplies to the Kingdom of Goa, and then things started to spiral out of control.

At first, the merchant only transported goods at night, but after discovering that even the Steel Bone couldn't do anything to him while he was transporting goods, he became more and more aggressive, and eventually he simply sailed his ship to dock at the Goa Kingdom's pier in broad daylight.

Seeing this, the other merchants simply followed suit. The navy even did some preliminary investigation, and found that these people were all front men for the world's nobles.

Why bother checking? Just let them through!

The blockade that Steelbone painstakingly built was riddled with holes by merchants in just a few days, becoming a joke.

These aren't the only upsetting things.

In order to transport shells to the Buster Call fleet, the Navy Headquarters established a transport unit.

However, the navy's intelligence network was not very robust, and the news quickly spread on the black market.

Then the pirates on the Grand Line got excited, since the Buster Call shells were valuable.

In addition, the World Government and the Revolutionary Army are currently at war, and both sides are buying up artillery shells at high prices. The current price of artillery shells is comparable to that of gold. As long as you can get your hands on them, you won't have to worry about selling them!

Not to mention, there was another force secretly buying cannonballs – the Whitebeard Pirates, who had heard that Ace had been captured.

Their involvement made the shells more valuable.

Are the naval headquarters transporting artillery shells?

No, those are ships of gold!

As a result, the first batch of transport ships was hijacked just half a day after leaving Marineford due to insufficient naval preparations.

Both escort warships were sunk, three transport ships disappeared, and all the shells that the naval headquarters' arsenal had painstakingly produced over a month were stolen.

The worst part is that we don't know who did it!

The navy increased its attention to the matter and dispatched a vice admiral for the second time to escort the ships, increasing the number of warships to five, while reducing the number of transport ships to two.

Before it was 2-man 3-man, now it's 5-man 2-man, you have no reason to rob me again, right?

Unfortunately, more than one group was interested in these shells, and when the last batch of shells entered the black market, the extremely high price made the pirate crews who snatched them make a fortune.

This prompted pirate crews that were previously in a wait-and-see mode to start taking action. Not only did pirate crews on the Grand Line head to the East Blue, but some pirate crews in the New World also considered heading there.

The naval ships took three days to reach their destination, two warships were sunk, and the vice admiral was also injured.

Left with no other choice, the transport fleet had to turn back halfway, and then another ship was sunk en route, while another transport ship was stolen.

Guns arrived, soldiers arrived, but artillery didn't. Steelbone was completely numb.

No matter how elite his soldiers were, and no matter how rain-proof their rifles were, they wouldn't dare to land without artillery cover!

Otherwise, if the enemy has artillery and you don't, wouldn't you just die for nothing?

Left with no other option, Cyborg had to order the Buster Call fleet to return to port and stop using transport ships to resupply ammunition.

But the pirate crews patrolling the East Blue have gone mad. They don't care if it's a Buster Call fleet or a transport ship; as long as it's a navy passing by, they'll attack it without hesitation.

The Buster Call fleet had run out of ammunition and could only engage in hand-to-hand combat with the pirates. Although a vice admiral was in command, the pirates had cannons and guns, and their weapons were indiscriminate, so some of the marines were still injured.

Their journey was further hampered by the continuous pirate attacks.

What was supposed to be a three-day journey took the Buster Call fleet five days, and everyone was injured on the return voyage, even the lieutenant general had several bullet holes in his body!

After the Buster Call fleet returned, Sengoku was completely stunned!

In the Naval Headquarters conference room, Sengoku casually tossed a document in front of Admiral Tsuru: "Look at this! Our navy's losses in this one month are greater than in the entire past year!"

Four ships were robbed of their cannonballs, more than 50 warships were sunk, and nearly 20,000 soldiers were killed or wounded!

Although the vast majority of the losses came from the naval branches, which had small ships and weak soldiers, these were still the basic forces of the navy!

Unlike the armies of those member states of the World Government, where a person dies, the navy is not something that simply dies.

They are going to give out compensation!

Moreover, the four missing cannonballs were fortunately in the hands of the revolutionary army, since they were being used against the ground forces anyway.

I'm afraid it might end up in the hands of pirates, who could use it to fight the Marines!

Furthermore, there is a worst-case scenario: these shells might fall into the hands of a pirate crew with scientists, and then the shell technology might be deciphered.

