Chapter 187: Mediya
Mediya Caspar is the successor of the Mediya Family.
This family, headquartered in the New World, has, through generations of management, gained control of nearly 40% of the arms business on the black market. Its current head, Old Mediya, is known as the ‘Magician of Gunpowder’.
As for why he isn’t called the ‘Arms King,’ it’s partly because everyone knows who the world’s biggest arms dealer is.
On the other hand, the arms smuggling pie is quite large; even the black market trade left over by the World Government is enough to support several arms tycoons.
The Mediya Family is merely the largest among them, but they cannot yet control everything like bosses in other industries.
Caspar’s visit with his father, Old Mediya, to attend the ceremony is also an opportunity for him to meet with the bosses of other industries and use their resources to completely crush the other factions.
“The Beasts Pirates… a pirate crew that was unheard of a year ago, and they’re coming to take our territory.”
“Pirates should act like pirates, using the blades and flintlock pistols we produce to pillage and plunder, then offering the plundered wealth with both hands to receive more swords and pistols from us…”
“Beasts who only know how to use violence foolishly think they can produce and create like humans; isn’t that hilarious and ridiculous?”
Caspar elegantly swirled the red wine in his hand before drinking it all.
*Crack!*
The empty wine glass was placed back on the table, and he looked at his assistant again.
“How’s the research lab progressing with the deconstruction of that revolver pistol? When will we be able to imitate and mass-produce it?”
Despite his dismissive words, major arms dealers have been working on reverse-engineering the Beasts Pirates’ revolvers.
After all, the sales figures speak for themselves.
With the emergence of this new type of pistol, the market for their old, family-run arms companies has been significantly impacted.
For instance, their biggest partner in the New World before, the Latran… six months ago, the orders they received from that side began to dwindle, and now their trade relations are only a third of what they were at the same time last year.
The remaining trade volume can be attributed to the Beasts Pirates’ insufficient production, unable to handle such a large client.
“This, this…”
The assistant stammered, unable to provide the results Caspar wanted, only wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.
“Hmm? Has it been half a year already?”
“Those useless people still haven’t managed to imitate it?”
Caspar’s tone grew colder. He couldn’t understand why, for a slightly novel pistol, the weapons experts his family hired at high salaries couldn’t replicate it.
“Tell those people I’ll give them one more month. If they can’t do it, they’ll say goodbye to their wives and children.”
Compared to his father’s maneuvering between various factions, akin to magical sleight of hand, this young heir preferred direct, violent methods.
This was also a product of the times; by his generation, the family’s power was already established, and there was no longer a need to constantly worry about being accidentally crushed by some major power.
Since they now possessed the energy to stir up a storm, they no longer needed to kowtow to those sea monsters.
This was the consideration in the young heir’s mind.
“Oh, right…”
Seeing the pitiful assistant wobble and prepare to withdraw, Caspar spoke again:
“Have you identified the maker of that revolver pistol?”
“Is it someone from the Beasts Pirates or someone they poached from outside?”
“Yes, we’ve found out.”
This time, the assistant didn’t stutter.
“According to a worker we bribed from Beasts Heavy Industry, the original blueprints were provided by a core executive of the Beasts Pirates.”
“A core executive… that’s a bit troublesome.”
“What’s their name?”
“Obei, a little girl with blue hair.”
“She seems to have only recently become an executive for the Beasts Pirates, and she appears to be underage.”
“Hmph~ Just joined… a little girl…”
Caspar looked at his reflection in the wine glass, thinking of something, and a slight smile curved his lips.
“And in the Beasts Pirates’ delegation attending the ceremony this time, there seems to be someone who fits that description.”
Seeing his young master’s malicious smile, the assistant added.
“Oh? What a coincidence.”
Hearing the assistant’s words, Caspar’s smile widened, but he quickly regained his composure and began to strategize in his mind.
This is a good opportunity… It just so happens that Father needs a beast to intimidate the other factions.
Regardless of success, one must make two, no, three preparations.
…
“Miss La has a conflict with the Whitebeard Pirates?”
In the Candy Hotel, in the Beasts Pirates’ suite, Rayleigh poured himself a glass of wine and then curiously asked La opposite him.
He was just visiting, after all, Perospero had specifically arranged their rooms next to each other, and Shanks and Buggy, the two little ones, had been clamoring to come over.
“It’s not really a conflict.”
“It was just that some roughhousing between children got a bit out of hand, leading to the parents getting involved too.”
“It was a minor private clash.”
La surveyed the furniture in the room, which was almost entirely made of candy, and couldn’t help but marvel at Perospero’s workload.
“Haha~”
“That man Whitebeard is not someone to be trifled with, and it seems you didn’t suffer any losses…”
“So, is it convenient to tell me the details?”
Judging by the behavior of Whitebeard’s sons earlier, they didn’t seem like they had the upper hand.
If Whitebeard could be made to suffer a loss, his own captain would surely be interested!
“What details? It’s just that his sons couldn’t take a hit and were beaten by this young master, and then that Nose-hair Uncle defended them and hit Boss Kaido~”
“If you ask me, Boss Kaido is too weak.”
“If he had just put in a little more effort, we two could have kicked the entire Whitebeard Pirate Crew out to sea and flipped their ship without Sister La needing to intervene.”
Obei said unhappily, sitting on a soft candy cushion.
“Eh? Sister Aoxi is that strong?”
Shanks sounded disbelieving, as his captain had mentioned Whitebeard’s name more than once, saying he was a fellow as strong as himself.
“Heh~ Little Red Hair, since we’re both in the red spectrum, if you don’t believe me, I’ll bring you along when we have a fight later.”
“I’ll show you how I beat those idiots.”
“Eh? Really?”
“Of course, and that Red Nose too. You’re sort of in the red spectrum as well, so come along~”
“Who are you calling Red Nose…”
“Hmm?”
Obei merely raised her tone slightly, and Buggy’s voice quieted down, and he sheepishly hid behind La.
*Tsk~*
