Chapter 303: Someone Flipped the Table for Me?
"So, as you can see, the 'Royal Security Insurance' package I gifted you years ago has terrifyingly high value! It practically guarantees your nation's absolute safety! See? You're already getting a massive return on investment!"
A short time later, inside Scarlett's cozy little cottage, Nanamo enthusiastically boasted about the superiority of her past birthday gift.
"I suppose that's true," Scarlett smiled gently. "But even if I didn't have that insurance policy, would you really just sit back and ignore me if I was in danger?"
"Hey, hey, hey! You're completely ruining the business atmosphere here!" Nanamo pouted, waving her hands. "You're supposed to play along and help me aggressively market this insurance to the other Kings!"
Although Nanamo didn't give a direct answer, the truth was obvious. If Scarlett genuinely faced a lethal threat, Nanamo would absolutely intervene regardless of any contract. The only difference the intelligence network provided was finding out about the danger before it happened, rather than arriving too late to pick up the pieces.
"Yes, yes, you're absolutely right," Scarlett chuckled, pouring a cup of tea. "But if your primary goal is to make money off this insurance business, why did you give me a permanent, lifetime policy? Shouldn't you charge an annual subscription fee to maximize profit?"
"Who said our standard policies are permanent?! Yours only lacks an expiration date because it was a personal gift from me!" Nanamo huffed proudly. "All the policies we sell to other nations have strict, heavily monetized expiration dates and renewal fees!
"Seriously, Scarlett, as a Princess of Dressrosa, you really need to pay more attention to the global economic market!"
Compared to King Riku's heavy anxiety, Scarlett didn't feel overly worried. She possessed profound, absolute trust in her sister, Viola. Furthermore, since Scarlett had effectively retired from national politics, the looming geopolitical crisis didn't weigh as heavily on her shoulders.
"Speaking of your sister, Viola's Devil Fruit ability is honestly borderline broken," Nanamo noted, sipping her tea. "Tell her to casually scan the horizon every now and then. If she spots that Doflamingo guy approaching, just give us a quick call.
"With the Glare-Glare Fruit's absurd clairvoyance, she's basically a living radar. And the routes into the New World are fixed. Unless someone has the absolute backing of an apex monster, no sane pirate chooses to sail directly through the Calm Belt.
"Even if Doflamingo still has Underworld connections, as long as Viola periodically checks the Red Port and the standard entrance routes, she can easily pinpoint his exact coordinates."
"I understand. Don't worry," Scarlett nodded. "While we might not possess your overwhelming strength, picking up a Den Den Mushi and calling for help is certainly something we can manage."
"Well, Doflamingo's existence isn't completely devoid of value," Nanamo mused, glancing at the clock on the wall and quickly calculating the time zone difference. "At the very least... the massive purge in the North Blue should be initiating right about now."
Thanks to the meticulously detailed intelligence Rosinante had gathered, countless heavily entrenched Underworld figures and corrupt officials in the North Blue had had their true identities completely exposed. The ledger didn't just list suspicions; it provided concrete, irrefutable evidence of their crimes.
Even if that evidence were presented to the notoriously corrupt, abstract court of Enies Lobby, the sheer volume of undeniable proof would leave those North Blue criminals completely incapable of defending themselves.
A short time later, in the North Blue, at the royal port of the Doyle Kingdom...
Two massive Ryugu Kingdom support galleons had officially docked and were currently undergoing the standard diplomatic and customs procedures.
The crew composition of these ships was highly diverse. There were pure-blooded Fish-Men, Merfolk hybrids, standard Neptune Army soldiers, and even ordinary human soldiers.
Through years of active global engagement and economic expansion, Fish-Man Island had successfully integrated numerous members of other races—many of whom were former slaves rescued by Nereus.
Some of these individuals, like Stella, had opted for peaceful civilian administrative jobs on the Sabaody Archipelago. Others, however, had chosen to enlist directly in the Neptune Army.
In this chaotic, blood-soaked era, the path to promotion and prestige within the military was exponentially faster than in any civilian sector.
"While I knew the main island was dispatching reinforcements for this massive operation... aren't you strictly a civilian administrative official? How did you end up deployed alongside the military?"
Jinbe rubbed his eyes, staring in genuine bewilderment at Gild Tesoro, who was casually standing on the deck.
Jinbe wasn't intimately close with Tesoro, but he naturally recognized him. After all, Tesoro was Princess Nanamo's absolute favorite subordinate.
