Uchiha's personal opinion

"I will serve as the Commander-in-Chief of the East China Sea Area Force and will directly lead the First Operational Group to carry out the clearing and strike missions!"

"The Second Task Force will remain under the command of Vice Admiral Garp, who will also direct his former Buster Call fleet colleagues to contain and strike the Deepsea Rebel fleet!"

"no problem……"

Lieutenant General Garp nodded.

"Let's strive to meet again within a month!"

Kizaru's face was no longer as casual and lazy as usual; he said seriously, "The world is waiting for our victory!"

"The Navy will prevail!"

All the naval officers, including Vice Admiral Garp, raised their arms and shouted in unison.

Chapter 523 War Clouds over the East China Sea

"Your Majesty! An urgent report from the East China Sea!"

Second Army Commander-in-Chief Fugaku Uchiha rushed to the island of the Divine Tree. Only after undergoing multiple checks by the Imperial Guards was Tokumitsu Uchiha allowed to take up his post at the Divine Tree.

Although he was very displeased with the inspection by the Imperial Guard ninjas who were also Uchiha clan members, Fugaku Uchiha maintained a respectful demeanor on the surface.

"The war situation?"

Uchiha Tokumitsu snapped out of his meditative state and asked with a frown.

"Yes……"

Fugaku Uchiha respectfully replied, "Based on the combined intelligence from the ninjas lurking in the Sabaody Archipelago and the advance fleet, it is highly likely that the pseudo-government navy has recently strengthened its military deployment, or is planning to take action in the East China Sea..."

"This is really troublesome..."

Uchiha Tokuko released his chakra to capture the intelligence data in Fugaku's hands and began to read it.

The intelligence data didn't reveal many specific details. Apart from basic information like naval warship movements, the rest was based on speculation from various clues. However, given the ninja's expertise, the reasoning was generally reasonable and well-founded.

All the public information and intelligence analysis ultimately pointed to one result—war!

Moreover, it will be a large-scale, multi-dimensional war!

Uchiha Tokumitsu also saw in it a specific name given by the World Government to the forces in the ninja world—the Deep Sea Rebels!

"It seems a major war is inevitable..."

Uchiha Tokumitsu raised his head and looked up at the towering divine tree that reached into the clouds.

After several months of 'planting', the divine tree's growth was particularly gratifying, but as its height continued to increase, its presence became increasingly difficult to conceal.

Originally, it would have been sufficient to deploy warships on the outer perimeter, but now it is necessary to expand the warning zone to beyond the sea level centered on the island of the Divine Tree. If this continues for some time, the area of ​​this warning zone will only grow larger and larger until all the ships in the fleet are deployed and still cannot conceal the existence of the Divine Tree.

Therefore, the anomalies on the Island of the Divine Tree, the Triangle of the Demon Sea, and even the northern desert islands will be discovered sooner or later, and what will follow will be far more than just a war in the East China Sea.

Uchiha Tokumitsu never underestimated the power of the pirate world.

"Issue the conscription order..."

After a moment of contemplation, Uchiha Tokumitsu said, "Notify the six tailed beasts and the two clones of the Great Sage, and have them all join me in battle!"

"And regarding the Second Legion... let's withdraw one-third of its forces!"

"His Majesty intends to personally lead the army?!"

Fugaku Uchiha was taken aback upon hearing this.

Even if he had some inappropriate thoughts, they were just selfish motives. From the perspective of the Uchiha clan, no one could replace Uchiha Tokumitsu's role—especially since the dynasty had only been established for less than two years!

If anything goes wrong in the war...

"You don't need to say anything more, who else could it be but me?"

Uchiha Tokumitsu said with a hint of helplessness, "Unfortunately, time waits for no one..."

He then turned around and continued meditating on the sacred tree.

Fugaku Uchiha hesitated for a moment, but said nothing more. He bowed to Tokumitsu Uchiha's back before slowly retreating and leaving.

However, the 'growth' of the Divine Tree this time, as well as the special fluctuations that were constantly emanating from it, stirred up Fugaku Uchiha's emotions.

What a despair-inducing power this is...

