Pirates: My crew is the heroine of the 3D zone

The group walked on the road covered with a thick layer of snow, making a crunching sound, like little mice quietly gnawing on something, which was especially noticeable on the quiet snowfield.

“This snow is so thick, it must have been there for quite some time,” Mona exhaled, a thick white mist forming from the cold.

"We need to find someone to ask what exactly happened here," Chen Yong'an said. "Use the auxiliary machine to detect if there are any other people nearby."

Assistive device: "Please wait... There are signs of human life at one o'clock, 1300 meters away."

"Let's go take a look."

The group headed in the direction indicated by the auxiliary machine, and after walking for a while, they saw a campsite appear at the edge of the forest.

There was a simple wall, tents, a campfire, and a watchtower.

It looked like a makeshift camp set up by a group of refugees.

Before the group could get close, the guards on the watchtower spotted them and sounded the alarm.

At the sound of urgent bells, a group of villagers carrying makeshift spears and harpoons ran out and pointed their weapons at the crowd.

The villager in the lead shouted to the crowd, "Leave now! Outsiders are not welcome here... This is for your own good!"

“Don’t be nervous,” Chen Yong’an said, taking off his sunglasses to prevent snow blindness. “Can you tell us what happened here?”

Upon seeing Chen Yong'an's face, the villagers present were immediately agitated.

"You...you are the Sun God?"

“More than three months ago, that guy Wapol returned to this country… plunging the country into fear once again.”

Even months later, the villagers who spoke about it still trembled with fear when they mentioned it.

"He ruled this country with violence, ruthlessly eliminating anyone who dared to resist him. To establish his authority, he even burned down our houses and villages, declaring that everything in this country belonged to him, including the lives of ordinary people..."

"Do you remember Mr. Dalton? He led the people in rebellion against Wapol's tyranny, but failed. He fell into Wapol's hands and suffered torture. As for the others... they were stripped naked and left to freeze to death in the blizzard."

The villagers were still shaken by the memory and took a big gulp of hot tea to calm their fear.

"To treat one's own people with such methods... Wapol, that bastard!"

Anger filled Vivi's chest. She knew that Wapol was a bastard, but she didn't expect that after so many years, he had become even more of a bastard.

“Don’t worry, just leave it to me,” Chen Yong’an said. “I came here specifically for this.”

"Really?" The village leader's eyes trembled with excitement. "We'll do anything you ask if you can help us drive Wapol away!"

"That's right, we can promise you anything!"

The other villagers echoed loudly, and some even knelt down before Chen Yong'an immediately.

Chen Yong'an did not stop him, and continued, "Anything? What if I wanted this country, and you wanted to become my citizens?"

"What?" The leading villager was taken aback, not expecting Chen Yong'an to make such a request.

“I mean, give me this country.”

"This...this request...could you perhaps change it to something else?"

Although it was difficult to say, the leading villager gritted his teeth and told the story.

“This is not a request, this is a notification,” Chen Yong’an shook his head. “You are powerless to resist Wapol’s violent rule. This country is doomed. If I can rescue you, what’s wrong with submitting to me?”

"I'm sorry, this is our hometown after all, and it's really hard to just hand it over..."

"But I didn't ask you to leave, did I? Things will remain the same, and you can even live a better life than before."

"Can you guarantee you won't go any further than Wapol?" a villager who didn't believe Chen Yong'an questioned.

“Of course, I swear in the name of the Sun God,” Chen Yong’an said, taking a stack of leaflets from his pocket and placing them in front of the leading villager. “These are some policies I plan to implement in my territory. You should be able to read them, right?”

“I can understand it,” the leading villager said, reaching out to take the leaflet and instinctively looking down at it.

Then I was completely shocked.

"W-what? Individuals are exempt from all taxes for five years?"

These words caused an uproar among those present.

In this world, every member state of the world government has high taxes.

The kingdom takes a share, the world government takes a share, and the Celestial Dragons take a share. Under such high taxes, everyone is gritting their teeth to survive. Most ordinary people can barely make ends meet and avoid starvation.

Only places with exceptionally abundant resources or pillar industries can live comfortably under high taxes.

