Sabaody Archipelago.
Located directly in front of the Red Line, this archipelago is supported on the water by the world's largest mangrove tree, "Yarukiman Mangrove," located beneath the sea.
The entire island is composed of 79 trees supporting the various islands.
This is also the only place where Celestial Dragons are willing to descend and spend time.
For those arrogant World Nobles who disdain breathing the same air as commoners, Sabaody Archipelago is their only 'breathing' backyard in the lower world.
Almost every Celestial Dragon who leaves Mary Geoise will visit Sabaody Archipelago.
Undoubtedly, this place is as prosperous as, or even surpasses, Water 7.
It can be said that under the World Government's rule, few places have a higher average income than here.
Of course, that's average income.
Is Sabaody Archipelago beautiful? Yes, it's very beautiful, but that's only for ordinary people.
For the poor, for the weak, for the failures, this beautiful, soap-bubble-like Sabaody Archipelago is nothing short of hell.
Aside from the Celestial Dragons, not many people from the maritime community are willing to stay here.
For the Marines, Sabaody Archipelago is where their dreams are shattered.
When those Marines who believe in justice come to Sabaody Archipelago, they see legally auctioned slaves, they see wanton evil in front of the Marines, especially when they see the true nature of the Celestial Dragons they protect.
Many people begin to question the Marines' justice, and some even rebel against the Marines.
For example, Monkey D. Dragon, the famous revolutionary, dubbed the most dangerous man in the world by the Five Elders, decided to rebel against the Marines while at Sabaody Archipelago.
For pirates, Sabaody Archipelago is an extremely dangerous place.
They might be able to sell slaves here, attend auctions to get good things they don't usually see, but relatively, the Marine presence in this damn place is surprisingly high.
Because it's a necessary path to the New World, this place is, in a sense, another form of 'Loguetown'.
Admirals not only show up when a Celestial Dragon gets hit, but sometimes, when they're utterly bored, they'll also come for a stroll.
Especially Admiral Kizaru - while it might sound unbelievable, he is indeed the most diligent Admiral in catching pirates on Sabaody Archipelago.
Just as the East Blue is the weakest sea simply because Garp catches a large number of pirates every time he goes back to visit his grandson, the safety of Sabaody Archipelago is purely maintained by Admiral Kizaru, who patrols it to pad his performance reviews.
Whenever Kizaru's performance was lacking and Sengoku yelled at him, he would come to Sabaody Archipelago to "harvest" pirates, catching a few of the year's Supernovas to hand over to Sengoku and thereby fulfill his annual quota.
For the Revolutionary Army, this place is naturally their second most hated and disgusting spot after Mary Geoise.
And for ordinary people, encountering a Celestial Dragon here carries the risk of being taken as a slave or shot on the spot.
So, those who actively choose to live in Sabaody Archipelago are either fools misled by the World Government, or residents of the underworld who come here for business.
Sabaody Archipelago is one of the few places where slave trading is legal.
Nodes 1 to 29 are legitimate human trafficking slave markets.
While called illegal zones, they are actually more prosperous than all other areas.
Most underground transactions pass through here, and shady deals also take place here.
It can be said that in the underworld, Sabaody Archipelago's status is on par with the Queen of Spring City.
Just like Shin now-or rather, his Prayer Five, this alias clone chosen for black market dealings, is currently doing business here with many of the former Flying Pirates.
Golden Lion managed to build such a large force and support an entire research team all these years, not just by pure plunder.
In fact, in the underworld, Golden Lion, masquerading as a merchant, was quite well-known.
Whether buying and selling slaves, trading weapons, or even taking on missions to attack and eliminate certain forces, Golden Lion's professional team had done a lot of business here.
Now, all their resources have been taken over by Shin.
He no longer needs to hide, and simply ordered them to openly conduct illegal business under his Warlord title.
The greatest benefit of the Warlord position is not only legal plunder rights, but also the power to shamelessly conduct black market dealings without fear of Marine arrest.
Sengoku and the others all know that the underworld broker JOKER is Doflamingo, but no one will ever bother him about it.
It was business as usual for the Golden Lion's crew at the trade hall, but unlike before, where they furtively waited for the black market manager, this time, Golden Lion's trade team waited imperiously in the highest-grade private reception room.
Sitting on a luxurious red sofa cushion, Prayer Five swirled the red wine in his hand, took a small sip, and frowned.
"Sure enough, when the distance is far, the accuracy of sensory transmission isn't as good..."
"Apologies for the wait, everyone!"
Just then, Oswald, the black market manager of Island 13, a short man in a black top hat and suit, leaning on a cane, rushed over.
His stout, plump figure and suit made him look comically like a penguin.
"The great figures of the Warlord team have graced this place, I am truly flattered and humbled. May I ask your name?"
