Starting as a pirate, he rose to become the strongest Shinigami in Soul Society.

Chapter 202 Sakazuki promoted to Fleet Admiral, Bane appointed Admiral!

The Holy Land, Mary Geoise.

Pongel Castle, the offices of the Five Elders, the Chamber of Power.

At this moment, the Commander-in-Chief of the entire army, Steel Bone Kong, is reporting some information here.

"What?! Kuzan is stepping down as admiral and leaving the Navy?" Vochuli Saint demanded angrily, "How dare he say such a thing!?"

"Don't you have any way to keep them here? Letting such a top-tier combatant leave would be a huge loss for the Navy!" Nasujiro said in a deep voice.

With a helpless expression, Steel Bone said, "If possible, neither I nor the Navy would want Kuzan to leave. However, I have personally communicated with Kuzan through Den Den Mushi. Although he has not yet returned to headquarters, his resolve has been solidified."

However, after a slight pause, Cyborg continued, "Fortunately, Zeff intervened. Through his mediation, Kuzan temporarily agreed to retain his rank, like Sengoku and Garp, and step down to a secondary position. At least nominally, he is still under our Navy's command. He said that after returning to headquarters and handing over some work, he will go to the New World to find Zeff."

"Zefa?" Hearing this, Satan Saint breathed a slight sigh of relief and said, "That's good. At least we've preserved our dignity in public. Perhaps after some time, Kuzan might change his mind."

After discussing this topic for a while, Maz Saint spoke up: "Sakazuki's promotion to the new Fleet Admiral is no longer up for discussion. Now that Kuzan is also stepping down as Admiral, there will be two vacant Admiral positions in the Navy. What are your plans for this?"

"We have already consulted the four candidates for general. Kakei and Gion have no intention of being promoted to general, but Issho and Bane are very interested in this matter. So, if nothing unexpected happens, they will be promoted to general at the same time that Sakazuki is promoted to field marshal," Steelbone said immediately.

"It's a good thing that Kakei and Gion don't have this intention. In fact, we don't completely trust their strength either," said Satoshi Vochuli after a moment's thought.

Although the Navy Headquarters has always claimed that Chaton Kakei and Momousagi Gion possess combat capabilities at the Admiral level, in reality, this combat capability has not been truly tested in actual combat.

To be precise, without authorization from the Marine Headquarters, unless there are special circumstances, such as the sudden encounter between Bane and Kaido, the New World Marines are not allowed to have large-scale conflicts with pirate crews of the Four Emperors level. Therefore, in recent years, there have not been many battles between the Marines and the Four Emperors. During the time that Kake and Gion were stationed in the New World, they did have many outstanding achievements, but due to the constraints of the Headquarters, they have never really fought against pirates of the Four Emperors level.

In comparison, although Issho and Bane have not been in the Navy for long, their combat records are quite impressive.

During the Marineford War, Issho and Borsalino teamed up to fight Whitebeard and held their own, even completely overwhelming him. As for Bane, although the news has not yet been officially announced, the Five Elders and others certainly know about it. This guy launched a surprise attack on Dressrosa, killed Doflamingo in a two-against-one situation, and fought Kaido to a draw.

To be honest, the Five Elders were completely dumbfounded when they first heard the news.

How come Bane suddenly became so strong?

But the facts are undeniable, and they have no choice but to believe them.

Faced with Bane's absolute power, their previous secret plans were now completely meaningless. For example, the plan to send Aramaki to the Marine Headquarters was originally intended to balance Bane's power.

It now seems that Aramaki is no longer qualified to be compared with Bane, because Aramaki has no record of actually fighting against a Yonko-level expert.

The only thing that comforted the Five Elders was that they had managed to win over Bane beforehand, leaving room for maneuver. Therefore, promoting Bane to the rank of general was not an unacceptable thing.

Actually, the fact that Issho and Bane were promoted to Admirals is quite in line with the wishes of the Five Elders.

In order to counterbalance the navy, they did not want those who had already established deep ties with the navy to become admirals. This was one of the reasons why they originally wanted to start a global recruitment drive and parachute in admirals.

Both Bane and Issho fit this condition. They haven't been in the Navy for long and haven't yet become deeply integrated with it. Under these circumstances, the Five Elders have more room to maneuver.

"Since both Bane and Issho are interested, let's promote them to admirals. They are both admiral candidates anyway, which is in line with your navy's procedures, isn't it?" Satoshi Vochuli pondered for a moment before agreeing.

The other five elders naturally had no intention of objecting.

