"I understand." Lily said, pursing her lips again as if wanting to say something, but upon seeing Sage's insatiable look, she kept silent.
Desire indeed keeps rising.
From the simple feast at the beginning, to later feasts requiring rare ingredients, then to a meal needing two or three hundred dishes, transforming into five or six hundred dishes, and even being unable to finish them, to now... In order to satisfy his own desires, he no longer cared about the trouble.
Sea Kings are intelligent, unlike Sea Beasts, they aren't that easy to capture, and even if caught, their intelligence might not yield easily. Moreover, entering the stomach of a Sea King to retrieve something...
It's inherently dangerous.
This bit of danger is nothing, but the underlying essence it reflects makes Lily feel more and more that everything she does is right.
Fortunately, there's only Sage here.
While elsewhere, nobles or 'Heavenly Celestial Dragons' like Sage are as numerous as stars.
The killing must continue.
"Master Sage..."
Gin's voice came from outside the door.
"Enter." Lily turned her gaze, letting Gin come in.
This time they didn't bring many people for the voyage, and with the sea level rising by another meter, signifying more things to handle. Even during navigation, Lily needed the Radio Snail to communicate orders as an Assistant Officer.
The other officials had even more to deal with.
This voyage, besides the cook Marika and Lily who always goes out with Sage, they only brought Gin along to command the subordinates on board.
After Gin came in and greeted Lily and Marika, he said: "There's a call from Totto Land, Perospero asks if we need an escort, and if we'd like to host a banquet?"
"Escort for what? Him escorting me or me escorting him?"
Sage chuckled and said: "Alright, let him do his own job well. I don't even like sweets. If he does his job well, everything's negotiable. With that time, better hurry up and clear out Totto Land's surrounding seas, stop doing nonsense, this is the 'frontline'."
"Hmm..."
He pondered again, looking at Lily, "Note this down, call back and have Vegapunk send a clone over, using the thirty-four islands of Totto Land as the base, with their abilities as the standard, to build tailored defense and monitoring mechanisms. As a frontline, it should be built like an iron barrel at best, able to hold off until the defense line in case an Admiral comes with a fleet."
The people in Totto Land each have skills using sweets as materials. Cracker's compressed biscuits harder than steel, Perospero's molding sugary liquid, and even the raw materials inherent in those sweets, they don't even need to procure resources elsewhere, they can manage on their own.
Bring in some high-tech talent, and with these materials polished, Totto Land could be made into a military frontline.
Otherwise, as in the past, an Admiral bringing a fleet can charge straight at Totto Land, and at that time, no matter how you fight, Sage will be at a loss.
"Haven't we already established deterrence?"
Gin asked in confusion, "Why build such high-standard defenses?"
Lily was also puzzled, logically speaking, such foundational tasks Sage would usually prioritize, because it boosts economics. But now with the current posture, it seems he's not planning to use their produced raw materials, but rather solve it with abilities.
"Deterrence is deterrence. Does having deterrence mean there won't be a war? Theoretically no war, but in reality, there are always conflicts."
Sage shook his head and laughed: "The things I want to do, those few old guys might endure, but can those Kings? Pressure will definitely be put on. Just saying with Pluton, they wouldn't let anything happen to my O'hara, other matters would be fought as they should. Moreover, do you think Akainu would care for this stuff? Or is Kizaru afraid of it?"
"I killed Zephyr before, that old guy. If he hadn't died back then and stayed until now, he'd probably be more extreme. If he knew there's such a thing as Ancient Weapons, he'd probably be mad enough to want to stir trouble. Lucky he died early, dying early made him a hero."
Three Final Islands?
Better to say it's just rumors of three Ancient Weapons' information, don't know where it's spreading from.
Back then he thought Bomb Rock was useful with abilities, but later with Renedia's better-made cannonballs, that stuff was no longer needed.
Could it even be more powerful than Ancient Weapons and himself?
But it's not just him possessing such power.
Ultimately, it still evolves into warfare.
"Yes, I'll go notify now."
"No rush, since you're here, Lily, take out the wine under a million Beli from the wine cabinet for him, reward the subordinates."
Sage said, letting Gin bring a box over, filled with wine, and leave the Captain's room.
Just as he walked out not long after, the radio snail at the desk suddenly rang again.
"One after another..."
Sage said irritably: "I'm the Four Emperors! Not the king of stopping things! Why is every call directed to me."
While speaking, Lily picked up the receiver, the radio snail's form changed to a cigar-biting, sinister-eyed, scar-nosed look.
"Ha, ha, ha, ha..."
Amidst a faint mimicry of the golden hook.
"Old Croc, what do you want?" Sage asked.
"Sage, I know your ship is heading this way. Was it you who caused the incidents at Lulucia and Red Harbor? Thanks to you, Kale Bali Island has shrunk to the point where even subordinates can't fit."
Crocodile's voice resounded, accompanied by Mihawk's voice as well.
"What do you intend to do, disaster? Even if the world is destroyed, it wouldn't benefit you."
"Maniac!" A scornful and haughty female voice interjected.
"I only made one move! Once! Am I to shoulder all the blame! You're courting death!"
Sage shouted angrily: "You better have something, or else I'll make you relocate now!"
"I know what you're up to, you shouldn't be on the frontlines for this, how about leaving it to us?"
Crocodile declared: "In your positioning, we should be the outposts, right? Since so, we can collaborate on this."
Sage paused, "Your mind's quick to use, hmm..."
He pondered for a while before saying, "Alright, prepare a banquet, I'll come to rest for a day, and we can talk then. Also, a quick question, do you personally think the sea level rise was my doing, or does the Underworld share this view?"
Crocodile laughed his iconic laugh, "All who got the news think so, they don't know how you did it, but it's a fact you kidnapped Vegapunk."
Sage clicked his tongue, snatching the receiver from Lily's hand and hung up with a loud slam.
"Hidden behind the scenes, well-hidden! They gain the benefits, and I carry the blame?"
Sage fumed: "Five Elders? More like Five and a Half!"
"Not necessarily a bad thing, at least it instills fear." Lily tried to analyze.
"So, war is inevitable."
Sage snickered: "I initially planned a backup plan, but now there's no need for planning, Totto Land becomes the military frontline. It's certain that when the routes open, we will definitely have a fight!"
"However... there's nothing to fear."
Sage picked up the bottle, poured himself a glass of wine, downed it in one go, licking his lips, "After resting for so long, a clash is due. No amount of practice compares to the urgency of real battle, only this can advance my Haki. That robot with Supreme King... is also a challenge, rightfully it'll surpass predecessors."
He still remembered the accumulated Supreme King, storing such Haki was no difficulty, the challenge was the quality of that Supreme King, which was remarkably rare.
Stronger than Red Hair.
Fighting a battle is good too, it's an opportunity to settle old scores.
Right, Sakazuki...