Chapter 296: The Amusement Park Project, The Seed of a Navigator
Jack's words made Arlong feel incredibly uneasy.
It wasn't that there was anything wrong with the idea of erecting a statue, but rather that he felt there was something wrong with Jack.
Ever since he had arrived, this kid had acted unapologetically blunt every single day. He did everything in a completely straightforward, literal manner.
If someone else got into an argument and yelled, "Watch out, or I'll kill you!" it was usually just an angry bluff. But if Jack said it, he was absolutely going to commit murder.
Yet now, this junior who had firmly established a "foolishly honest" persona had actually taken the initiative to propose such a politically correct and astute idea for Fish-Man Island's reputation. It made Arlong seriously suspect that Jack's usual meathead persona was entirely a calculated disguise.
"What's wrong, Arlong-senpai? Do you think it's a bad proposal?"
"Of course not, it's a fantastic suggestion," Arlong quickly replied. "Since it was your idea, you're in charge of picking the location and preparing it. Just remember not to disturb the ordinary lives of the locals. Pick a suitable spot."
"Got it."
Immediately after, Jack fell into a completely silent, intense contemplation. He seemed to be agonizing over whether the statue should be placed by the beach or at the peak of the mountain, and exactly what kind of premium stone he should carve it from. His brain had essentially bluescreened.
Meanwhile, no one objected to Arlong's amusement park project. After all, among this crew, Arlong's brain was undeniably the most active and business-savvy.
Once the blueprint for a massive coastal water park was finalized, the crew immediately threw a massive banquet. The fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats they had purchased in Cocoyasi Village, combined with various rare, monstrous fish they had caught from the deep sea, formed the main courses.
Under the roasting flames and the gentle sea breeze, a mouth-watering aroma enveloped the entirety of Cocoyasi Village.
In truth, it wasn't just the smell of the banquet food that lifted the village's spirits. Thanks to Arlong's aggressive spending spree earlier that day, many locals had earned exponentially more income in a single afternoon than they normally would in months.
Inspired by the lively beachside banquet, many households in Cocoyasi Village also decided to treat themselves to a better dinner. Even at Bell-mère's rather secluded home, the dinner spread was significantly more lavish than usual.
This left six-year-old Nami and eight-year-old Nojiko feeling incredibly surprised.
"Bell-mère, is today a special holiday?" Nami asked, eyes sparkling.
"No, it's not. We just had a group of very wealthy clients show up today," Bell-mère smiled. "I'm already full. You two stay here and behave yourselves. I have to go out for a bit to check on something."
People who handed out cash right off the bat were undeniably vastly superior to pirates flying black flags who only came to pillage. But who knew what their true motives were?
Still feeling somewhat uneasy, Bell-mère decided to go take a look. However, when she approached the docks, all she saw was a massive group of Fish-Men loudly singing, dancing, and pouring all their energy into the banquet. She even spotted a few Merfolk playfully splashing in the shallows.
Aside from Arlong and his crew, Genzo was also standing a short distance away, silently observing. As Bell-mère walked up, she coincidentally overheard Arlong enthusiastically inviting Genzo to join the party.
"Why not come have a drink with us, Mr. Sheriff?!" Arlong laughed loudly, waving a massive mug of ale. "We'll be handling the security of this area from now on! Mere pirates are absolutely no match for us out on the sea!
"It doesn't matter if you get a terrible hangover, as long as you can drag yourself out of bed tomorrow to maintain village order! Shahahaha!"
Genzo shook his head and firmly declined. Arlong didn't push the issue, simply turning around to aggressively clink mugs with Hatchan and the others.
"They seem pretty friendly and enthusiastic. Why the long face?" Bell-mère asked, stepping up beside him.
"Look over there," Genzo muttered without looking at her.
He pointed toward the adjacent shallow beach. The sky had already grown dark, but Cocoyasi's natural environment was pristine; the bright, flawless moonlight and a sea of brilliant stars illuminated the shoreline. While not as bright as daytime, they could easily make out the silhouettes in the water.
