Chapter 285: Visitor
“Oh? You’ve heard about it too?”
“Did Aoxi tell you?”
The bottle of liquor he had painstakingly hidden away was thrown out, so Burufaruto helplessly took out the thermos that Aoxi had prepared for him from his coat pocket.
He unscrewed the lid, and several red berries floated on the steaming hot water, emitting waves of refreshing fragrance.
After some mental struggle, Burufaruto still closed his eyes and took a shallow sip…
Slurp~
“Mm-hmm!”
A thick bitter taste instantly spread throughout his entire mouth, and Burufaruto’s whole face wrinkled up like a chrysanthemum.
The combination of several Chinese medicines dominated by wild ginseng hidden at the bottom of the cup easily overwhelmed the slight sweetness of the goji berries floating on the surface.
“Tch~”
“Tch tch tch~”
“Pfft! Pfft!”
Jinbe watched the other’s face contort ferociously as if undergoing torture, and quietly dispelled his curiosity about the liquid in the thermos.
“No matter how many times I drink it, I still can’t get used to it, but this thing is way more refreshing than liquor.”
Forcing himself to drink down a small half of the health tea in the cup in one go, Burufaruto quickly screwed the lid back on and put it back in his pocket.
He smacked his lips, using the action to dilute the bitterness in his mouth a bit, before speaking again:
“The pirate crew might indeed undergo some changes recently, and this change might be bigger than you imagine.”
“Oh?”
Hearing an executive like Burufaruto say this, Jinbe was thoroughly interested.
“Jinbe, have you heard of Wano Country?”
“Wano Country?”
Jinbe, whose life experiences were still quite limited, clearly didn’t know this mysterious country that few in the New World had heard of.
“Yes, Wano Country.”
“To be honest, this is the first time I’ve heard of such a country existing in the New World in all my years, and it’s said to be not too far from the Fenrir Sea Area.”
Adjusting his coat, Burufaruto felt a warm sensation starting in his stomach, and the sea breeze wasn’t so chilling anymore.
“So, the pirate crew’s changes are related to this Wano Country?”
Jinbe asked.
“Mm, that’s right.”
“Not long ago, someone from that country came to contact us proactively.”
As he spoke, Burufaruto recalled the scene in the meeting hall half a month ago—
“Yo yo yo yo~ Kaido, long time no see.”
A strange laugh came from the mouth of an even stranger old woman.
The old woman wore bizarre attire, had black-dyed teeth, and two burning candles tied to her head, her withered face resembling a vicious ghost.
“That incident was ten years ago, and now you can rightfully be called the ‘incarnation of martial prowess’.”
The old woman flattered.
But Kaido showed no reaction, simply sitting in the main seat with his arms crossed, looking at her, with Jinbe sitting beside him.
Seeing Kaido unmoved, the other didn’t get anxious, but instead suddenly brought up something else pointedly:
“In human history, most of the world’s problems have been solved by martial prowess.”
“After all, humans are animals too, and survival of the fittest is the law of nature!”
“Don’t you think so, Kaido?”
Waving her hands, the old woman made extremely exaggerated actions.
The other clearly understood Kaido’s values of martial prowess above all, with every sentence catering to his preferences.
“That’s right, exactly.”
Sure enough, Kaido nodded in agreement at her words.
“And then?”
“If you have something to say, just say it straight, old woman.”
“You should know I don’t like beating around the bush.”
Looking at Kaido, who had become more steady and powerful compared to back then, the old woman nodded to herself, then got straight to the point without further ado:
“I hear the Beasts Pirates have been heavily engaged in arms trade these past few years. Sure enough, in this world『 weapons』 do the talking…”
“But compared to your ever-expanding arms trade, the support this small island under your feet can provide should already be at its limit, right?”
“Yo yo yo yo yo~”
“So, I have a proposal…”
……
After that eerie old woman left, Kaido naturally gathered everyone in the meeting hall to discuss her proposal.
