Chapter 363: The Giant Beast and Its Master
Chapter 363: The Giant Beast and Its Master
Short on People
Sag was taken aback by this statement.
He lit a cigar, leaned back in his throne, and seemed to ponder something before slowly exhaling a puff of smoke.
"How many people do we have now?"
Lily: "..."
What are you thinking about?
You just want to take a puff of that cigar, don't you?
Ever since the Whitebeard remnants ceased to be a threat, his men had been continually conquering territories and expanding their influence. As their domain grew, Sag had paid less attention to the numbers.
As long as the plan was progressing, he was content.
"According to last week's statistics, our total military strength has reached thirteen thousand, five hundred, and eighty-nine people. We have a total of seventy-one warships, including one main ship, the Death Star, four large warships, four executive ships, and sixty-two standard pirate ship warships."
There was no need to elaborate on the Death Star; it always held two thousand people at full capacity. The four large warships, comparable to the Navy's large warships, were also the main vessels for the high-ranking executives: Moriah, Hawkins, Urki, and Akainu.
However, Akainu no longer counted among them, as he had strongly requested to return to the Death Star as a combat captain, and Sag had already agreed. If the entire crew went on an expedition, that particular warship would stay behind.
Currently, it served solely as a vessel for Akainu to lead troops to conquer new territories.
The three female executives were crew members of the Death Star and had refused to be assigned their own ships, even for important missions. They would only travel on the Death Star.
The four executive ships had a standard crew of three hundred and sixty people and were helmed by Bellamy, Paul, Miot, and the recently promoted 'Executioner' Suleiman, who had risen through the ranks of the Calamity Pirate Group thanks to his exceptional command abilities and fierce combat style.
As for Jianbal dru and Stansen, one was a helmsman who remained stationary at the base, and the other was a shipworker who assisted Lettie and was also a giant, making him unsuitable to captain a single warship on his own. Thus, they had both returned to the Death Star.
Oh, and there was also Black Cat Faust, who guarded the treasure vault.
He mostly slept by the vault's entrance, whether on the ship or in the castle, and had become almost invisible in his dedication to his task.
The remaining sixty-two pirate ships belonged to the crew of the Calamity Pirate Group, and the number of people on each ship varied from eighty to one hundred and sixty.
"In addition, we have a total of forty islands under our control: our main base, Ohara, with three thousand troops; three large magnetic islands, each with a thousand troops; and thirty-seven other islands, of which only twenty-seven are currently staffed. There are still ten islands that are unguarded and uncontrolled, which we have only marked as part of our territory."
"Also, the total population under the rule of the Calamity Pirates is two million, five hundred, and thirty-six thousand, two hundred, and twelve people, according to last week's summary."
"Huh? We already have that many people and islands? I thought we had around twenty," Sag said, stroking his chin.
"In fact, we don't have that many, Sag," Lily said. "Now that we no longer face obstacles, our expansion has been rapid, but not all islands are created equal."
"Important production sites, frontline islands, dangerous routes—these all require a large number of people to be stationed. It's not just the large magnetic islands that are crucial. Some islands with average resources still require a significant number of our people because we also need to assign escorts for transport ships, which means a minimum of one hundred and twenty people per island."
"We also need to send people to continue expanding our territory, which means we need leaders to take their crews on expeditions. That's why we're facing a severe shortage of crew members, resulting in those ten unoccupied islands. Unless we stop sending out expeditions, we have enough people at the moment."
"Additionally, the population under our rule is insufficient, especially on those islands with low productivity. They lack the workforce."
"Sag, we're short on manpower."
They were a little different from Big Mom, whose territory, Totto Land, consisted of only thirty-four islands. However, her sphere of influence was vast because many islands were simply marked as part of her territory without actual control.
The Calamity Pirates operated differently; they ensured complete control over every place they conquered. Even the islands they had marked as part of their territory were only temporarily so due to a lack of personnel.
And that led to a rather peculiar problem.
Lily used to think that as their numbers grew, so would their food requirements and financial burden.
