“So, you see, the insurance policy I gave you back then was an incredible bargain. This thing can protect your country, you know. See? Isn’t it coming in handy right now?”
Not long afterward, in the small house where Scarlett’s family lived, Nanamo was boasting about how superior her gift from back then had been.
“That’s true, but even without that insurance, would you really ignore me if something happened?”
“Hey, hey, hey, you’re really ruining the mood here. You’re supposed to play along with me and help me promote this insurance business.”
Although she didn’t give a direct answer, if something really did happen, Nanamo naturally wouldn’t stand by and do nothing. The only difference would be how soon she learned about it.
“Yes, yes, you’re right. But since you make money through insurance, why did you make it permanent? Shouldn’t you charge based on the length of coverage?”
“Who said it was permanent? Yours only has no expiration date because I gave it to you as a gift! The policies sold to outsiders all have fixed coverage periods.
You’re still a princess of Dressrosa, you know. Pay a little more attention to what’s going on outside!”
Compared to Doldo, Scarlett wasn’t particularly worried. She had complete trust in her sister, and since she didn’t understand national affairs all that well, she didn’t feel there was much of a crisis.
“Speaking of which, your younger sister’s Devil Fruit ability is pretty ridiculous too. Have her take a look around every now and then. If she spots Doflamingo appearing nearby, just contact us right away.”
The Glare-Glare Fruit’s absurd clairvoyance was practically a living radar, and since the entry points into the New World are fixed, even those with powerful experts as a safety net would not choose to cross the Calm Belt directly except under extraordinary circumstances.
No matter what connections Doflamingo has, as long as Viola occasionally keeps an eye on the Red Port on the New World side, she can pinpoint his location.
“Got it, don’t worry. We may not be as capable as you, but if something happens, we can at least make a call and ask for help.”
“That guy’s existence isn’t completely worthless either. At the very least, North Blue should be… preparing to take action by now.”
Nanamo glanced at the clock in the room, then calculated the time difference.
Because of the evidence obtained from Rosinante, the identities of many people hiding in North Blue had already been exposed. That list didn’t merely contain suspicions, it even came with a considerable amount of evidence.
Even if the cases were thrown into that absurd court of Enies Lobby, the evidence would still leave those people in North Blue with absolutely no room to argue.
Some time later, at a harbor in North Blue’s Deul Kingdom, two support ships that had sailed from Fishman Island had already docked and were going through the formal handover procedures.
The personnel aboard were relatively diverse. There were warriors of mixed Fish-Man or Merfolk heritage, regular Neptune Army soldiers, and ordinary human soldiers.
After many years of operating and developing outside the island, Fishman Island had also taken in quite a few members of other races, many of whom had once been sold as slaves.
Some, like Stella, worked ordinary clerical jobs on the Sabaody Archipelago, while others chose to join the military.
These were not peaceful times. Advancement in the military was far faster than in ordinary clerical work.
“Although I knew the main island would send some support over… but aren’t you a civil official? How come you’re part of the military too?”
Jinbe rubbed his eyes as he looked at Tesoro in front of him, somewhat unable to understand.
He and Tesoro weren’t particularly close, but they did know each other. After all, Tesoro was also one of Nanamo’s favored people.
Jinbe also knew that this human was good at organizing concerts and exceptionally good at making money. Seeing him here now seemed rather strange.
“According to the main island’s plans, after this operation, the dark side of North Blue will almost be swept clean.
After that, normal trade between affiliated nations will replace the Underworld’s smuggling industry, further suppressing other violent incidents.
Commerce and trade are areas I’m fairly good at.
And Sir Jinbe, I’m no longer some frail scholar who can’t even truss a chicken. I can still handle simple combat.”
“…”
Originally, Tesoro had never intended to devote much effort to combat. In fact, the reason he began training in martial arts was even related to a rumor.
As time passed and circumstances changed, veterans such as Sunbell, Barbell, and Sebastian gradually fought less and less frequently.