Even with high taxes, places like Seven Waters City, with its lucrative shipbuilding industry as a pillar, still manage to thrive.

If you're not so lucky, you can only take on more jobs, sell your blood, beg, rummage through garbage dumps, steal, rob, or become a pirate.

They'll do anything to survive.

So how could the leading villagers not be shocked when they saw that they would be exempt from all taxes for five years?

If Chen Yong'an is allowed to rule this country, then all legal output within five years will belong to him!

Not only within five years, but also after five years, as long as the income does not reach the tax threshold, there will still be no taxation!

This standard is even more unattainable for ordinary people like them!

The villager in the lead was breathing heavily, his face flushed, and he said in a trembling voice, "Sir, are you serious?"

"Of course, this policy is being implemented in Alabasta right now. Under my administration, most of them are now able to meet the standards for paying taxes, and they take pride in being able to pay taxes."

Furthermore, you will certainly not be left out in protecting the country. You should all have witnessed our strength. Protecting civilians from pirates and the World Government is my promise.

While becoming a member state means paying a significant amount of taxes to the World Government, it's not without its benefits. For instance, when attacked by pirates, you can request assistance from the World Government, which will then dispatch its navy.

To protect wealthy noblemen from pirates.

This is the main reason why most countries are desperate to become a member state.

It's not just about paying for security, but also about gaining 'human rights' and avoiding legal plunder by world governments.

At the cost of ordinary people's production.

“Sun God… no, Your Majesty, your loyal people welcome you to your faithful Drum Island.”

Chapter 446: Wapol

Just like the Transformers meme says, the Decepticons enslave humans by providing an eight-hour workday, three meals plus snacks, triple overtime pay, three bonuses a year, two months of annual leave, and the most cruel thing is that they only get a raise once every four months.

Faced with such "enslavement," most people simply cannot refuse.

Although Chen Yong'an could not offer such generous terms, he could easily exempt people from taxes for a few years and raise the tax threshold.

That alone was enough to make the people of this world devoted to Chen Yong'an and regard him as their one true god.

It's not that Chen Yong'an did anything particularly good, but rather that the rulers of this world are utterly inhuman.

Under these conditions, Chen Yong'an easily gained the loyalty of the people of the Drum Kingdom, who were even filled with indignation and shouted that they would follow Chen Yong'an to punish the traitor Wapol.

However, Chen Yong'an refused the villagers' request to follow him, saying that they would only get in his way.

Chen Yong'an assigned the villagers other tasks, asking them to distribute leaflets to people in other villages and towns, telling them that their king had returned.

On the way to Wapol's castle, Vivi, sitting on a sled being pulled by land ducks, couldn't help but say, "I still think your policy is too extreme. Five years of tax exemption and such a high tax threshold, how much money will you lose?"

"So be it. Besides, I never intended to make money off ordinary people anyway, it's too shabby."

"So whose money do you want to make?" Vivi asked.

“I’ll make money off whoever has money,” Chen Yong’an said. “Besides, money only has value when it circulates. If it’s just sitting in the rich’s vault, it’s just a piece of waste paper. It’s better to let ordinary people spend more money. That’s called stimulating the economy.”

"Is this what you had Nami researching in Alabasta?"

"Well, I don't understand economics. We should let professionals do what they do best. When our territory expands, we'll need to issue our own currency. Only by having the power to print money can we truly be considered a country."

In other words, we are still under the control of the world government.

Weiwei was a little confused; what Chen Yong'an was saying was still too profound and too advanced for her.

The group trudged through the snow and arrived at the cable car station that the villagers had mentioned, which leads to the castle at the top of Cigu Mountain.

Although one could ascend using skills like Moonwalk, it would still be troublesome; taking the cable car would be much easier.

As the only way for ordinary people to reach the top of Cigu Mountain, the cable car is heavily guarded. Soldiers in black military coats are armed and on guard to prevent anyone from using the cable car without permission.

"Hey, look here."

The sudden shout attracted the attention of all the soldiers, and then, under the terrifying intimidation, he foamed at the mouth and fainted.

