Chapter 262: Passing The Time
“Infiltrate our people into it?”*3
Ra’s statement indeed hit the blind spot in the trio’s thinking right away.
Although the three of them were not pure brutes, and even Kaido and Ember could be said to have very sharp minds, they ultimately habitually thought from the pirate standpoint.
And as pirates, they naturally felt repelled by the idea of cooperating with the World Government.
Even Kaido, at this current stage, with his experience, still habitually lumped the World Government and the Navy together and simply categorized them all as enemies, without deeply considering the complex relationship between the two.
They did not quite understand what it meant that ‘the World Government is just a few organizations, a few member nations, and the rice still needs to be shared from the pot.’
Therefore, regarding the trio’s questions, Ra first nodded to indicate they had heard correctly, then began to explain in detail.
Splash~
Fine golden light particles appeared out of thin air.
Amid the shocked and curious gazes of the three, countless golden photons gathered like flowing water, ultimately condensing into a small balance scale in Ra’s palm.
This ability of creation from void felt novel and inconceivable to the three no matter how many times they saw it.
Gently cradling the small balance scale in his hand, Ra explained:
“For example… the World Government right now is like this balance scale in my hand, while the Navy and pirates are the weights on both sides of the scale.”
Ding~
Two weights of different sizes appeared out of thin air, then fell into the pans on both sides of the balance scale, producing an overlapping crisp sound.
Naturally then, the balance scale began to tilt toward the side with the larger weight.
The three watched this scene and looked at Ra somewhat puzzled.
And she just pointed to the smaller weight and said:
“From the perspective of a single faction, the Navy’s strength undoubtedly far exceeds that of any pirate crew on the sea.”
This point was beyond doubt.
If measured by pirate crew standards, the Navy would be an untouchable behemoth with territory spanning the Four Seas and the Grand Line, hundreds of thousands of members, and warships numbering in the hundreds or even thousands.
It had an order-of-magnitude gap compared to all other pirate crews.
“But if viewed as a whole, the pirate factions are greater than, or even far greater than, the Navy.”
Ra pointed again to the large weight that was propping up the other end high.
“But you can’t lump all pirates and the Navy together~”
Burufaruto interrupted.
Treating pirates as a unified whole like the Navy was a huge mistake in itself.
Pirates were free, willful, and unrestrained.
And these traits were often associated with disorder and confusion.
At the same time, the extremely simple power structure of pirate crews inherently limited pirates from forming a unified organization as massive and widespread as the Navy.
Even forming simple interest alliances among a few ordinary pirate crews was exceedingly difficult, inevitably involving all sorts of cutthroat scheming.
The Navy represented order—unified management, unified deployment, unified ideology…
While pirates represented disorder—lax style, arbitrary plunder, personal ambition…
When a thousand people are united in heart, they harness the strength of a thousand; when ten thousand have disloyalty, none are of use.
Precisely because of this, although overall strength was inferior to pirates, the Navy could always suppress pirates on various local battlefields, thereby forming an overall advantage.
……
Ra slightly adjusted the balance scale, making it sway again, then spoke:
“From our perspective, of course pirates can’t be seen as a whole, but if we raise the viewpoint to the World Government’s angle?”
“Too many pirates representing disorder would affect the stability of rule, so the Navy representing order is used to suppress them.”
“But the Navy with its powerful martial prowess is itself a double-edged sword.”
“Once the main enemy pirates are suppressed, there’s no guarantee those hot-blooded guys who shout ‘justice’ every day won’t turn their spears toward other places they don’t want to see.”
In the end, the World Government, or rather the Celestial Dragons’ everyday inhuman rule, was bound to cause unrest among the common people, so to prevent them from pointing their spears at the right targets, they had to be kept in mutual internal conflict—what’s called ‘anti-dragon-slaying technique.’
“So what you mean is…”
“The World Government actually doesn’t want the Navy to become too powerful?!”
At this point in the conversation, let alone Kaido and Ember, even the slowest Burufaruto had grasped the general idea.
“Exactly.”
“If the World Government truly fully trusted the Navy, with their influence around the world, a casual recruitment could replenish the Navy’s lost combat power.”
“But instead they chose the so-called【 Shichibukai】, using these people who won’t side with pirates nor the Navy to act as weights maintaining balance between the Navy and pirates.”
As he spoke, another even smaller weight appeared on one side of the balance scale… after a few more swings, the balance scale finally achieved true equilibrium.
And at the moment of balance, the entire balance scale turned back into fine light particles and vanished.
Ra clapped his hands lightly and continued:
“Those selected to serve as Seven Warlords are both affiliated with the World Government, yet their identities are pirates.”
“They stand in the middle of black and white; if they can play both sides, they can seize the massive benefits contained in this unprecedented ecological niche.”
“And if we can participate, we can also get a share.”
“Mm.”*3
After hearing Ra’s long analysis, all three nodded as if they had gained something.
“Uh… so who do we send?”
Burufaruto raised his hand and asked.
“Don’t know.”
Ra’s answer was simple and straightforward.
“Huh?”
“The candidates will definitely be decided through internal World Government discussions, most likely some powerful but not faction-strong pirates.”
Ra explained matter-of-factly:
“Groups like ours basically won’t be in their consideration.”
“Moreover, considering our current relationship with the Navy isn’t exactly… amicable, people associated with us probably won’t be selected either.”
“So we can only make contact and pull in after the candidates are announced.”
“……”
“Uh… so this【 Seven Warlords】 thing currently has nothing to do with us? Then what was all that earlier about balance scales and weights, exactly…”
“As for the secondary goal… consider it providing you with a fresh perspective~”
“Don’t let simple likes and dislikes affect your view of a faction; after all, if the ultimate goal is to overthrow the World Government, you first need to stand on the same level in vision.”
“Mm, you’re right.”
All three nodded in deep agreement.
“So what’s the main goal?”
“Killing time.”
……