They still continued to hone their martial skills, but most external battles were handed over to the younger generation.
Including Jinbe, the names of Namur, Jack, Sasaki, Arlong, and others had become much more famous recently.
Leaving external battles to the younger generation allowed them to temper themselves better, while Sebastian and the others had taken on more administrative duties, serving as a force of protection to guard their respective areas.
And this had given rise to a small rumor on Fishman Island.
Only those who can fight the best could become civil officials. Aside from Otohime, who was the lone exception, everyone else had fought their way into those positions.
Tesoro’s situation was viewed on Fishman Island as a direct appointment by Nanamo. If the princess hadn’t discovered his talent in economics, who knew what Tesoro would be doing now.
To avoid being treated as someone who had only gotten his position through connections, Tesoro decided to train in combat as well. Being able to protect himself was also a very good thing.
By the time he discovered that the idea that civil officials had to be the best fighters was just a rumor, he had already made some progress, so he simply continued training.
And the source of that rumor… was Tesoro’s former business partner and current close collaborator, the starfish Pappag.
Tesoro researched distribution channels outside the island, while Pappag worked on products on Fishman Island. By now, the “Criminal” brand clothing designed under Pappag’s direction had become a famous label in the fashion industry around the world. He could be considered the most successful starfish in history.
“Charging into enemy formations the way you do is a bit beyond me, but I can protect myself just fine in the Four Seas. I definitely won’t be dead weight, so Sir Jinbe, you don’t need to worry about that.
My main responsibility is handling postwar coordination.”
Tesoro did have talent for combat as well. The fact that he had been able to develop the Gol-Gol Fruit all the way to Awakening was proof enough of that. Successfully awakening a Devil Fruit was by no means an easy feat.
He wasn’t top-tier in other areas, but neither was he weak. However, that was the version of him after he had fallen into darkness and stopped caring about anything, and it was also more than ten years in the future. The current Tesoro was merely capable of keeping up without dragging anyone down and was still far from reaching the level of the Golden Emperor.
In addition to Fishman Island’s support personnel, the local royal army of Deul Kingdom also boarded the warships. The ships had been built by craftsmen from Fishman Island, so there were no issues with their quality.
Although the royal army didn’t have any especially powerful superhumans, they were setting out as auxiliary troops to begin with. Their main role was to provide fire support and handle cleanup afterward.
While North Blue’s underworld continued conducting its usual day-to-day dealings, the sudden eruption of the waves shattered their customary calm and “order.”
Secret strongholds, safe shipping routes, mysterious masterminds behind the scenes—all the things that had once been shrouded in secrecy were instantly dragged beneath glaring lights and subjected to devastating attacks.
What they did had never been anything that could withstand exposure. With their leaders purged and large numbers of personnel dealt with directly, most of them weren’t even capable of putting up resistance before being wiped out.
There were few forces in North Blue capable of resisting an attack on this scale.
Doflamingo was one of them, but he was preparing to enter the Grand Line and had no intention of doing anything for those former “business partners.”
Germa was another, but Germa had accepted a mercenary mission and was currently participating in a war between kingdoms over in East Blue.
And given Judge’s personality, even if Germa had still been in North Blue, he wouldn’t have interfered in something like this.
Not every kingdom in North Blue had ignored this kind of activity. Many kingdoms had simply been unable to find any leads. Now that everything had been exposed, they also began kicking their enemies while they were down, and for a time, North Blue’s environment became considerably cleaner.
With North Blue causing such a huge commotion, the local Marines naturally noticed. They didn’t interfere. In fact, the prisons at some Marine bases were soon packed full by the people who were brought in.
When people from an affiliated nation did something like this, the Marines had absolutely no reason to stop them. Someone else taking care of this sort of thing saved the Marines a great deal of effort; they were more than happy to see it happen.
The person who felt the strongest about the matter was actually Rosinante.
You can read ahead upto 45 chapters on my patreon and I’ve also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon.