One Piece: Blue Scale Admiral

Almost simultaneously, around the world, wherever the propaganda video footage from G5 was received, everyone was awestruck by the power, bravery, and fearlessness of the navy shown in the film, and by the war scenes condensed to the extreme.

If this were Earth in its previous life, and if all we were doing was watching this short video clip...

So no matter how well this short video is edited, how well it is produced, or how advanced the 3D rendering technology is, it will never achieve the same stunning effect.

Because everything in this promotional video is absolutely true, and it all happened in the real world. Moreover, half a month ago, the situation and outcome of the battle in Marineford had already spread to every corner of the world through various newspapers.

It is precisely because of its authenticity, and because of this unprecedentedly tight editing style, that it has captivated people all over the world.

At this moment, countless teenagers and young people, filled with passion, righteous indignation, and yearning for the powerful naval officers depicted in the recruitment video, could no longer suppress their trembling excitement after watching this unprecedented recruitment video again and again. They shouted and called upon their friends, rushing to the nearest naval branch to join the navy.

In no time, naval branches around the world were flooded with people eager to join the military.

New Naval Headquarters G1.

Akainu, who had started smoking cigars at some point, sat behind his desk, reviewing various complicated documents from the Marine Headquarters.

Suddenly, there was a rapid knocking on the office door from the outside.

Akainu, without even looking up, simply said, "Come in."

The door was pushed open, and a sweating Brannew rushed in, saluted, and said urgently, "Marshal, Marshal Sakazuki, the branches of the Four Seas, Paradise, and New World have sent inquiries, wanting to know if our large-scale conscription this time really has no upper limit on the number of people?"

Akainu paused mid-air while reviewing the documents, slowly raising his head to see Brannew wiping away sweat.

"That's right, so what?"

Kizaru, who was sitting on the sofa next to him, also quietly opened his squinted eyes and glanced over.

Brannew swallowed hard, his face filled with disbelief, and stammered, "There are... there are just too many people. So many people are coming to the various branches to register, wanting to join the Navy. If there's no cap on the number of recruits..."

Akainu's brow twitched slightly upon hearing this. "You mean, there are too many people responding to the conscription? How many people have signed up so far?"

Brannew wiped the sweat from his brow and said with difficulty, "678 million."

"Oh!"

Kizaru stomped on the coffee table in front of him, causing the tea on the table to fly into the air and splash all over his face.

Akainu snapped the pencil in his hand into a ball of wood fibers, and the cigar in his mouth was bitten in two, falling to the ground sparking as it went down.

From the doorway came the increasingly aged, yet undeniably shocked, voice of Zhan Guo.

"What did you say? More than six million?"

The door slammed against the wall with a bang as Sengoku, his head full of white hair, glared at Akainu, who sat stiffly behind his desk, and roared, "Sakazuki! Are you crazy? Conscripting six million soldiers? Are you planning a world war? Six million soldiers! You'll have to pay trillions of yen a year just for the Marines' salaries. Are you going to pay them with hair?"

Garp and Vice Admiral Tsuru, who followed him in, looked at each other in bewilderment and remained silent.

Recruiting over six million soldiers is simply outrageous.

The total number of people recruited from the time they joined the navy decades ago to the present is probably not this many.

Hearing Sengoku's roar, veins began to bulge on Akainu's forehead. He slammed his hand on the table in front of him and angrily shouted at Sengoku and the others who had been eavesdropping in the hallway outside, "Shut up, you old geezer! If you have nothing better to do, go back to Marineford and train new recruits. Don't get in my way here!"

Then, without waiting for Sengoku's reply, he glared at the sweating Brannew with eyes that seemed to spew molten lava and shouted:

"Brandeu! What's going on? How many people did you say signed up for the army? Over six million? Are you kidding me?!"

With a bitter expression, Brannew asked a few questions into the Den Den Mushi he was holding, then looked up and forced a smile at the people crammed into the office: "Marshal Sakazuki, there are 834 million now. Are you sure you don't want to set a cap on the number of recruits?"

"834 million?"

Sengoku, Garp, and the others were dumbfounded.

Chapter 715 Turning Military Recruitment into a Live Sports Event

Inside the even more magnificent and imposing Justice Fortress on G1 Island, Brannew looked at the five big shots in front of him with unusually interesting expressions, his face full of wry smiles.

