Chapter 64: Conversation With The Five Elders
“Sokachio Elus······ Another unruly madman!”
“Those with such power naturally have little awe in their hearts, which is not strange at all.”
“This Prince Elus’s ability has no record in the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia; it is a Mythical Zoan that has never been cataloged.”
“Then just catalog it. The current problem is how to handle this Prince Elus?”
“Just let him be. It doesn’t matter if the New World becomes a bit more chaotic now.”
“Then, the Seven Warlords······”
The conversation abruptly stopped here, because the battle in the sky outside had already come to an end. The probing chess piece specially selected from CP0 wanted to trade injury for life, but instead was ended early by Elus, and had been tracked down.
The glass door leading to the terrace was wide open.
The sound of wings flapping came from outside.
Holding in his hand the trophy pierced like a porcupine, Elus slowly descended onto the terrace.
“That······ how does it go? Nice to meet you, please take care of me?······ Well, something like that. Anyway, I’m Sokachio Elus, that······ old man? No, leader, hmm, that doesn’t feel right either······”
Standing on the terrace, Elus tossed out a somewhat troubled greeting.
He didn’t know how to address the Five Elders.
The so-called Five Elders refers to the supreme power organization of the World Government composed of five people; it is not a personal identity position like Fleet Admiral or captain, nor a military rank like Colonel or Lieutenant Colonel, and cannot be directly equated with nicknames or aliases.
Even worse, the names of the Five Elders are rarely known even within the World Government. At the very least, Elus’s grandfather didn’t know them, so Elus had no way of knowing the Five Elders’ real names.
This indeed made it somewhat difficult for people to even give a greeting.
“Prince Elus.”
The one speaking was the Baldy sitting on the genuine leather sofa, his two upward-curled mustaches gently trembling. “Our original intention in establishing the Seven Warlords was to use pirates to deal with pirates. You are not a pirate, so the Seven Warlords is not suitable for you.”
Straight to the point,
Openly direct.
Not mentioning the brief battle just now, not even asking about the trophy Elus was holding, and having no intention of introducing himself to Elus.
“Getting straight to business already? I thought there would be some small talk!”
Elus dropped the trophy in his hand.
Those four-sided light rods condensed from spiritual pressure also dissipated one by one. Without external restraint, the wounds on this CP0 Zoan Devil Fruit User healed at a visible speed. He did a carp flip and jumped up, facing Elus warily with empty hands.
His sword,
Had been taken away and was now hanging at Elus’s waist.
So he could only fight barehanded.
Fortunately, as a Zoan Devil Fruit User, unarmed combat was not his weakness.
“Stand down!”
This time, the one who spoke was the old man with a golden beard, golden short hair, and reddish skin. He stood by the sofa, stopping the CP0 member who wanted to continue fighting, and issued a new order. “Go tell Vasco to hurry and bring that Fish-Man over.”
The Five Elders’ orders were absolute.
They were not to be disobeyed.
“Yes, Lord.”
The CP0 member restrained his combat stance and respectfully agreed.
Without glancing at his seized weapon or the person who took it, he walked past Elus. His gray wings unfolded from behind, then he leaped into the sky and flew at high speed toward the position seen with Observation Haki.
“Prince Elus, let me repeat: your identity is not suitable for serving as a Seven Warlord.” The Baldy continued.
“No way around it; I just like it.”
Elus spread his hands.
He walked into this exceptionally spacious room and sat down on the empty sofa.
“I know this request is a bit hard to fulfill, but no helping it! Isn’t a so-called hobby just such an unreasonable thing? Spending a lot of time, effort, and even money, and in the end gaining basically only personal spiritual pleasure.”
“This is not a rational choice.”
“People have to do some stupid things while alive.”
“Sea Knight Jinbe, are you prepared to give up your Seven Warlord identity?” Just as these words fell, the tightly closed door of the room was pushed open from outside. The tall Whale Shark Fish-Man strode in, and in his hand, the pitiful Vasco was already passed out with eyes rolled back.
This was the Sea Knight’s first direct confrontation with the Five Elders.
He was invited to become a Seven Warlord only through a Navy Vice Admiral conveying the Five Elders’ will. After that, everyone he dealt with was Navy. He had seen Fleet Admiral Sengoku many times, but this was his first time stepping onto the Holy Land and seeing with his own eyes the World Government’s supreme authorities above the Fleet Admiral.
“Yes, I understand what I’m doing.”
Jinbe stopped his steps, stood in place, slightly lowered his head, and looked straight at these supreme authorities of the world.
He gave a firm answer.
“Once you give up your Seven Warlord identity, you will become a pirate wanted by the Navy, and your latter half of life will be spent in Impel Down. Do you understand the consequences?” The old man with a long white beard, wearing a dark blue suit, looked at Jinbe.
“Hey hey! Don’t scare people!”
Elus interrupted first.
“Jinbe is the Fish-Man Karate chief instructor I invited for the kingdom. Can’t you just let it go because of some minor mistakes he made when he was young?”
Jinbe blinked, looking at Elus speechlessly.
How did he not know he had agreed to such a strange invitation?
However,
He didn’t want to spend his still quite long future life in Impel Down either, and these troubles were originally caused by Elus’s unreasonable request. It was only fitting for Elus to handle it, so staying silent now was more appropriate.
“Inviting a pirate?”
The old man carrying a long sword, wearing a white robe and glasses, had cold eyes.
“What’s wrong with that? The World Government can invite pirates to become Seven Warlords; I should be fine imitating that, right?” Elus met the cold gaze of the white-robed old man with glasses, a brilliant smile on his face.
“Moreover, this shouldn’t be the focus of your attention, right?”
