Two massive warships lay anchored off the southern edge of an island in the Calm Belt, their white hulls stark against the dark waters. On the island itself, Marines and geological exploration experts clustered around a small hill, voices rising and falling in animated discussion.
Finn stood before a freshly excavated cave, piles of earth heaped beside the opening like miniature mountain ranges. He reached into one pile and extracted a chunk of dark ore, squeezing it experimentally between his fingers.
"Is this iron ore?" he asked the man beside him, who wore the distinctive clothing of a scholar.
The man's face lit up with excitement. "Yes, Vice Admiral! After our exploration and data analysis, we've determined this island has extremely high iron ore content and it's easy to mine. There are even numerous open-pit deposits..."
Finn nodded, then tossed the ore back onto the dirt pile. "Another iron ore deposit," he murmured flatly.
The year was now 1502 in the Sea Circle Calendar. During nearly two years of exploration in the Calm Belt, they'd discovered three islands with good iron ore content. This was the fourth.
To be honest, Finn had been excited at first. Now he just felt bored.
Why the hell was it always iron ore?
"It would be great if we found a gold mine," Finn complained.
The geologists around him exchanged awkward glances. Were they supposed to apologize for the mineral composition of the Calm Belt? If gold mines were easy to find, gold would have depreciated long ago. Gold was valuable precisely because gold deposits were rare.
Seeing their expressions, Finn smiled and patted shoulders reassuringly. "Keep up the good work."
He couldn't blame them for this. Pure luck of the draw.
Headquarters had been thrilled about the iron ore discoveries. After all, the demand for iron in casting cannons and manufacturing firearms was enormous. Finn had only recently learned some disturbing secrets about that.
Marine Headquarters' weapons manufacturing output had always been inadequate.
Warships were basically all outsourced to Water 7. Finn had known that much.
But what he hadn't expected was that the Marines only produced a small fraction of their artillery, fortress guns, small arms, and ammunition. Most were allocated by the World Government. And the World Government's situation was even more absurd. Due to serious corruption, despite possessing mature manufacturing technology and quite advanced capabilities, they simply didn't produce weapons themselves.
No, they went out and bought them. Bought them on the black market. And if you calculated carefully, it was apparently much more cost-effective than domestic production, with plenty of profit to be skimmed off the top.
Finn knew that Doflamingo and Kaido would become black market arms trafficking giants in the future. He'd known there would be transactions between the World Government and them.
But he'd originally thought that represented only a portion of weapons procurement. He never imagined it accounted for the majority.
No wonder the World Government panicked the moment Doflamingo fell in the original timeline.
There was no other explanation. When you relied on outside sources to manufacture the weapons in your own hands, you were fundamentally compromised.
Finn didn't even know if the World Government's top leadership were all idiots. How could they allow such a catastrophic vulnerability?
Then again, perhaps the Five Elders foresaw the dangers. Perhaps they understood perfectly well.
But they lacked the ability to change anything.
Sometimes reality was so entrenched that reversing course became nearly impossible. Many things that visionary people knew were wrong simply couldn't be fixed in the current political climate.
Because these issues affected every part of the system simultaneously. They could only be addressed slowly, carefully.
But while slowly cooking the soup, the soup might never finish, and the cook might die first.
Finn thought that as long as the Five Elders weren't complete fools, they'd want the World Government to improve and their rule to stabilize. Therefore, they probably hoped to crack down on corruption and incompetent high-ranking officials doing nothing while collecting paychecks.
But the problem was extremely difficult to solve. Now, with the turmoil of the Great Pirate Era, the giant ship of the World Government sailed in precarious waters. It could fall apart and sink at any moment.
But these matters didn't concern him yet. He still needed to focus on the Marines' situation.
Corruption was quite serious within the Marines as well, if you looked at the entire organizational structure. In the Four Blues' branch system, which comprised the vast majority of installations, almost everyone was corrupt to some degree.
Finn had done that kind of thing plenty in the past.
Because in that environment, if you didn't participate, others thought you were self-righteous. They'd become hostile, start bullying you. People like Finn, who possessed little moral high ground, naturally went along with the system.
However, branches were branches, and the Four Blues were the Four Blues. Marine Headquarters remained quite clean. Almost no corruption at the top.
Perhaps most people who made it to Headquarters carried genuine righteousness in their hearts. Combined with the overall environmental influence and different supervision standards, the chaos naturally got filtered out.
Finn had heard that not long ago, Admiral Sengoku began dispatching Headquarters officers as inspection teams to various Marine bases and branches. Investigating corruption and bribery. Preparing to execute a purge of these arrogant elements.
This was good. From a macro perspective, the higher someone's position, the more honest they tended to be. Many people rose through corruption, but after reaching high positions, transformed into honest officials.
The reasons were numerous and didn't need detailed analysis.
Of course, some people remained short-sighted. The extremely corrupt were often caught among those in high positions.
Headquarters' anti-corruption campaign was positive, but it had little to do with Finn personally.
He mainly wanted to promote development of a mature system for independent weapons and warship manufacturing within his jurisdiction.
Admiral Sengoku and Fleet Admiral Kong agreed enthusiastically, but as always, there wasn't enough funding.
The iron ore discoveries effectively alleviated the severity of this problem. As Calm Belt development began showing results, Sengoku and Kong grew more optimistic and engaged with the initiative.