Compared to what Bell-mère remembered, there seemed to be a lot more crushed rubble on the beach.
She couldn't quite understand what Genzo was pointing at. But a moment later, a towering, giant-like silhouette emerged from the ocean, casually hoisting a solid boulder larger than her entire house over his head with one hand. Bell-mère instantly understood what Genzo was thinking.
It was Jack, out searching for the perfect statue material. Seemingly deciding that this particular boulder wasn't quite right and that leaving it there would take up too much space, Jack casually threw a punch. The house-sized boulder instantly violently shattered into fine gravel. Then, he turned around and dove back into the sea.
"The gap in power is simply too astronomical..." Genzo whispered, a cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. "If they truly harbored any... malicious intentions, what could we possibly do?"
The flintlock pistol resting on Genzo's hip provided absolutely zero sense of security. Ten strong men couldn't even budge a rock that size, yet that Fish-Man had lifted it one-handed and effortlessly blasted it to dust with a single punch.
Even more terrifyingly, none of the other Fish-Men at the banquet even blinked. They didn't cast a single glance in his direction, acting as if they had merely heard a tiny firecracker go off.
"Let's just take things as they come," Bell-mère sighed softly. "In a situation like this... we can only take it one step at a time."
The following day at noon, Arlong arrived at the village square once again. Because Genzo had posted the official notice yesterday, the vast majority of the villagers had gathered there.
Aside from their unique, intimidating appearances, Arlong and his crew had acted exceptionally friendly since their arrival. Most of the villagers were driven by intense curiosity, wanting to see exactly what was going on.
"Everyone! I hail from the Ryugu Kingdom, and your nation's government has officially leased this entire territory to us!" Arlong announced loudly. "Right now, we are planning to construct the absolute greatest amusement park in the entire East Blue right here! And to do that, we need a massive workforce!
"We will provide highly competitive wages, and furthermore, anyone who works for us will be completely exempt from paying any kingdom taxes!"
While negotiating the lease for the territory, Arlong had ruthlessly resolved the tax issue. He had essentially paid a massive lump sum upfront to completely buy out the region's tax rights for the next fifty years.
It could be said that the absolute right to collect taxes in this land now belonged entirely to Arlong. How he collected them, and how much he demanded, was entirely up to his discretion.
If he combined all the surrounding villages, he could easily extort around ten million Berries a year. But Arlong couldn't care less about squeezing pennies from peasants. If he needed cash, he could just sail out, casually hunt down a pirate crew with a bounty, and cash it in at a Marine base.
Therefore, Arlong chose to use this tax exemption to violently purchase the goodwill of the local residents. Simply put, he was aggressively throwing money at the problem.
"I-Is that really true?!" a villager gasped in disbelief.
"Of course! And we won't levy any additional taxes of our own, either! However, the prerequisite for this exemption is that your household must have someone actively working for us on the project. Otherwise, you'll still have to pay your standard Berry taxes just like before.
"Here is the list of required occupations and the corresponding salaries we are offering! Once you've read it over, you can officially sign up with your sheriff. He will compile the roster and hand it over to us.
"Additionally, we will need to utilize a specific tract of land for the construction. The rightful owners of that land can come speak with me privately regarding financial compensation for the requisition."
"That area is just barren, unused village land," Genzo spoke up from the crowd. "If you want to use it, just use it."
"Is that so? That's perfect."
Arlong didn't mind throwing money around, but he was still fundamentally a businessman who loved wealth. Even if the funds belonged to the Kingdom, he wasn't going to waste money if he could save it.
"Porters and general laborers... 250,000 Berries a month..."
"Carpenters and craftsmen... starting at 300,000 Berries a month..."
Although the wages were paid monthly rather than daily, constructing a massive amusement park was an inherently long-term project. Combined with salaries that vastly exceeded their usual agricultural income, countless villagers were instantly tempted. Genzo's desk was quickly flooded with eager applicants.
Simultaneously, Arlong's crew fanned out, executing the exact same recruitment strategy in the neighboring towns and villages.
