Chapter 159: Funds Received
“Sister La! How did you end up here?”
Aoxi trotted over to La’s side, wanting to see what she was doing.
“I just saw these familiar Poneglyphs again, so I wanted to observe them closely.”
La withdrew her hand and looked at the two people behind Aoxi.
“You two must be the Shandia Chief and Warrior Captain. My sisters caused you trouble a while ago.”
“…”
The Shandia Chief and Warrior Captain were both a bit dazed at the moment and couldn’t respond immediately.
The girl in front of them stood under the Golden Bell, her golden figure seemingly blending with the towering golden ruins behind her, dazzling in the sunlight to the point where it was hard to keep one’s eyes open.
Unlike Obei, La wasn’t displaying any power at the moment, but…
【Golden God】
Nothing was more fitting to call the person in front of them… The two Shandia leaders had silently reached a consensus in their hearts the moment they saw La.
The eldest sister of the Earth（Bass） God was also a god; nothing could be more reasonable.
“Hm? Is there something strange on me?”
Seeing the two just squinting at her without speaking, La couldn’t help but ask.
“Uh… Sorry, sorry~”
“I was a bit distracted just now.”
The chief, who reacted first, quickly took over with a hearty laugh.
“You are our benefactors who helped us reclaim our hometown. We’re grateful and don’t have time to think about any trouble!”
“I know my two sisters’ personalities pretty well. One is mischievous and willful, the other is cold-faced and sharp-tongued. Getting along with them can be quite tiring.”
“No way~”
“I didn’t cause any trouble here at all; it was all that guy Obei.”
Aoxi’s counterattack began…
“Haha~”
In just a few words, the chief and Warrior Captain got a general sense of La’s personality.
As expected of a god’s eldest sister~ Understanding, mature, steady, and her voice is quite pleasant too…
“Miss La… Is it okay to call you that? You’re here this time to take those gold, right.”
“Then please follow me. I’ll take you to the hall where the gold is stored.”
The steady chief soon led the two to the temple’s hall.
…
As soon as they entered, a golden glow reflected on everyone’s faces.
Mountains of gold were casually piled on the floor in the hall, with all sorts of golden vessels dazzling the eyes.
“These are pots, bowls, ladles, and basins made of gold, along with some handicrafts and such. We were originally planning to melt them down into gold ingots for easier transport…
“But we heard from your people that this way they’re worth more, so we left them as is.”
It was Wright who had preserved these things. He could tell at a glance that these golden vessels were genuine antiques of great value.
How could ordinary gold ingots compare in price to gold antiques?!
“In the other side of the temple, there are many gold ingots that were already cast. If you find the bowls, cups, and such here inconvenient, you can take those first.”
The chief had thought it through quite thoroughly; after all, this was part of the contract, and he didn’t dare be careless.
But now with La here, these arrangements weren’t really needed.
“No need to go to such trouble. I’ll take it all back this time.”
Ding~
La extended her right hand, and several golden lines traced through space, forming a perfect tetrahedron.
The Millennium Puzzle, cast as if from gold, appeared out of thin air in La’s hand. This display of “Creation from Void” instantly stunned the two Shandia people present.
The chief and Zannick grew even more convinced of their suspicions.
As the Eye of Uto on the front of the Millennium Puzzle glowed, after a blinding golden light, all the gold in the entire hall vanished.
“Alright, let’s go to the next place.”
La said to the two Shandia leaders who were still completely stunned.
“Ah, ah?”
“Oh.”
“Okay, sure.”
“P-Please, follow me.”
…
La and Aoxi didn’t stay long on the island; they basically set off back right after taking the gold.
“So that’s the method you used~ So convenient!”
High in the sky, Aoxi followed behind La, fiddling with the Millennium Puzzle in her hand with great interest.
Who would have thought such a small thing could hold several mountains of gold!
