A luxurious carriage convoy set out from Habu Port, carrying Valthior and the others toward the Flower Capital.
The expensive incense filled the carriage with a lazy, pleasant scent.
Valthior half leaned on the couch, drinking tea and enjoying this long-missed feeling of luxury.
Shanks, Buggy, and Spencer were sitting in the same carriage as him, but because the carriage was extremely large and wide, even with quite a few people inside, it still felt very spacious.
"Look at this. Even the crossbeam is inlaid with jade. The cost of this carriage is probably higher than our Oro Jackson, right?" Shanks said with emotion, touching the silk velvet cushion beneath his butt.
Lincoln respectfully poured tea for Shanks and said with a smile, "Saint Shanks, this carriage cost twenty-seven billion berries to make. The main structure of the entire carriage was built using wood from the Treasure Tree Adam. The wood on the roof that gives off soft sunlight was covered with material from the Sunlight Tree Eve. It is decorated with seventy-two deep-sea blue pearls from Fish-Man Island. All the paint coatings are made from powders of various gemstones. The soft cloth wrapped around the edges is all top-grade silk offered as tribute from the Kano Kingdom. There is also..."
Listening to Lincoln's introduction, both Shanks and Buggy were left with their mouths hanging open.
The details were everywhere. Every visible and invisible part of the entire carriage was piled high with the most luxurious materials.
Even the cheapest pigment used was gold leaf.
The extravagance of the Celestial Dragons and the profound wealth of the Five Elders' families were on full display here.
"What are you so surprised about? The Figarland Family's wealth is no less impressive. If you wanted, you could go back to Mary Geoise right now and enjoy everything this world has to offer." Valthior said with a raised brow and a smile.
Although Imu was a despicable person who stole the fruits of victory, a dictator with a strong desire for control, and a senile chess player, one had to say that Imu treated the descendants of the twenty kings and the Celestial Dragons of Mary Geoise extremely well, so well that there was almost no limit to it.
Whether it was out of guilt or some other reason, in short, if you came into this world and were born as a Celestial Dragon, and if you had no great ambition and only wanted to enjoy life, then all you needed to do was firmly support Imu-sama.
He would not treat you badly.
A dark glint flashed in Shanks' eyes before he shook his head. "No thanks. Although I like all this, I have no desire to enjoy wealth stained with my mother's blood. One day, I will make them all pay for it!"
In the original story, Shanks was not a flashy person, nor was he obsessed with wealth or drunk on enjoyment.
After all, he had grown up in the Roger Pirates. One could not say the Roger Pirates were especially poor, but they definitely did not enjoy any top-grade luxuries either.
But things were different now. Counting the timing, Shanks had boarded the ship on the same day as Valthior. As Shanks's uncle-figure, Valthior had never treated him poorly since he was a child.
Growing up in this kind of environment, Shanks had naturally been "raised rich." Valthior was not someone who liked to wrong himself, so Shanks, who stayed by Valthior's side, was also used to that kind of rich pirate life.
As for Buggy, although he had boarded halfway through, this kid's dream was to live an extremely rich and luxurious life, so there was even less need to mention him.
"Remarkable ambition," Valthior praised.
At this time, Buggy also came back to his senses. He counted on his fingers and said, "If I remember right, Captain Roger once said that the Oro Jackson cost them more than three hundred million berries to build, and this carriage..."
He started arguing over this with Shanks, while Valthior could not be bothered to join the discussion. Instead, he looked at Lincoln and asked, "How is Wano's overall transformation going? What stage has it reached?"
"Before your return, in order to maintain effective local order, we continued to support the old Wano nobility—led by the Kurozumi Family—as the public-facing rulers. At the same time, we fully suppressed the supporters and followers of the Kozuki clan. Although rebel forces in various regions kept rising up, they were all put down by the family guards we brought here. However, there are still some remaining forces hiding everywhere and fighting us through guerrilla tactics," Lincoln said softly.
The Kozuki clan could be said to have ruled Wano for more than eight hundred years, passing power down from generation to generation in an orderly line. Although there must have been some tyrants among them over the years, overall, Wano still leaned toward the Kozuki family, and this clan held very high prestige in the country.
