Faced with Yamato's question, Kurosaki Rei sat there flipping through a stack of documents, stamping them as he spoke.
"Under normal circumstances, yes."
Yamato was a bit of an airhead, and right now the shogunate was severely short on capable personnel. As a result, most reports from various regions were currently being reviewed and approved by Kurosaki Rei himself.
This made Kurosaki Rei want to vomit blood.
This was the kind of work he hated most. All he wanted was to train and get stronger.
But reality was what it was. In order to complete the hidden mission and secure greater rewards, he could only grit his teeth and endure for now.
Thankfully, he was free in the evenings and held a high enough position that he could finally sleep in his own bed again, giving him time to work on his cultivation progress.
"Normally? So you've got an abnormal way, then?" Yamato asked curiously.
"Of course. After my plan received your father's approval, King came to convey the Governor's commendation. At that time, I made two requests of him."
Kurosaki Rei rapidly flipped through documents and stamped them.
"Uncle King? What did you ask him to do?" Yamato asked.
After finding herself again, Yamato had become much more polite toward the officers. She knew King was her father's brother-in-arms, someone who'd fought alongside him through life and death, so her choice of words reflected that respect.
"Two things. First, borrowing manpower," Kurosaki Rei said.
"I asked King to contact the Seven Warlords' Donquixote Doflamingo and borrow one of his family executives—Pica—for a month. Of course, we'll pay appropriate compensation. I doubt Doflamingo will refuse."
Strictly speaking, if a Yonko like Kaido asked to borrow someone, especially a business partner, it wouldn't even be strange to do it for free. But Doflamingo was suspicious by nature and deeply protective of his family members.
To ease his concerns and show sincerity, Kurosaki Rei had King offer symbolic compensation.
After getting to know King a bit, Kurosaki Rei found him fairly easy to deal with. King was a fiercely loyal powerhouse with a decent head on his shoulders. He quickly understood that Kurosaki Rei's plan would bring Kaido even greater benefits, so he agreed without much fuss.
As for the compensation, King himself had ways to handle it—and the authority to do so.
"Pica? Who's that?" Yamato looked utterly confused. She didn't understand why they needed to borrow someone.
"Pica is the Stone–Stone Fruit user," Kurosaki Rei explained.
"He can freely manipulate and reshape stone. He's a natural-born construction specialist. Since he's from an allied faction, there's no reason not to make use of him."
He didn't say it out loud, but Pica was a famous architect in the One Piece world. Kurosaki Rei even suspected Doflamingo had made a fortune in real estate thanks to Pica.
"So Devil Fruit abilities can be used like that?" Yamato exclaimed.
It felt like an entirely new world had opened up before her.
The Stone–Stone Fruit didn't sound very strong—certainly nowhere near her own or her father's Mythical Zoan—but when applied to infrastructure, it became absurdly powerful.
"There are no useless Devil Fruits in this world," Kurosaki Rei said.
"Only people who don't know how to develop them. And some fruits, even if they aren't suited for combat, can be outstanding in specific fields."
He continued,
"With Pica's ability, we can directly complete the basic structure of the factories. After that, workers can handle the fine detailing inside—interior finishing, installation of equipment, and so on."
Building a large number of factories within two months would normally be impossible, even for the physically gifted people of this world.
But with a Stone–Stone Fruit user helping out, it became entirely feasible.
In fact, if everything went smoothly, many factories could be completed within a single month.
"Rei-brother!"
Yamato suddenly lunged forward, grabbing Kurosaki Rei's hands in excitement and startling him.
"You really are a genius!"
Her eyes were filled with admiration.
Kurosaki Rei quickly shook her off, feeling a bit embarrassed.
"Any normal person could probably think of this, right?"
To be honest, he felt he'd only come up with some very basic optimizations. But in the One Piece world, it apparently counted as groundbreaking thinking.
In Kurosaki Rei's view, many Devil Fruit users in this world could easily find industries where their abilities would shine—if only they chose the right path.
There were countless pirates who struggled on the seas despite having abilities that could make absurd amounts of money.
It was such a waste.
Honestly, if they'd just settled down in a wealthy country and started a business, they'd have become super-rich long ago—far richer than by robbing ships at sea.
Take Pica, for example. He could build a skyscraper with a single thought. If he went into real estate, wouldn't that be faster than piracy?
Of course, pirates with real power and ambition weren't sailing the seas purely for money. They sought freedom, adventure, or grander dreams.
People like Kaido and Doflamingo had their own ambitions—money was just a necessary resource to achieve them.
...
Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, one month passed.
Just as Kurosaki Rei had expected, Doflamingo didn't dare offend Kaido. With a single word from King, Pica was sent over—he didn't even ask what he was being borrowed for.
Pica's ability turned out to be even more useful than Kurosaki Rei had imagined. His control over stone fusion and shaping was astonishing.
Because King was more than willing to contribute to Kaido's grand cause, Kurosaki Rei even had him help with smelting steel rebar…
Yes. Flame Disaster King once again taught everyone a painful truth—
The Flame–Flame Fruit wept silently in a corner.
Under King's efforts, massive quantities of steel rebar rolled off production lines. With guidance from technical personnel, workers assembled them into skeletal frameworks.
Once the basic framework was in place, it was Pica's turn.
Kurosaki Rei had the Numbers haul in rocks the size of small mountains. Pica fused and reshaped them, then integrated them directly into the steel frames.
In no time at all, the rough form of a factory was complete.
Following this model, by the third week after Pica arrived in Wano, the number of factories had doubled.
And according to Kurosaki Rei's estimates, once everyone became familiar with the construction process, the following month would see factory numbers triple compared to the original baseline.
