"I'll find a way to handle the navy—but you all need to lend a hand. Otherwise, the navy won't be able to deploy enough forces in time to repel those pirates!"
Warcury Saint ground his teeth, speaking with bitter rage. What he regretted most now was that, when Kong had been forced to step down, he had agreed to the navy's proposal and allowed a single admiral to be promoted to Fleet Admiral.
Looking back, ever since Sengoku, the navy had grown more and more unruly—until finally, they ended up with a traitorous rebel like Kizaru!
"I'll persuade the Celestial Dragons to lend us their guards. Combined with Mary Geoise's own soldiers, we should be able to gather around five thousand troops…"
Mars Saint paused to think, then volunteered to take on the task of requesting manpower from the Celestial Dragons.
With the enemy already nearing Mary Geoise, they had no choice. Even if dealing with the Celestial Dragons was troublesome, there was no other option.
"Not enough! The God's Army takes time to mobilize, and the Holy Knights can't be deployed immediately. We must conscript every single guard, along with Mary Geoise's soldiers. At minimum, we need twenty thousand!"
Nusjuro Saint declared firmly. Each Celestial Dragon was attended by dozens, sometimes hundreds, of guards, and if they were all conscripted, the numbers would be considerable.
These guards were also relatively strong, and when combined with Mary Geoise's well-equipped soldiers, twenty thousand troops would be equivalent to at least sixty or seventy thousand pirates.
Even though the Dark Matter Pirates had assembled an unprecedentedly massive fleet, the combined forces of Kaido and Big Mom's crews alone would never reach such staggering numbers.
If nothing unexpected happens, most of those two hundred thousand-odd pirates are just rabble; there's no need to overestimate their combat power.
"…Alright. I believe the Celestial Dragons will understand how severe the situation is now."
Saint Mars hesitated for a moment, then finally nodded in agreement.
Getting people out of the Celestial Dragons' hands is no easy task, and according to Saint Nas's proposal it would basically mean dragging the guards of nearly every Celestial Dragon onto the battlefield.
Even for the Gorosei, arranging so many Celestial Dragons at once is not something that can be done easily.
Fortunately, the threat from the Cosmic Dark Matter Pirates is immediate, and with the precedent of the Rocks Pirates nearly taking God's Valley, there's little chance the Celestial Dragons will take this lightly.
"The World Government headquarters can probably muster about ten thousand armed personnel. Beyond that, we can't spare more…"
Saint Saturn ruffled his fluffy hair, sounding troubled.
Although the World Government's headquarters sits at Mariejois, the number of troops stationed there is actually quite limited—most of the staff are civilian officials.
Even elite figures like Kong or Admiral Sengoku, once removed from frontline duty, inevitably lose some of their practical combat edge despite vigorous training.
And many of the government bureaucrats who rose by family connections simply lack real fighting strength.
The other Gorosei all nodded in unison: yes, fielded military power is not the World Government headquarters' strong suit. Ten thousand is already respectable.
"I'll urge all neighboring allied nations to send their entire forces. Expect twenty to thirty thousand troops to reach Mariejois within three days, fifty thousand within seven days, and roughly three hundred thousand within a month."
Saint Peter had evidently prepared in advance; he quickly pulled out a statistics file listing the current military strength of each allied nation.
For those nations nearer to Mariejois, he'd even listed the personal profiles of their military commanders in detail.
The level of detail in that classified intel exceeded what would normally be expected; gathering it couldn't have been done in a day or two.
Yet the Gorosei's expressions showed no surprise—clearly they'd long been aware. Some of this intelligence might have been collected on their orders.
"A month is too late. Given how close that rabble is to Mariejois, the Sacred Land's defense will be underway at most within seven days!"
Saint Nusjuro spread out an exquisite sea chart across the table, marking the location of the Cosmic Dark Matter fleet.
Mariejois sat dead center on the map; even someone unfamiliar with the seas could see from the chart how little distance separated the pirate fleet from Mariejois—and feel the urgency as the enemy closed in.
"Wait—can't we try to intercept those pirates at sea?"
Saint Saturn was still unwilling to accept it. The fact that pirates had even attempted to attack Mary Geoise was already a disgrace to the World Government. And if those despicable pirates actually set foot on Mary Geoise's sacred ground, then no matter how the Government tried to cover it up afterward, it would surely go down as the shame of the Gorosei throughout history.
And that wasn't even the worst of it. After all, with the Pure Gold in their possession, they had near-infinite lifespans. Theoretically, no new Gorosei would ever replace them.
But if those pirates breached Mary Geoise, then even as the lofty Gorosei, they would not be able to bear the consequences of disturbing Lord Imu!
