The Pirate Princess Becomes Queen

They're offering to protect her and fulfill their obligations, so Weiwei has no objection. Just wait and see.

......

Vivi returned to the palace and automatically regained her status as a princess.

Her adoptive father's health was indeed poor. He was consciously telling Weiwei about some political matters and occasionally posing questions for her to think about how to handle them.

Vivi's adoptive father's governing philosophy is simple: treat people with sincerity. This approach isn't inherently wrong; on the contrary, it's a tradition of the Nefertari family for over a thousand years. Vivi doesn't agree with this approach; she thinks it's too lenient, but she won't ruin her own reputation, at least not openly...

Even a cheap, biological father can't solve the problem of no rain and food shortages in the desert. Why should we starve to death when your royal family has food, drink, and hot water for bathing?

Sincerity is not very useful at this time; what is needed is something tangible.

Vivi's only current idea is to use work relief, to organize some royal-led projects to improve the desertified environment, reclaim land, and create a large number of jobs so that the people do not starve.

However, after communicating with King Cobra, a new problem arose: where was the food? The royal family had no surplus food; all that little they had was distributed to the people in good faith.

"They've all been distributed?! Not a single one left?" she asked the current captain of the royal guard, the burly man named Jaka, who had eaten the Dog-Dog Fruit and was in his jackal form.

Jaka glanced at King Cobra, then nodded slightly.

Not to mention the royal family, even their guards are only maintaining a minimum level of food supplies. All the surplus food is distributed to the people, but it's just a drop in the ocean. That little bit of food can't even save the people in the capital, let alone the whole country.

Vivi's pale face is due to the Devil Fruit, but she is actually in excellent health. King Cobra's pale face indicates that he is suffering from illness, partly due to worry about state affairs, and partly due to genuine malnutrition—simply put, he is starving.

"Can't we buy some food from other countries?" she asked.

King Cobra pointed out the crux of the problem: "Of course we can, but our neighboring countries are not wealthy either, and even if we can buy food from more distant countries, there are still transportation problems."

The transportation problem is a general term. The Grand Line has a complex magnetic field, and it can take several days to determine the direction of the magnet of the next island. The route is constantly changing, and traditional navigation knowledge is almost completely ineffective in this extreme environment. The route problem alone has caused huge obstacles to transportation.

Add to that the endless stream of pirates, natural disasters, wars, and all known and unknown risks, and they can all be categorized under the issue of transportation.

In short, it means that you can buy grain from outside, but the risks are too great; you can buy it, but it's very difficult to transport it back.

Chapter 158 Purchasing Grain

Vivi thought for a moment, which neighboring country could she buy food from? Drum Country? With that icy and snowy environment, how much arable land could they possibly have? They themselves were almost starving to death, and they had no surplus food to sell to Alabasta. What about the other countries? They all seemed smaller than the last. The combined population of more than ten countries was less than a fraction of Alabasta's. Hoping to buy food from them and then use it to aid the people of Alabasta was indeed unrealistic.

The issues of purchasing and transporting grain had been on her mind for a long time.

After discussing it with Cobra without reaching a conclusion, she called her "plastic sister," Bello Betty, who had connections and access to many resources.

"Buying grain? How much do you need? As an old friend, we recently bought a large batch of grain and can sell you some at a discount." Bello Betty was quite enthusiastic.

However, after hearing about the enormous number that Vivi needed, the plastic sisters immediately shook their heads, saying that it wouldn't work, as the revolutionary army didn't have enough food to feed tens of millions of people; the quantity was simply too large.

She thought for a moment: "...If you don't care about money, then go to the Dark World to buy food. Ah, we all call it the Dark World, it's just a name that's easy to pronounce. It's actually an underground network set up by a group of rich and powerful guys...Those guys control a lot of resources, weapons, people, food, you name it, they can provide transportation services. The only downside is that it's expensive. Also, if you're not strong enough, their credibility won't be very good."

