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OPI Chapter 224: The World Tournament’s Next Stage
🕑 Added 2024-08-22 03:34:48 +0000 UTCThe steel warship carrying the participants of the World Tournament finally arrived at the waters near the so-called 'Island of Ice and Fire'.
In the air, two flying warships transmitted images of the Island of Ice and Fire to viewers in the four worlds.
On the huge virtual screens in all the worlds, one could clearly see an island divided into two halves: one covered with mountains of snow and ice, and the other filled with volcanoes and ash. And in the center, there was a circular lake.
In addition, at the northern and southern ends of the island, an ice castle and a black stone castle were erected respectively. Three main roads led from these castles, and along each were watchtowers with cannons over ten meters high, three in total for each road.
"Attention, all contestants, we have arrived at the semi-final venue, 'Ice and Fire Island'. Now I will give the final introduction to the competition system. Please listen carefully."
"Due to the excessive number of casualties in the previous 'open auditions', the World Government has deliberately added two new regulations."
"First, during this semi-final, you may not intentionally kill the opponent's members. You only need to make them lose their combat ability, such as disability, fainting, etc. If necessary, there will be protection personnel to stop the fatal attack. If the attacker is judged to have malicious behavior, he may be disqualified."
"Second, if one party takes the lead in destroying all the artillery on the other side's turrets, it can also win the final victory. Note that these artillery will automatically attack the opponent's members, and there is a certain risk of death."
...
Spectators from all four worlds were fascinated by the novel format of the competition. Everyone was talking about the Island of Ice and Fire, discussing the harsh conditions and the best strategies to win by the rules.
Of course, the 400 participants on board the warship were no exception either. As they looked at the island in the distance, they discussed quietly with their newly formed teammates.
"If we are not allowed to kill people, it will be boring"
"That's right, if we don't kill people, isn't it just like playing games with children?"
“That sounds good to me. At least this way we can be sure to stay alive. We are in the era of the Conquest of the Worlds, and I don’t want to die before I have met the girls from other worlds.”
At that moment, a booming voice resounded from the speaker.
“In one hour, Team 1 and Team 2 will compete in the first match. Both teams are requested to head to the assigned battleships under the guidance of the marines, who will take them to the castle docks at each end of the island.”
Immediately, all eyes turned to the ten members of both teams. Among them, the most attention was on Team 2, because among their ranks was a fish-man.
It was Chew, a member of Arlong's gang.
However, like Arlong, Chew despised his fellow humans.
The two teams were quickly escorted by several marines to a battleship. After flipping a coin to decide which side of the battlefield they would take, they boarded their respective ships and quickly headed towards the opposite ends of the Island of Ice and Fire.
...
As the first confrontation between Team 1 and Team 2 began, more details about the internal situation of the Island of Ice and Fire were revealed to everyone.
The audience can control the perspective of the virtual screen by manipulating the Den-Den Mushi. They can focus on one person or divide the situation of ten people into smaller parts and display them together.
At that point, most turned their attention to Team 2, especially Chew, the smelt-whiting fish-man.
Following the rules, they only brought their weapons and tools inside the ice castle. The space inside was large, with walls and floors made of semi-transparent ice.
Their attention was focused on the five iron boxes placed on the ground and the five Den-Den Mushi dressed in winter clothes sitting on the boxes.
The boxes have the words written on them: Food, fresh water, medicine, clothing, maps.
According to the rules, members of the opposing team cannot attack or enter the castle, making it the only safe zone on the island. However, although the defense towers also contain a small amount of food, water, and medicine, they can still be attacked and invaded.
Additionally, the towers have a self-destruct button. If the opposing team manages to get in and press it, they will destroy the tower completely.
Soon, Teams 1 and 2 began their operations on the screen, adopting similar strategies: dispersing their five members.
Each team covered the three main roads and the forests on both sides, assigning one member to each area.
...
During the following week, the four worlds were almost completely immersed in World Tournament fever.
The World Tournament has generated an incredibly high level of interest, even though a lack of experience in organizing the event has caused some problems in this first edition.
However, overall, the tournament has managed to establish its reputation and value, and what remains is to continue with the planned steps.