Although we don't know much about the so-called 'Divine Tree', according to information obtained from reliable sources, the 'Flame Fan', a divine weapon passed down through generations of the Uchiha clan, was made from a branch of the ancient Divine Tree in the ninja world. This shows how terrifying the power of the Divine Tree is!

Furthermore, the anomalies that have occurred in this world since the Divine Tree was planted, including but not limited to the strange storms in the Devil's Triangle beginning to subside, the Calm Belt beginning to stir up winds and waves, and the magnetic fields of navigational ships beginning to malfunction... all indicate that the Divine Tree is influencing this world in some mysterious and profound way.

As for whether this situation is good or bad, Fugaku Uchiha couldn't say for sure.

But the only thing he was certain of was that the 'Sage Art Seed', which had been dormant since entering the pirate world, was now showing signs of budding, and there was already an aura of natural energy from the ninja world in the air—although extremely faint, it was real.

In the presence of Uchiha Tokumitsu, who wielded such immense power, the genius eldest son who had supported Uchiha Fugaku's proud and aloof heart suddenly appeared as nothing more than an ordinary person.

"What an unreasonable world..."

After boarding the departing speedboat, Fugaku Uchiha still looked back at the divine tree that reached into the clouds, lost in thought.

……

Uchiha Tokumitsu's grand conscription order shattered the silence that the Demon Triangle and the surrounding seas had been deliberately maintained for so long.

The sheer scale of the six sealed tailed beasts and the contracted tailed beast, Matatabi, was overwhelming. Especially in this vast world, the tailed beasts didn't need to deliberately shrink their size; the expansive landscape was more than enough for them to stretch out their bodies. Coupled with the First Legion's more than a thousand ninjas and ten battleships, Uchiha Tokumitsu had essentially unleashed the ninja world's most formidable strength in the One Piece world.

"A war of this scale must have had a significant impact on this world..."

Gazing at the seven-tailed beasts swimming in the water, running on the sea, and flying in the sky, the Slug Sage couldn't help but sigh.

"This is war."

Uchiha Tokumitsu gazed at the vast sea in a daze, and subconsciously replied, "Only war can stop war."

"However, according to my clone's investigation... it seems that most of the land in this world is made up of islands, only they are relatively large..."

The Slug Sage shifted its body and turned its tentacles toward Uchiha Tokumitsu, asking, "If the Tailed Beast Ball sinks the island, wouldn't that be a loss for both this world and the Shinobi World Government?"

"No matter how much you lose, it's not a loss if it doesn't belong to you."

The white snake immortal's clone, standing at the back, said in a sinister tone, "What you can't have, you might as well destroy."

Although it wasn't a pleasant thing to say, Uchiha Tokumitsu tacitly agreed.

"That's competition..."

"The slug immortal sighed."

As the only living being in Shikkotsu Forest, the Slug Sage didn't have much pressure to survive. Naturally, his views on certain things were far more peaceful than those of ninjas or Ryuchi Cave people who had to fight for survival and even opportunities to rise in rank. This is understandable.

However, Uchiha Tokumitsu did not dislike the Slug Sage's personality, because cooperating with such a 'true saint' was actually more reassuring.

As for Ryuchi-dong...

If Uchiha Tokumitsu remembers correctly, the White Snake Sage has secretly dispatched countless ninja snakes to infiltrate various parts of the One Piece world, attempting to find an opportunity to transform into a dragon.

But that doesn't matter. As long as Ryuchi Cave isn't completely relocated into the One Piece world, the White Snake Sage, who has a weakness, can be easily dealt with.

Of course, there are Devil Fruits that can transform into dragons, although they are extremely rare. However, some clues can always be found. It is just unknown whether the dinosaur form obtained by eating an Ancient Zoan-type Devil Fruit meets the White Snake Sage's requirement for 'dragon transformation'.

Even Uchiha Tokumitsu was somewhat looking forward to seeing how the White Snake Sage would react after eating the Dragon-Dragon Fruit, only to find that it didn't significantly improve his strength or lifespan, but instead added the disadvantage of being afraid of Seastone.

