The Great Voyage Begins with the Celestial Dragons

Aside from the gold and the Poneglyphs, there's nothing else worth staying for here.

Instead of staying here any longer, we should go back to the Sky Island to rest.

Before Olvia and Gion arrived in the Land of Gold, they had already largely brought the situation under control.

The Sky Island is not large, and with the Sky Island people's strongest fighters, Ganful and the God Guardians, both located in the Holy Land, CP3's operations became exceptionally easy.

When Luther and his companions returned to Skypiea, the entire inhabitant of Skypiea had already accepted the fact that they were being ruled.

For them, there doesn't seem to be anything unacceptable.

It was under Ganford's rule before, now it's just a different person.

Of course, it was mainly Kizaru who painstakingly dragged the Sky Lord's corpse back.

Looking at the Lord of the Sky's thousand-meter-long serpent corpse, almost no one could muster the desire to resist.

Even the God's Guard surrendered after being persuaded by Nair, with only Ganford somewhat reluctant.

However, Ganford's reluctance was meaningless.

In front of all the Sky Island inhabitants, this god, who was once very popular on Sky Island, was betrayed by his people.

Nair took the knight's lance that belonged to Ganford and pierced his heart.

Even Luther was somewhat surprised to see how nair was so cooperative.

He was just about to give a hint when they had already taken care of him. Their efficiency was unparalleled.

Luther even felt that Nair could rival Spandine for the title of the most villainous man in his mind.

Not long ago, Spandar, disregarding the opposition of some members of the World Government, placed a gifted child into CP3.

Luther at that time felt that Spandam was definitely a promising talent.

Because of this seemingly trivial matter, Luther personally supported Spandam and killed many short-sighted government officials.

Simply because the genius child who should have been a member of CP9 was named Rob Lucci.

Luther, however, felt no remorse whatsoever for this.

Putting people with Spandam would only delay their progress.

Luther believed that if he personally trained Rob Lucci, who would be 19 years old in 10 years, should be able to reach the level of an admiral.

After Nair staged a slaying of the Old Gods, the Sky Islanders almost all surrendered without any doubt.

In comparison, the indigenous Santya people of Gaya Island were much more resilient and completely unyielding.

For the first time, Luther revealed his Celestial Dragon side to these savages who were determined to overthrow him, even at the cost of their lives.

He didn't have time to slowly influence these rigid-minded people, and he wasn't a good person either.

All the Shandians, regardless of age or gender, became laborers building the Valley of Joy, and were specially divided and disciplined by instructors sent from the Holy Land.

"Your Highness, Gion has already set off for another sky island, which is said to be even more strictly hierarchical than the one here in Shin."

While giving her report, Olvia had CP3 bring in a huge pile of seashells:

"These are the specialties of the Sky Island, various kinds of shellfish."

"It is said that different shellfish have different medicinal effects?"

Looking at the table covered with shellfish, Luther looked on with curiosity.

"Yes! For example, this wind shell can store and release wind. And this water shell can spray water. The cloud shell can spray out clouds of a fixed shape."

As Olvia spoke, she gestured for Robin to demonstrate.

Robin chuckled, and several hands stretched out from the table. Under her manipulation, the shellfish underwent strange changes.

Some spray water and exhale wind, some shine and generate heat, and some emit strange smells—all sorts of things.

What are your thoughts on the potential applications of this?

Luther, however, was not surprised by this and instead asked Olvia for her opinion.

Sky Island produces a large variety of shellfish, making it a monopolistic business.

“What I mean is to sell them. Sky Island has a lot of inventory, and we can quickly accumulate a lot of money. Money can be used to accelerate the development of Happy Valley.” Olvia pondered for a moment.

"It's too inefficient; buying and selling raw materials is not a good business."

Luther shook his head, thought for a moment, and then said:

"I'll give you the contact information for the government's chief scientist, Vegapunk, later. Have him develop some civilian equipment related to shellfish, and also some luxury shellfish products."

Olvia nodded thoughtfully:

"Does Your Highness mean that civilian equipment should be sold to kingdoms that cherish their people, while luxury goods should be sold to kingdoms that exploit their people?"

“That’s roughly it. Have you heard of the Revolutionary Army?” Luther suddenly asked.

“I’ve heard about it. It seems to be a newly emerging organization that appeared in the last few months. It originated in the Western Sea and has just liberated a non-member state.” Olvia nodded slightly.

She usually serves as the head of CP3, so she is naturally very familiar with information that may concern member states.