Jinbe knew Tesoro was a master at organizing massive, global concerts and possessed a terrifying talent for generating unimaginable wealth. Seeing him deployed on a highly aggressive military purge operation felt incredibly bizarre.
"According to the strategic blueprint drafted by the main island, following this operation, the entire criminal Underworld of the North Blue will be systematically eradicated," Tesoro explained smoothly, adjusting his pink suit.
"The subsequent phase involves replacing the massive void left by the black market with legitimate, highly profitable trade routes between affiliated nations, further suppressing the resurgence of violent crime.
"When it comes to aggressively establishing and monopolizing international trade networks, I am quite confident in my expertise.
"Furthermore, Sir Jinbe, I am no longer a frail, defenseless scholar. I am perfectly capable of handling myself in basic combat."
"..."
Originally, Tesoro hadn't intended to dedicate any significant time to martial arts training. His sudden interest in combat was actually sparked by a highly pervasive, bizarre rumor circulating within the Ryugu Kingdom's bureaucracy.
As time passed and the Kingdom stabilized, the older generation of veterans—like Sunbell, Babel, and Sebastian—gradually reduced their frequency of frontline combat.
While they still rigorously maintained their martial arts, they actively delegated external warfare to the younger generation to temper them.
Consequently, names like Jinbe, Namur, Jack, Sasaki, and Arlong became the active, terrifying symbols of the Ryugu Kingdom's might across the seas.
Meanwhile, veterans like Sebastian transitioned into high-level administrative roles, acting as the ultimate, unshakeable deterrence guarding the Kingdom's core territories.
This structural shift inadvertently birthed a ridiculous rumor among the civilian populace:
In the Ryugu Kingdom, only the absolute strongest, most terrifying brawlers are allowed to become civil officials.
Aside from Queen Otohime—who was the sole, universally accepted exception—every single high-ranking administrator had literally punched their way to the top.
In the eyes of the public, Tesoro's rapid ascension was seen purely as blatant nepotism because Princess Nanamo favored him. If Nanamo hadn't discovered his terrifying economic genius, who knew what lowly job Tesoro would be working right now?
Desperate to avoid being permanently labeled as a weak, useless "nepo baby," Tesoro aggressively threw himself into martial arts and Devil Fruit training, intending to at least acquire enough strength for self-preservation.
By the time he finally realized the "Strongest Brawler = Civil Official" rumor was completely fabricated nonsense, he had already achieved significant breakthroughs in his training, so he simply decided to keep going.
As for the mastermind who originally started that ridiculous rumor...
It was none other than Tesoro's former business partner and current close associate, Pappag the Starfish.
While Tesoro aggressively expanded their external trade channels, Pappag remained on Fish-Man Island, obsessively designing new fashion lines. Currently, Pappag's signature "Criminal" brand was universally recognized as a premium luxury label across the globe, easily making him the most successful starfish in recorded history.
"I might struggle to effortlessly shatter an enemy formation or lead a frontline charge like you monsters do, but surviving in the Four Blues is absolutely not a problem for me," Tesoro smirked. "I definitely won't be a burden, Sir Jinbe, so you don't need to worry about protecting me. My primary focus will be managing the post-war economic integration."
Tesoro undeniably possessed terrifying talent in combat as well. The fact that he eventually managed to Awaken the Gold-Gold Fruit was absolute proof of this; Awakening a Devil Fruit was a monumental achievement that required insane potential.
While his physical Haki might not be top-tier, he was absolutely no weakling. Of course, that was the completely ruthless, unhinged version of Tesoro from over a decade in the future. The current Tesoro was merely strong enough to easily hold his own; he hadn't yet evolved into the apocalyptic "Golden Emperor."
Alongside the Ryugu Kingdom reinforcements, the Doyle Kingdom's local Royal Army also boarded the massive galleons. The ships had been flawlessly constructed by Fish-Man Island's master shipwrights, ensuring absolute structural superiority.
While the Royal Army didn't possess any superhuman monsters, they were primarily deployed as a massive auxiliary force. Their job was to provide heavy suppressing fire and handle the tedious, post-battle clean-up operations.
While the North Blue Underworld continued its daily, illicit operations in absolute ignorance, the sudden, violent detonation of artillery fire violently shattered their fragile "order."
