https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-619-Good-doesn-t-necessarily-mean-better-but-it-s-definitely-not-bad-/13150825/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-621-If-I-m-not-allowed-in-Ohara-I-ll-climb-the-Reverse-Mountain-/13150827/
Chapter 620: After My Death, Let the Floods Come.
Chapter 620: After My Death, Let the Floods Come.
In the palace, the banquet hall.
Twelve luxurious golden chandeliers hung from the ceiling of the banquet hall, emitting a bright light even during the day. Beneath this light, Wilbur reached out and grabbed the third roasted whole cow's hind leg, letting the grease drip like raindrops onto an unknown luxurious carpet on the floor.
Twenty chefs entered one after another, pushing carts filled with perfectly decorated cakes, meat dishes made from Hydrozoan flesh, and a variety of delicacies. They stopped, and soon, servers came to plate the food.
The servers gracefully placed their trays on various tables, and as soon as the roasted pigeons, emitting a fragrant aroma, were set down, the pirates reached out and grabbed them, tearing into the meat with their mouths.
"Oh ho!"
Xifer lifted a large stew pot, and in one go, swallowed the amber-colored beef bone soup, complete with marrow-filled vertebrae. He then spat out the bones.
Although not as tall as Wilbur, Xifer had no small appetite.
Ulchi lifted a half-man-high oak barrel, his throat rolling as he spoke, accompanied by the exclamations of his men around him.
Renee, on the other hand, held a modified weapon resembling a Gatling gun, spraying rainbow-colored cocktails around, her laughter as crisp as a silver bell.
Sunlight passed through the stained-glass window, leaving fingerprints and refracting the spilled liquor into shattered rainbows. She stepped back, and a grape exploded under her foot, its purple juice slowly seeping into the carpet as the music played.
Music, laughter, chatter, and the constant sound of chewing filled the air, as the luxurious decor and the crude pirates mingled together. This was the style of the Apocalypse Pirates' banquet.
In the center of the banquet hall, there was an even larger dining table. Maria, personally leading her team, prepared six hundred exquisite dishes, which were served on the table. Sagel sat at the head, Lily on his left, and on the right, was Kaidou, who was invited to join the banquet with them.
"You didn't have to make it so extravagant," said Kaidou. "I don't place much importance on material desires."
Kaidou: "..."
He looked at Sagel, who had no manners, grabbing a large chunk of meat and gnawing on it, bone and all. "Is this how pirates eat?"
"It's mainly about enjoying the food," Sagel said, finishing the meat in three bites. He then reached for a lamb leg, saying, "Why don't you try some? Maria is a top-notch chef, and here, we have all kinds of rare ingredients. Together, it's a flavor you'd struggle to find even if you searched the world."
Kaidou nodded and picked up a fork, spearing a piece of steak in front of him. After taking a bite, his eyes lit up, but he quickly put down the fork.
"The flavor is excellent, but I didn't come here just to eat. My clone is still in Ohara, and I just received new information. Sagel, your kingdom looks great, but there are still drawbacks."
Kaidou instantly grasped the drawbacks of Ohara's current model, combining vast amounts of information, "If the manufactured goods can't be sold, then all this prosperity will fall apart."
His eyes were filled with concern, "When the time comes, without new income, these people with jobs, if your finances run into problems, then..."
This place was excellent, better than any kingdom or city he had ever seen, even surpassing his own creation, Aghored.
Aghored was high-tech, but it required money to enjoy its services, including food.
However, there was always a sense of laziness. Unlike here, where vitality radiated, Kaidou's clone had observed that everyone here had hope.
Each person had a job, and although salaries varied, the risks and talents matched the wages. As for those with connections, they used their relationships with traders or high-ranking pirates to infiltrate the management layer—an inevitable occurrence.
No one paid much attention to this.
Sagel wanted prosperity, taxes, and everyone to exude vitality, ensuring his rule appeared impressive.
After all, he was a pirate.
