It wasn't just Slekemind who received a summons from the New World Marines.
Some of the Shichibukai received it as well.
Kraken Island.
The island where Hawk-Eyes Dracule Mihawk, now firmly seated as the world's greatest swordsman, resided.
He lived alone on this island, keeping company with nothing but monkeys day in and day out.
At this moment, Mihawk sat inside his castle, gently swirling a glass of red wine as he looked at the Shichibukai confidential letter delivered by a communication bat.
"Achino Island?" Mihawk murmured, his brow knitting slightly.
He had no idea where Achino Island was.
But that was hardly strange. Achino Island was an uninhabited wasteland in the New World. It was perfectly normal for Mihawk to have never heard of it. Even Slekemind himself didn't know where Achino Island was.
The contents of the letter were simple enough. It summoned the Shichibukai to gather at Achino Island and cooperate with the New World Marines.
Although it didn't specify what the operation was, the fact that Ortoren had issued the summons and was mobilizing the New World Marines made one thing clear.
This was going to be a major event.
"If I can't find this Achino Island… then I'll just go find Ortoren first," Mihawk said after a brief moment of thought, making his decision.
This summons wasn't a compulsory order. It was merely a standard call-up. There was no mention of stripping Shichibukai status for refusing to attend.
If the summons had come from Marine Headquarters, Slekemind probably wouldn't have bothered, and Mihawk likely wouldn't have either.
But this summons came from Ortoren.
That was a different matter entirely.
Marine Headquarters wasn't particularly petty, but Ortoren was famously not someone you could afford to offend. Even if he hadn't issued a mandatory order, who would dare not go?
Refusing meant refusing to give Admiral Benn face.
And if you refused to give Admiral Benn face, did you really think you could continue living peacefully afterward?
If he forgot about it, fine.
But if he remembered and decided to make things difficult for you, could you really handle that?
Just look at the Red-Haired Pirates. Because they offended Ortoren, they didn't even manage to escape the New World before getting wrecked.
If you offended Ortoren and he issued a bounty notice on you like he did with the Red-Haired crew, with forces from every side hunting you down, you'd be finished.
Mihawk received his summons via confidential letter.
As for Moria and Doflamingo, all it took was for the relevant officials to give them a Den Den Mushi call and inform them directly.
At the moment, Doflamingo was attending the grand conference in Mary Geoise, while Moria was busy supervising work in Gold City. Both of them had important matters on their hands.
Fortunately, this wasn't something that required immediate action. Even the Marines themselves hadn't finalized their arrangements yet. At the earliest, things would only move forward after the World Conference concluded.
So neither of them needed to rush.
As for Jinbe, the Fish-Man Island Shichibukai, he was also busy in Gold City. But after some consideration, Ortoren ultimately chose not to send him a summons.
The reason was simple enough. Fish-Man Island had long been under Whitebeard's protection, and to this day, it still flew the flag of the Whitebeard Pirates.
Although Ortoren had grown fairly close to Fish-Man Island, there was no need to force them to make a choice.
Summoning Jinbe would have been unnecessary. Given his chivalrous and righteous nature, he would likely not only fail to help, but might even sour relations.
After all, having one more or one less person made no real difference.
Why force Fish-Man Island to choose now? Once this battle was over and the Whitebeard Pirates were wiped out, everything would become much simpler. At that point, Fish-Man Island wouldn't have a choice anyway, so why bother struggling over it now?
At the same time, Ortoren paid no attention to Crocodile, the Sand Crocodile, who was far away in Alabasta. That man had never left Alabasta, nor had he ever paid Ortoren the Shichibukai guarantee fee.
Since Crocodile hid away in the desert kingdom, Ortoren had no interest in going out of his way to deal with him.
As for Crocodile, he had once considered stirring up trouble for Ortoren, but later became entangled in Alabasta's internal affairs and never followed through.
As a result, the two had no contact at all.
Still, Ortoren kept Crocodile's debt firmly in mind. The original 20 billion Beli had long since accrued interest. By now, it had to be at least 50 billion.
If they ever crossed paths again and Crocodile didn't settle the debt, Ortoren fully intended to take both of his legs as payment.