This far exceeded Kurosaki Rei's initial expectations—to the point that Kaido himself was now troubled by the need to procure equipment for all these factories.
Some facilities—especially the artificial Devil Fruit factories—required highly precise instruments. These were beyond Kaido's ability to produce and had to be purchased through Doflamingo, meaning from the mad scientist Caesar Clown.
For a while, Kaido found himself both ecstatic and troubled.
Every day on Onigashima, he drank heavily, roaring with laughter as he praised Kurosaki Rei and Yamato's achievements.
Kaido was a simple man—he judged by results alone. And so far, Kurosaki Rei's performance had surpassed his expectations.
In just one month, the number of factories had doubled.
As for workers not yet being fully operational, Kaido didn't care. In his mind, factories doubled meant profits would eventually double too.
Given Kurosaki Rei's tangible results, his status within the Beasts Pirates naturally soared.
The once-unruly Numbers now worked obediently, and other officers greeted him amicably whenever they met.
Because factory construction was going so smoothly and Kaido saw concrete benefits, he had no resistance to sending a second wave of grain—he even added extra, instructing Kurosaki Rei and Yamato to distribute it to the construction workers.
The workers, receiving even more grain than the previous month, were moved to tears. Life finally seemed to hold hope.
And the key point was—
They hadn't even done the hardest labor.
The most physically demanding work had all been handled by the Numbers, Pica, and King. The workers were only responsible for interior finishing and fine adjustments.
Through this collaborative work, the people of Wano began to change their view of the Beasts Pirates.
People naturally developed goodwill toward those they worked alongside. Subconsciously, they felt they were on the same side.
And since the grueling labor was done by the pirates, many workers even began to think that these pirates… weren't so bad after all.
Everyone at the construction sites had once been famine refugees—jobless, hopeless, unsure if they'd starve to death on the roadside tomorrow.
Now, they worked with incredible diligence.
Not only out of gratitude toward Yamato for feeding them, but also because Lord Rei had made it clear:
This factory construction period was an evaluation phase—also called a probation period.
Those who performed well would be given priority for permanent factory positions, along with better pay.
And what kind of pay was that?
Lord Rei had publicly posted the details.
He didn't have authority to reform the old factories, but the new factories would operate under his rules.
Taking a weapons factory as an example, workers were divided into three tiers:
Technical Management – responsible for technical guidance, supervision, and quality control.Elite Craftsmen – handling the core processes on the production line, ensuring product quality.Ordinary Craftsmen – working on less critical components, while continuously receiving training for promotion.
Under the condition that performance targets were met:
Technical management staff earned enough each month to feed three adults for an entire year.Elite craftsmen earned enough to feed three adults for three months.Even ordinary craftsmen earned enough to feed three adults for a full month.
What did this mean?
It meant that simply becoming an ordinary craftsman in a new factory was enough to support an entire family.
Among these formerly unemployed people were individuals who once lived fairly well. Yet even with their experience, none could recall a time in Wano's history when such generous待遇 existed for basic labor.
Under Orochi's rule, even small merchants in the Flower Capital with connections could only barely feed their own families.
And now?
Even entry-level factory workers could support a household of three.
When Kurosaki Rei's notice boards went up, not only the construction workers but the entire country erupted.
Many people who already had jobs even wanted to join the construction crews—just for a chance to enter Kaido's factories later.
So did Kaido know about Kurosaki Rei's radical reforms and generous wages?
Of course he did.
And he strongly disliked them.
But Kurosaki Rei had delivered too many surprises this month. In the end, Kaido relented, allowing the new factories to trial-run for one month under Kurosaki Rei's system.
After all, only a few new factories were operational so far. If performance was poor, Kaido would simply reject the proposal and copy the old factory model.
So—would these new factories outperform the old ones?
Kurosaki Rei couldn't say with absolute certainty.
But he was confident.
Because in this country, some truths were counterintuitive.
First of all, Kaido's factories didn't actually pay that little. Kaido only felt Kurosaki Rei was overpaying because Kurosaki Rei framed wages in terms of "how many people could be fed."
In Kaido's mind, factory wages only needed to feed one worker—why pay more?
But in reality, Kurosaki Rei was using a clever framing trick.
Soon, Kaido would realize that even under his original wage levels, workers would be able to eat better—once food prices dropped.
And Wano's grain prices were about to plummet.
Kurosaki Rei never listed specific monetary figures—only food equivalents. That made workers think wages were generous, and Kaido think he was being fleeced.
In truth, Kurosaki Rei only needed to pay slightly more than before to make workers ecstatic.
By adopting a rational tiered management system, combined with base wages plus performance bonuses, he could maximize productivity and motivate craftsmen to work hard and improve their skills.
Moreover, he had clearly stated that the new factory system was only a trial.
If productivity was poor, workers could lose their jobs again.
As a result, the first batch of workers selected by Kurosaki Rei would work like their lives depended on it.
Previously, Kaido's factories paid wages, but compared to Wano's inflated food prices, they were barely enough to keep workers from starving.
Workers still had families to support, forcing them to split their meager rations. Over time, many grew thinner and weaker—eventually dying quietly, simply failing to show up for work.
Inside Kaido's factories, workers were treated little better than slaves. Overseers ruled with whips to prevent unrest, beating anyone who made mistakes.
There was no dignity at all.
That was why many unemployed people would rather scavenge than enter Kaido's factories as "slaves," especially if they had no family burden.
Why did Kurosaki Rei dare claim the new model would outperform the old?
Because history had proven it countless times—
The productivity of slaves is always inferior to that of free workers.
And here was the most counterintuitive part of all:
Using slaves actually costs more than hiring free labor.
As for why slaves are less cost-effective than free workers—
That explanation would come later.
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