"What's going on? Where did all these people come from to respond to the conscription? Are you sure you're not joking, Brannew!"

The old boss, Sengoku, asked with a serious expression.

"Yeah, this isn't the time for jokes. Let's not even talk about whether we can afford to support so many marines. Even if we did have that much military funding, if the Five Elders found out, they'd accuse us of openly rebelling with an army. Eight million, wow... Am I dreaming? I didn't even drink yesterday!"

Karp scratched his head, looking somewhat bewildered.

Brannew said with a crestfallen face, "It's...it's Lieutenant General Rorschach..."

"Huh? What does this have to do with Rorschach?" Akainu got up from his seat, took out another cigar from his pocket, put it in his mouth, and pressed his finger on it. The cigar immediately started to emit white smoke.

"Rorschach?" Sengoku immediately became alert.

"A few days ago, Marshal Sakazuki, didn't you find Morgans, the president of the World Economic News Agency, and pay him to place an advertisement for our navy's global recruitment campaign on the front page of the newspaper? After that, he went to G5, saying he wanted to find Vice Admiral Rorschach to take some photos for recruitment propaganda..."

"Get to the point!" Akainu impatiently interrupted Brannew's narration.

Brannew shuddered and quickly cut to the chase: "In short, Vice Admiral Rorschach and Morgans collaborated to create a recruitment propaganda projector, which was shown all over the world, and then... and then all our naval branches were overwhelmed with people coming to sign up for the military."

"Recruitment propaganda projection? What's that? Why haven't we received it?" Zhan Guo frowned.

Brannusne said:

"We did receive it, but... but this is the Navy Headquarters. Apart from the marines, there are no military families on the island, so there's no need to promote recruitment here. Therefore, we didn't specifically show it."

We never expected that, just because of that recruitment propaganda video, more than five million people would sign up in less than half a day before the recruitment campaign even officially started.

Moreover, this number is still skyrocketing. The branch in Sihai is already overwhelmed; the number of people signing up for the military is ten times greater than the number of marines stationed at the base.

"I knew it had to do with that kid Rorschach! Whenever something unexpected happens at Marine Headquarters, it's always related to him!"

Upon hearing this, Sengoku revealed an expression that said, "I knew it."

Akainu said with a grim face, "Bring that projection over here and take a look. Also, raise the requirements for recruiting soldiers a bit, keep the number of recruits below one million, and select the best candidates."

"Yes."

Brannew immediately accepted the order and left.

Brannew genuinely admired Akainu's decisive handling of the situation.

In this respect, Akainu, with his decisive and swift style, is indeed much more straightforward than Sengoku, who is steady and meticulous in his actions.

With just a short sentence, the ever-increasing number of people joining the army was curbed, and the quality of recruits was improved, which can be described as the best of both worlds.

A dozen minutes later, in the office, Akainu and the others, having finished watching the recruitment propaganda video projected by the video Den Den Mushi, all stared wide-eyed, their faces filled with undisguised shock.

"How...how did this happen? Was it filmed by Rorschach?"

So shocked was he that he blurted it out without even thinking it through.

Then he scratched his head and denied his ridiculous idea.

Because he knew that Rorschach would never have filmed those images.

When these scenes in the promotional video took place, Rorschach was one of the participants, and a key member at that. How could he have had the opportunity to be a cameraman holding a video Den Den Mushi?

"Hahaha, now I understand why the number of recruits has suddenly surged so much." After playing it again, Garp popped a senbei into his mouth and laughed heartily, a laugh he hadn't had in a long time. "Don't even mention those hot-blooded youths yearning for power, even I felt a long-lost surge of excitement after watching this promotional video. How did that kid Rorschach come up with something like this? It's practically a recruitment weapon!"

After carefully observing the video playing in front of him for a while, Lieutenant General Tsuru came to the correct conclusion.

"These scenes were probably filmed by us using video Den Den Mushi during the Marineford War. However, Rorschach removed the scenes of Whitebeard's side displaying their power and left only the scenes of our navy displaying its might, which inadvertently amplified the strength of our navy."

