It was still in the banquet hall.
Crocodile put down his knife and fork, lit a cigar, and leaned back in his chair.
With his action, Daz Bonez stopped eating, crossing his arms expressionlessly.
"Give me a share."
He exhaled smoke upwards and said to Sage.
Sage finished the soup in front of him, picked up a towel to wipe his mouth, and slowly said:
"After leaving Impel Down, your confidence and business channels are back, you have loyal subordinates following you, and you usually don't call me. Now you're coming to me for business without saying anything, just asking for a share. I like that you're coming to me, but I don't like your attitude!"
Sage sat up partly and shouted, "You owe me money, not the other way around. You don't even want to call me 'creditor', old Croc!"
"I don't want to be called old Croc!"
A vein popped on Crocodile's forehead as he said, "When I came, I saw ships under Doflamingo's command. I know you're doing business with him, but I can also handle that business. I'm your partner too, and the people I know are not the same as Doflamingo's."
Indeed, they are not the same.
Doflamingo's biggest trade partner is Kaido, now adding Sage, but it's mainly arms trade, exporting weapons to those war-torn countries and cooperating with the World Government.
In the Underworld, he's basically acting as a nexus connecting the World Government with the Underworld and pirates, a mediator, essentially a 'partner'.
Crocodile is different; he mainly collaborates with people in the Underworld, using them to confront the World Government, belonging to the 'opposition.'
The Underworld is not just referring to those six industries; it's a representation, even just a representation of that industry.
Among the member countries or powerful non-member countries, wealthy people, great nobles, some strong individuals, are active in the Underworld.
Because the vast sea isn't connected enough, those gathered in the Underworld form a sort of indirect connection channel, and it's because of them that the Underworld exists.
Among these people, there are many who aren't fond of the Navy and the World Government.
Crocodile relies on this channel to do business, seemingly overlapping with Doflamingo, but fundamentally different.
Moreover, Doflamingo couldn't monopolize world business. He only manages his channel, while Crocodile also has his own channel.
"What Doflamingo does, he can share with me. The prices are the same for everyone, expanding your business channels, and you have no reason to refuse."
Crocodile squinted at him, "Once I'm ready and have established the Ideal Country, we can expand our business even more."
"Why don't you help me then?"
Sage also lit a cigar, propping his leg on the armrest, "That Utopia not threatened by any power, I can achieve that too. Why not come help me to realize it more?"
"I won't submit to anyone, Sage."
Crocodile said in a deep voice, "Furthermore, your survival for half a year surprises me, managing to occupy a Kingdom, even if a non-member country."
The King isn't easy to be, so far, only Doflamingo truly succeeded.
Even he, despite staying in Alabasta for so long, becoming a 'hero' there, ultimately failed to take over.
This certainly relates to his final failure but isn't the whole reason.
Perhaps even if a success, most would still not acknowledge it; being a hero is one thing, being a King is another, entirely different.
Outsiders have a hard time becoming Kings.
"What do you mean?" Sage asked.
"Many say you're a usurper. After all, you killed many kings, and now you've crowned yourself. Many loathe you, and quite a few are secretly funding your opposition. Logically, you should've been quickly overthrown, then obediently find an island to continue your piracy, yet you managed to withstand."
Crocodile said, "Haven't you noticed? There are quite a few rebels on your territory..."
"Lily?"
Sage turned to look at Lily attending nearby.
"There are indeed."
Lily said, "But they were quickly suppressed. Sipher and Misty did well, and Jabra provided a lot of intelligence. We struck down any signs of rebellion early on. I reported this to you before, but you didn't care."
The issues were minor, mainly from the noble side. Today a knight jumps out, tomorrow a leader, rallying people for a counterattack.
Some were handled by Misty and Sipher, while others were swiftly crushed by them.
"If they're dead, why should I care?"
Sage stroked his chin, thinking aloud, "No wonder some pestering pirates and bounty hunters haven't been quiet. I thought it was just New World pirates being brave, turns out there's money involved..."
Since he took over Gares, though it's gradually restoring prosperity, there are always some reckless ones, quite a few at times. Sage merely thought the New World rebels were unruly, unaware of deeper motives.
"Your bounty in the Underworld is as high as 3 billion Belly, higher than your actual bounty, with the biggest funder being the 'God of Fortune' Du·Feld."
