Pirate: It’s not a phantom beast, it’s a phantom god!

Chapter 262 Killing Time
"Are we mixing our people in?"
As expected, La's remarks immediately hit upon the blind spots in the thinking of the three people.

Although the three of them are not pure reckless men, and even Kaido and King can be said to have very good brains, they are still accustomed to thinking from the perspective of pirates.

As pirates, they naturally feel aversion to cooperating with the World Government.

Even Kaido, at this stage, with his experience, still habitually confuses the World Government and the Navy and simply classifies them all as enemies, without thinking deeply about the complex relationship between the two.

They don't quite understand what it means that "the world government is just a few organizations and member states, and the food still needs to be shared."

Therefore, in response to the questions raised by several people, La first nodded to indicate that the other party had heard correctly, and then began to explain in detail.

Wow~

Tiny golden dots of light appeared out of thin air.

Under the shocked and curious gazes of the three people, countless golden photons gathered like flowing water, and finally condensed into a small balance in the palm of La's hand.

No matter how many times the three of them saw this ability to create things out of nothingness, they found it novel and incredible.

Gently holding the small scale in his hand, La explained:

"To use an analogy... The World Government is the scale in my hand, and the navy and pirates are the weights on both sides of the scale."

Ding~
Two weights of different sizes appeared out of thin air and fell into the pans on either side of the balance scale with a crisp, overlapping sound.

Then, naturally, the scales began to tilt towards the larger weight.

The three of them looked at this scene and looked at La with some confusion.

She just pointed to the smaller weight and said:

"From the perspective of a single force, the Navy is undoubtedly far more powerful than any other pirate group on the sea."

There is no doubt about this.

If the navy is measured by the standards of a pirate group, then it is an entity that cannot be looked at directly, with its territory spread across the four seas and the Grand Line, hundreds of thousands of members, and the number of warships reaching three or even four digits.

There is a huge gap in scale compared to all other pirate groups.

"But if we look at it as a whole, the pirates' power is greater than, or even far greater than, the navy's."

La pointed to the large weight that was pushing the other end up high.

"But pirates and the navy can't be lumped together~"

Burfat interrupted.

It is a huge mistake to view pirates as a whole like the navy.

Pirates are free, do whatever they want, and are unrestrained.

These words are often associated with disorder and chaos.

At the same time, the limitations of the pirate group's extremely simple power structure also make it impossible for pirates to form a unified organization as large in scale and with as wide a coverage as the navy.

Even if a few ordinary pirate groups wanted to form a simple alliance of interests, it would be extremely difficult, and it would inevitably be accompanied by various life-and-death calculations.

The navy represents order—unified management, unified deployment, unified philosophy…

Pirates represent disorder—a sloppy style, casual plunder, and personal ambition...

If a thousand people are united, they will have the strength of a thousand people; if ten thousand people are divided, they will be useless.

Because of this, although the navy is inferior to the pirates in overall strength, it can always suppress the pirates in various local battlefields, thus forming an overall advantage.

……

La fiddled with the scales a little, causing them to start shaking again, and then spoke again:

"From our perspective, of course, we can't see pirates as a whole, but what if we raise our perspective and look at it from the perspective of the World Government?"

"Too many pirates representing disorder will affect the stability of the rule, so we must use the navy representing order to suppress them."

"But the navy, with its powerful military, is a double-edged sword." "Once the pirates, the main enemy, are suppressed, it's hard to guarantee that those hot-blooded guys who shout 'justice' every day won't turn their attention to other places they don't want to see."

In the final analysis, the World Government or the Celestial Dragons' daily inhumane rule is bound to cause instability among the lower-class people. Therefore, in order to prevent them from turning their spearheads against the right people, they must be made to engage in internal friction with each other, which is the so-called "anti-dragon-slaying technique."

"So what you mean by pulling is..."

"The World Government actually doesn't want to see the navy become too powerful?!"

Having said that, not to mention Kaido and King, even Burfat, who was the slowest to react, understood the general idea.

"Yes."

"If the World Government truly trusted the Navy completely, with their influence around the world, a simple conscription would be enough to make up for the Navy's lost combat power."

"But they chose the so-called Seven Warlords of the Sea, using these people who would neither side with the pirates nor the navy as leverage to maintain the balance between the navy and pirates."

As he spoke, a smaller weight appeared on one side of the scale... After several more swings, the scale finally achieved true balance.

And at the moment the balance was achieved, the entire scale turned into tiny points of light and disappeared.

La clapped his hands slightly and continued:

"Those chosen to serve as the Seven Warlords of the Sea belong to the World Government, but their identities are pirates."

"They stand somewhere between black and white. If they can have the best of both worlds, they can reap the enormous benefits inherent in this previously unavailable ecological niche."

"And if we can participate, we can also get a share of the pie."

"Yeah."*3
After listening to La's long analysis, the three of them nodded as if they had gained something.

"Uh...who should we send then?"

Burfat asked, raising his hand.

"do not know."

La's answer was simple and straightforward.

"what?"

"The selection of these individuals must have been made through internal discussions within the World Government. They will most likely be pirates who are strong but not very powerful."

La explained as a matter of course:

"People like us are basically not considered by the other party."

"And considering that our current relationship with the Navy might not be that... harmonious, I imagine that people associated with us probably wouldn't be chosen either."

"So we can only wait until the candidate is selected before we approach and win him over."

"..."

"Uh... so the Seven Warlords of the Sea don't really have anything to do with us right now? Then what exactly did you say earlier about the scales and weights..."

"As for the secondary purpose... I guess it's to give you a new perspective~"

"Don't let simple likes and dislikes influence your view of a force. After all, if the ultimate goal is to overthrow the World Government, you must first be on the same page as the other party."

"Well, you're right."

The three of them nodded in agreement.

"What's the main purpose?"

"To kill time."

……

(End of this chapter)