"How many craftsmen do you need?"
Pain also understood the importance of time and highly approved of Iceberg's request.
"At least 100 people..."
"This way, we can guarantee completion in about two months."
Iceberg answered truthfully, estimating the completion time.
"100 people will be hard to find…"
Golden Lion had been listening and knew Iceberg's need was for a hundred people, which presented many problems.
"Due to the increase in personnel, the occupation of battleship Materials, and the construction of residences, there isn't much space left on the Floating Island to build living quarters for 100 people."
"Even if we manage to build living quarters, the issue of food for these people will be the biggest problem; we'll still need to gather food."
"The most crucial thing is…"
"I have no way to get people onto the island; we can only rely on Reno's Flash-Flash Fruit to bring them. If we start bringing people from all over Water Seven, it will attract the attention of the World Government, which will inevitably lead to another war."
"And this time, the war…"
"I'm afraid the situation will be even more severe!"
Golden Lion's mind was very clear as long as he wasn't drinking, and he was a strategic thinker, analyzing the situation thoroughly.
"Reno…"
"How long will it take you to bring a hundred people to the Floating Island?"
Konan, listening nearby, understood Golden Lion's meaning and asked Reno about the time needed to facilitate further arrangements.
"If the personnel are scattered, it will probably take a lot of time."
"Because I don't have memory coordinates for those places, I can't flash directly there."
Reno's meaning was simple: if the personnel were scattered, he would need to search each Dock One by one to bring people. Since he hadn't been to those dock locations, his mind was blank, so he couldn't flash there.
He was able to enter Iceberg's Mansion because he had seen newspaper articles about Iceberg's office while gathering information on Iceberg in Water 7, thus acquiring memory coordinates.
Now, with scattered personnel and no memory coordinates, this would cause delays. Assuming he could bring two people at a time, Reno estimated it would take at least seven days to bring everyone back to the island.
"Mr. Iceberg…"
"Do the workers you need have any special requirements?"
"Where are most of them gathered?"
Konan wanted to first find out which dock had the most workers, which would save Reno and the Akatsuki Organization time.
"Dock One has the most workers, about thirty people…"
"Other docks each have about ten workers…"
"The only requirement is that they just need to be shipwrights."
"But we don't know how much our disappearance has affected the workers, nor do we know if these workers have resumed normal operations."
Iceberg answered truthfully, cooperating to the best of his ability.
"The general situation is understood…"
"Next, let's split into groups of two and act separately."
"Azure Dragon, Kaku…"
"You two are responsible for going to the major docks in Water Seven to record coordinates and investigate the status of the workers. Report back to headquarters once completed."
"Kong Wu, Santai…"
"You two are responsible for stocking up on food and other Materials on the island. Be careful to avoid the Marine. Report back to headquarters once completed."
"Yunu, Vermilion Bird…"
"You two are responsible for dividing the residential areas for personnel on the island and organizing the island's residents for construction. Contact Kong Wu if you need Materials."
"Mr. Iceberg, take your foremen to the old dock to prepare. When the workers arrive on the island, they can start immediately."
Konan assigned tasks to everyone, leaving the subsequent matters to be handled by the Akatsuki Organization members.
Konan also had a task for herself: to use the resources obtained from Sky Island and her own abilities to disguise and control various ports and sea train stations, so that she would know immediately if there was any disturbance.
Pain watched Konan rationally distribute tasks to the Akatsuki Organization personnel without a word, feeling very relieved.
"If there are no questions, let's conclude…"
"Dismiss…"
Pain made the final decision and walked directly to the temporary prison.
Everyone received their orders and acted accordingly, with those leaving the island to perform tasks doing so with Reno's assistance.
Pain hadn't yet had time to engrave the Projecting Image Technique Formation on Hancock, but Lucci was already a person who had mastered the Projecting Image Technique.
When Lucci mastered it, he couldn't help but marvel at Pain's power and mystery; these powers, in Lucci's perception, did not belong to this world.
However, Lucci wouldn't act like a curious baby and explore the questions in his mind. After all, Lucci knew that although he had obtained the Akatsuki Organization identity, there was still some trust crisis between him and Pain due to the Junk Island incident.
Lucci was also trying hard to earn Pain's approval through task completion and salvage the current trust crisis.
"Emperor Kaido's subordinates, Apoo, Hawkins…"
"I am Pain, the Akatsuki Organization leader Kaido wishes to recruit. Now, I will tell you your judgment of fate."
"Apoo… Die!"
"Hawkins… Go back and deliver a message to Kaido."
"I will come for him. Tell him not to send these pawns to their deaths needlessly anymore; I don't have time to waste with you."
Pain declared death and conveyed the message Hawkins needed to take back to the two individuals imprisoned in the Sea Stone cage, hoping Kaido would stop doing meaningless things.
"Hey, Pain…"
"Do you want to kill me?!"
"Doing this will surely enrage Kaido. How about you let me go? I'll go back and put in a good word for you with Kaido."
Apoo panicked at Pain's death sentence, cold sweat beading on his forehead as he pleaded for mercy, hoping to be spared.
"A messenger…"
"One is enough…"
"You have no value left."
Pain calmly looked at Apoo, conveying his final decision.
"Ababababababa…"
"Pain…"
"You will surely be killed by Kaido!"
"Ababababa…"
Seeing that pleading was useless, Apoo burst into laughter, cursing Pain and venting his powerlessness and anger.
Pain summoned Shura Path to stand by, and Golden Lion's subordinate opened the cage, unlocked the Sea Stone handcuffs, and led Hawkins out of the cage.
"You can leave now…"
"Remember the message I want you to relay."
Hawkins flexed his wrists, gave Pain a deep look, turned, and left without a word, a brief scream from Apoo echoing behind him.
Hawkins originally had a mount, but this time, because he was on a long-distance mission for Kaido, he did not bring his mount out to sea.
Hawkins's divination this time was actually very accurate: a 50% chance of death, but Hawkins had concealed the most important point.
That was, Hawkins had plundered Apoo's 50% chance of living through a curse, making his own chance of survival 100%, and Apoo's chance of death 100%.
After dealing with Apoo, Pain returned to the conference room to address Momousagi's issue.
Hancock and Oden were dividing areas on the island. The original central area of the Floating Island had been divided into three important zones by Pain, with barriers set up.
The outer areas were also being divided under the arrangements of Hancock and Oden.
Eastern Area: Akatsuki Organization core member residential area.
Northern Area: Akatsuki Organization core member subordinate residential area, divided into male and female sections.
Western Area: The old dock was placed here, all Materials were planned here, and the construction of the pluton battleship would also take place here.
Southern Area: The residence for Iceberg, foremen, and workers, where residences were also being built with the help of the Hancock Pirate Group.
The gold from Gran Tesoro had been placed in the important Materials reserve area of the central region, and the battleship hull had been moved to the western region for placement.
The changes on the island were being planned in an orderly manner, and the tasks on Water Seven were also underway with the efforts of the Akatsuki Organization personnel.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly… but undercurrents were already flowing towards Water Seven… an unavoidable war was about to begin.
To be continued…