After a moment of silence, Finn said quickly, "Can you calm down?"
"Calm down? How can I calm down? I'm afraid of talking in my sleep every day! If I let something slip, I'll expose my identity as a Marine!" Smoker said, frowning.
Without waiting for Finn to speak, the hot-tempered Smoker slammed his hand on the table and shouted, "We agreed on three years back then, and now it's three more years after that! Does that mean there'll be another three years after that? That would be almost ten years, Boss! I'm a Marine, not a pirate!"
"Mind your tone, Smoker! Right now, there are only a few people in the entire Marine Headquarters who know your identity. If you don't behave, I'll go back and delete your file, and everyone will shut up. You can be a pirate for the rest of your life, and I won't have to bother with you!" Finn also slammed the table and said.
Smoker was scolded by Finn, and his momentum was suppressed.
Honestly, even though he was very unhappy right now, if Finn went back and deleted his file, leaving him to be a pirate for the rest of his life, he really couldn't accept that.
Seeing that Smoker had calmed down a bit, Finn continued, "It was Mr. Zephyr who told you about the three-year agreement. What's the point of getting angry at me now? If you have the guts, go to Headquarters and point at his nose and scold him!"
Smoker wanted to say something but stopped himself. Finally, he shut his mouth.
"Now that we're being frank, I'm not afraid to tell you, Smoker, that the Warlord plan has a profound impact on our Marines. Don't take it lightly. Our Marines selected you to be one of the Warlords because we trust you, your unwavering Justice, your outstanding abilities and strength. We let you sit in this position for the future of the Marines. In other words, you shoulder the future of the Marines. Do you understand? Are you going to throw a tantrum with me now?!" Finn slammed the table again and shouted angrily.
For a moment, Smoker didn't know whether Finn was praising him or scolding him.
But at this moment, Finn's presence was so overwhelming that he didn't dare object.
Although he felt very aggrieved and helpless, he really couldn't rebel, quit, and become a real pirate.
There was no way around it. He truly had this unshakable Justice in his heart.
"No, Admiral, I just..." Smoker's tone softened as he shook his head.
Seeing this, Finn also restrained his momentum and sighed. "I know what you mean. It's difficult for you too. You're clearly a Rear Admiral, but you have to be a pirate out here, and you're also carrying the reputation of being a 'running dog of the World Government.' The pressure is enormous, and for a while you can't control your bad temper. I understand all this, and I don't mean to scold you..."
"Admiral..." Smoker was slightly moved when he heard this. The Admiral still understands me!
"But in this world, there are always people who have to shoulder the burden. It's the same for me, and it's the same for you. It's because of people like you and me that more people can survive in this chaotic era. Do you understand?" Finn said earnestly.
He always felt like he'd become the person he hated most back then, full of grand words about morality and virtue, speaking of lofty and noble things.
But if he thought about it carefully, they really were doing practical things. At least having Smoker as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea was much better than having some bastard pirate in that position, right?
Smoker's eloquence wasn't as smooth as Finn's. Besides, he was only twenty years old and didn't have the experience of Finn's two lifetimes. He was somewhat passionate at heart.
It had to be said that Finn's words were rather empty, but to Smoker, they truly made his blood boil.
"Look at Ms. Stussy. She's also a senior operations commander of the CP agency. In our Marine Headquarters, according to the administrative hierarchy, she'd be equivalent to a powerful Vice Admiral. But what about now? Didn't she come to Pleasure Street to run this business? Why? For Justice! She's different from those other CP people, otherwise she wouldn't be trusted by our Marines. A woman like her can endure this kind of hardship. As a man, are you, Smoker, really so incompetent?"
Finn pointed at Stussy as he spoke.
Stussy nodded cooperatively on the surface, but in her heart she was cursing Finn to death.
You're the brothel keeper, I'm the Queen!
After hearing what Finn said, Smoker felt embarrassed.
"Also, don't worry. We've found another suitable candidate to be one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea at Headquarters. In two years, when she comes of age, we'll arrange for her to join the Warlords. Then you won't be alone. If you really can't stand the pressure, you can go to her, your colleague, to talk. Don't worry, it won't be just the two of you in the future. We plan to turn the entire Seven Warlords of the Sea organization into a peripheral branch of the Marines. By then, you being here will be no different from being at Headquarters. You'll be surrounded by your own people!" Finn patted Smoker's shoulder again.
Smoker's expression changed several times, but he finally stopped getting angry.
"I understand, Admiral," Smoker nodded.
"Well, I'm glad you understand. It's very difficult for us as well. If there were a better way, how could we bear to let such an outstanding talent like you become a pirate?" Finn shook his head with emotion.
"Then Admiral, can you give me a rough estimate of how long I have to serve as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea before I can return to Headquarters?" Smoker asked in a low voice.
Finn hesitated for a moment. Just as he was about to speak, Smoker said, "I'll take your words seriously this time!"