She had always believed that Sag's aggressive plundering in the first half of their journey was to prepare for the financial demands of ruling over a vast territory. After all, how could one rule without sufficient funds?
But when she had done the overall summary the previous week, she realized something was amiss.
Sag's money had been converted into various industries. After all, building factories was not solely a merchant's endeavor, and Sag had a significant amount of personal investment.
In particular, he had full ownership and control over military arms, warships, jewels, and foodstuffs, not allowing anyone to interfere in these areas.
When it came to food, Sag controlled half of the nation's food industry and canning factories, while the remaining half was run by merchants, mostly on the affiliated islands.
However, salaries for personnel, material costs, and other overhead accounted for a significant portion of expenses. It was puzzling how Sag still seemed to have plenty of funds left, as if his plunderings had barely made a dent.
But now, the issue was that there was still a substantial amount of money in the royal treasury, amounting to about 13 billion berries in cash and assets worth another 10 billion, as if the over 200 billion berries he had looted had barely been touched.
The taxes collected from within Ohara were being reinvested back into the country in a very healthy manner, covering resource costs and labor salaries, and the surplus was growing.
Even if Sag indulged in extravagant and wasteful spending, there would still be a considerable amount of tax money left. Lily had no worries that even if the tax money was spent down to zero at some point, it would eventually replenish.
She believed that the money would come back one way or another, and Ohara was running exceptionally well.
In fact, it was no longer just a matter of money.
They were facing a shortage of manpower.
With over 25 million people, they were short on manpower!
This was something Lily had never expected, never even imagined. In her understanding of the world, there were always people being oppressed, and the masses, like resilient weeds, would always find a way to survive.
Having a stable job was a rare privilege.
But now, as the population grew, so did their incomes, and with it, their demands and consumption of resources increased.
This meant that more resources had to be produced, requiring more people to be involved in this aspect of work.
Merchants were establishing various industries, except for the half share in food production, to meet the needs of the people.
Initially, they were based in Ohara, but as the population of Ohara reached its limit, the demand for labor spread outwards.
The plethora of industries, factories, service sectors, and individual handicrafts meant that everyone in Ohara had something to do, and they were even starting to face labor shortages.
The entire population of Ohara, 2 million people! Even accounting for children and the elderly, there were still a significant number of people, yet it was far from sufficient.
With the local labor force insufficient, they had to look outwards. The Magnetic Islands were somewhat better off in terms of population, but the smaller affiliated islands, with populations ranging from a mere few thousand to barely over ten thousand, were struggling to meet their own needs, let alone contribute additional labor.
Initially, the output from Ohara was split evenly, half for domestic use and half for export.
However, the growing demands of the increasing population were gradually tilting the balance.
The merchants dared not raise prices domestically, as Sag's rule was to keep prices affordable for his people, and he didn't interfere with external trade.
But the more affordable prices were domestically, the higher the demand became, and externally, despite the higher prices, the potential for profit lured even more people to invest in this direction.
Consequently,
they had enough resources, but they lacked the manpower to convert those resources into goods.
It was bizarre.
So bizarre that Lily sometimes struggled to comprehend it.
Not just her, but everyone seemed to have a sense of strangeness about this situation. Even Mary had once commented that this place was realizing her dream.
Lily herself felt that such a nation was akin to a utopia.
Everyone had something to do, everyone could earn money, and everyone's lives were improving.
But when she thought deeply about it, a chill ran down her spine.
Instinctively, she looked down from the height of the royal palace, overlooking the bustling city below.
From this vantage point, the crowds of people looked like tiny dots, bustling about in a vibrant display of life, the entire city seeming to come alive in a way it never had before.
But then her vision blurred, and she imagined that this 'alive' city had suddenly opened its mouth, those crowds of people transforming into countless sharp teeth, like a terrifying beast devouring everything in its path.
She turned her gaze to Sag, the captain she had chosen to follow for life, the so-called illiterate fellow, who flashed a brilliant smile when he noticed her looking at him, his white teeth gleaming.
But in that moment, she felt that this smile, like the city beneath them, was chilling, like the grin of a beast about to devour everything in its path.
The Master of the Beast.
It was him!
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