As for Kaidou's concern, "Then this place will be doomed."
Sagel nonchalantly continued, "But if it really comes to that, what does it have to do with me?"
He nudged the gem-encrusted wine glass, signaling for the serving Bellana to pour a glass, "What you're talking about is too far-fetched. You know how vast just the first half of the New World is?"
How many islands are there in this world? Millions, tens of millions? And how many people? No one can know for sure. The sea is too vast, and this endless conquest perfectly satisfies my desires."
He raised his glass and gestured towards Lily first, "Do you know what her dream is?"
Vega Punk looked over.
"To free the world from oppression."
Lily paused for a moment before replying, "To be precise, it's to ensure that people in the world no longer go hungry or homeless due to exploitation, spending their entire lives in a busy and fruitless struggle, leaving nothing behind, not even being able to afford medical treatment."
Vega Punk thought about something and opened his mouth, but in the end, he didn't speak.
Lily glanced at him and said, "I know what you want to say. There are people smuggling raw materials to this side, and it's not under our control. You want to say that it's because we are exploiting others that we can maintain our current prosperity, right?"
All the prosperity of Ohara, in a nutshell, is due to cheap raw materials and expensive goods.
"We are not gods."
Lily's voice, amidst the noisy environment, reached Vega Punk's ears accurately and without error.
"Without us, those nobles wouldn't treat people any better; they'd be worse. But over time, as long as they keep supplying us with raw materials, they will eventually be conquered by us, or they'll bear the oppression, take up arms, and oppose the exploitation. The nobles and kings will then become one of us."
"The prices we offer are fair. Even if they were lower, they wouldn't be so low as to make survival impossible. That's deviating from Sagel's idea. So, either endure the oppression from those noble kings and live like beggars, or..."
Lily's eyes seemed to shine with an indescribable light as she spoke these words, "Rely on yourself!"
Conquest is an endless endeavor, and not all islands have raw materials that can be turned into goods. Through long-term handling of internal affairs, Lily realized.
Dreams are useless if you only think about them; nothing can be achieved in one go.
Many things can't be rushed, and Lily doesn't even know where those places are. Even if she rushes over and kills all those noble kings, it won't help. Without prior planning, the situation will remain the same.
Only by making Ohara's name more renowned, extending its influence to the surrounding areas that haven't been discovered yet, and those people who don't contribute coordinates of islands and kingdoms, until the oppressed can no longer bear it and take up arms to fight against the exploiters, will it be enough.
Sagel drained the wine in his glass and smiled, "A person owns a mountain and, by virtue of possessing the mountain, hires nearby villagers to plant fruit trees on it. During the harvest season, they sell the fruits, and everyone works hard to get a small share of the money, while the largest portion goes to the mountain owner."
"You say, isn't this mountain owner an obstacle to my tax collection? They could earn more money, live a better life, and pay more taxes. But the mountain owner stands in the way, so I can't collect taxes, and they don't have enough money to buy more things, making me look bad."
"But I don't know where that mountain is, and everyone is busy. It's not worth searching everywhere for a small mountain. What should we do at this point?"
Sagel grinned, "The simplest way is to let those commoners feel the gap, generate resentment under the strong disparity, and then take up arms to eliminate the mountain owner. They will then bring the mountain to me and surrender."
"This way, their income will increase, and there won't be any middlemen taking a cut. They won't dare to not pay my taxes! With enough money to eat and drink, they can also buy more goods, and it's a win-win situation. It's just a matter of waiting for them to realize it."
"You say..."
He raised his glass towards a floor-to-ceiling window to the side, where one could see the outside world. The bustling streets were filled with people of various races living in harmony, and the sounds seemed to penetrate the window and enter Vega Punk's ears.
The voices, barely audible, revealed the vitality and prosperity of the place.
"You wouldn't want this place to be destroyed out of the blue, would you? Ohara has a permanent population of over two million. Wouldn't it be a pity if it were suddenly destroyed?"