Arlong also proudly unfurled the incredibly detailed architectural blueprints for the amusement park that he had prepared long ago. While it heavily plagiarized the layout of Sabaody Park, he had incorporated numerous unique, aquatic improvements.
The "Crazy Octopus Ride," the "Starfish Ferris Wheel," and the "Lobster Rollercoaster" were all confirmed core attractions. Specialized amusement park machinery ordered from technologically advanced nations had already begun shipping toward Cocoyasi.
As construction violently kicked into gear, the foot traffic in Cocoyasi Village skyrocketed. The massive influx of migrant workers indirectly, yet explosively, stimulated the village's local economy.
Within a month, the tentatively named "Ryugu Park" project was in full swing, the construction site bustling with fiery enthusiasm.
While the tax exemption was an incredible offer, not everyone joined the workforce. Bell-mère, for instance, continued to manage her tangerine orchard.
She still had to look after Nami and Nojiko. Although she possessed excellent physical stamina from her Marine days, she knew absolutely nothing about civil engineering or construction, so she didn't sign up as a laborer.
However, her family's living conditions improved significantly anyway.
"Hey Mister! Want some fresh tangerine juice? We have sweet, and sweet-and-sour!"
Arlong offered high wages, but the crew he brought were fundamentally all seasoned warriors; they had absolutely no desire to run a massive cafeteria for the workers. Ultimately, he outsourced the catering and food supply contracts directly to Cocoyasi Village.
Children from the surrounding areas also flocked to the site to sell snacks and fruits. Nami and Nojiko, enthusiastically selling chilled tangerine juice, were among them. This gave them a steady, highly lucrative source of pocket money, allowing them to finally walk proudly into the local bookstore.
"I wish this amusement park would just take forever to finish. That way, people would come buy our tangerine juice every single day!"
Meticulously counting the thick stack of Berries in her hands, Nami instinctively flashed a bright, genuinely happy smile.
Her profound love for money wasn't just a byproduct of the original timeline's tragedy where she had to obsessively hoard wealth to buy back her village. Even before that, growing up in a fiercely loving but financially struggling household had instilled in her a deep desire for her family to be wealthier and more comfortable. Now, the first seeds of that financial freedom were finally sprouting.
However, the current Nami wasn't thinking about anything too complex. She only knew that as long as the park wasn't finished, this highly profitable business venture could continue indefinitely.
What Nami failed to notice, however, was that while she was obsessively counting her cash, a pair of sharp eyes was locked directly onto her.
(This little girl's adoptive mother seems to absolutely love money, and the kid clearly loves it too... Could this be the family?)
The person staring intensely at Nami was none other than Arlong.
He still vividly remembered Shyarly's divination. It wasn't that Arlong was blindly superstitious; it was simply a universally acknowledged fact that if his sister offered a prophecy, and her accuracy rate was literally 100%, ignoring it would be an act of supreme idiocy.
He clearly remembered the phrase 'intertwined with massive amounts of wealth.' Therefore, the moment he secured the territory, he had secretly begun monitoring anyone who displayed a particularly strong affinity for money.
Just as Arlong was pondering how a literal child could possibly influence his future, he suddenly heard Nami excitedly whispering to Nojiko.
"Bell-mère says we absolutely can't steal, but this money is finally enough to buy that massive, premium atlas! I've wanted to buy it for so long! Once I have that book, I can keep studying navigation and drawing my sea charts!"
(This little girl... wants to be a navigator?) Arlong's eyes widened.
Even in the Ryugu Kingdom, a navigator was an incredibly vital, highly respected profession.
Fish-Men and Merfolk could guarantee they wouldn't drown if a ship sank, but successfully navigating the chaotic, unpredictable weather of the Grand Line and ensuring the safe transport of vessels and cargo still required profound navigational expertise.
However, Fish-Men and Merfolk possessed a massive biological advantage in this field; they had an innate, preternatural sensitivity to shifting ocean currents and atmospheric changes.