After listening to Vice Admiral Tsuru's analysis and reviewing it again, Akainu and the others agreed with her point of view.

"Xiao He, your analysis is good. However, isn't it a bit too arrogant to use such an exaggerated propaganda film for recruitment and even show it all over the world? In the Battle of Marineford, our navy also suffered very heavy losses. But the footage shown here seems to only show our navy's victory. Sometimes, being too confident is just arrogance."

Sengoku still harbored reservations about Rorschach's actions.

Akainu sat back down in his chair, leisurely puffing on his cigar, and grinned coldly, "Arrogant? No, we won that war completely, didn't we? This propaganda video is well done! Not only will it improve the quality of this recruitment, but it will also indirectly enhance the prestige of justice worldwide, while giving pirates all over the world a good shock."

Kizaru picked up a tissue to wipe the tea stains off his clothes, staring intently at the promotional video playing on repeat. He pouted and said, "I think so too. Look, Sakazuki, you crippled Whitebeard in just two moves in the promotional video. And that hand-in-pockets-stepping-on-weapons move was so cool! I want to learn that move too."

"Learn what? Whitebeard is dead!" Sengoku's face twitched.

He still felt a little hot-faced.

The overwhelming victory the Navy displayed against the Whitebeard Pirates in the promotional video made the Fleet Admiral, who commanded the Marineford War, feel a little ashamed.

Only those involved know how dangerous this war is.

Did Akainu cripple Whitebeard in just two moves?

Stop joking!

At that time, Whitebeard, despite his old age and frailty, almost single-handedly destroyed the entire Marineford.

Although Akainu severely injured Whitebeard, he also suffered extremely serious injuries himself. Rorschach, who later fought against Whitebeard, was also seriously injured by Whitebeard's attacks.

The navy suffered over 20,000 deaths and over 10,000 injuries.

Even if we win, it won't be a resounding victory, but rather a Pyrrhic one.

"Summon Luo Xia over here to oversee this recruitment selection. Since there's such a large pool of recruits this time, we must carefully select the best soldiers who can be deployed quickly. I think if he were here, those who came to enlist would perform even better," Lieutenant General He suggested with a smile.

Akainu did not refuse upon hearing this.

Although Vice Admiral Tsuru has retired, like Sengoku and Garp, Akainu will still consider her suggestions.

Vice Admiral Tsuru, who served as the Chief of Staff of the General Staff for decades, was still more intelligent and reliable than most admirals in the Navy.

Seeing that Akainu also nodded, Brannew quickly took out his Den Den Mushi and started dialing.

Sengoku thought for a moment and then said, "If conscription officially begins, then the medal-awarding ceremony that was put on hold during the Marineford War should also be brought forward. In that case, why not call all the outstanding generals who are going to be promoted to higher ranks and have them participate in the medal-awarding ceremony together with the elite recruits selected this time? In addition, there is the most important thing... the selection of the three generals. Sigh, I hope we can fill the gaps in the highest combat power as soon as possible. Rorschach, he should be promoted to general as well."

Akainu lowered his head and continued working at his desk, while simultaneously making the decision to become Fleet Admiral.

"Forget about the generals from Paradise and the Four Seas; they're too far away. There's no need to summon them all. Let them receive their medals remotely from their respective branches."

The New World branch is concentrating its rank-and-rank medal conferments at G1. The elite recruits selected this time are required to arrive at G1 within a month to undergo exceptional selection.

The strong rise, the weak fall. This time, no battle merits are needed; as long as you are strong enough, even the position of Admiral can be handed over directly.

"Special selection? That's the right thing to do to replenish the severely lacking mid-to-high-end combat force in a timely manner."

Sengoku, unusually, expressed his approval of Akainu's actions.

A month is not a short time, and the elite soldiers selected from all over the world will have time to come to G1.

After they finished speaking, Garp suddenly stepped forward, grabbed the video Den Den Mushi that was playing a promotional video, and walked outside with a grin.

Sengoku was taken aback and asked in astonishment, "Garp! What are you going to do with that thing?"

"Let's take it to the square and show it! Hahaha, how can we not share such a rare and wonderful thing with the marines?"

Seeing Garp leave in a flash, unable to contain his excitement, Sengoku shook his head helplessly.