Before undertaking a risky venture, what must be determined first? Is it whether the plan is detailed enough? No. As the one involved, the first thing to confirm is whether there's someone to take the fall. If no one can shoulder the blame, you're just digging a hole for yourself.
Fortunately, Ortoren is meticulous. Before he does anything, he always thinks about who will take the blame afterward. Skipper and the current Admiral immediately caught his attention.
And that was only the first layer of insurance. The reason he brought Rayleigh and Shakky into this was because they were meant to serve as the second layer. If Skipper and the Admiral couldn't hold the blame, Ortoren would sacrifice Rayleigh and Shakky without hesitation.
Would Rayleigh and Shakky retaliate by exposing Ortoren?
First, Ortoren is a senior member of the World Government, an elite Vice Admiral of Marine Headquarters, and the base commander of the G-5 outpost in the New World. When he speaks, who will the World Government believe—him, or two pirates like Rayleigh and Shakky?
Second, this matter concerns Amazon Lily in the Calm Belt. If Rayleigh and Shakky are forced to take the fall and choose not to bear it, instead spreading accusations and dragging Ortoren out into the open, Ortoren would sell out Amazon Lily in an instant, without a shred of hesitation. Amazon Lily is one of Rayleigh and Shakky's weaknesses.
In the end, they would have to choose: shoulder the blame themselves and flee for the rest of their lives, or expose Ortoren and doom Amazon Lily along with its countless residents. They would know which option weighed heavier.
After arranging these layers of protection, Ortoren thought it through repeatedly and concluded that as long as he didn't personally show up to set the fire and get caught in the act, the risk was manageable. Manageable meant within the limits he was willing to bear. After all, no great gain comes without taking risks.
With these matters considered and settled, he could finally begin planning how to burn Mary Geoise.
...
"So following your logic, our immediate priority is to break Shiki out of Impel Down. Then we'll use the fact that we freed him as leverage to make him cooperate with us and burn down Holy Land afterward, right?" Rayleigh asked after thinking it over.
Ortoren rolled his eyes at once, giving Rayleigh a look full of disdain.
"This is exactly why you pirates never accomplish anything. Let me ask you: is Shiki someone whose word you can trust? You think that after you've made your arrangements and come to an agreement, he'll actually keep his promise once he escapes?"
Rayleigh was silenced on the spot, unable to argue back.
Shakky let out a soft sigh beside him.
"He has a point. That Shiki isn't trustworthy at all. Bringing him into something like this is a risk in itself. Whether it succeeds or fails, there's always a chance it won't work in our favor."
"Exactly." Ortoren nodded, then continued, "Which is why we must be clear. All we need is to make it a fact that Shiki burned Mary Geoise. Whether he chooses to cooperate is irrelevant. Willing or unwilling, he has to 'do' it. And whether he does it himself... we don't need to bother with such details."
"So what are you suggesting?" Rayleigh lifted a brow, realizing that in this area Ortoren's mind worked better—more cunning, more ruthless. He decided it was best to follow Ortoren's lead.
Ortoren's lips curled into a wicked grin.
"First, we need to get Shiki out of prison. This has to be arranged carefully. We must create the illusion that he escaped on his own, but in reality, we'll keep Shiki under our complete control from beginning to end. In fact... it's best to kill him right from the start to avoid any trouble. As long as the body is in our hands, that's all that matters."
Seeing that Rayleigh and Shakky didn't react or object to killing Shiki, Ortoren gave a quiet nod before continuing.
"Once we have the so-called 'escaped' Shiki secured, we can move on to the Mary Geoise operation. In G-5, we have a Marine officer named Issho, whose ability is the Paramecia-type Zushi Zushi no Mi. That means we can mimic Shiki's style as closely as possible. We'll gather all sorts of random objects—ships, warships, small islands, things like that—then drop them onto Mary Geoise from above. Combined with the earlier news about Shiki's escape, what do you think Mary Geoise will assume once chaos breaks out?"
"They'll immediately think it's Shiki taking revenge on the World Government," Rayleigh answered without hesitation.
