Chapter 170: Sengoku, You're the Last Hope Left
At the strong request of the citizens of the Doel Kingdom, the Ryugu Kingdom left an assistance squad behind to help this nation establish a newborn order.
A normal kingdom free from slavery. As for the candidate for the new King, they would wait until the Doel Kingdom's order was restored, at which point the citizens would vote to elect a new representative themselves.
Without a doubt, the original nobles had no voting rights in this matter.
The people left behind needed to possess a certain level of strength, the ability to treat all races equally, the restraint to not take extreme actions based on prejudice, and an understanding of management models.
Ultimately, Fisher Tiger became the one left behind in the North Blue to assist the Doel Kingdom.
Although the Doel Kingdom was still the Doel Kingdom, anyone with a discerning eye could see that even if it remained an independent entity in the future, it would be inextricably linked to the Ryugu Kingdom.
But exactly what that would look like, no one could say for sure.
However, the massive number of slaves in the Doel Kingdom were all full of hope for the future. There wasn't any complex reason; the word "freedom" itself was their greatest source of hope.
In their eyes, even the worst life was far better than a life of slavery where not even survival was guaranteed.
And in fact, future developments did not disappoint their expectations.
Sea Circle Calendar, Year 1513. Four years had passed since the war between the Doel Kingdom and the Ryugu Kingdom.
After Chaplin's pro-slavery royal family was abolished, with the assistance of Fish-man Island, the Doel Kingdom underwent entirely new developments.
This country's geographical location in the North Blue was quite excellent. Many nearby nations possessed high-quality mineral resources, and their primary method of profit was selling minerals abroad.
Because of Chaplin's policies, the Doel Kingdom inherently had large tracts of unclaimed land. After several nobles with extensive records of evil deeds were purged, an equally significant amount of land was freed up.
Relying on the convenience of maritime shipping, the Ryugu Kingdom procured a considerable amount of industrial equipment for the Doel Kingdom to begin metal smelting. In a relatively short period, it gradually progressed toward industrialization.
The opening of factories provided a massive number of jobs for the Doel Kingdom and increased cash flow, marking a positive developmental cycle.
As for why they were helping this place heavily develop its industry... although the Ryugu Kingdom also had its own industrial facilities, and the unique deep-sea environment even allowed its forges to reach higher temperatures...
The environment of Fish-man Island was ultimately limited. They couldn't pile up all their heavy industry there; expanding outward was only a matter of time.
And the newborn Doel Kingdom was considered one of the friendliest nations toward Fish-man Island. Coupled with its geographical factors, it was naturally chosen as the site.
Over the span of four years, another Levely concluded. Perhaps with the Doel Kingdom serving as a precedent, the various participating nations at the Levely displayed entirely different attitudes toward the Ryugu Kingdom.
Even if they had no intention of forming a close alliance, they had absolutely no thought of offending them either. Some of the Ryugu Kingdom's neighbors even behaved with boundless enthusiasm during the conference.
A pirate here, a government agent there—they wouldn't care about such things. But when a faction on the same level as them, like the Doel Kingdom, underwent a massive upheaval, these people finally realized just how drastically the world was changing.
However, during this period, there was no news of any massive conflicts arising between Nereus and any other kingdom. The sea seemed to coexist harmoniously; at the very least, there were no volatile, swords-drawn situations presented at the Levely.
On the contrary, due to the increasing number of pirates, quite a few people developed an interest in the Ryugu Kingdom's insurance business.
After all, hiring the Marines to execute certain operations also cost money.
If the Marines encountered certain pirates during their own patrols, or if they chased a pirate into a member nation's territory, they naturally wouldn't require any extra compensation.
But if a member nation wanted the Marines to resolve specific incidents according to their own demands, they would have to pay extra military funding. In this situation, if there was a more cost-effective mercenary force available, the member nations would naturally choose someone else.
Compared to the harmony at the Levely, Fleet Admiral Kong was not nearly as happy right now; in fact, he was deeply worried.
Because of the Levely convening, the Marines had once again massed their forces. The high-tier combatants were all concentrated near Marine Headquarters, which gave Kong the time to hold a major meeting.
Crunch... crunch...
Smack... smack...
At this moment, two towering stacks of complaint documents sat on Kong's desk.
Yet filling Kong's ears was the endless sound of chewing.
In front of the desk, Sengoku sat upright and proper, seemingly completely deaf to his surroundings.
Beside Sengoku, however, Zephyr and Garp were acting like two improper thugs—eating snacks and drinking hot tea, showing zero regard for the fact that this was the Marine Fleet Admiral's office.
"Enough with you two! Look at these! These are all complaints regarding the two of you!"
"Bwahahaha! Zephyr, you're slipping. It looks like I still have more complaints!"
"What is there to be happy about? I still have to lead the recruits in the training camp. I don't have time to go around causing trouble every day like you."
Though his words condemned Garp's behavior as wrong, judging by Zephyr's expression, what he was saying and what he was thinking were two entirely different things.
At this point, Zephyr hadn't officially stepped back to the second line. However, holding onto the idea of guiding the new generation of Marines onto the right path, he had established a dedicated training camp for the Marines.
He had already supplied a batch of qualified soldiers to the organization. There were also a few individuals who couldn't handle the training and quit the Marines, their whereabouts unknown.
Among the new recruits entering the Marines, there was no shortage of monsters. Sakazuki, Borsalino, Kuzan—the future Three Admirals were also beginning to step onto this grand stage.
"Do I sound like I'm praising you?!" Kong roared.
"It can't be helped," Garp said. "That guy Roger is too good at running. In order to catch him, sometimes things just get out of hand..."
"Those guys are always getting in the way during missions," Zephyr chimed in. "Plus, looking at some of those idiots is just irritating. Anyway, you guys already apologized on my behalf, right? Did the World Government pursue the matter?"
Kong leaned back in his chair, clutching his head in silence. He didn't know what had gotten into this honest man Zephyr. It seemed that after interacting with Garp too much, his shadow was starting to look more and more like Garp.
Acting without regard for consequences or repercussions, frequently making many royals lose face. But the results were...
Verbal reprimands, written warnings, 'don't do this again,' 'this is the last time'....
Generally, the punishments were just these. At most, a deduction from their salary. They couldn't exactly strip an Admiral of their post.
If it were just this, it wouldn't be a big deal. The problem was that Garp, upon seeing this situation, felt inspired to let loose even further. This gave Kong a massive headache.
As if completely giving up hope on those two, Kong looked at Sengoku beside them with an extremely earnest gaze.
Although he didn't speak, the meaning behind his gaze was self-evident:
[The future of the Marines... is entirely in your hands...]
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