He doesn't need to levy taxes prematurely to complete armament, as his personal martial skills are sufficient, without having to overdraft the future.
Yet this portion of money is purely unrealized profit, because it concerns the future. Once the road is completed, it will allow more residential and commercial areas to emerge in O'hara's outskirts, attracting more merchants here, and the taxes he'll collect are future ones.
A major road being constructed, relying on people's work and business tax, might take ten years to break even, but people are the productivity, and Sage knows that; he won't be stingy on this matter.
The remainder is business ventures unattractive to merchants, and these deals are unsuitable for Sage to personally handle. They can't become core industries but are temporarily needed. So he simply leads the way, publicly invests part of it, and encourages more people to participate. Once the industry scales up, he withdraws the principal and lets the merchants run it.
Profit or loss, it's all meat in the pot anyway, it doesn't matter.
Lying in the bank are Belly seized from Tesoro, but if this money is used solely for O'hara, it is actually a shock; it can only be dissipated by being placed worldwide, hence most of the time Sage maintains normal development.
Even though his studies were poor back then, he understands inflation and deflation. What's the use of just having money?
He cannot open trade routes, a trillion Belly is like waste paper, unable to harvest goods.
But now... the opportunity has come.
"Ble-ble-ble-ble..."
In the room within the Royal Palace, Sage dialed a phone number, placed the receiver on the table, opened a bottle of champagne, found a high-stemmed glass and poured some, picked up the glass and swirled it, staring at the liquid inside.
Aside from the Radio Snail making the call, another Radio Snail opened its eyes, projecting an image onto the wall. The position in the image is of a massive red mountain, overflowing with waves, a sight that stretches endlessly.
But the direction facing is strategic, on the lower position, recessed into a shape of a closed stone door bearing the emblem of the World Government, beneath this emblem lies a fortress, with a ship marked with a main cannon in front.
Red Harbor.
Adjacent to Paradise and, like the Shampodi Islands by the Red Earth Continent, one can ascend to Mary Geoise from there. Similarly, on the New World side, there is a similar port controlled by the Navy, generally used to elevate or descend people arriving and departing.
Of course, only people are allowed, not ships.
And at this moment in Red Harbor, alarms rang out, and the Navy and World Government officials stationed there all sprang into action; some boarded the warships at the port to sail ahead and form a fleet, others entered the Red Harbor cannon platform, looking tense.
Tension is necessary.
They received the intel...
The Death Star is just in the distance!
The flagship of Four Emperor 'Calamity'!
"Do not panic."
Currently stationed at Red Harbor is the current Navy Headquarters Vice Admiral 'Yamakaji', a kindly dovish navy officer. He bit on a cigar, exhaled a puff of smoke, and spoke while facing the silhouette of the ship faintly visible:
"Calamity hasn't appeared, leading the team is the 'Sword Princess', she probably isn't here to start a fight, not sure what they want, Admiral Kizaru has already taken action first, no need to fear. And as the Navy, regardless of the scenario faced, fear should not be entertained; even though Four Emperors may be formidable, for the sake of justice, no matter how terrifying the enemy, retreat is not an option!"
"Yes!!"
The surrounding navy soldiers stood upright, saluting Yamakaji.
Meanwhile, in the distance, only visible from Red Harbor is the silhouette of a colossal black ship, several times larger than the navy's giant warships, amidst which several people were standing on the deck. Among them, some subordinates holding a massive live streaming Radio Snail with binocular mount, aiming at Red Harbor.
"Is it doable?"
Urouge glanced at Hawkins who was drawing cards beside him, "Is it reliable, I don't want to end up buried at sea."
"Relax, we have no signs of death today."
Hawkins repeatedly performed divination, verifying that at this distance, their survival rate remained over 85% each time, finally allowing some peace of mind.
Why not 99%... because the power of Pluton hasn't been witnessed yet, what he doesn't understand, naturally he can't get an estimate, reaching over 85% is considered fine.
After all, if fate dictates, even 99.99% is inadequate, there's always that one-thousandth chance to come knocking.
"Heh-heh-heh-heh, ancient weapons."
Moriah, accompanying the ship, let out an eerie shriek: "Now that I think about it, Wano Country even hides this weapon, Kaido, that guy, what a pity."
Kaido was aware Wano Country harbors Pluton, even if buried deep beneath the ocean, as Jack himself belonged to the Fishman Race and discovered the Poneglyph during exploration, and somehow learned of Pluton's existence here.
Just unfortunate, unable to activate temporarily, and ended up being defeated.
Otherwise, he might truly have followed Pirate King Roger as the one with the greatest chance of becoming Pirate King, and achieving his own dreams.
Yes, strong powers in the sea are like schools of fish, some might even overpower Roger, yet over the years, realized personal dreams are just as few as the digits on a hand.
Not the small-time dreams, while dreams don't have hierarchies, differences in scale are inevitable.
Pirate King Roger accomplished his dream of finding the Final Island, Laugh Tale, also fulfilled his aspiration on the sea.
Aside from him, there's Whitebeard.
He too fulfilled his dream, gaining 'family'.
In this magnitude, the only ones who've achieved dreams aside from them, others are a step short.
Big Mom's ambition appears close, only lacking a few races, but actually far, as her wish to dine together implies everyone becoming gigantic—something she cannot achieve.
Kaido's ambition... if he could activate Pluton, everything would not be a problem, solely through martial prowess, none could precede him as Pirate King, yet regrettably he's defeated by Sage.
And now, the key to this weapon is in Sage's hands, moreover... this time it's for experimentation.
"He regrets, but Sage doesn't."
Lily stood at the foreposition, one hand pressing down the sword hilt, allowing the sea wind to flutter her golden wavy long hair. She glanced toward Red Harbor for a while and suddenly spoke:
"It's better to notify them to retreat. This time's purpose is experimentation, but it so happens this location is obstructing us. We've issued a notice, whether to enact it or not is your matter."
Whoosh!
As soon as the words were uttered, a cluster of yellow light appeared on the ship's side railing, Kizaru hands pocketed, head wrapped in bandages, expressing surprise:
"Oh~ so frightening, Bienta Lily, can now even anticipate this old man? Seems transformed quite a lot, I heard Vegapunk is on your side, seems Sentomaru also defected over there, are they doing well?"
"Good or not, you know very well in your heart, don't you? Sage said you owe us favors, hence certain matters we warn you about, you strive for yourself, otherwise if those in Red Harbor vanish, it's irrelevant to us." Lily replied coolly.
"Ah... seems as though you've acquired formidable weapons, as Vegapunk mentioned, one of the ancient weapons? Pluton? Or Poseidon? Doing this will trigger world panic." Kizaru remarked.
"Doesn't really matter, pirates inherently instigate world panic, sooner or later it's the same. This time is merely experimentation, if successful, perhaps we will maintain peace for a while. Doing so, you'll be even less likely to rashly wage war with us."
"This really is... troublesome for this old man."
Kizaru said smilingly: "Does Red Harbor have to be the testing site? Can't another be chosen; the ocean's vast, discreetly releasing is acceptable."
"That place is just right, once opened, it becomes a fine passage."
Lily responded icily: "Sage handpicked the location himself, we don't intend to change it."