Bello Beatty made it very clear: if you want to buy grain, go to "King of Storage" Gibson; if you want to transport goods, go to "King of Shipping" Umit. These two guys are not much less famous in the underworld than Doflamingo. Many political figures from various countries, as well as some Celestial Dragons, have business dealings with them.

Bello Betty had some understanding of Vivi's individual combat abilities, but she was still worried that Vivi's youth might lead her into the opponent's trap without her realizing it.

Often, combat strength and intelligence are not the same thing.

She was advised to be careful during the transaction. Bello Betty gave her a few contact methods, but that was all she could do to help. The Revolutionary Army had some connections with these underworld merchants, but they weren't deep. One reason was that the Revolutionary Army was too poor, and another was that their ideologies were completely different.

Vivi put the Den Den Mushi aside and watched Karu the duck playing cards with his chocobo friends in the yard, which made her feel much better.

She didn't believe her limited life experience was enough to outmaneuver a bunch of cunning businessmen; her only reliance was force. However, considering that Doflamingo was also a member of the underworld, her strength didn't hold much of an advantage.

Weiwei could easily imagine what would happen next. She would call and be lured in with promises of everything and incredibly cheap prices. But when she arrived with the money, they would surely close the door, pull out a knife, and prepare to rob her.

Her next act will be war! War! War!

After beating the soldiers, the officers came; after beating the officers, the boss came. Even after the fighting, they couldn't go on a killing spree, because she still needed the other side to give her food. So in the end, the other side would casually say a few words like, "Your Highness is so powerful, we will never rebel again," and then everyone would continue doing business.

Just thinking about it is troublesome. If she were a king, she would have some deterrent power, but she is just a princess. There are more than two hundred kings in the world, and there must be thousands of princesses and princes in total. Unless she uses Conqueror's Haki as soon as they meet and reveals her true colors, it will be really difficult to make a group of ruthless businessmen submit.

She thought about it repeatedly, but couldn't come up with a good solution. She decided to stick to the old tricks and raise the crocodile banner again!

If we're talking about the most prominent figure of the year 1518 in the Sea Calendar, it has to be Crocodile Sand.

Those so-called "warehouse kings" and "transport kings" would think of robbing Princess Vivi the first time they see her, but surely their first reaction to Crocodile wouldn't be the same?

Vivi called Crocodile, who was cultivating immortality in the Sabaody Archipelago, in a tone that sounded like "our tea is not selling well, please help us."

Robin had already handed over some work to her, so it wasn't unusual for her to contact her "employer" directly now.

"Buy food? You want me to buy food for the people of Alabasta?" Crocodile was confused.

Three big question marks popped into his mind: What does this have to do with me?

“Yes, boss.” Vivi was exceptionally polite and spoke very logically: “I heard from Ms. Quan Zhouqi about your efforts to combat pirates. I feel that this work cannot stop; if it stops, all our previous efforts will be wasted. But we… we really don’t have any skilled fighters here. It’s extremely difficult to fight against high-bounty pirates, so I’m thinking of stopping the pirate fight altogether…”

Crocodile on the other end of the phone nodded subconsciously. "Yeah, stop fighting pirates. I have enemies all over the world now, and the root of it all is fighting pirates."

Without realizing it, he became more convinced of Weiwei's words.

Vivi continued, "I've noticed that many civilians here have abandoned their fields because of the pirates' rampage, and they're on the verge of starving to death. If they starve to death, all the hard work you've put into fighting the pirates will have been for nothing. Your efforts in fighting the pirates have only allowed them to live a few more days, and in the end, they'll still die... So I was thinking, could we use the boss's name to buy some food and distribute it to the civilians, thus maintaining the good reputation of our Baroque Works and the boss?"

The sand crocodile thought about it very seriously.