“You’re not wrong. Whether a self-degraded Fish-Man lives or dies is irrelevant to us. What’s important is that his choice affects the grand plan for racial harmony. You want Seven Warlord status, you want to protect this Fish-Man pirate······ all fine.”
“But as the price, Prince Elus, you also need to pay something of equal value.”
Finally, the Baldy with a birthmark on his forehead and mustaches bluntly revealed the core of this conversation.
Interest exchange.
This is the essence of human interaction.
To gain something, you must pay something equivalent.
“That’s true, but······ equal value? What’s the value of a Seven Warlord?” Elus pinched his chin, looking at the five old men either standing or sitting. “Since you didn’t chase me out right away, I think you’ve already decided what you want me to pay, right?”
“To not waste our time, please be direct! What price do I need to pay to get what I want here?”
Since the essence of interest exchange had been made clear.
There was no need for false pretenses; let’s just make the deal openly!
Brief silence.
The Five Elders exchanged glances with each other.
The Baldy with the prominent birthmark on his forehead spoke again, his mustaches gently trembling. “The Seven Warlord position can be yours, but at the same time, you must shoulder the corresponding responsibilities.”
“Corresponding responsibilities? Catching pirates? No problem.”
Elus agreed readily.
“That’s one.”
“There won’t be two, three, four, five, right?”
“Second, investigate the Revolutionary Army. Their headquarters is somewhere in the New World; the Navy’s wastes still haven’t found the Revolutionary Army’s whereabouts······ Prince Elus, at the last World Conference, King Ruculus of Ilusia Kingdom already made clear the danger of these rebels. Your second task, also the most important one, is to investigate intelligence on these rebels who dare to oppose the World Government.”
“And there are no three, four, five.” At the end, the Baldy added.
Elus lightly scratched his chin with his finger.
The first was easy; the second······ tricky!
The deeply buried memory in his mind let Elus know that the Revolutionary Army’s base was very likely Baldigo in the New World right now. But opposing the Revolutionary Army······ he didn’t want to do such thankless work!
Though the Revolutionary Army caused trouble everywhere, developing influence around the world, always working to overthrow the Celestial Dragons, overthrow the World Government, overthrow the rule of kings and nobles, they should be natural enemies opposed to Elus as a ruler.
But,
He didn’t want to!
Elus had no intention of opposing the Revolutionary Army!
To be honest, he didn’t like being lorded over by those Celestial Dragon fools either, but right now he clearly didn’t have the power to overthrow those Celestial Dragon trash single-handedly. Temporarily staying under the World Government’s banner was a necessity for survival.
But to deal with the Revolutionary Army, the main force resisting the World Government and Celestial Dragons, for that? He had no motivation at all!
He reckoned that the Sokachio Family’s rule in the Eckmond Kingdom was not tyrannical evil governance, so even the Revolutionary Army had no reason to pick a fight, right? From an overall class standpoint, he and the Revolutionary Army were irreconcilable enemies, but on an individual level, the conflict wasn’t that sharp······
“I can’t guarantee any results.”
Elus said so.
Anyway, talk is talk, action is action. Get the desired benefits first; as for the price to pay later······ deal with it then!
“As long as you actually do it seriously, we have other informants in the New World.” This was both a warning and a threat.
Being put this way,
Elus remembered that Queen of the Red Light District of unknown age.
The Navy was indeed swept away in the New World, but the World Government apparently hadn’t lost control over monitoring it. This Queen of the Red Light District’s surveillance targets were probably not just the Four Emperors; it included the Revolutionary Army and other important targets in the New World.
Moreover,
The watchers were definitely not just the Queen of the Red Light District.
“If the Revolutionary Army were that easy to catch, you wouldn’t need me involved, right? Well, I get it. I’ll do this.” Elus still agreed. As he said, without using that memory sealed in his mind, catching the Revolutionary Army’s tail was absolutely not easy.
So, agree first, and when he really caught some trace of the Revolutionary Army later, then decide how to handle it.
“In that case, tomorrow’s World Economic News will publish the news you want.”
The Baldy made the final decision.
World Economic News.
This is the newspaper sponsored by the World Government. Though its fame is completely incomparable to Morgans’s World Economic News, no matter what, it can’t change that World Economic News is the World Government’s mouthpiece. When the World Government needs to announce certain messages or publish news, it is directly printed in World Economic News.
Of course, sometimes it also leaks news to Morgans through channels, borrowing this big news hand to spread the message faster.
The Seven Warlord thing has no uniform or badge.
It is just a very simple reputation; no ceremony needed, no witnesses, no documents or marks to prove identity. As long as the corresponding news is published in World Economic News, that’s it.
Interest exchange,
Deal done.
“Right, and Jinbe······”
“Since he is the Eckmond Kingdom’s Fish-Man Karate chief instructor, please Prince Elus take good care of him. If he causes trouble, it will be on your head.”
Jinbe’s life or death was clearly not a concern for the Five Elders; just a mere Fish-Man. Using him to give Elus face had already extracted sufficient value. Without waiting for Elus to finish, the Five Elders had already handed Jinbe over to Elus to handle.
Jinbe silently watched the exchange between Elus and the Five Elders.
Standing here,
He deeply realized one thing:
Fish-Man Island probably could not gain true peace and freedom under this World Government’s rule. After all, even humans themselves had not obtained such a luxurious treasure, and the World Government didn’t care at all about racial harmony.
From beginning to end,
The Five Elders only cared about maintaining the World Government and Celestial Dragons’ ruling status.
Inviting Jinbe to join the Seven Warlords back then was to raise the banner of racial harmony to maintain the World Government’s ruling power; now giving this non-pirate kingdom prince the Seven Warlord identity to have him suppress pirates and investigate the Revolutionary Army was still for the World Government’s status.
The so-called peace was just a slogan to deceive people’s hearts!