Because of that, even though the Roger Pirates had wiped out the Kozuki clan back then, and had even killed all the daimyos, nobles, samurai, and others who were close to the Kozuki clan, after the Roger Pirates left, there were still many rebel armies all over Wano raising the banner of the "Kozuki family." It was as if their family discipline had been poor, with illegitimate children everywhere.
Before Valthior and the others returned, they had already expected this situation.
"It looks like we still have to carry out a high-pressure policy," Spencer said, breathing out a mouthful of smoke.
Back when they were still the Roger Pirates, they had no need for a main base or fixed territory, so perhaps they would not have cared.
But now, their needs were different. If they wanted to grow bigger and stronger, they had to have a stable foundation that supported them.
Spencer was not some saint. Shanks and Buggy had also experienced the massacre of Wano's upper nobles before, so they did not feel any mental burden either.
Valthior had even less goodwill toward this country, so from the very beginning, they had already decided to manage Wano with heavy pressure.
"Do you think there are many civilians who hold extreme resistance toward us?" Valthior looked at Lincoln and asked.
"This subordinate has carried out a detailed secret investigation on this matter." When he said this, Lincoln's expression became slightly awkward. "Young Master, in truth, the people of Wano hold very strong resistance toward us. This may have something to do with their traditional culture and the influence of the country being closed off for hundreds of years. They are extremely xenophobic, let alone willing to be ruled by outsiders. According to my investigation, almost more than ninety-six percent of Wano's people are potential threats and may be turned into rebels and rioters at any time."
There was nothing that could be done about this. Just as Lincoln had said, this country had been closed off for too long. It also had a single national body, and its culture contained samurai-related and other feudal brainwashing ideas, giving it an extremely strong sense of rejection toward outsiders. They were not even willing to communicate with people from other seas, let alone be ruled by them.
They could not even afford to eat rice, yet they still wanted to be loyal to the shogun.
In the original story, Kaido was probably also tormented by this endless trouble, so he chose to support Kurozumi Orochi, control Wano from behind, and then brutally enslave and squeeze these troublesome people.
Although Valthior was also a long-tested feudal warrior, since he had never planned to play around with freedom or democracy, the more he was that kind of feudal warrior, the less he could tolerate a foundation that refused to obey and refused to be loyal.
He came to Wano to be the emperor.
Those dissatisfied with his rule were all troublesome commoners without exception.
"More than ninety-six percent? Doesn't that mean they're basically all rebels?" Valthior said directly.
As for that tiny remaining portion, they were probably the "vassals" led by the Kurozumi family.
Valthior did not like those troublesome commoners, and he also looked down on these cowardly nobles who clung to life.
"You can understand it that way as well," Lincoln nodded and said.
"Those who dare to rebel against our rule in Wano are no ordinary troublemakers. We must strike hard," Valthior declared.
He didn't need to say anything more specific. Lincoln understood perfectly.
After all, he was a manager for a Celestial Dragon family. How Celestial Dragons dealt with troublesome commoners was something he knew all too well.
It was only because Lord Valthior was kind-hearted. Otherwise, he would have simply sent invitation letters to Mary Geoise, welcoming his inhuman beastly 'fellow Celestial Dragons' to come to Wano and throw a big party.
Huh? But thinking about it carefully… Wano might actually be a perfect match for those 'fellow' Celestial Dragons of his?
A match made in heaven, really.
"We will immediately increase the introduction of outside population on our side. Young Master, please rest assured. The New World may lack other things, but people who are homeless and hope to find a stable place to live can be seen everywhere," Lincoln immediately stated.
Valthior had only said to strike hard, and Lincoln immediately said they would increase the introduction of population.
What did that mean? It meant that from now on, they would no longer treat the people of Wano as people. They would be used directly as consumables to make room for outsiders.
And by bringing in outside population and providing them with a stable basic living environment, Valthior would also be able to gain great loyalty from these outsiders.
As for those rebel samurai hiding in the mountains and waging guerrilla warfare against him, Vlathior had already considered issuing a 'scalping' decree once the immigrant population reached a certain level and they could provide basic self-defense capabilities.
If that still couldn't wipe out the rebels, then he'd have to admit they had strong vitality!
He'd give them a "well done."
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