Commander-in-Chief Steelbone nodded and said, "I understand. I will convey your five opinions to the Navy."

"Once Sakazuki officially becomes the Fleet Admiral, the relocation of the new headquarters must be implemented as soon as possible. At the same time, we must launch a global recruitment drive. These are all urgent matters. The adjustment of the Navy's strategic focus should not be delayed for too long. We hope to launch the conquest of the New World as soon as possible, as it has been out of the control of the World Government for too long," Satan Saint instructed.

"Understood," Cyborg replied immediately.

"By the way, Kuzan's resignation will inevitably have a negative impact on the Navy. At this point, there's no need to suppress the news any longer. Let's release information about what Bane caused in Dressrosa. This will further deter the New World and mitigate the negative impact on the Navy during this period," Nasujuro Sei suddenly added.

"That's what we think too. The Navy's Chief of Staff, A-He, has already submitted a complete public opinion campaign plan," Steelbone added.

Actually, these things shouldn't be his concern. Although the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Army is prestigious, it's really just a place for retirement. But there's nothing he can do about it, since the Navy doesn't have a Marshal right now.

As a former admiral, he could only step in and assign some tasks.

Fortunately, this situation will soon be over, and it is now unstoppable that Sakazuki will become the new Admiral of the Navy.

Soon after Mary Geoise confirmed its intentions, the World Government and the Navy jointly launched a massive propaganda offensive.

The hype surrounding the showdown between Kuzan and Sakazuki quickly shifted.

The Navy has released a lot of information, such as Sakazuki's imminent promotion to Fleet Admiral, and Admiral Kuzan's resignation from his position as Admiral for personal reasons, though he will retain his rank and retire to a secondary role.

Kuzan's sudden resignation as admiral inevitably had some negative impacts on the Navy.

However, before the people on the high seas could even discuss this matter, the big news that Bane had assassinated the Shichibukai Donquixote Doflamingo and fought a fierce battle with Kaido swept the entire world.

Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!

All the hype was suppressed!

Since the Battle of Marineford, the Navy has not clashed with pirates of the Four Emperors level for a long time. As a result, many people are questioning whether the Navy's so-called "shift of the center of gravity in the New World" is just empty talk.

So much time has passed, and apart from Shiki, has he accomplished nothing?

The incident that Bane caused can be seen as a powerful rebuttal to these doubts on behalf of the Navy!

Meanwhile, according to public statements, Doflamingo had already had his status as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea revoked by the Navy before he was killed by Bane. The reason was simple: as a legitimate pirate under the World Government, he had secretly colluded with Kaido, intending to overthrow the World Government's rule.

Honestly, quite a few people know that Doflamingo is colluding with Kaido. In fact, after so many years, everyone has gotten used to it and even tacitly accepted that the World Government wouldn't care about this matter.

But defaulting doesn't mean it's legal. If you really use it as a reason, then no one can really refute it.

Especially since Doflamingo is already dead, it's even less likely that anyone will speak up for him.

In fact, when the Five Elders learned of this news on Mary Geoise, they were initially quite angry. After all, Doflamingo had a special identity and many businesses secretly run by the World Government. The Navy killed him without even giving them a heads-up. How could they not be angry?

However, considering that the one who made the move was Bane, and that Bane was far more important to them than Doflamingo, since they were counting on Bane to deal with the Nika Devil Fruit, they decided to take action.

Moreover, Sengoku took full responsibility for the incident. In his written report, regardless of the facts, he personally issued and signed all the orders.

They had just forced Sengoku to resign as Fleet Admiral not long ago, so it's impossible for them to do anything to him now. After all, although he's no longer the Fleet Admiral, he only recently stepped down, and his influence on the Navy is still enormous. If they were to really break ties with Sengoku, it would be a great loss for them as well.

Therefore, after much deliberation, the Five Elders decided to ignore Doflamingo.

This world is so cruel. If Doflamingo were still alive, things might not have ended so simply. It's just a pity that he is already dead.

The dead have no value, especially to political beings like the Five Elders.

In August of 1521 (Sea Calendar), Sakazuki returned to the Naval Headquarters, and on the 16th, he officially announced his inauguration as the new Fleet Admiral!

On the 17th, Kuzan officially announced his resignation as Admiral.

On the 22nd of the same month, Ben arrived at the Navy Headquarters and, together with Issho, who was also an admiral candidate, took the oath of office as a Navy admiral!

Thus, the nearly two-year-long struggle for a new power transition in the Navy has come to an end!

(End of this chapter)