After patiently listening to the warm reunion between Raleigh and his disciple Miles on the deck, Sakazuki finally turned and asked the pressing question.
"Raleigh... what are your true thoughts on the Roger Pirates finding the final island? Or rather, what kind of impact will Roger, the so-called Pirate King, bring to this world?"
Raleigh burst into laughter.
He gestured casually around the massive heavily fortified naval base, pointing at the hundreds of warships and thousands of scrambling soldiers.
"Sakazuki-senpai, isn't this exactly the impact of Roger becoming the Pirate King?"
Sakazuki was momentarily stunned.
After a moment's thought, he couldn't help but let out a rare, grim smile as well.
"Yes. Only Gol D. Roger could force the World Government to gather all the top fighters of the Navy just to capture him."
"Let us go to the conference room together and hear what kind of paranoid operation plan Headquarters has prepared," Sakazuki invited.
Raleigh nodded, and together with Sakazuki, they used Geppo to fly directly toward the towering Headquarters building.
Bang.
The heavy double doors of the grand conference room opened, immediately releasing a thick, suffocating cloud of cigar smoke into the hallway.
Raleigh waved away the white haze before his eyes and looked inside.
'Good heavens, there were quite a few familiar, legendary faces inside—basically everyone who would become a Vice-Admiral or higher in the future timeline was sitting at this table.'
Many lower officers simply didn't have sufficient rank or clearance to participate in this meeting.
Those who were allowed to attend either had absolute monstrous strength, or exceptional political backing.
Therefore, only four people from Sakazuki and Raleigh's respective ships were permitted to enter the room, along with two adjutants to take notes.
In fact, intense furious discussions had been going on for several days before Raleigh and Sakazuki had even arrived at Marineford.
The general strategic direction had already been determined by Fleet Admiral Kong.
Written in bold red letters on the massive whiteboard at the front of the room was: Full-Scale Capture of the "Pirate King" Gol D. Roger.
What the officers were loudly discussing now were the various tactical details of this operation, making exhaustive preparations to deal with Roger's assumed armada.
After listening for a while, Raleigh and Sakazuki found that many logistical issues had already been raised and resolved.
The current battle plan was actually quite perfect.
The next step was immediate implementation: thoroughly investigating all islands and specific sea routes where Roger might appear, and arresting and rigorously interrogating anyone who had ever had contact with the Roger Pirates.
Finding the bureaucratic arguing tedious, Raleigh felt somewhat tired.
He decided to just rest his head on the mahogany table and slack off for a while.
After all, the truly heavyweight figures of the Navy weren't even in this conference room at the moment; they were having a separate, classified meeting in the Fleet Admiral's office.
Raleigh felt like he had only closed his eyes for a moment, but when he opened them again, it was already lunchtime.
Sakazuki, sitting rigidly beside him, hadn't been slacking off at all.
Instead, he was aggressively writing and drawing tactical formations in a small worn notebook he always carried with him.
Many strategic ideas came to Sakazuki suddenly, and to avoid forgetting them, he meticulously recorded everything.
...
"You're awake, Raleigh," Sakazuki noted without looking up. "Fleet Admiral Kong sent an adjutant over earlier. After we eat, we are to report directly to the Fleet Admiral's office this afternoon."
Sakazuki closed his notebook, carefully tucked it into his breast pocket, and led Raleigh to the officer's mess hall to eat.
At 2:00 PM sharp, Sakazuki and Raleigh arrived at the Fleet Admiral's office.
Pushing open the heavy oak doors immediately drew the attention of the most powerful eyes in the world.
Raleigh wasn't surprised or intimidated by this scene, so he remained as casual and relaxed as before.
Sakazuki, ever the strict soldier, found an empty chair and sat perfectly upright.
Scanning the room, Raleigh saw the pinnacle of the Navy's power.
Seated behind the massive desk, smoking a thick cigar, was Fleet Admiral Kong.
Surrounding him were Admiral Sengoku, Admiral Zephyr, Vice-Admiral Garp, Chief of Staff Tsuru, and the anomaly-tier Vice-Admirals Borsalino and Kuzan.
Having been closer in proximity to Marineford when the summons went out, they had all arrived days earlier than Raleigh and Sakazuki.
"Finally here. You're much later than the others," Kong grunted lightly through a cloud of smoke.
Raleigh and Sakazuki offered crisp salutes to the Fleet Admiral, then found seats and sat down.
"Now that our primary combatants are all here, let us officially begin," Kong announced, his voice heavy.
"The World Nobles—the Five Elders—are extremely angry about the Roger Pirates reaching the final island and Roger audacity. They demand we quickly address the impact this event is having on the world."
At Kong's signal, two elite Marine guards brought thick, classified dossiers and placed them in front of Raleigh and Sakazuki.
"Based on recent, panicked reports from Marine branches worldwide, the influence of this event is already unstoppable. More and more civilians, inspired by the romanticized journey of the Roger Pirates, are setting out to sea to become pirates, far exceeding any of our previous historical metrics."
"Branches across the globe are sending desperate requests for reinforcements."
Kong took a deep, exhausted breath and continued. "For now, the situation in the Four Blues is still within controllable limits, as newly set-out rookie pirates are relatively easy to deal with. The true trouble lies with the veteran pirates who have already ventured deep into the Grand Line and the New World. They have formed massive alliances and possess considerable military strength themselves."
"Spurred by the news of the Pirate King, these alliances are uniting in desperate attempts to find the Roger Pirates and join their banner. They have completely lost their fear of the Navy, their minds are filled only with fantasies of how to become part of the Pirate King's Grand Fleet."
Kong leaned forward, resting his massive hands on the desk.
"Therefore, our tasks ahead are heavy. We need to ruthlessly suppress these frenzied pirate alliances while simultaneously locating the Oro Jackson."
"Sengoku, Garp, Raleigh, Sakazuki, Borsalino, Kuzan—each of you will lead a heavily armed squadron to patrol specific sectors of the Grand Line, suppressing the situation with extreme prejudice to prevent further escalation."
"Meanwhile, I have already appealed directly to the World Government. The Five Elders have approved the Navy's emergency expansion request. Zephyr, your task will also be incredibly demanding. You will not need to fight on the front lines yourself, but you must train a massive, fresh batch of recruits at the military academy to replenish our inevitable casualties."
Kong sighed. "I have a terrible feeling this turmoil will not end in just a few years. We need to prepare early for a prolonged, global war."
"Lastly, Tsuru and the intelligence staff must quickly analyze all incoming information to trace the Roger Pirates' movements and strive to locate them before they can formally establish their Grand Fleet."