Recently, an organization claiming to be a revolutionary army has emerged in the western sea, operating under the banner of liberating the people.

This revolution is aimed directly at world governments.

However, the organization is still too small, and its reputation is limited to a small circle.

"Do you believe in their slogans of freedom and equality?" Luther asked with a smile.

"Your Highness, freedom and equality are essentially antonyms."

At this moment, Olvia appeared unusually rational and calmly spoke:

"The Revolutionary Army's ideals are good, but they are too idealistic. Once people are free, they can't possibly still think about equality. Those pirates taught me that."

"I've also seen the country they liberated. They preached that the people should jointly govern the country, but in reality, most of the policies still originated from within the revolutionary army."

"They seem to be liberated and their living conditions have improved, but they are still controlled by others, just in a different way."

"You see things very clearly."

Upon hearing this insight, Luther's eyes lit up with admiration, and he immediately asked:

"So, what do you think we should do to deal with the revolutionary army?"

“We are natural enemies with them, but if Your Highness wants to profit from it, how about capital dumping?” Olvia asked with great interest.

“I remember teaching you this word not long ago,” Luther chuckled.

“That word is very apt, Your Highness.” Olvia smiled slightly. “That newly liberated country has nothing, and everything is in the process of being rebuilt. As long as we provide them with food, fresh water, and daily necessities at below-market prices, we can completely destroy their desire to work hard to rebuild.”

A price below market value does not necessarily mean there is no profit to be made.

Even for Luther, profits were secondary; what he valued most was the country itself, which he controlled through such means.

Olvia knew all this clearly, and continued:

“If the amount of peals required for the transaction is not large, we can use labor to purchase the goods and thereby control the liberated country. If the amount is large, we can slowly bleed the revolutionaries dry and also make some profit from it.”

The industries that can be developed vary greatly depending on the location of the island.

Some islands are extremely rich in grains, some have abundant fresh water, and some are suitable for animal husbandry...

Only by joining the World Government Trade System and engaging in mutual trade can one live a good life.

Relying solely on an island can only satisfy the needs of a few people at most, and it is impossible to achieve so-called equality.

Chapter 59 Ownership of the Fruit

In just a few words, Olvia and Luther finalized their plan against the revolutionaries.

They secretly established a chamber of commerce, primarily engaged in capital dumping, seeking profits while simultaneously controlling the country through economic means.

The construction of Gaya Island was not something that could be done overnight. It required not only a large number of workers for construction, but also extremely high maintenance costs.

The countries liberated by the revolutionary army happened to provide the cheapest labor force, grain-producing countries bought up all their food, and industrialized countries continuously stimulated people to work with high-quality daily necessities.

By sacrificing only a small portion of Gaya Island's profits, the entire Gaya Island system can be perfected, which seems like a worthwhile investment no matter how you look at it.

"The only problem is, what about the World Government?" Olvia pointed out the issue.

Luther is indeed a Celestial Dragon, but the Revolutionary Army is fighting to overthrow the Celestial Dragons. They are secretly weakening the Revolutionary Army, but openly they are aiding the enemy.

“So we need a legitimate excuse,” Luther smiled. “The slave trade, the arms trade, the monopoly. All we need is a name, and then I need to cultivate an image of spending money like water.”

Orvia's concern wasn't a major issue.

Just as he had said to Gion before, as long as he didn't openly own 10 or 8 islands, they were all within the scope of what the Five Elders could accept.

The Five Elders wouldn't care about such trivial matters as amassing wealth. As for whether or not they were aiding the enemy, at this stage, the Five Elders wouldn't consider the Revolutionary Army a major enemy.

By the time the revolutionary army grows larger, Luther will have already become fully powerful.

"The Chamber of Commerce's representatives..."

When the topic turned to people, Luther felt a bit of a headache.

He still has too few people at his disposal.

“Spandam sent over a few children before,” Olvia said meaningfully.

“They’re too young. Lucci is only 9 years old, and Kalifa, who has this talent, is only 8 years old.”

Luther frowned slightly and shook his head.

At this age, even if the couple has been nurtured since childhood, it's hard to say they'll achieve much.

This is not a simple task like killing someone; running a guild is not an easy thing.

"Let me think about it some more... huh?"

Luther suddenly raised his head and looked out the window.

It wasn't that he had thought of anything, but rather that his Observation Haki detected Gion approaching at an extremely fast speed, almost reaching Gion's maximum speed.

Recently, Gion has been suppressing another sky island, Birka.

Given this situation, it seems something has come to pass...

"Your Highness?"