New World, G-5 Naval Base.
Today, Ortoren had nothing important on his plate, so he slouched in his office, killing time.
A newspaper lay on his desk. The headline on the front page was all about the Reverie. Yes, the Reverie had officially begun, with fifty member nations' royals attending.
Representing the Navy, Admiral Sengoku, Chief of Staff Tsuru, and Zephyr-sensei were present as part of the delegation.
The biggest news from the summit centered on the Revolutionary Army. The World Government formally announced that it would launch a full-scale campaign to strike and eradicate the Revolutionary Army, vowing to wipe out these rebels who threatened the peace.
The allied royals all voiced their support.
Later, the issue of the Heavenly Tribute was raised—this time by Alabasta—hoping the World Government would either stop collecting it or at least reduce the amount.
But the vote was decisive: forty-nine nations voted against, with only Alabasta backing its own proposal.
Not that it was surprising. After all, who would dare vote in favor? Abstaining wasn't even an option.
"You in Alabasta have your ancestors' prestige to shield you, so you can run your mouths and the World Government can't do much about it. Us? We don't have that kind of privilege!"
Aside from the Reverie news out of Mary Geoise, the paper also carried some other interesting stories. For example, in the New World on Srikov Island, the Red Hair Pirates clashed once again with Hawk Eyes, Dracule Mihawk.
Normally, that wouldn't be a big deal. But during their duel, the Whitebeard Pirates happened to pass by. According to unconfirmed rumors, the world's strongest man, Whitebeard Edward Newgate, after witnessing Shanks and Mihawk's fight, praised them both as men destined to become top-tier powers of the seas.
And that wasn't the end of it. Their duel never reached a conclusion, because midway through, the Navy's hero Garp arrived with his dog-headed warship at Srikov Island.
At first, the Red Hair Pirates thought Garp was coming for them. After all, Shanks had once sailed under Roger, and Garp still cast a long shadow over him.
But no—Garp didn't target them at all. Instead, he chased Mihawk down, pounding away at him the whole way. In the end, though, he didn't capture Dracule Mihawk. According to the report, at the crucial moment "mistakes occurred," allowing Dracule Mihawk to escape Srikov Island in a sorry state.
That excuse might fool clueless bystanders, but Garp's dog-headed warship is a top-class vessel. It could even chase down Roger's Oro Jackson, practically its equal.
And Mihawk? All he's got is a little rowboat. Are we really supposed to believe Garp couldn't catch him?
Clearly, he let him go.
After Mihawk slipped past Garp, the Navy immediately rebranded him as the "Marines Hunter" and jacked his bounty up from 272 million to a whopping 400 million Belly.
Four hundred million—already among the highest bounties around. Among the new wave of pirates who've risen in the Great Pirate Era, Mihawk suddenly stood at the very top, even surpassing Shanks' bounty by several tens of millions.
And it wasn't just the Navy suddenly gunning for him. After the Tea Party on Whole Cake Island, the Big Mom Pirates also declared Dracule Mihawk their enemy.
Anyone connected to Dracule Mihawk would be treated as an enemy of the Big Mom Pirates.
All of a sudden, it felt like the entire New World was out for Mihawk's blood.
Swordsmen he had previously challenged, as well as those he hadn't yet but who already felt uneasy, seized the chance to issue proclamations across the seas. They called Mihawk a thug with no sense of honor, saying he deserved to be hunted down by all.
They urged everyone to report Mihawk's whereabouts to both the Navy and the Big Mom Pirates, hoping to eliminate this dangerous man and bring peace back to the New World.
Wave after wave of accusations made it seem like Mihawk alone was to blame for half the chaos tearing the New World apart.
The onlookers at sea all sensed something strange about the situation, yet none could put their finger on what exactly felt wrong.
A few sharp-minded individuals, however, realized that Mihawk must have offended someone—though who that was remained a mystery.
Only those truly in the know sighed in the shadows, recognizing that yet another name had been added to the list of people one must never cross in the New World: G-5 Naval Base Commander Benn Ortoren.
Cross the Navy, and at worst they'll raise your bounty. Cross a Great Pirate, and you just lay low for a while, staying out of their territory.
But cross Benn Ortoren? You'd better get out of the New World altogether. He has influence in both the underworld and the legitimate world. Your only chance is to hide and pray that Ortoren can't be bothered to hunt you down.
Staring at the silent Den Den Mushi on his desk, Ortoren couldn't help but admire Mihawk. A real man, hard as steel. Even with the world pressing down on him, the bastard had the guts to endure the pressure without so much as contacting him to discuss that 20 billion Belly deal.
Ortoren thought his hostility toward Mihawk had been clear enough. Surely the man couldn't be so dense. But in reality, he had overestimated Mihawk's ability to read the situation.
To this day, Mihawk hadn't noticed anything amiss. He believed it was all coincidence, that if he kept a low profile for a while, the storm would pass. He never even considered Ortoren's hand in it.
By contrast, Shanks of the Red-Haired Pirates had immediately picked up on the truth after reading the newspaper. Using Mihawk as a negative example, he warned his crew that this was the price of offending Ortoren. Again and again, he reminded them never to provoke the G-5 Marines without a damn good reason.
Compared to Mihawk, Shanks was far sharper.
...
Setting aside the newspaper, Ortoren was now flipping through the monthly internal bulletin issued by Marine Headquarters. It was a compilation of information circulated within the Navy—matters not urgent enough to warrant official dispatches but still necessary for all bases to know. Headquarters gathered these into a bulletin and distributed it monthly via fax.
Packed with over seventy entries, ninety percent of them had nothing to do with Ortoren or the G-5 Marines. Most were trivial, and many were things a well-connected officer like him had already heard.
Still, two items caught his interest.
The first concerned Captain Smoker, top of the class in the Third Officer Training Camp. While escorting the royal family of a Member Nation alongside Vice Admiral Ferinans, he clashed violently with said royals. After serious deliberation, Headquarters issued Captain Smoker a severe warning, demoted him to Lieutenant Commander, and transferred him from his post. His future assignment remained undecided.
Ortoren had never dealt with Smoker personally, but he had seen him once back during training under Zephyr-sensei.
Sure enough, Smoker had stood out in his class—graduating as top of the class and earning the rank of Captain.
Judging by the timeline, Smoker must have joined the Marines at the dawn of the Great Pirate Era. Nearly four years had passed since then. Whether or not he was eighteen at the time, he certainly was by now. And his rebellious nature was beginning to show in full.
Smoker had joined the Navy thanks to his Logia-type Devil Fruit ability. He'd passed political screening without issue. Born and raised in the East Blue, the only time he'd ever set sail with his father, he'd happened to eat the Logia Smoke-Smoke no Mi.
Before even turning eighteen, he volunteered to join the Marines. At the time, thanks to men like Ortoren, Kuzan, Borsalino, and Sakazuki, there was a strong "Logia worship" trend within the Navy. As a Logia user, Smoker was highly anticipated. He was recommended directly from the East Blue branch to Headquarters, then swiftly placed under Zephyr-sensei's command.
If he had just followed the usual path and avoided major screw-ups, his career would have been smooth sailing.
But Smoker's uncompromising sense of justice was too rigid. He repeatedly violated discipline. A man like him somehow lasted until the Straw Hats set sail, yet he was still stuck at Captain, dumped in the backwater East Blue.
That alone showed just how badly Smoker had sabotaged his own career.
After the Alabasta affair, though, he shifted his outlook. He came to believe that only greater power could truly enforce justice. So he compromised with reality—and that marked the start of his rise.
In just two years, he climbed from Captain to Vice Admiral of Headquarters. The difference before and after was staggering.