“Boss Kaido, did you know that old woman with candles on her head before?”
Aoxi had encountered the departing old woman on her way and was startled by her appearance, nearly thinking some old ghost had jumped out because the new grave’s soil wasn’t filled properly.
“Could she be here to scam us?”
“After all, scams by acquaintances aren’t uncommon.”
“She and I were on the same ship before, so we’ve met a few times.”
“As for scamming us… she doesn’t have the guts.”
Kaido sneered.
After all, with the Beasts Pirates’ current fame and factions, it was already a blessing that they didn’t go troubling others; who would dare come here to scam?
This wasn’t just an old fool playing with arsenic—purely courting death.
“Oh~ not a scam.”
“Then do you know what her ability is? That ability to tie candles to her head without singeing her hair…”
“…”
“Anyway, what are your opinions?”
Kaido directly ignored Aoxi’s question and turned to the others in the meeting hall.
At this time, except for Ra and Obei who were absent on business, basically all the executives on the island were present.
“I think we should consider it more, Boss Kaido.”
“After all, that Wano Country is a completely strange place to us. No matter how good they say it is, we won’t know the reality until we go there.”
Burufaruto actually somewhat agreed with Aoxi’s earlier concerns.
This wasn’t because he thought it was a trap, but mainly because he suspected the other was hiding something.
After all, a king suddenly inviting a pirate crew to station in his country didn’t make sense no matter how you thought about it…
According to the other, Wano Country was almost impossible to attack from outside due to its terrain, and it had ‘samurai’, so there was even less reason to seek extra protection from pirates.
“Burufaruto is right.”
Wright, attending the meeting in place of Ra, also agreed.
“We can’t just believe one side’s words; we need to send people to investigate first and conduct an on-site inspection.”
“And even if everything they say is true with no concealment, we can’t just casually relocate the pirate crew there.”
Compared to these guys who usually didn’t handle affairs, Wright clearly knew how massive the pirate crew’s scale was now.
Compared to four years ago, the Beasts Pirates’ formal members alone had exceeded ten thousand, with over a dozen subordinate pirate crews under their flag.
Plus countless warships, shipyards, research bases, and under Beasts Heavy Industry: weapon factories, mines, workers…
In short, after years of rapid development, the Beasts Pirates had become an indisputable behemoth deeply rooted in the Fenrir Sea Area.
However, everything has two sides.
The increase in scale certainly boosted the Beasts Pirates’ strength, but it also meant some things couldn’t be done so freely anymore… like migrating the core territory.
For the current Beasts Pirates to change their core territory, it wasn’t as simple as tucking the pirate flag under the arm, sailing to the destination, and planting the flag.
“Governor-General Kaido, with the Beasts Pirates’ current scale, migrating would be a massive project that pulls everything along.”
“Just the pre-migration preparations involve coordinating tens of thousands of personnel, supplies transfer, transport planning, and prior construction at the migration destination.”
“How many people do we take, is the left-behind defense force enough to maintain stability in the Fenrir Sea Area, or do we completely give up here?”
“Do we move all these facilities, or leave some on the island?”
“What’s the terrain like there? Do we need to build infrastructure beforehand? How to arrange the people who migrate, how to ensure basic life supplies, how to arrange housing?”
“And…”
“…”
“…”
Wright merely listed some problems that might arise from migrating to Wano Country and preparations needed in advance, but the complexity already made everyone’s scalps tingle.
The Beasts Pirates’ current territory was no less than some proper countries, so migrating the core territory was equivalent to a country moving its capital… an unimaginably massive project.
“Wright is right. We’ve managed this Fenrir territory for so many years; rashly changing places really isn’t appropriate.”
Seeing everyone fall into silence, Jinbe stood up at this moment to express his view.
As one of the few executives with management experience, his thoughts largely overlapped with Wright’s, including caution about migrating to Wano Country.
“…”