“Too bad it can’t hold living creatures. Otherwise, I’d definitely take all the centipedes from this island back and start a breeding farm on Fenrir Island. Then I wouldn’t have to worry about the main dish for banquets anymore.”
Aoxi was still hung up on her barbecued giant centipedes.
But since ordinary creatures couldn’t withstand such high speeds, Aoxi ultimately gave up on her centipede breeding plan.
…
An hour and thirty minutes later, the two returned to Fenrir Island. The gold transfer had taken a total of four hours and two minutes.
“Did you bring back all the stuff?”
Outside the meeting hall, at the spot where the two had set off in the morning, everyone was already waiting, and Kaido asked impatiently.
Normally, he wouldn’t be that interested in gold or such things.
But this time it concerned whether his World War Plan could be accelerated, so Kaido was naturally very focused.
“Yeah, we brought back basically everything.”
“However, since part of it consists of processed handicrafts with additional value, we can’t estimate the exact amount yet.”
As La spoke, she showed everyone: the Millennium Puzzle on her chest shimmered, and a golden wine glass reappeared in her hand.
“Th-This is some special Devil Fruit ability, right?”
This ability to summon objects from void similarly shocked everyone present.
A space-type Devil Fruit, if used well, was a strategic-level power.
“Something like that.”
La had no intention of explaining; after all, it was just a trivial matter.
“Anyway, Ember, first find a few trustworthy people to take a batch of gold and exchange it for cash. Keep the rest with me for now, and withdraw as needed.”
“Is that okay, Captain Kaido?”
“Eh? Can’t we just do it like before, put all the gold in the Treasure Vault and exchange it when needed?”
Kaido wasn’t worried about La embezzling the gold; he just didn’t understand why she was making the process of getting money so complicated.
Just take whatever you need directly; there’s no way to spend it all anyway.
“If we just put it in the warehouse, on one hand the island doesn’t have a warehouse big enough, and on the other, such a quantity of gold would be hard to keep secret.”
“No matter how many mountains of gold and silver, they can’t withstand insiders pocketing some. Better not to let the people below know about it from the start than have them obsessing over it every day.”
The Beasts Pirates’ initial model was to divide raid spoils on the spot, while territory taxes were fully transported to the Treasure Vault for daily expenses.
Fortunately, after reforms, since private raids were banned, it changed to supplying the lower pirates directly from a portion of the opponent’s taxes, with the rest still going into the Treasure Vault.
Putting such a massive amount of gold openly into the Treasure Vault now would inevitably stir unrest and lead to irrational actions.
So the best way was to treat it as special funds, withdrawing small portions each time, never letting the people below know the exact amount in the Treasure Vault—just give them the idea that it’s “enough.”
“Didn’t you already assign your respective departments earlier? Now that funds are in place, they can all start operating.”
“Recruit people where short on manpower, allocate territory where needed, and for funding shortages, first draft a list and submit it to Wright, then I’ll issue based on actual situations.”
“This is a good chance to get the financial system running and let everyone get familiar with the process.”
Clap~ Clap~
La clapped her hands.
“Alright, everyone can get moving now.”
…
“I feel like Sister La is urging office drones to work~”
Aoxi didn’t want to move at all; she was still just a child~
How could she be living the office drone horse life so early?
This isn’t right; I’m just a little kitty.jpg
“Then you can keep being your idle street loafer. Anyway, I do have real work to do.”
Obei couldn’t be bothered with her; now that money was available, she was eager to start her weapon experiments.
So right before dinner, Obei was the first to submit her list.
She directly applied to separate the Weapon Department and Research and Development Department: the former to establish a Weapon Factory for mass production and maintenance of weapons and equipment.
The latter to operate independently as a laboratory, responsible for developing new weapons, then handing them to the Weapon Department for mass production after testing.
After spending a full twenty minutes reading the super long list Obei submitted, Wright, who already had a strong office drone mindset, directly approved it.
This was Governor Kaido’s most valued project, and the applicant was his direct superior’s sister; no reason to hold it up.
