Inside the captain's cabin of the Death Star, Sage was drinking, while Lily stood by the window, using binoculars to observe the surroundings.
After leaving their territory, they passed by quite a few islands along the way. Mapping these islands now could save time in future searches.
The sea is vast, particularly in the New World, where climates are more unpredictably diverse. Sage couldn't claim to have discovered all the islands even within his own territory.
There are always some islands yet to be discovered.
What Lily found was an island with towering sharp peaks, the whole island was extremely steep, with the faint outlines of villages visible on some slopes.
A typical barren rocky mountain, with only a bit of grassland and trees.
In terms of terrain, it's unsuitable for a port; in terms of resources, the rocky mountain is too barren; in terms of population... Lily can vaguely see the ruined villages.
The population shouldn't be high; having a few hundred people would be considered good.
"Sage, I've always had a question..."
Lily put down the binoculars and turned to Sage, asking, "Why would you want an island like this?"
It's not that Lily despised such places; conversely, she was comforted by Sage's ability to give these people a path to survival. After all, under Sage's rule, without oppression, life would be better.
However, both as a pirate and from her royal family education, she'd been taught that such places aren't worth conquering.
Islands like this shouldn't be ruled over; even for plunder, one wouldn't choose here.
But Sage was different. As long as there is land on the sea, if it's within his defined territory, then it's his.
"Why shouldn't I take what's mine?"
Sage stretched out his five fingers and clenched them tightly, "As long as it's mine, no matter how it looks, I'll want it!"
He's a perfectionist when it comes to territorial maps.
Not to mention a rocky island, even a tiny island with just one coconut tree wouldn't escape his grasp.
"Don't underestimate a rocky island; used wisely, it can be quite effective. Tall rocky mountains like this are rare... Oh, look, there's a waterfall nearby."
"Extract some stone materials from around here, flatten the terrain for infrastructure. Later, this tall waterfall and rocky mountain can serve as a tourist spot... Lily, what sea area is this?" Sage asked.
"Interwoven spring-summer, not too cold in winter." Lily took a closer look at the island's terrain and responded.
"It's perfect. With the surrounding calm seas, flatten the area nearby, you can fish and swim here. Once tourists come, won't this place be revitalized?"
Sage laughed, "Once the economy is boosted, then taxes will come, I'll eat meat, they'll drink soup, everyone will have a bright future. If nothing else works, it can still be used for factories."
There are indeed quite a few such islands under Sage's influence, all poor and destitute, with barren land and no specialties.
Islands like these are most suitable for setting up highly polluting factories.
Even a solitary coconut tree island could be used for exiling those who have made mistakes—not severe enough for execution but needing punishment.
In the most traditional pirate style, when someone makes a mistake, then given a gun with only one bullet, they're left on such islands; surviving would be their skill, failing to do so means shooting themselves.
In his hands, there's no such thing as a useless island; at most, he hasn't thought of a way to develop it yet.
Sage doesn't care much about poverty.
The benefit of vigorously developing industries is this: as long as the industry develops, and demand increases, even the poorest places won't remain poor, as long as there are people.
This is also what makes Sage different from other pirates.
"Hahaha!" Thinking of this, Sage couldn't help but laugh.
"Sage, what's making you laugh again?" Lily asked.
"I'm laughing at Blackbeard for his lack of intelligence, gathering so many pirates but incapable of development, even robbing can't reach a high level."
"I'm laughing at Big Mom for her lack of strategy, having such a strong nation but relying only on abilities for forced survival, not understanding sustainable development at all."
"I'm laughing at Kaido for his indecision, governing such a prosperous nation, yet being a pirate and hiding behind the scenes, even the Five-Star Emperor wouldn't play like that!"
"I'm laughing at Red Hair for his lack of vision, with such a promising future to become the second Pirate King, yet ending up like this!"
"Only I, when it comes to being a pirate, am the absolute best!"
Sage laughed heartily.
Be it plundering or ruling, Sage is the top player.
Even the most traditional pirates aim to ensure a comfortable retirement with the loot.
What Sage does now is no different, it's just more advanced; he doesn't play for one-time gains.
He's fulfilling the promise he made during his pirate days, which is for him to eat meat, and his people under him to drink soup.
What is pirate rule?
Is it just exploiting people underneath so they can't survive, can't afford anything, and can only nibble on cornbread to be called ruling?
Can't it be everyone prospering together, lives flourishing, consumer power steadily rising, making the places they reside increasingly prosperous, with tax revenues rising nicely along with Sage living in splendid places?
That's pirate ruling too!
Lily, too, arched a smile, she was about to say something, but her gaze suddenly froze; just outside the window, she saw a silhouette on a slope, seemingly waving its arm towards them...
Despite her Observation seeing nothing unusual, she sensed an inexplicable sense of danger.
"Sage!" she instinctively called out.
Whoosh...
A silent fierce wind suddenly swept by, yet carried noises to Lily's ear; under the wind's sound, Lily felt the deck beneath her feet suddenly vanished.
Two thousand people, no matter where they stood, were now appearing in the air, showing a momentary stasis.
Under Lily's feet, those subordinates supposed to be resting in the cabin were maintaining resting postures one by one.
There were others seemingly drinking, displaying the gesture of holding up glasses with laughter, yet with empty hands without a trace of anything.
Except for these people, everything else disappeared.
The incredibly huge Death Star, just vanished in the sea, without a trace...
As if it never happened.
"Hehehe..."
On the slope, Jekai laughed aloud:
"The power of Divine Concealment lies in invisibility, it doesn't target individuals, so how would it be found? Calamity, no matter how strong your Haki is, I'm not dealing with you, but ability users without their ship... isn't that a kind of doom!"
He considered himself fairly knowledgeable about the so-called Calamity.
The daring to publicly execute Heavenly Celestial Dragons and rob an allied nation, the power to repel three Pirate Emperors, and the strategy to collaborate with Blackbeard all indicated this guy wasn't easy to deal with.
But no matter how difficult to handle, it doesn't mean it can't be done.
As for that world government's special agent, he never trusted them.
Suddenly showing up, they could easily go over to other pirates' places. As far as he knows, the world government and pirates can have more than simple hostile relationships.
From the start, his battlefield was not his own territory but was placed on the island, a necessary pass to the Country of Cyan.
Surely, he waited just in time!