……

Ashura was very dissatisfied at this point.

He was dissatisfied with the training progress of the so-called Thirteen Republican Allied Forces, dissatisfied with the aggressive navy, and even more so with the feeling that Uchiha Tokumitsu, who had mobilized a large force to come to his aid, was actually not confident in his own strength!

In his view, the Sage of Six Paths was the strongest in the world, Uchiha Tokumitsu was barely second, and he himself firmly held the position of one of the top three strongest ninjas. Especially after being defeated by Uchiha Tokumitsu, he had spent some time in seclusion, mastering many secret techniques by digging into the memories of his previous reincarnation. Both his strength and his ability to fight had improved considerably. However, Uchiha Tokumitsu still felt that he could not defeat the enemy who came to him!

Fortunately, Ashura's temperament has improved somewhat, especially after the establishment of the republic. After undergoing various tedious and specific tasks, he also understood the principle that "the difference between people is greater than the difference between people and dogs." So even though his dissatisfaction was about to spill over on his face, he still maintained a certain degree of restraint when communicating.

However, in Ichiraku's opinion, Ashura's reaction was nothing more than being stubbornly arrogant.

Whether it was his attempt to train and drive the so-called Thirteen Republics' coalition army, which perfectly fit the characteristics of a rabble, into battle, or his unauthorized alteration of the 'revolutionary mission,' in Ichiraku's view, Ashura's actions were like an arrogant child trying to prove something. As for 'ability' and 'inability,' they were not Ashura's primary considerations.

Therefore, after receiving the report of the emperor's personal expedition, Uzumaki Ichiraku directly called Uchiha Shiina and transferred five cruisers from the vanguard fleet to supplement the upcoming battle, thereby complementing the ten battleships sent by the Second Army.

"In this way, the goal of training the Republic's Allied Forces can no longer be achieved."

Ashura had some complaints.

When those ragtag troops learned that the Navy was sending a large-scale reinforcement to suppress them, their morale immediately collapsed. Ashura had barely managed to quell the internal unrest when the arrival of the ninja army directly took control of the impending large-scale battle. This also meant that Ashura had lost control of the future.

As for complaining in front of Uzumaki Ichiraku, it was mainly because he inevitably had some psychological advantage in front of the Uzumaki ninja who was his bloodline descendant—although Uzumaki Ichiraku didn't know that this tsundere was his ancestor.

"But the National Guard was already incapable of fighting..."

Uzumaki Ichiraku had a headache. He felt like he was coaxing a child. He not only had to consider the practical situation, but also take care of the feelings of a stubborn and arrogant person. This really put him in a difficult position: "Moreover, if those mortals suffer too many losses, it may lead to instability in the Republic in the rear. So it is a good thing to be able to get rid of the war."

"It is said that one of the visitors is a great general?"

Ashura then changed the subject.

He knew, of course, that his mediocre subordinates would struggle even in favorable circumstances, let alone confront the formidable navy head-on.

So it was just an excuse to vent their dissatisfaction after the failed expansion of the revolution.

"It should be, but intelligence personnel still cannot determine which general it is..."

Uzumaki Ichiraku said with some helplessness, "However, this battle is different from the Impel Down campaign. Since His Majesty has decided to personally lead the campaign, it must be to lay the foundation for the situation in the coming years through a major battle."

"That's true, after all, the divine tree needs time to grow..."

Ashura said.

Whirlpool Ichiro was speechless.

Is this kind of secret something that can be revealed so easily?

……

The first battle to break out in the East China Sea was fought by the vanguard fleet led by Uchiha Shiina.

After receiving orders from the rear, he immediately began to assemble warships, no longer launching attacks in the form of squadrons, but starting a new round of 'point-to-point operations'.

In a very short time, the East Blue Second Operational Group, directly commanded by Vice Admiral Garp, lost contact with three outer outposts under the swift offensive. Uchiha Shiina's warships even launched a direct attack on the naval anchorage, sinking or burning several auxiliary ships.

Suddenly, the bloated navy was left completely blind.

The once familiar seas have become a treacherous place shrouded in the 'fog of war'.