However, I will!"
He stood up, took the wine bottle from Bellana, and poured a glass for BIG Mom himself.
"As long as your inventions benefit me and bring prosperity to this place, I'll take them all. Even if you want to sell them elsewhere, as long as they offer a good price, I can make it happen."
"Research funding, I'll provide as much as you need. I have a big bank with trillions of funds. You don't have to serve me, but you can serve Ohara. Isn't this place more representative of humanity than the World Government?"
BIG Mom stared at the gradually filling glass of bright red wine and nodded involuntarily. "I came here with this idea in mind. My clone's assessment is over, and according to the evaluation..."
He picked up the glass, stood up, and drank it in one gulp. "I don't need fame either. Serving the Great Pirates or whatever, it doesn't matter how the outside world evaluates me. I accept staying here and serving you!"
"Hahaha! You're very welcome!"
Sagel laughed and walked over, patting BIG Mom's shoulder. "From today onwards, you are the Dean of the Ohara Academy of Sciences! I'll leave both research and teaching to you! Later, a group of people will come to assist you in compiling textbooks!"
"Teaching?" BIG Mom was taken aback but quickly guessed what it was about. "Do you want to keep this scientific power here?"
"Not just scientific power, but also martial arts, firearms, navigation, and world knowledge. I teach everything! I need talents!" Sagel laughed.
He truly lacked talents.
He had tens of thousands of people under his command, but they were all rough and unrefined recruits. While martial power was important, other skills were equally crucial.
Some islands, even after being conquered, lacked execution power. The stationed pirates needed some level of coordinated execution, no matter what.
The top-level executives were all forced to learn something. How could Ulchi manage loans without studying finance? Agil couldn't manage a port without learning management, so he had to go back and train, but this aspect couldn't be ignored. In the end, he was forced to study and given tasks to handle.
The situation with the lower-level subordinates was more complicated.
He had a group of people with bounties over 100 million stationed on various islands, with 'The Great Barnabee' as their representative. Barnabee did a good job, managing an island efficiently.
But only one person stood out among so many.
The rest couldn't even cut down trees properly.
After cutting down the trees, they needed to reforest, protect the environment, and ensure sustainability! It was only after Lily discovered the issue and gave personal instructions that things improved, and even then, finding someone who knew how to plant trees was a challenging task.
With so many islands and people, it was impossible to rely on Lily alone. By the time she paid attention, it would be too late.
The appearance of Link and his group alleviated some of the burdens, but as their territory expanded, this burden resurfaced.
He didn't lack martial power but needed capable officers! This gap would be filled by pirates who didn't want to work or were retired due to injuries, after receiving the necessary training.
The remaining education was for the future.
Sagel could live for a long time; he was just over twenty-four years old. Even after teaching for two or three decades, he would only be in his forties or fifties, but the new generation had already grown up, and new talents were ready to take over. This would ensure a more prosperous future.
But before that—
"After this banquet, let's tackle the most important matter first."
Sagel said, "That thing is already waiting for you to activate it."
"Pluton?"
BIG Mom sighed. "Is it fate? If it must reappear in the world, then let it reappear. Perhaps it will bring a different kind of peace to the world."
Sagel was determined to activate Pluton, as it was crucial for his next plan.
The development and discovery of the first half of the New World had stabilized, but this stability was terrifying.
Newly discovered islands meant more raw materials, and the islands and kingdoms forced by Sagel to provide raw materials also meant more goods for him.
Eventually, he would need a place to dump his surplus goods, so why not start by finding the most populous area and seeing how much it could absorb?
Using Fishman Island as a transit point and Alabasta, with its tens of millions of people, as the dumping ground, was enough for Sagel's expansion for a while!
Only by doing this
Sagel poured himself a glass of wine, drank it in one gulp, wiped the bright red liquid from the corner of his mouth, licked his lips, and grinned maliciously. "...can I satisfy my ever-deepening desires!"
(End of Chapter)
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