"It's already too late. On the route the Dark Matter Pirates are advancing, aside from G-1, only Bases 114 and 028 remain, and both are small branches without fortresses. There's no way they can hold back those pirates…"
Saint Nasjuro spoke up, still finding the situation hard to believe. The CP organizations had planted thousands of agents throughout the New World, and yet, it wasn't until the Dark Matter Pirates were practically at their doorstep that they received the news.
But now it was far too late to investigate which link in the chain had failed. Compared to hunting down possible traitors or infiltrators, protecting Mary Geoise was the absolute priority!
"What about the Army and the Holy Knights? If that bastard Kizaru starts playing tricks, the only forces we'll have left to rely on will be the Army and the Holy Knights…"
Saint Saturn thought it over and decided it was still too risky to place their hopes on Kizaru.
After all, in the past Kizaru had proven more than once that, when it came to disappointing the Gorosei, his track record was disturbingly reliable!
"Unless it's a matter of absolute desperation, the Holy Knights must preserve their strength as much as possible! We should prioritize mobilizing the Army instead. Counting the troops stationed in Mary Geoise along with those across the Red Line, we can gather roughly thirty-five thousand men…"
Saint Nasjuro was clearly far calmer than the others. He had faced major crises in his youth, and long before he became a Gorosei, he had already served as the supreme commander of both the Army and the Holy Knights.
Compared to the massive Navy, the Army and the Holy Knights were far weaker in scale and top-tier combat power. But as two of the World Government's three military branches, even just the forces around Mary Geoise could be mobilized into a fairly formidable army.
"Add to that the CP agents and instructors stationed or currently training near Mary Geoise, and we can muster perhaps another ten thousand or so…"
Saint V. Nusjuro furrowed his brows deeply, silently calculating the odds of repelling the enemy with the hastily gathered forces. The result was clearly not optimistic.
Even if the majority of the Dark Matter Pirates were nothing more than cannon fodder, the fact remained—they numbered over two hundred thousand, and they were pirates from the New World.
Against the hastily assembled army of the Five Elders, it was hard to say which side had the lower average strength—especially since the core of the Dark Matter Pirates was made up of the two great pirate emperors, the Beasts Pirates and the Big Mom Pirates!
Compared to the strength the Whitebeard and Red-Hair crews displayed during the Summit War, whether the World Government could even defend Mary Geoise was a very big question.
"What about that red-hair? If he's willing to help…"
Saint Peter gritted his teeth and looked at the others, actually suggesting they borrow the strength of one pirate crew to fight another.
After all, it wouldn't be the first time. Back at God Valley, they had allied with Roger's crew against the Rocks Pirates. Now, they could just as easily ally with the Red-Hair Pirates against the Dark Matter Pirates.
Not to mention, Shanks' origins were unique. With his identity as a Celestial Dragon and the connection to his father, Saint Figarland Garling, it was only natural for the Red-Hair Pirates to fight on behalf of the World Government.
Afterward, the story could be spread that the Red-Hair Pirates fought merely to contest the Dark Matter Pirates for dominance of the New World, allowing the World Government to wash their hands of the affair.
Hearing Saint Peter's near "blasphemous" suggestion, the expressions of the other Five Elders hardly changed.
Clearly, compared to whatever trouble Shanks' pirate identity might bring, the real priority was whether Mary Geoise could be defended at all.
"It's too late. That red-haired guy has always been unpredictable. No one knows where he'll suddenly appear, and finding him is no easy matter…"
Saint V. Nusjuro shook his head. Using Red-Haired Shanks wasn't that simple—especially after his crew had been heavily damaged by Kizaru, and even his first mate had lost an arm. Nobody knew where the Red-Haired Pirates were now.
"So in seven days, Mary Geoise can muster at least ninety-five thousand troops? Close to a hundred thousand should be enough to block those pirates, right? As long as we can stall until the Navy arrives, the reinforcements will surely drive back—or even annihilate—the madmen who dare defile the Holy Land!"
Saint Saturn stroked his chin, speaking with cautious optimism.
Though more than half of those hundred thousand were little more than fodder, there would still be plenty of CP agents, instructors, and other elites mixed in.
And their mission was only to delay the Dark Matter Pirates until the Navy and reinforcements arrived. In Saint Saturn's view, that was more than sufficient.
"Not enough! Release the slaves of the Holy Land, arm them, and grant them the glory of defending it!"
But that notion was quickly crushed by Saint Nusjuro. Compared to the other Elders, his strength was faintly superior, and he had experienced true wars before.
In his eyes, no matter how many pawns they had, they were still only pawns. Against the truly troublesome monsters of the Dark Matter Pirates, even an army of a hundred thousand was just numbers on paper.
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