Finn had heard that Borsalino and Sakazuki received secret orders to reorganize logistics and munitions manufacturing.
Once the plan progressed further, if gold mines were discovered, the Marines intended to manufacture their own warships.
After walking around the island, Finn found a rock and sat down. Before he could speak, a Marine Lieutenant beside him offered a bottle of water.
Finn smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Vergo."
That's right. The Marine Lieutenant standing before him was Vergo, one of the highest-ranking cadres of the Donquixote Family.
Finn had never expected that bastard Doflamingo would be bold enough to actually plant a spy in his organization.
However, Finn revealed nothing. Instead, he'd absorbed Vergo into G-7's structure.
This could be a useful chess piece. Maybe he could use this guy to manipulate Doflamingo eventually. Become a hidden thread connecting them both.
Although Vergo had been with Doflamingo for years and ranked among the top cadres, he'd always been trained as a "hidden weapon." The purpose was arranging for him to infiltrate an organization as an undercover agent someday.
Therefore, despite being Doflamingo's confidant, he had no reputation in North Blue. Normally, Finn shouldn't know who he was.
This was exactly why Doflamingo dared send Vergo.
It was coincidental timing. After Doflamingo became a pirate, he'd decided to insert Vergo into the Marines, but never found the right opportunity.
Then, on Jaya Island, Finn had beaten and humiliated him. The rage had been overwhelming.
Unfortunately, he could do nothing to Finn at the time.
Originally, he'd swallowed that anger and the matter seemed finished. But not long after, he heard news that G-7 was recruiting soldiers.
This time, he couldn't contain himself. He directly ordered Vergo to apply and join Finn's forces.
With Vergo's potential, if he demonstrated capability, he might become one of Finn's trusted subordinates eventually. Then he could conspire with Vergo internally and externally, find an opportunity to deal with that bastard Finn and vent his fury.
Of course, given Doflamingo's ambition, he wouldn't send a close confidant like Vergo to G-7 for simple revenge alone.
Although he hated and loathed Finn, Doflamingo remained clear-headed about the situation. He understood perfectly well that Finn would definitely rise to the top of the Marines.
He was currently the only Admiral candidate in the Marines. The Admiral position remained vacant. Who knew, maybe someday soon Finn would be promoted?
When that happened, those following him would definitely benefit.
If Vergo followed Finn now, and Finn became an Admiral later, Vergo would smoothly become an elite of Marine Headquarters and Finn's direct subordinate. Wouldn't achieving high position, obtaining greater authority and intelligence, become much easier?
This was far simpler than Vergo going out independently and relying on stubborn determination to climb the Marine ranks alone.
Therefore, in Doflamingo's assessment, for both public and private reasons, Vergo should be sent to Finn.
So here came Vergo.
"You're welcome, Vice Admiral." Vergo's response was polite, professional.
Finn had to admit, before this guy's true identity was revealed in the original timeline, he'd been a standard template of an excellent Marine. If Finn hadn't known he was a mole, he might have been completely fooled.
In fact, Finn had been hesitant about keeping Vergo.
But ultimately, he'd decided to retain him.
G-7 concealed many secrets. With Vergo as an undercover agent, intelligence leakage remained a genuine possibility.
Fortunately, only Gion and Doberman knew about the Calm Belt development plan. Although Vergo sensed something unusual, the information he'd received suggested Finn was pursuing these troublesome projects for personal achievement and career advancement.
He hadn't thought deeper.
As for whether secrets would leak in the future, that depended on how Finn positioned him.
No need to worry for now.
What's more, that bastard Doflamingo hated the World Government and Celestial Dragons so intensely he wanted to eat their flesh and drink their blood. He tried every possible method to drag them into the quagmire.
If he really discovered the Marines were doing something detrimental to the World Government, the guy might not only refrain from informing, he might actually help cover it up.
Of course, given his personality, he might use such information as blackmail against Finn.
Oh, that was even better. Finn had been worried he wouldn't get the chance to deal with that guy eventually.
After taking a sip of water, Finn touched the long sword hanging at his waist with a theatrical sigh. The scabbard remained intact, but the blade inside was still broken.
Finding a famous sword was difficult. Finding one of the twenty-one Great Grade blades was nearly impossible. After waiting a year, neither Chief of Staff Tsuru nor Stussy had located a suitable weapon for him.
As for Douglas Bullet, that search had also yielded nothing.
After stroking the scabbard, Finn spoke with exaggerated melancholy. "Alas, poor Sōzai. I don't know when I'll acquire another famous sword."
He took another sip of water.
I've hinted clearly enough. Do you understand? Finn thought. If you understand, go find Doflamingo and get a famous sword to bribe me. Otherwise, do you still expect to get promoted and prosper under my command? Where are your manners?
Standing nearby, Vergo thought to himself, It seems Finn genuinely loves famous swords. He often expresses this sentiment in front of everyone. If I could acquire a famous sword for him, perhaps he'd trust me more and provide better training opportunities. But even if I obtained one, how would I explain its origin to him?
The question hung unanswered as the tropical sun beat down on the Calm Belt island, and Finn continued his performance of the disappointed swordsman, waiting to see if his planted spy would take the bait.
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