Compared to the tournament, the army headquarters is undergoing a process of restructuring and reorganization. They feel that the current system of the army is not suitable for wars of conquest of other worlds.
The person responsible for this proposal is none other than Douglas Bullet.
Bullet believes that since most dimensional gates are small, there is no need to mobilize large armies of hundreds of thousands of soldiers in every war.
The main content of his plan is that he wants the army headquarters to implement an "elite" approach in both training and reorganization, and to make changes to the current structure of the troops.
First, Bullet believes that soldiers at Army Headquarters should significantly reduce the time spent on firearms training, limiting it to the basics, and significantly increase the time spent training in physical skills and swordsmanship.
Those with a particular talent for shooting should be transferred to the Cipher Pol.
As for the army's ranged attack methods, Bullet believes they should focus on artillery bombardment.
Furthermore, Bullet proposes dividing the army's forces into two parts: a main combat force in charge of external wars and a garrison force in charge of defending the territory.
Each main combat division should have about ten thousand soldiers, and five divisions would form an army corps. Bullet suggests that three army corps would suffice, one for each of the three generals.
The fifteen divisions would be under the command of fifteen elite vice admirals.
In short, according to Bullet's vision, the army headquarters should have only 150,000 soldiers in the main combat forces. The rest of the troops should remain on the home world or be sent to already conquered worlds to handle garrison duties.
These troops should also train intensively, to be ready as reserves for the main combat forces.
Furthermore, Bullet recommends assigning one Nue-shaped Kabane warrior to each squad of ten soldiers in the main combat force, which would greatly enhance their demolition capabilities and other special tactics.
There is no doubt that Bullet is molding every primary combat soldier into an elite warrior, specialized in special operations.
...
Lately, it's not just the Army Headquarters that's been busy; you could say that every department of the World Government is operating at maximum capacity.
For example, in the World of the Titans, the Department of Industry, which oversees the construction of the first series of nine battleships built using the Yamato class as a model.
However, it is not a complete copy of the Yamato. For example, the steam turbine has been replaced by a McRucky Engine from the Kabane World.
And the shells have also been changed to high-explosive jet bombs.
This is a product that combines the jet bullet technology from the Kabane World and the high explosives from the Uzui clan in the Demon Slayer World.
But that's not all.
The Department of Industry is also responsible for building aircraft carriers and fighter planes for the Air Force, as well as training Air Force soldiers in their operation.
Meanwhile, the World Government has also deployed millions of Demon Slayer World workers to the Canberra Continent of the Titan World to carry out the large-scale construction project of the Dimensional Gate bases. At the same time, the rest of the Titan World continues to transform into a Forge World.
To this end, the World Government has moved Pica and Teach to that world.
And all this is just in the military sphere.
In fact, the World Government has never neglected progress in civil matters, as Imu places great importance on these issues.
Although there are still two years until the next Levely, which prevents radical legal reforms from being made, the influence and prestige accumulated by the World Government over a thousand years allows it to make decisions that do not always strictly comply with the law.
For example.
Provide food, medicine, clothing and other humanitarian aid to some truly impoverished kingdoms and town islands, and guide and help local people build their own houses, etc.
Meanwhile, economists at the Ministry of Finance are designing development plans for kingdoms lacking natural resources, adapting them to the characteristics of their islands.
Although these efforts are not very visible to most, as global attention is focused on the dimensional gates and the other worlds, for those who have experienced these aids and have seen their living conditions improve dramatically, these gestures by the World Government generate deep gratitude and loyalty.
This has also strengthened the position of the police stations being established in these kingdoms and islands.
In fact, people in some places even trusted the police more than their own kings and nobles. As long as they encountered something, they would go to the police station for help as soon as possible.
This also made the kings and nobles in these places both depressed and unhappy, but helpless, and forced them to restrain some behaviors that could not be seen in the light.
Because there have been cases where nobles in a certain kingdom were arrested by the police for persecuting civilians.
Although these acts are not entirely legal under the current regulations, no king or noble dares to openly confront the World Government. However, when the next Levely is held, such situations will be legalized.
To this end, the Supreme Court, in conjunction with legal experts from around the world, is working to optimize and improve the current laws of the World Government.