If Vivi hadn't reminded him, he would have almost forgotten about establishing his heroic persona in Alabasta. There had just been too many things going on lately, and one problem after another had been solved, leaving him distracted!

Is this beneficial to him? Of course it is. Spending a little money to maintain a good reputation is acceptable.

He used to be a hardcore gamer, grinding and fighting pirates day and night, completely free-to-play. Now that he's in the Sabaody Archipelago, he can't grind even if he wanted to. So Vivi is going to teach him how to spend money!

Crocodile became a Shichibukai at the age of 20 and went to Alabasta at the age of 40 to seize the ancient weapon Pluton. He actually had some savings, so spending money on him twice wouldn't be a problem.

He really doesn't want to cause trouble right now, and if spending money can achieve the same effect, he doesn't care about the money.

He also asked the same question that Vivi had asked King Cobra earlier.

Buying grain is not a problem, but where to buy it, who to buy it from, and how much it will cost?

If we want to spend money on in-game purchases, there has to be a place where we can do so, right?

Vivi then repeated what King Cobra had told her before, such as the lack of food in nearby countries and the difficulties in sea transport. As Crocodile grew increasingly impatient, she changed the subject, saying that through her own efforts, she believed it was possible to purchase food from the bigwigs of the underworld.

Chapter 159 Everyone is very satisfied

Crocodile paused for a moment. At this moment, he wasn't thinking about the stomachs of the Alabasta people. What did it matter to him if thousands or tens of thousands starved to death? He was thinking about taking this opportunity to befriend those big shots in the underworld. He was currently surrounded by enemies and had no friends. He felt utterly pathetic. If he could use this deal to make connections with those guys, wouldn't his future situation be better?

The only problem is that Crocodile doesn't have the contact information for those underworld bigwigs. He's been too much of a lone wolf, and it would be embarrassing for him to ask Doflamingo about it.

Fortunately, Vivi helped him solve this problem.

"I negotiated with that envoy of the Golden Emperor, a guy named Tanaka, and got two contact methods from him. They seem to be 'King of Warehousing' and 'King of Shipping.' Does the boss know these two people?"

Surprisingly, Crocodile did know these two people, but they had never met.

He was even more impressed with Vivi's abilities. What an excellent subordinate! If he had had such a subordinate a few years ago, wouldn't he have already conquered Alabasta, obtained the ancient weapon Hades, and dominated the world?

He picked up the Den Den Mushi (a type of electric scooter) and contacted the Warehouse King and the Shipping King respectively, before making a particularly sophisticated call to Vivi.

"They already know about this. You can discuss the specific price with their men. With me backing you up, they won't dare to cheat you."

Weiwei did the calculations. How much grain would be needed? If each person eats 30 jin of grain per month, then 10 million people would need approximately 150,000 tons of grain. How much area would all that grain cover if piled up? She had absolutely no idea.

The call made by Crocodile, the "boss," was indeed effective. When the "Storage King's" subordinates heard that Vivi was working for Crocodile, they were very enthusiastic. After a lot of calculations, they gave her a quote of 800 million Berries. However, the "Storage King" would not be responsible for transportation.

Vivi contacted the "Shipping King" again, and his subordinate answered the phone. After clarifying the goods to be transported and the destination, he gave her a quote of 300 million.

Eight hundred million pegories were purchased for grain, and three hundred million were shipped to Alabasta, totaling 1.1 billion pegories.

If you really calculate it, on average, each person only consumes 100 Berries worth of food per month. Comparing purchasing power, you can see that food prices in this world are really not expensive, and can even be said to be very cheap. Most of these dark world merchants control places with four or five harvests a year, and food is not their main business. This time, they are just giving Crocodile face.

The planned purchase of this batch of grain is enough to feed the nation for a month.

If that doesn't work, we can have the giants hunt down a few more giant beasts on Little Garden Island; that should be enough to keep them occupied for a couple of days.

