First War Council
***Mostly basic world information for the creatures***
Gideon turned and faced all his creatures, "I think it is time to discuss some of my plans for the future. Get all of your input and make sure you know what is going on in the plane." he said.
"Are you proposing a war council, my lord?" Prava asked.
"In a manner of speaking, I guess," Gideon replied.
"I found a space with the perfect ambiance for a 'war council' in my exploration last night," Aegis informed. "An imposing table surrounded by overly large chairs in a windowless room."
"I can't tell if you are being serious or sarcastic this time. Either way, lead the way." Gideon responded.
Aegis smirked, turned, and walked into the Sanctum. Everyone else followed his lead. 10 minutes later, Gideon couldn't take it anymore and asked, "Just exactly how far into the Sanctum is this war room?"
"We're around halfway there," Aegis responded.
"Seriously?!? Why didn't you mention that before we left? Did you explore the Sanctum all night, or what?" Gideon questioned.
"Yep. You didn't ask. Yep." Aegis replied with another smirk, causing Gideon to wrestle with the notion of having the vampire token toss Aegis out the next window it sees.
Another 10 minutes later, the group made it into the large dim room. "Now that we made it, and our two newest recruits have been caught up, thank you Prava and Vali, we should start. Firstly, I would like to go over the basic framework for my current plans for the future. Secondly, embellish what you know of the plane. Finally, thirdly, I would answer any questions you have. Sound good?" Gideon asked.
Receiving slight nods from everyone present, Gideon continued, "I am planning on focusing on exclusively boosting our numbers for the remaining 'novice protection period.' Then continuing to boost our numbers, mostly of angels, until there are thousands of them. Positioning that army of angels at a point in this plane called the reverse mountain. The angels, simply doing their normal activity of punishing evil, should distract the World Government long enough for our soldier army to be strong enough to take over our current sea. Unless this sea is either half of the Grandline, then we have to focus on a different sea to start with. After that, our movements can go any number of ways depending on how the World Government reacts."
Gideon continued, "Basic plane knowledge: This is a mostly ocean plane with the usual large sea monsters throughout it. The ocean is divided into 6 seas by the Redline, a giant red mountain range that encircles the world, and the Calm Belts, windless zones flanking the Grandline's halves. The Grandline is filled with thousands of powerful warriors easily capable of defeating all of us at once, who are, thankfully, usually trying to kill each other. The four Blues are much larger but weaker than the Grandline. The four Blues individually contain tens of millions of civilians and hundreds of thousands of weak soldiers. The world is embroiled in a conflict between thousands of different pirate crews and the World Government's military branch the Marines. The 4 strongest pirate crews have been deemed Yonkos and are each roughly half as strong as the Marines. The Yonkos rule the second half of the Grandline, the New World. This means the World Government has effectively no control over the New World. This caused them to sponsor 7 powerful pirate crews, now legal pirates called Shichibukai, to exert influence in the two halves of the Grandline, to try and curtail the influence of the Yonko. Any of the 12 forces I described can easily wipe us out even after the end of our 'Novice protection period.'"
"Alright, any questions?" Gideon asked.
"If we are so weak even after the end of the week, why not wait for a few more weeks on this island until we are strong enough to protect ourselves from these different organizations?" Prava asked.
"If the World Government finds out that an island not under their control is amassing an army of thousands, they would send a Buster Call to destroy the group and island before even questioning the group of their motives. They have many different avenues of information, so we cannot risk exposure. That is why, using the angels, we will distract their attention. The angels will be up to high for a Buster Call to be effective. Additionally, the angels killing pirates would make the Marine leader want to use them as a Marine asset instead of genociding them. That will hopefully be enough time for us to take over one of the Blues. By which point, we will be strong enough that the World Government will not be too incentivized to weaken themselves below Yonko strength for a relaitively worthless sea. Relaitively worthless in the eyes of the World Government only." Gideon replied, slightly defensively in the last sentence from the glare directed his way via Akroma.
"How will we know what sea we are on? Won't that be important for your plan?" Vali asked.
"Our position relative to Reverse Mountain will tell us where we are. Or at least tell me if we are on the Grandline or one of the 4 Blues. All that matters is knowing if we are on the Grandline. We could take out 3 of the 4 Blues with just numbers." Gideon replied.
"You have spoken of Reverse Mountain twice now. What is it that makes it so important for the angels to blockade it? Additionally, which of the 4 Blues couldn't we defeat with pure numbers?" Akroma inquired.
"Reverse Mountain is the only natural passage from the 4 Blues into the start of the Grandline. The Revese Mountain is one of the two ways that ships can sail past the Redline. Only Marine ships can reliably sneak through the Calm Belt. So Reverse Mountain is a choke point for pirates and merchants alike. Why the World Government doesn't already have a base in the Reverse Mountain outlet, I will never figure out. The only member of the 4 Blues that we couldn't take out with sheer numbers is West Blue. West Blue is home of the Chinjao family. They are a pirate family that are stronger than half of the current Shichibukai." Gideon told his burgeoning army.
"So, going back to our location, how exactly will we know where we are relative to Reverse Mountain? Especially if we cannot leave this island?" Aegis questioned.
"Two ways, either I ask Akroma to do some survailence along the Redline for us, or I just fly the Sanctum up close to the Redline until we are far above it. If we still cannot see Reverse Mountain from that height, we are in one of the 4 Blues." Gideon stated.
"Or we are exatly oppsite from Reverse Mountain, in the middle of the Grandline," Aegis countered.
"That would be impossible. We would be long dead if that were the case. There are so many Marines in that section of the world that we would have been spotted, or at least spotted them, long ago. Plus we would know if that were the case once we get that high up. That section of the Redline is the only inhabited section in the world. We would see them and they would see us, then they would send out the strongest warriors they have to kill us." Gideon replied.
"That logic seems counter-intuitive to your normal preseve our survival at all cost philosophy." Prava chimed in.
"I admit that flying ourselves up against that section of the Redline would be suicide. However, we are dead regardless of what we do if we are living right next to the world capital. The Celestial Dragons in that city would have us killed immediately for living to close to them." Gideon informed his creatures. "If you all have no more questions, I am going to fly us up to the top of the Redline and figure out where we are."
After a few moments of silence, Gideon nodded and walked out of the room in search of a window. Once at the window, he had the Sanctum float up and as close to the Redline as possible, then had the Sanctum shoot up the Redline at breakneck speed. After waiting a few minutes, the Sanctum was fully above the Redline. All of his creatures had joined him by this point. Gideon had the Sanctum slowly spin, scanning the horizon for Reverse Mountain, all the while having the Sanctum continue to climb in height. Eventually, Gideon saw Reverse Mountain, far off to the left as he was looking at the Redline.
"There we are," Gideon stated. "Not in the Grandline, we are in the opposite side from the mountain outlet."
"Which of the Blues does that put us in?" Akroma asked.
"I wish I knew. Unfortunately, I don't know the world's geography that well." Gideon responded. "Now, I need you to do me a favor Akroma."
"What would you like me to do?" Akroma asked Gideon.
"Tomorrow or the day after, I will be playing Seraph Sanctuary for the angels to live in. I would like for you to scout out a good place on the Redline, preferably within eyesight of Reverse Mountain, for your new home and command post." Gideon informed her. "Would you please do that for me?"
"Of course," Akroma said while flying off.
"Now we wait," Gideon said.
"For what exactly?" Aegis asked.
"A new day. So our army can grow more." Gideon replied.