At that time, the Buster Call fleet will no longer be exclusive to the Navy!

If pirates launch a Buster Call fleet to bombard the Marine branch, who can withstand that?

"As members of the Navy, we're relatively independent, aren't we?" Tsuru glanced at the documents and said, "We have no obligation to support the Commander-in-Chief!"

As the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Cyborg commands all the World Government's armies, including the Navy, CIPHER POL (Cipher POL), the Seven Warlords of the Sea, the Knights of God, the Navy Science Unit, the Navy Giant Force, SWORD (Naval Secret Special Forces), SSG (Naval Special Science Group), the Navy Crime Investigation Bureau, the Navy Photo Department, the Marine Corps, the Enies Lobby Dogs, the Enies Lobby Jury, the Enies Lobby Giant Guard, the Impel Down Prison Guards, the Pacifistas, and the Police.

However, this is only in name.

In reality, each part of the army is either directly under the Five Elders or has its own leaders. If these leaders give Steelbone face, then he can command him. But if they don't give Steelbone face, then Steelbone is nothing.

For example, the Knights of God, try commanding one yourself?

If you can't command the army, you, the supreme commander-in-chief, can't exactly go to the Five Elders to complain, can you?

Even if you complain, I have a way to brush you off, saying we have other tasks and don't have time or something.

Your task is important, but ours isn't?

Is it important to suppress bandits, but not important to suppress sea pirates?

Tsuru's meaning is simple: withdraw support for Steelbone, allow the East Blue Navy to return to its own branch, and stop the Buster Call from supporting Steelbone.

They initially supported Steelbone because they thought the war would end quickly like before, so they thought, "Why don't I send some people over and gain some merit?"

Who could have imagined this war would turn out like this?

If we continue to support them, they might drag our navy down with them!

"Then the revolutionary army won't suppress them?" Sengoku was somewhat tempted.

After all, the Navy really had something to do; they had captured Ace and were just waiting to go to war with Whitebeard.

Now that we're putting in so much effort to support Steel Bone, what if something goes wrong?

However, although he was tempted, he couldn't bring himself to refuse, since Steelbone was his senior and teacher, and it wouldn't be appropriate to refuse directly.

"Of course we must suppress the Revolutionary Army, but suppressing the Revolutionary Army isn't our business!" Tsuru shrugged. "Shouldn't that be the responsibility of the member states of the World Government?"

"A member state of the World Government?" Sengoku shook his head. "What kind of fighting power do they have?"

Only a handful of major powers have armies, and none of them have navies.

Oh wait, Alabasta has just formed its own navy and even appointed a naval captain as marshal!

When Sengoku saw this news, he found it funny. Hina was only considered average in the navy, but such a person could be considered a treasure in a major country like Alabasta!

How many ships does this navy have?

The answer is 2!

That's right, two!

Such strength is not even comparable to a typical naval branch, let alone a naval fortress or base.

These two warships were a gift from the Navy, given in recognition of Zefa's hard work and contributions to the Navy!

With such limited strength, how can the member states of the World Government possibly suppress bandits?

"Whether they have fighting capabilities or not is none of our concern!" Tsuru shrugged. "Besides, do we really need to wipe out the Revolutionary Army?"

The Warring States period fell silent.

Yes, the revolutionary army has been rampaging for so many years, but in reality, it hasn't had much impact on the situation at sea.

There are even cases of countries that were once revolutionized by the Revolutionary Army rejoining the World Government.

The reason why the World Government reacted so strongly this time is mainly because the Revolutionary Army killed too many nobles in the Goa Kingdom.

However, he had also heard a little about the aristocratic style of the Kingdom of Goa.

Garp's hometown is in the Goa Kingdom, so he couldn't help but know that.

To be honest, these nobles did not die unjustly, but given the revolutionary army's past practices, they would have left once a new king was appointed.

Then just let them go, why are you stopping them?

In the end, they tried to stop them but failed, and the battle turned out like this. It's not just shameful, it's downright shameful!

"Support for the teacher cannot stop!" Sengoku slammed his hand on the table and said in a deep voice.

Crane's lips moved as if he was about to say something, but Sengoku continued, "However, our warships have suffered significant losses and need resupply. As for when resupply will be available, I have no idea!"

He curled the corner of his beak, understanding dawned on him.

(End of this chapter)