"Exactly." Ortoren nodded. "But because the abilities aren't identical, we'll need a pitch-black night to do this. Under cover of darkness, when no one can see clearly, Issho will use her power to manipulate Shiki's corpse. We'll have it fly through an area visible from Mary Geoise but out of range of their attacks. Just a quick appearance. That alone will be enough to make the story stick."
Rayleigh was stunned by the plan. He stared at Ortoren in disbelief for a moment before muttering, "When it comes to being ruthless, sneaky, and framing others... you Marines really are unmatched."
"You pirates are just a bunch of drifters crammed onto a ship. If you can't get along, you break up. But we Marines have to climb through complex political struggles to rise in rank. Understand? We don't even fight on the same battlefield," Ortoren said with a disdainful glance at the country-bumpkin Rayleigh.
"This is a rough plan, but in practice we'll need more meticulous preparations. Since we're already burning Mary Geoise, we can't just set the place on fire and walk away, can we? Freeing the Three Sisters is liberation, and freeing all the slaves in Mary Geoise is liberation too. We might as well do everything properly in one sweep." As Ortoren said this, his tone grew faintly complicated. "Consider it a small way to redeem some of the… sins our Marines committed while aiding the tyrant."
"In some respects, your Marines really are a bit… tch." Seeing Ortoren's expression, Rayleigh shook his head with a sigh.
Ortoren ignored him and continued, "If we're going to free those slaves, we can't just let them scatter. The terrain of the Red Line is right there—they have nowhere to go. Someone has to receive them."
Rayleigh and Shakky froze for a moment, then each shook their head. "We're afraid we can't do anything about that…"
"I know you can't. That's why we need a new partner—my personal scapegoat. It also gives you two another layer of cover, so if you get exposed, you won't drag me down with you," Ortoren grumbled.
"Who?" Rayleigh ignored his tone and asked directly.
"The Revolutionary Army," Ortoren answered without hesitation.
This Ortoren truly was ruthless. Burning Mary Geoise wasn't enough—he planned to stab the World Government in the back while he was at it.
The massive slave population in Mary Geoise—how could they possibly feel anything positive toward the World Government? They hated them. They'd love nothing more than to tear the Government apart.
Among them, there would certainly be those who wanted nothing more to do with conflict. But there would also be many who craved revenge. And what are people like that? Perfect potential recruits for the Revolutionary Army.
And with Ortoren expanding G-5's influence, the risk of being exposed only kept rising. At this stage, he needed someone powerful to stand out on the seas and draw the World Government's attention away from G-5, easing the pressure on his side.
After weighing his options, Ortoren concluded the Revolutionary Army was ideal. And as the Revolutionary Army grew, they became an increasingly promising "client" for someone like him. Weapons, warships, even future products like grain cultivated from the Calm Belt—he could sell all of it to the Revolutionaries.
You raid those noble lords up front, paving the way for kings, and we stand behind you as the solid financial force turning that loot into capital. Perfectly reasonable.
But there was one problem. As Ortoren's designated scapegoat, Dragon had been betrayed by him plenty of times. Their mutual trust was practically nonexistent. Dragon was surely on high alert against him.
So if any cooperation were to happen, Ortoren would first have to clear up those "misunderstandings" between them. That required a show of sincerity.
And by using the Mary Geoise arson as leverage—handing over some incriminating pieces about himself to win the Revolutionary Army over—Ortoren figured that counted as plenty of sincerity.
If I've gone this far and you still don't trust me, do you want me to chop off a Five Elder's head as a greeting gift?
Then what do we even need a Revolutionary Army for!?
Of course, no real, concrete leverage could be handed over. No solid evidence. Otherwise, he'd be at someone else's mercy. As for shallow, symbolic information—those would do. Even if Dragon tried to threaten him with it, the question remained: would the World Government trust Ortoren, their own backbone, or Dragon, a criminal leader openly opposing them? With no hard evidence and only words to go on, what could Dragon actually accomplish?