Highly classified safehouses, secret smuggling routes, and the untouchable masterminds pulling the strings from the shadows—everything that had been meticulously concealed in the dark was instantaneously exposed to blinding searchlights and subjected to absolute, devastating annihilation.
Because their enterprises were fundamentally illegal, once their leaders were violently purged and their core enforcers slaughtered, the vast majority of the criminal syndicates completely collapsed, incapable of mounting any organized resistance.
Faced with an organized, military-grade purge of this magnitude, very few factions in the North Blue possessed the power to fight back.
Doflamingo was one of them, but he was currently frantically preparing to flee into the Grand Line and had absolutely no intention of risking his life to save his former "business partners."
Germa 66 was another, but they had recently accepted a massive mercenary contract and were currently embroiled in a brutal civil war over in the East Blue. Furthermore, given Judge's calculating nature, even if Germa were still in the North Blue, he wouldn't have recklessly intervened in this mess.
The ruling monarchs of the North Blue hadn't been entirely ignoring the Underworld; many simply lacked the concrete evidence to act. Now that the undeniable proof was violently exposed to the public, the monarchs eagerly seized the opportunity to beat the drowning dogs, launching their own purges and swiftly cleansing the regional environment.
With such apocalyptic chaos erupting across the North Blue, the local Marines naturally took notice. However, they made absolutely no attempt to interfere with the Ryugu Kingdom's operation. In fact, many Marine base prisons were rapidly overflowing with the massive influx of heavily beaten criminals the Neptune Army generously "donated" to them.
When affiliated nations actively engaged in purging illegal syndicates, the Marines possessed absolutely no legal jurisdiction or reason to stop them. If someone else was willing to do the bloody, exhausting work of cleaning up the sea, the Marines were absolutely thrilled to sit back and reap the credit.
The person most profoundly, existentially shocked by this sudden turn of events was actually Rosinante.
Staring at the shocking headlines dominating the morning newspaper, even someone as dense and clumsy as Rosinante realized something was terribly, incredibly wrong.
The specific list of targeted syndicates and the terrifyingly precise scope of the purge... it perfectly mirrored the exact, highly classified intelligence ledger he had personally compiled! Except whoever was executing the purge was infinitely more ruthless and decisive than the Marines would have been.
(Could it be... the intelligence ledger I lost was actually found by someone else?!)
Because he was naturally clumsy, Rosinante never suspected that someone had meticulously stolen the intelligence from him. After all, his deep-cover identity was an absolute, "Single-Line" secret shared exclusively with Sengoku. Even Vice Admiral Tsuru had no idea Sengoku's flawless intel came from Rosinante.
Unless Sengoku himself suffered a catastrophic brain hemorrhage and leaked the secret, there was absolutely no reason for his cover to be blown, let alone for someone to actively target his hidden documents.
Therefore, Rosinante firmly believed he had simply dropped the ledger during the chaotic, explosive disaster on Minion Island, and some incredibly capable vigilante had stumbled upon it.
(Well... I suppose this is a fantastic outcome anyway! My ultimate goal was achieved. Whoever found it must be incredibly good people...) Rosinante smiled warmly to himself, deeply relieved.
"Corazon! Stop reading that useless garbage!" Doflamingo snapped, his voice dripping with venom. "Those bastards from Fish-Man Island are nothing but a bunch of arrogant, meddlesome freaks! Because of their sudden interference, our entire foundational power base in the North Blue has completely rotted away!
"It's a damn good thing we were already preparing to enter the Grand Line. If we had planned to stay here, we'd be in massive trouble."
"..."
Rosinante remained silent, internally snapping out of his peaceful reverie. Although Doflamingo tried to project an aura of arrogant indifference, Rosinante could clearly hear the intense, seething frustration beneath his brother's words.
"..."
"Are you wondering why the Ryugu Kingdom would do such a thing? Who the hell knows!" Doflamingo scowled, veins popping on his forehead. "Like I said, they're a bunch of meddlesome freaks. But the worst part is... those freaks possess terrifying, absolute strength."
During the years when Nereus was most actively slaughtering his way into legend, Doflamingo wasn't even an embryo. During Nereus's subsequent active years, Doflamingo was still a pampered Celestial Dragon brat living in Mary Geoise, completely ignoring the affairs of the lower seas.
Later, after enduring his horrific downfall, Doflamingo learned that Nereus was a terrifying "monster," but his actual understanding of the King of the Deep was relatively shallow. He was even more ignorant regarding the complex, hidden diplomatic ties between affiliated nations.