"What a convenient ability," Mai Shiranui said enviously. "I wish I could awaken Conqueror's Haki too."

"Haha, not just anyone can awaken this; you need to have the 'qualities of a king'."

"What exactly constitutes being qualified?" Mai Shiranui pressed.

“I think they probably have ambitions to dominate the seas,” Chen Yong’an said after thinking for a moment. “Who knows?”

Having dealt with the guards, the group naturally gained access to the cable car, boarded it, and headed towards the summit of Cigu Mountain.

Take a look at the snow-covered landscape of the Drum Kingdom, where thousands of miles are frozen and snow falls for miles.

“What a wonderful view,” Mai Shiranui said, leaning against the cable car railing and gazing at the magnificent scenery before her.

"By the way, don't you guys think this so-called Magnetic Drum Mountain looks like a mushroom stem?"

"What?" Chen Yong'an asked.

"It's the stem of the mushroom after the cap has been removed," Mai Shiranui said, pointing to several flat-topped mountains of varying heights rising abruptly from the island.

"Or it's a tree whose crown has been cut off, otherwise this mountain peak is really too strange, isn't it?"

"It's possible, but I'm more inclined to believe that the mushroom cap was removed, since mushrooms are a specialty of the Drum Kingdom... In the future, we can make the cultivation of edible mushrooms a pillar industry of the Drum Kingdom."

“Hmm, the mushrooms from the Drum Kingdom are quite delicious,” Vivi said. “They would be very popular if we sold them!”

"Hey, we're getting off topic," Mai Shiranui tapped Chen Yong'an's chest with her fan. "Can't we not talk about national affairs right now?"

“Okay, then let’s talk about something else,” Chen Yong’an put his arm around Mai Shiranui’s shoulder, “would you like to experience what it’s like to play here?”

"Aren't you afraid of the cold?!" Mai Shiranui elbowed Chen Yong'an. "You'll know you're wrong when you get frozen!"

"You're a user of the Flame-Flame Fruit, right? Just raise the temperature and the problem will be solved. What are you afraid of?"

I'll burn you into a hot dog then!

Mai Shiranui made a face at Chen Yong'an, and no matter what, she would not agree to Chen Yong'an's absurd request.

Chen Yong'an was just saying it casually; at the speed of the cable car, there was simply no time to do anything else.

A few minutes later, the cable car arrived at the top of the mountain.

Soldiers were also guarding the mountaintop. Upon seeing unfamiliar faces emerging from the cable car, they instinctively reached for their weapons.

But it was too late.

Releasing Conqueror's Haki is just a thought away.

These soldiers were simply no match for them.

But their swaggering behavior eventually caught the attention of the guards, who then sounded the alarm.

"Intruder!"

The soldiers inside the castle immediately poured out, raising their muskets and aiming them at the invading crowd.

"Who dares to invade the territory of my King Wapol?"

As a boastful voice rang out, a man with a mouth and body as fat as a hippo appeared in everyone's sight.

"Is this what Wapol is?" Mary Rose couldn't help but whisper to Mona beside her. "He looks like a hippo. No wonder the decorations in the castle are all hippo-shaped. His taste is as bad as his appearance."

"Who are you calling incompetent!" Wapol keenly caught Mary Rose's voice. "How dare you speak ill of me like that! Do you know how grave that crime is?"

“I told you you were lousy, so what?” Marilyn made a face at Wapol. “A lousy king, not even as good as a hippo!”

"Death penalty!" Wapol roared in fury. "Give me the death penalty! Open fire now!"

The soldier with the gun hesitated for a moment, after all, she was just a little girl.

"Why haven't you opened fire yet? Are you trying to disobey my orders?!"

“It can’t be fired,” Chen Yong’an said coldly, and walked step by step toward Wapol.

As Chen Yong'an approached, one by one, the soldiers around Wapol collapsed to the ground, foaming at the mouth and unconscious.

In a short while, only Wapol remained in the room.

Without lifting a finger, he took down a group of soldiers, a sight that terrified Wapol so much that he wet himself, exclaiming in horror, "What... what kind of ability is this?"