He sat down in front of Prayer Five with a fawning smile, his attitude humble and ingratiating, making it impossible for anyone who knew him to recognize the notorious "Penguin Man."
The pirates behind Prayer Five let out mocking laughter.
Their expressions were completely different from when they accompanied Golden Lion to do business before.
Number Five glanced indifferently at the several men beside him.
Their smiles froze, their faces paled, and they lowered their heads.
Upon seeing this, Oswald immediately understood that this was the main person in charge of the transaction.
"Call me Number Five. No unnecessary chatter, I want to sell weapons." Number Five said indifferently, unveiling the white cloth in front of him.
Inside lay a jar of green liquid bubbling in a clear glass bottle, and a strangely shaped...
rifle, in Oswald's opinion.
"I apologize, but I do not deal in firearms..."
Oswald looked troubled, but Number Five, without thinking, immediately exposed him,
"I know you're connected to JOKER. This auction house belongs to him, doesn't it? Don't pretend here. JOKER's annual arms dealings probably arm several countries."
Yes, this auction house undoubtedly belongs to Doflamingo, for no other reason than that a 'Golden Golden Fruit' auction was held here a few years ago, and that auction was ultimately destroyed by fire, with the Golden Golden Fruit eventually disappearing.
The one who did this was undoubtedly the man now known as the world's richest, Gold Emperor Tesoro, and the owner of this auction house was naturally Doflamingo.
Upon hearing his secret exposed, Oswald's face changed.
First, he took out a handkerchief to wipe his sweat, then deliberated for a moment before saying,
"Can you represent Lord Poltorto's will? Then, what is that lord's intention...?"
"My words are Lord Poltorto's intentions." Number Five lightly tapped the table with his fingers, saying indifferently.
"He wants to sell weapons, a lot of weapons. But he also has what he wants. He needs a lot of Seastone, I know Doflamingo has a lot of stock, as well as steel and other resource supplies. Also, I personally want to buy some high-priced physical combat tutorials, focusing on 'technique' rather than things like the Six Powers which are just brute force."
Oswald's face changed drastically.
If being called out for his boss behind him startled the penguin, being directly confronted by Number Five about the Seastone trade terrified him.
The World Government is the largest buyer of Seastone in the entire ocean, and the only place in the entire ocean that produces Seastone is Wano Country, which is occupied by Kaido.
That Yonko's business was solely about exporting Seastone.
By monopolizing the trade of this strategic resource, he exchanged it for vast amounts of supplies and weapons from the World Government and all buyers on the high seas.
However, on the surface, the World Government cannot engage in direct illicit dealings with a Yonko.
They need an intermediary, and JOKER is responsible for this role.
For him, doing business with Kaido was nothing new, but this was definitely not something everyone knew.
Even if they knew, Doflamingo would never dare admit that he stockpiled a large amount of Seastone from secret dealings with Kaido.
On the surface, he still had to pretend to be a compliant intermediary to the Five Elders, while secretly he had been trading with Kaido all along.
"I, I need to contact JOKER-sama!"
A pale and trembling Oswald scrambled up, rushing out.
Number Five watched him leave, knowing in his heart that this deal would surely go through.
Doflamingo had no reason to refuse to deal with him.
He wouldn't refuse a good arms deal, and...
he was probably desperate to get in touch with him now.
Not long after, Oswald, trembling, returned to the reception room and whispered,
"Yes, Lord JOKER has agreed to your terms. However, he wants to see the quality of the weapons first."
"Let's go try them out first."
Number Five, holding the two sample weapons for sale, followed Oswald to the testing range.
First, try this gun.
Number Five skillfully picked up the weapon, pulled back the safety, aimed at a target approximately twenty meters ahead, and pulled the trigger.
The next moment, a continuous series of explosive sounds erupted with the muzzle flash.
In just a few seconds, the target in front was riddled with bullet holes.
"This is an AK47, a modified assault rifle adaptable to most conditions. Its rate of fire is hundreds of times faster than conventional firearms, and its bullet's lethality far exceeds that of ordinary lead bullets."
Shin casually handed this most durable killing tool of later generations to Oswald, who tried it out and immediately praised it profusely.
"This... is indeed a good gun."
The scientific development in the world of One Piece is extremely distorted.
On one hand, there is a group of people led by Vegapunk who possess black technology, but their technological development is more focused on biological weapons.
Their areas of study are more about Devil Fruits, lineage factors, and emphasize developing human potential, rather than developing external firearms.
As for firearms in the world of One Piece, even the most advanced Marine-issued guns are still at the smoothbore musket stage.
However, there are also bizarrely developed firearms like hand-cranked Gatling guns, or rocket launchers and even heavy machine guns in Capone Bege's hands, but these are almost impossible to mass-produce.