Aside from a select few locals in Dressrosa and the royal guards who attended the Reverie, almost no one knew about the profound personal friendship between King Riku and Nereus.
Doflamingo certainly had no idea. He hadn't planted any deep-cover spies within Dressrosa's royal court. Even if he occasionally read newspaper articles detailing Dressrosa politically supporting the Ryugu Kingdom, he simply dismissed it as standard, pragmatic political maneuvering between nations.
"..."
"Forget about them! Prepare to enter the Grand Line!" Doflamingo commanded, turning his back. "Vergo recently sent back intelligence. The North Blue is going to be incredibly chaotic and unstable for the foreseeable future."
As Doflamingo prepared to scale Reverse Mountain and flee the North Blue, the Ryugu Kingdom's massive operation was already entering its final cleanup phase.
Although Tesoro had deployed with the military, he hadn't personally participated in much frontline combat. Compared to the actual fighting, the subsequent administrative and economic fallout was exponentially more complex to handle.
Tesoro spent his time conducting highly lucrative "State Visits" across the North Blue, successfully forging massive, legitimate trade agreements with several kingdoms to fill the economic void left by the Underworld's collapse.
Originally, Tesoro's workload was highly manageable. However, a massive cold front suddenly swept through the North Blue. The temperature in the Doyle Kingdom plummeted drastically, and Queen Otohime's fragile constitution...
She caught a severe cold. Although Otohime stubbornly insisted she was perfectly fine to continue working, the moment the rest of the delegation saw her swaying and coughing, they forcefully confined her to bed rest.
If they didn't, there was a genuine fear that Otohime might tragically become the very first high-ranking minister to die in the line of duty under Nereus's reign simply from overworking herself while sick.
Consequently, Tesoro was forced to shoulder a massive portion of her diplomatic workload, making him incredibly busy.
Once Otohime fully recovered and resumed her duties, Tesoro finally had the time to travel to the recently liberated regions to personally inspect the aftermath.
Some of the Underworld factions had hidden within the borders of allied kingdoms, while others had brazenly occupied lawless islands and towns, brutally enslaving the local populations.
Now that the syndicates had been violently eradicated, these lawless zones desperately required new management and stabilization.
Having clawed his way up from the absolute, impoverished bottom of society, Tesoro intimately understood exactly how to manage and pacify desperate people. Providing massive shipments of food and medical supplies was crucial, but deploying heavily armed guards to maintain absolute order was equally vital. Without order, distributing food would inevitably trigger massive, lethal stampedes.
During these critical stabilization efforts, it was incredibly common to discover hidden, highly capable talents among the liberated populace. A significant portion of Tesoro's current, highly efficient administrative staff had been recruited exactly this way.
In a twisted reality, people who had been kidnapped and sold as high-end slaves often possessed exceptional talents and specialized skills, as those traits commanded a much higher price on the black market.
While aggressively scouting for competent administrative personnel, Tesoro genuinely struck gold. He discovered a young woman with absolutely phenomenal secretarial and organizational skills. With just a little bit of specialized training, she would be more than capable of flawlessly handling an immense administrative workload.
"Mr. Tesoro... have I done something wrong?"
"Not at all. Your administrative capabilities are truly exceptional," Tesoro sighed, rubbing his forehead. "But... why did you have to be a woman?"
"Huh?"
Tesoro's words left the young woman—Monet—completely baffled.
For years, her beautiful appearance had always been a massive advantage, allowing her to secure a precarious foothold in the chaotic, violent North Blue and desperately protect her younger sister.
Although those years had been terrifying and difficult, they had managed to survive. Now that the vicious syndicates threatening them had been completely annihilated, Monet genuinely wanted to use her administrative talents to secure a stable, legitimate livelihood and repay the Ryugu Kingdom for saving them.
But now, she was seemingly being rejected purely because of her gender?
"Don't misunderstand me," Tesoro quickly clarified, raising his hands. "My workload is absolutely massive. I desperately need a highly capable, personal executive secretary who can travel with me constantly.
"However, I am a happily married man. Traveling the world alone with a beautiful young woman as my personal secretary... that would be incredibly inconvenient and invite highly problematic rumors.
"But your administrative talent is genuinely undeniable... Tell me, would you be interested in entirely changing your living environment?"
☆☆☆
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