To this day, the Shichibukai had never been at full strength. Despite the name, there were only six.
For this summons, Slekemind, Doflamingo, Moria, and Mihawk would all participate. The remaining two, Jinbe and Crocodile, were not called.
...
Meanwhile, at the Holy Land, Mary Geoise.
Inside Pangaea Castle, the morning session of the World Conference had just concluded.
Fleet Admiral Sengoku rubbed his temples as he stepped out of the conference chamber.
To be honest, these meetings always discussed things that felt overly abstract, yet were saturated with politics. Sengoku had no choice but to spar verbally with the royal families of various allied nations, debating matters like the extent of Marine protection they deserved.
Just as Sengoku turned a corner in the corridor, he saw a CP agent waiting there. The man bowed respectfully and said,
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku, the Five Elders request your presence in the Chamber of Power."
Sengoku paused briefly, then nodded.
"Understood. I'll go right away."
The Chamber of Power was located at the very top of Pangaea Castle. Sengoku didn't need to take any detours and soon arrived at the door, knocking lightly.
A moment later, the voices of the Five Elders sounded from inside, and Sengoku pushed the door open and entered.
"You summoned me?" Sengoku asked.
After inviting Sengoku to sit, Saint Warcury spoke first.
"We did not attend today's meeting. How did it go?"
Sengoku opened his mouth as if to answer, but after thinking it over, realized there wasn't much to say. He let out a light sigh.
"Not much different from usual…"
Clearly, the Five Elders weren't particularly concerned with the meeting itself. They hadn't attended precisely because they knew that most of the topics being discussed lately were little more than meaningless chatter, not worth their time.
After a few polite exchanges, Saint Warcury moved straight to the point.
"I noticed that Ortoren wasn't part of the Marine delegation this time. But why wasn't Sakazuki here either?"
Ortoren's absence had been explained in advance. He had said he needed to handle important matters in the New World, and with the Golden City project just getting underway, the Five Elders found that reasonable and approved it immediately.
But Sakazuki?
Why had he suddenly decided not to come at the last moment?
In the Five Elders' view, Sakazuki had always been the Admiral at Marine Headquarters with the closest ties to Mary Geoise. They held him in high regard.
They had long hoped to strengthen their indirect influence and control over Marine Headquarters through Sakazuki.
Originally, they had planned to speak with him during this conference. His absence naturally left them puzzled.
Hearing the question, Sengoku quickly replied,
"I was planning to report this to you when you had time…"
"Oh?" Saint Warcury asked with mild curiosity. "Has something happened?"
"Yes," Sengoku said. "Ortoren seems to have seized an opportunity and is preparing to move against the Whitebeard Pirates, with the intent of annihilating them outright. After learning of this, Sakazuki immediately decided to head to the New World to support Ortoren. They should be discussing their operational plans against the Whitebeard Pirates right now. Once those plans are finalized, they'll submit them to Marine Headquarters. We'll then forward them here for your review."
The moment the Five Elders heard this, all of them were visibly shocked.
Without any warning or buildup, Ortoren was planning to wipe out the Whitebeard Pirates?
Saint Mars spoke with concern.
"Isn't this too sudden? There were no signs at all, and now this is being proposed out of nowhere…"
"Yes," Saint Nusjuro added. "Sengoku, Ortoren is still young. He may lack steadiness at times. You should keep a closer watch on him."
Sengoku nodded immediately.
"I agree. But for now, they're only drafting plans. My intention is to wait until they submit the proposal to Headquarters, then assess its feasibility. If it's workable, we'll let them proceed. If the plan isn't solid or lacks viability, I'll halt it using my authority as Fleet Admiral."
After hearing this, the Five Elders relaxed somewhat and nodded in approval.
"As long as you have a clear grasp of the situation, that's fine. Perhaps we're being overly cautious. Ortoren is quite capable, and Sakazuki is there as well. Neither of them would act recklessly. Opportunities in war are fleeting. If they truly have confidence, we shouldn't interfere too much. After all, if the Whitebeard Pirates can really be eliminated, that would ultimately be a good thing."