Crocodile said, "But you held on, and did a pretty good job. I was originally planning to wait until you got overthrown, return to the sea, and then seek collaboration with you again. But now, I have to change my approach."
After all, they are just pirates...
There are indeed many pirates at sea, but ultimately they are just pirates. Even someone as strong as Big Mom, who reached the fame of a 'Four Emperors', occupied so much territory, but is still only considered a 'powerful country', and not the king of the world.
There are many powerful countries at sea.
And for a normal pirate, having one or two hundred people on a ship, how could they possibly deal with a country? Snatching a port is already considered pretty good, taking over a country is something few can accomplish.
Someone like Sage is truly an exception among exceptions; he is the first among the known great pirates currently at sea.
"Du Feld..."
A vein popped on Sage's forehead, he clenched his teeth and bit off his cigar, he laughed angrily, "That guy owes me 52 billion, counting the interest, let's call it 100 billion. I wasn't even looking for him, and he comes looking for me instead."
"The stink bug in the gutter doesn't even have the ability to jump out of the well, yet sure knows how to disgust people! Where is he?"
"You're not the only one looking for him. If he were easy to find, he'd be dead by now," Crocodile shook his head and said.
"Indeed hard to find," Lily agreed.
Sage wasn't looking for him for the first day.
After Lucci joined CP0, he also had Jabra send a command to Lucci to find Du Feld and inform him of his location, ideally bringing the man over.
But so far there hadn't been any news, he was indeed hiding deeply.
"Anyway, are we cooperating or not," Crocodile said, "Make a decision quickly, I have to go elsewhere to gather my strength."
"Darn, what are you acting so high and mighty for as a debtor?"
Sage rolled his eyes, "Here's the deal, Doffy took a third of the share from me, you take a third as well, and I'll split the remaining third myself. There's also an item..."
He paused, and Lily took out a Rainbow Gem, placing it in front of Crocodile.
Sage explained the concept of the Rainbow Gem and said, "Help me promote it. I'll give you a 20% share of the production, is that okay?"
"It can be done, but I have a small issue..."
Crocodile exhaled a puff of smoke and said, "I have no money."
"..."
The vein on Sage's forehead bulged again, he twitched his mouth, and said harshly, "You came here to fight, didn't you?!"
"I lent my money to Buggy, and the remaining funds can't be moved. I intend to borrow from you for this part, give me some weapons first, and I'll find channels to sell them to Buggy."
Recently, Buggy became one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, and started a company called 'Buggy Express'. Simply put, they are in the mercenary business, specifically dispatching mercenaries to places in the world that need them.
But mercenaries also need weapons, they can't just join the war with bare hands. Buggy obtained that money by borrowing from Crocodile, and now Crocodile plans to earn it back from him, and the guy still owes him money.
He's quite skilled in left-hand to right-hand transactions.
"Oh... borrow money, sure, I also lend money at high interest."
Sage's eyes lit up and he immediately changed his demeanor, "Seeing as you're a partner, I'll set the interest at 40% a year, how much do you want to borrow?"
"40%..."
Crocodile's expression changed, he gritted his teeth and said, "I knew it, that previous 500 million wasn't an investment at all, you just used it to lend me money!"
"The past is the past, don't dwell on it. How about this, you owe me 700 million Belly, I'll lend you 1.3 billion more to make it a total of 2 billion Belly."
Sage said with a smile, "You place an order here, and I'll start production right away."
...
Crocodile walked out grumbling and cursing.
Aside from taking away a bag of Rainbow Gems, he took nothing, nor did he have any money.
It's not that he didn't borrow it, but the money was directly turned by Sage into orders for weapons and battleships, when production is complete, Crocodile would send someone to collect them.
Sage didn't spend a penny, while Crocodile took on the debt. Meanwhile, the newly established factory, which had not officially started producing weapons and battleships, gained a business deal worth over ten billion Belly, offering many people new job opportunities, and providing raw materials production responsible people with additional orders and jobs.
And it also means a lot of taxes could be collected.
Hey, GDP is rising again!
A few days later.
A raft made entirely of large logs, approached the port of Augustine Castle.
"Hehehe!"
A rough laugh echoed from the raft, "What a nice place, Sage!