With proper planning, plus the food reserves held by the people themselves, donations from the royal family and wealthy households, and the purchase of some old grain from neighboring countries, Vivi could probably last for three or four months.

After all, if Vivi doesn't buy food, the National Uprising will be two years later, so theoretically, she should be able to hold out for a while longer.

The men went to work, while the women and children stayed home drinking porridge. It looked pitiful, but that was the only way to manage it. The priority was to ensure that people didn't starve before thinking about anything else.

As for what to do in three or four months? Well, we'll just have to fool Crocodile again...

She immediately reported the "good" news to Crocodile Sand.

The other party was stunned.

"Wait, wait, how much did you say? Eleven billion Berries? How many people are you going to feed?"

Crocodile thought this "spending spree" would only last two or three days, but wow, it's like it's providing meals for a whole month? Who can afford that?! He can't spend his savings of twenty years like that.

Fortunately, after the "good" news, Vivi told him another truly good news.

"I found a sworn brother of the maternal uncle of the Alabasta royal family's chief grain purchaser... We have some leverage over that guy. With a few tricks, we can get him to allocate some money from the royal family's daily expenses to jointly purchase grain with us. He can probably help us pay about 15% of the cost. After all, the workshop has limited manpower and can't distribute grain to everyone individually. We need the royal family's help in this regard. Moreover, thanks to the boss's illustrious reputation, we can negotiate with the Warehouse King and the Shipping King. I think we can even lower the price a bit."

Hearing that the Alabasta royal family would be sharing the cost with him, even if it was only 15%, Crocodile still felt he had made a profit! Something that cost 100 yuan was now only 85 yuan! Just thinking about it made him happy, and when he heard that he could also negotiate the price, his mindset gradually calmed down.

However, this time Crocodile was more cautious. After ending his call with Vivi, he specifically called Warehouse King again.

As if it were an unintentional remark, he casually asked a couple of questions.

The other party answered very clearly that the person contacting him was a young woman with a sweet voice and a strange code name, something like "ms. Wednesday".

Crocodile asked about the price again, and it was exactly the same as what Vivi had said. He was completely relieved. This time it was good; he hadn't been impersonated by some random person.

It's possible that Crocodile's reputation for offending the Four Emperors, the Seven Warlords of the Sea, and the Golden Emperor had an effect. In addition, the main business of the Storage King and the Shipping King is not food. The Storage King offered a 10% discount, and the Shipping King also offered a friendly price. This time, we won't make money off you. Let's be friends and get a 20% discount!

An 1.1 billion deal, after the discount, only requires a payment of 960 million Berries. The royal family will also help pay 140 million, so Crocodile only needs to come up with a little over 800 million to complete this transaction. He thinks... not bad!

Having made a deal with a big shot in the dark world, this friendship is now established, and at the same time, he can gain great prestige in Alabasta. No matter how you look at it, it's a huge win.

Crocodile felt that he didn't have to fight or struggle throughout the entire transaction. He just had to use his mouth and make a couple of phone calls to get things done. It was the style of a superior, and it was so satisfying!

Looking back at his previous actions of fighting pirates every day, it was truly pathetic. He could have easily gained reputation and made friends while lying down, so why did he have to risk his life?

Weiwei also thought that Guo Wang performed well. If it weren't for this guy taking the lead, she would have really had to go on a rampage in the territory of those guys in the dark world. After that, her strength and identity would have been exposed.

It's great now; a few words are all it takes to finalize a deal, saving so much trouble.

The "cheap seller" was even more delighted. Something worth 100 yuan could be bought for only 15 yuan? Even after the discount, it wouldn't cost 15 yuan, and shipping was included? Was there really such a good deal?

Although she couldn't see the person in person, Vivi felt that the Warehouse King and the Shipping King were also satisfied. They could make some money and also befriend the influential Crocodile Sand. It seemed like a perfect match no matter how you looked at it.

Everyone was very satisfied with the deal; everyone felt they had made a profit!