Seeing this, Finn was silent for a while, then said, "It's hard for me to give you an exact number. Plans can't keep up with changes, but based on the current situation, it'll take at least ten years, right?"
"That means I have to hold on for about seven more years, right?" Smoker said after a moment of hesitation.
Finn glanced at Smoker, then shook his head. "No, I mean, it'll take at least ten years from now."
Another three years and three years!
"Don't worry. Just be a good Warlord here, and you'll have more and more opportunities to communicate with Headquarters. This way, you can improve your strength and abilities. I'm very confident in you. If you serve as a Warlord for a few more years, you definitely won't have any major deficiencies in your administrative capabilities. I promise you, okay? When you've achieved success and completed this great task and return to Marineford, I'll arrange for you to become an Admiral candidate!" Finn patted Smoker's arm and said earnestly.
Oh boy, another empty promise.
When Smoker had left Marineford, he'd been promised the position of Rear Admiral, with hints at Vice Admiral or something similar.
Now, Finn was trying to lure him with 'Admiral candidate.'
Smoker was no longer the kid who'd hung around the academy more than two years ago. He'd been a pirate for two years and had seen plenty of scheming. He'd been a captain for more than two years and had made plenty of promises himself.
Of course, he could understand what Finn meant.
But even so, he still had some expectations in his heart.
Now Smoker finally understood that he'd fallen into this trap and there was no way he could escape. If he didn't want his file deleted and didn't want to be a pirate for the rest of his life, he had to follow Finn's lead.
He just hoped that when he achieved success in the future, Admiral Finn would show some integrity.
After Smoker figured this out, he could only sigh helplessly. "Then, Admiral, is there something you need me to do this time?"
"Yes, of course," Finn nodded, then said, "You're now one of the Warlords, the only one. The World Government has no doubts about you. They didn't use you for anything before, but now it's time for you to contribute to the Marines."
When it came to contributing to the Marines, Smoker not only showed no disgust, on the contrary, he was actually somewhat excited.
Even though he was a pirate, it was still good if he could enforce Justice!
"Does Headquarters have a plan to counterattack the New World? Do you need me to be an insider? Do you want me to form an alliance with a target so I can stab them in the back? Who is it? Whitebeard? Big Mom? However, with my identity as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, it won't be easy to gain their trust, but I'll try," Smoker said excitedly.
"No, that's not it," Finn waved his hand, then continued, "Here's what we've discussed at Headquarters. We've decided to use your name, White Hunter Smoker, as cover to establish a trading company. Both Headquarters and Ms. Stussy will be investing resources into this trading company. Your job is to publicly serve as the 'president.' At the same time, you must do everything you can to expand and strengthen this trading company, ideally to the level of a conglomerate. The purpose of this trading company is simply to generate more funds to support Headquarters."
Smoker: ???
You ask me to be a Marine and enforce Justice? No problem.
You ask me to be a pirate, kill people and cause chaos? That's fine too.
But now you suddenly ask me to be the president of a "trading company"? This is outrageous. When did I, Smoker, have the ability to do this?
"Admiral, I..." Smoker said hesitantly.
"Don't worry. We have the combined strength of pirates, the Marines, CP, and Pleasure Street. The key is that there's no dirty power struggle between us. Basically, this plan won't be too difficult, and there'll be no real opponents. As for the source of goods, you also know we've been developing the Calm Belt for several years. We have iron ore, copper ore, stone, coal mines, timber, and even a gold mine. At the same time, we've obtained a large amount of other resources from the Calm Belt. Most can be consumed by our Marines internally, but many things have been sitting there with no way to convert them. After you've established the company's shell, our Marines will hand over the goods to Stussy. At that time, you'll cooperate with Stussy in the underworld as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea and sell them. You can keep part of the money earned for development, give part to Ms. Stussy for operations, and donate the rest to Headquarters... There's no risk," Finn said seriously.
Smoker was stunned for a moment. He'd been uncertain before, but now it seemed everything was ready except the final push?
Didn't seem difficult?
It made sense when he thought about it. With the combined forces of several parties, basically no one could be their opponent. At the same time, there were enough goods. Smoker also knew that in the Calm Belt, the Marines had gathered more than 200,000 pirate prisoners to open mountains and extract resources for large-scale development. No one knew how many resources they'd extracted, they just couldn't monetize them.
Therefore, as long as they built the framework here, they could start operating immediately and continuously convert these resources into funds to provide financial support to Headquarters.
Smoker was also very clear about the importance of this financial support.
Maybe it wouldn't be a big deal at first, but as their business grew, it might become an independent source of military funding for the Marines in the future.
The qualitative change that would bring about would be tremendous.
"Look, this is the benefit the Seven Warlords of the Sea can bring to our Marines. Right now there's only you, and when there are more in the future, won't the benefits be even greater? So I didn't lie to you. If you stay here, you're also shouldering the future of the Marines, Smoker!" Finn said seriously.
"Yes, I understand, Admiral!" Smoker nodded seriously this time.
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