Arlong didn't say anything, merely trailing them silently from a distance. Along the way, he managed to pick up a crumpled draft of a nautical chart Nami had accidentally dropped. Looking at the meticulous corrections and erased lines, it was clearly a piece of scrap paper she used for practice.
Arlong wasn't skilled in cartography, but he carefully tucked the paper away and brought it straight back to his own crew's navigator.
"Take a look at this."
"A sea chart? Arlong-aniki, did you draw this?"
"No. What do you think of the quality?"
"Hmm..." The navigator adjusted his glasses, analyzing the lines. "They've definitely grasped the core fundamentals. If their baseline knowledge in other areas is this solid, they just need two more years of studying advanced theory and a bit of practical internship at sea. After that, they'd be a fully qualified, exceptional navigator."
(If that's the case... I might have just stumbled upon an absolute treasure...)
A sharp, cunning smile crept onto Arlong's face. Developing the local economy was the basic operational blueprint. But simultaneously, aggressively recruiting highly talented individuals—like how Nanamo had recruited Tesoro—was just as crucial.
Even if they didn't possess Fish-Man blood, true geniuses could absolutely unleash their terrifying potential within the Ryugu Kingdom. Discovering and recruiting a prodigy navigator would be a massive military merit on his record.
If a child this young could already draft such a flawless sea chart, how terrifyingly brilliant would she be once she fully matured?
"My dear sister's divinations... remain as terrifyingly accurate as ever," Arlong chuckled to himself.
"Shyarly's older brother?" a crewmate casually asked, walking past.
"PISS OFF! GET BACK TO WORK!" Arlong instantly roared, violently kicking the crewmate in the ass and sending him flying out the door.
Arlong had fully made up his mind to heavily invest in Nami. He possessed absolute access to the world's most advanced, highly classified navigational texts—knowledge that was utterly impossible to acquire in the isolated East Blue.
However, the crewmate Arlong had just violently booted out the door ended up crashing directly into Hatchan, who was sprinting down the hallway in a blind panic. Both of them tumbled to the floor in a tangled heap.
"Hatchan? What the hell are you panicking about?" Arlong snapped.
"Nyu! Arlong-aniki! A Marine warship is approaching the docks!"
"Does it have a giant dog head on the bow?!" Arlong demanded instantly, a drop of sweat forming on his brow.
"No."
"Does it have a massive 'G' painted on the sails?!"
"No."
"Then what the hell are you panicking for?!" Arlong sighed in exasperation.
A dog head was the personal, terrifying insignia of Garp the Fist. The 'G' designation meant it was an elite unit from a Grand Line branch. Arlong knew perfectly well that if he ran into Garp, he would be instantly annihilated. Dealing with Grand Line Marines might require some serious effort.
But since it was neither of those... a pathetic, local East Blue Marine ship? He didn't view them as a threat in the slightest.
Even though they were all Marines, the gap in power between the Grand Line and the Four Blues was astronomical. Ranks in the Four Blues were effectively demoted by three full grades when compared to Marine Headquarters standards.
Furthermore, the absolute highest rank stationed at any Four Blues branch was merely a Commodore. Dealing with them would be utterly effortless.
"Nyu... but... Jack is down at the beach right now!" Hatchan stammered.
"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY THAT FIRST?!" Arlong roared, his eyes bulging in absolute horror.
"You didn't ask, Arlong-aniki..."
Arlong wasn't afraid of the Marines. He was absolutely terrified that Jack would instantly, violently sink their ship over a minor perceived insult and completely ruin Nereus's grand diplomatic plans!
Still feeling deeply uncertain about exactly how "straightforward" Jack could be in a tense situation, Arlong didn't dare waste another second. He immediately bolted toward the shoreline at top speed.
When Arlong finally sprinted onto the docks, he breathed a massive sigh of relief. A full-scale slaughter hadn't broken out yet.
A mid-sized Marine warship was currently anchored just offshore, and a Marine officer was loudly yelling through a megaphone.
"I am Major Nezumi of the 16th Branch! We are requisitioning this port to resupply! Clear the maritime route immediately!"
☆☆☆
-> 30 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Inkshaper
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you