"One Piece:The True Codex"Chapter 383: The War Chariot
On the Sea Train traveling from Water 7 to the Gourmet City of Pucci, William was leisurely flipping through a newspaper. As the train picked up speed, the sea breeze rushed in through the open window, causing the edges of the newspaper to flutter incessantly.
William frowned slightly. Noticing this, Gin hurriedly closed the window.
Gin's forceful action caused the window to slam shut with a loud bang, drawing William's attention away from the newspaper and onto him.
Gin's expression was far from pleasant. William glanced at him briefly before returning to the news, smiling as he spoke, "What's the matter? Still upset?"
"Ungrateful fool!" Gin replied with a cold sneer.
The topic of their conversation was Clint, the mayor of Water 7 whom they had recently met. This relatively unknown bureaucrat stubbornly clung to the existing operational rights of the Sea Train, refusing to relent no matter what William said.
Back when the Fish-Man shipwright Tom was building the Sea Train, Water 7 had done nothing to assist. However, after Tom's death, they shamelessly seized control of the Sea Train's operations. At the time, Iceburg, despite his technical expertise, was powerless to resist due to his lack of influence.
This initial setback left both Gin and Selkirk in foul moods, though William and Dampier appeared unaffected.
Dampier, who had been leisurely wandering around the carriage observing the Sea Train, commented, "Why bother getting angry at someone who won't be mayor for much longer?"
Selkirk immediately asked, "Are we going to get rid of him? We should've done that earlier!"
Dampier chuckled softly, glancing at Portia, Karslana, and the other crew members of the Starlight.
William had decided to forego traveling by ship and instead chose to experience the Sea Train for himself on the journey to Pucci. He brought along Portia and her crew from the Starlight, some of whom were seated in the same carriage as them.
During their conversation, William and his crew made no effort to keep their voices down. Portia and the others, overhearing Selkirk's casual suggestion to kill a city mayor out of dissatisfaction, turned pale at the blatant display of pirate-like behavior.
Karslana, on the other hand, looked visibly upset. She glared at the back of Selkirk's head and snapped, "Your captain is a Seven Warlords of the Sea now! He can't do anything illegal!"
Dampier couldn't help but let out a derisive laugh. Selkirk, leaning back in his seat, turned to scold her, "Shut up, you Navy girl! William only brought Portia along to Pucci to show her some support as the owner of the Starlight. Why are you even here? Shouldn't you be rushing back to Marine Headquarters to file a report, detailing everything you've seen and heard while traveling with us, hoping to earn some credit?"
"I'm here to keep an eye on you and make sure you don't do anything that violates the responsibilities of a Warlord!" Karslana retorted righteously. "And I'm here to protect Portia, in case you try to bully her along the way!"
Selkirk didn't bother responding. Instead, he sat back upright and said to Gin and William, "Good thing Harden isn't here. Otherwise, he'd have chopped this fool into pieces and fed her to the fish by now!"
"Don't try to scare me!" Karslana said defiantly, though her face turned pale. Portia quickly wrapped an arm around her shoulders, whispering softly in her ear to calm her down and prevent her from continuing the argument with Selkirk.
As they quarreled, William finally finished reading the newspaper. He looked up and said to Portia, "Miss Portia, would you mind taking your crew to explore the other carriages for a bit?"
Portia, understanding the underlying message, nodded promptly. She stood up, dragging a reluctant Karslana along, and called for the rest of the Starlight crew to leave the carriage.
Once the outsiders had cleared out, William turned to Selkirk and said, "Get rid of Clint? Why would we do that? That would only make the people of Water 7 view us as foreign pirates and sympathize with that useless mayor. In Water 7, we're not here to play the role of invaders but saviors. Unless Clint becomes a criminal in the eyes of the city, we shouldn't resort to such crude tactics."
"Then what do we do with him?" Selkirk asked with a frown.
"Water 7 has been mired in poverty and chaos for years, yet this mayor has done absolutely nothing. Even after the Sea Train was operational, the shipyards—the backbone of the city's economy—continued to shut down one after another. Doesn't that make him unfit for office?" William countered.
Hearing this, Gin furrowed his brows and interjected, "It's not that simple. If it were, he would've been removed a long time ago. Water 7's decline didn't happen overnight."
"That's because no one was backing those who wanted him gone. Now, they have us," Dampier explained with a smile. "On top of that, we hold a massive order in our hands. And let's not forget, the title of Seven Warlords of the Sea is a significant deterrent, especially when it comes to the operation of the Sea Train, which is vital to Water 7. If we want him gone, it won't be difficult. Personally, I think Iceburg would make an excellent new mayor. He respects you and works well with us."
Dampier's last remark was directed at William, who nodded slowly in agreement.
"And what about the other cities? They're not like Water 7. We can't just overthrow the leadership of four cities all at once, can we?" Gin asked.
William tossed the newspaper onto the table in front of Gin and said, "Take a look at the headlines. Out of ten news stories, nine are about pirates. This is a chaotic era. Stability and security are what people want most. What we're bringing to these four cities isn't war but safety and prosperity. For Water 7, the Sea Train is its only lifeline right now, which is why Clint is clinging to it so desperately. But for the other three cities, that may not be the case. If their mayors have any sense, they won't act like Clint."
Gin couldn't help but smirk. "How many sensible rulers have we actually met?"
"Oh, in that case, we'll just go with Selkirk's suggestion. For fools like that, simple and crude methods will do," William said with a smile. "We send in some pirates to cause trouble, take them out, and then eliminate the pirates ourselves!"
"Why not just do that from the start?" Selkirk asked impatiently.
"Water 7, Saint Plut, and Saint Baobab are all industrial cities. Pirates are reckless and destructive. If possible, I don't want anything to disrupt the construction of the Sea Train," William explained, shaking his head. "Moreover, these four routes aren't just meant to set an example for the other Warlords and pique their interest. They're also meant to attract the attention of other island nations and cities. The prosperity and stability of these four cities serve as a demonstration, encouraging others to adopt the Sea Train. If we openly use pirates to overthrow city leaders, it'll be obvious to everyone. That would make the rulers of other islands hesitant."
William paused before continuing, "And that would go against our goal of tying them, just like the Warlords, to our war chariot."
(End of Chapter)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📚 BOOK COMPLETED ON PATREON!
📚This story has reached its conclusion on my Patreon!
🔥 Full story available now💎 Exclusive bonus content & early access to new books
👉 Join my Patreon community today![✨patreon.com/GoldenLong]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━