There are also specially crafted, master-made weapons, like Van Augur's beloved rifle "Senrigan," which can achieve precise sniping over several kilometers, but still lack mass production capability.
And for strong individuals, are firearms useful?
Of course, they are useful.
Haven't you seen how even Blackbeard resorted to shooting Whitebeard first? Without activating Armament Haki, most strong individuals on the sea cannot completely ignore bullet damage.
While it's true that the gunpowder and lead bullets in the world of One Piece are exceptionally powerful, under the same conditions, modern firearms would be overwhelmingly superior to most firearms on the high seas.
"But... is that all?"
Oswald returned the AK47 to Number Five.
The gun's power was indeed good, but if that was all, it wouldn't be worthy of a Warlord's subordinate personally coming out to sell it.
"We can produce a thousand of these guns daily," Number Five said, stroking the AK47's rough exterior.
"And we can produce 30,000 rounds of matching ammunition, because our factory isn't fully expanded yet, and the assembly line isn't fully operational-in fact, we can only officially begin production once you, our customers, confirm which models you want."
Shin has over 53,000 virtual assessment points.
These points are meager for exchanging high-end, powerful weapons from the Gundam world, but they are more than enough for regular military weapons.
For example, a complete AK47 production line, including the manufacturing methods and molds for all its components, costs only 200 virtual assessment points.
With enough manpower and materials, he can mass-produce this mass-killing weapon from later generations.
And there are many such production lines on the exchange list, from MG42 to M4 rifle families, even smoothbore cannons, howitzers, fuel-air bombs, and napalm production lines.
The full Gundam series exchange list isn't just about the cool-looking Gundams and incredible super-science weapons.
Those flashy Gundam battles are for the top tier of elites-the nameless grunt suits that get taken out under the protagonist's command could be piloted by one-in-a-million elites.
More of the battlefield belongs to these mundane yet deadly weapons.
Whether it's UC or CE, or even most Gundam series wars, behind the flashy Gundam battles, countless lives are lost in the brutal struggles with these ordinary killing machines.
Oswald's small, recessed eyes slightly widened.
He wasn't completely ignorant of military affairs.
The number Five had just mentioned-it was too massive.
This number, even the Marine's largest military factory working at full capacity for twenty-four hours, couldn't produce half of it.
"Are you saying this is true?"
"Of course, we also offer many other weapons and firearms here."
Number Five snapped his fingers, and the pirates behind him immediately dragged out the boxes they had brought, lifting the red covers to reveal cold steel underneath.
"Someone says he's a master of Tekkai from the Six Powers, then I recommend you use this gun."
"The MG42 general-purpose machine gun, 7.92mm spitzer rounds, firing at a rate of at least 1200 rounds per minute, up to 1500 rounds per minute, nicknamed 'Hitler's Chainsaw'-you don't need to know who Hitler is, you just need to know that anyone without Armament Haki standing in front of it for ten seconds will be riddled with holes.
Even masters of Tekkai generally can't last more than a few seconds against it."
Pulling the trigger, the MG42's muzzle spit out a stream of fire that tore the target in front into pieces in two breaths, the sound like a high-speed rotating chainsaw making one's whole body tremble.
"Someone says he's a master of Shigan from the Six Powers, with power stronger than firearms, then I recommend you use this."
He took out a black heavy sniper rifle from the box.
"Barrett XM-109 armor-piercing sniper rifle, effective range 2000 meters, uses 25mm caliber armor-piercing rounds. It can easily shred most Tekkai masters; Shigan's piercing damage is negligible in front of it. Even if a few masters can surpass its power, they definitely don't have its range."
He aimed at the furthest target, pulled the trigger, and a cannon-like force, almost like an arrow shot from a bow, burst from the muzzle, instantly tearing through most of the furthest target and leaving cracked penetration damage directly on the sturdy wall behind.
"Someone says he's a master of Kami-e from the Six Powers, capable of deflecting and redirecting force. Here, I recommend you use this."
He took a rocket launcher out of the box.
"The Type 69 rocket launcher, using 85mm over-caliber hollow-charge anti-armor rounds, has three main features: light weight, short range, and low price.
Those Kami-e masters who claim to deflect bullet attacks, and those great swordsmen who claim to cut steel-you can only cut steel, we'll blast you and the steel into the sky!"
He aimed at a medium-range target, pulled the trigger, and a smoking, whistling rocket hit the target.
The flames and explosive shockwave instantly shattered and incinerated all the surrounding standing targets!
Number Five took out a cigar from his pocket, lit it with a lighter, and smiled at the wide-mouthed Oswald beside him,
"So, which one do you want?"
Oswald swallowed hard, his eyes gleaming as he grabbed Number Five's hand.
"I want them all!!!"
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