The town below the mountain was filled with smoke, and the battle was fierce. In a small cabin in the woods, tea was brewing, and pastries were being enjoyed in a leisurely manner.
Fujitora held a bowl of rice and finished the noodle soup. After putting it down, he let out a satisfied burp.
"It's been a long time since I've had a hot meal!"
Before this, in order to conceal his tracks, he didn't dare enter the town. In the woods, he didn't even dare to light a fire. When he was hungry, he ate dry rations, and when he was thirsty, he drank from the stream.
Even when Rowen came, to avoid drawing the attention of prying eyes, the CP0 agent disguised as a small shop owner wouldn't cook for a third person. He continued to nibble on dry rations.
"Thank you for your trouble, Fujitora San!"
Rowen knew what kind of days he had been through during this period. He nodded solemnly and then smiled, saying, "Now that it's all over, the New World won't be calm for a short while. You can relax a bit."
"Ah, that's impossible!"
Fujitora sighed and said, "Before this journey, Century City received an invitation for investment from 'Gold Emperor' Gild Tesoro. He offered to buy 10% of Century City's shares in exchange for 10% of Golden City's shares..."
"Isn't that a good thing?"
The CP0 agent who was called in to assist them was puzzled. "Gold Emperor controls nearly 20% of the world's Belly. As the most important industry under his control, even 10% of Gold City's shares would be enough to buy the entire city!"
"Trading only one-tenth of the shares against the interests opposing your entire net worth, is Tesoro doing charity work?"
Rowen rolled his eyes and then impatiently ordered, "Alright, don't use your unbearable clichéd rhetoric, or you'll embarrass your master for no reason!"
Pū Tōng!
The CP0 agent was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat and knelt to the ground.
"I'm sorry, Rowen Sama, I..."
"It's a professional habit, I understand."
Rowen glanced at him, sweat pouring down, and gestured with his eyes.
"Yes, I'll take my leave!"
The CP0 agent waved his hand, and the CP0 agents inside and outside the cabin immediately retreated thirty meters away. After respectfully saluting Rowen, he left in a hurry, closing the door behind him.
Fujitora watched this scene (not surprised) and a wry smile appeared on his face.
"Even the CP0, the spy organization directly under the Celestial Dragons, is so afraid of you, Vice Admiral Rowen. Are you really not a Celestial Dragon?"
"They're not afraid of me, but of Lirisk... Anyway, why talk about this? What did Tesoro's envoy say?"
Rowen had initially wanted to explain a bit about the nature of power, but he estimated that Fujitora wouldn't understand or like to hear it, so he skipped it.
Indeed, Fujitora didn't want to know why. In any case, he had boarded the pirate ship and couldn't get off. He could only follow Rowen all the way to the end.
"As expected, I can't hide anything from you."
Shaking his head lightly, Fujitora continued, "In addition to investing in Century City's gambling and various businesses, he also wants to establish a bank in Century City. Just like before, I'll have 90% and he'll have 10%."
Exactly!
Rowen's pupils contracted, seeming to have realized something.
Gold Emperor controlling 20% of the world's Belly, what kind of concept was that?!
Relying solely on the profits of the Golden City, it would take Tesoro a lifetime to accumulate such a terrifying amount. And he could only control the gold, not create it. With limited output, at most, he could use the Gold-Gold Fruit to accumulate assets in the early stages.
Those world-famous pirates always thought that their bounties of hundreds of millions or even billions of Belly were astronomical figures, and they believed that even if Tesoro was rich, it wasn't that impressive...
In reality, they were the fools.
Limited by their perspectives, they believed that having a few hundred million Belly was already a lot, after all, the World Government's bounties didn't seem particularly generous.
But they didn't know that in the face of the astronomical figure of "20% of the world's Belly", a few hundred million Belly?
Sorry!
"Squeezing blood from a stone" was an exaggeration.
That was no longer a number, but a force! If he made these 20% of the Belly disappear, the world would rage because of it!
From this perspective, Tesoro, like Whitebeard, was a force that could single-handedly Destroy the World...
That was the power of money!
And the source of the immense wealth he accumulated was his true business, the Black Market Bank!
Tesoro's rise in the face of suppression from the Donquixote Family and various other forces is not worth mentioning for now. It was already a thing of the past and almost impossible to imitate.
All Rowen needed to know was that in the year 1517, the Black Market Bank provided Tesoro with profits exceeding 900 Billion Belly!!
This data was calculated by the Noble Dragon of the Celestial Dragons Family. There was definitely some margin of error, but the margin of error for the data obtained on the surface was almost zero.
With Tesoro's control over the seven parts of the banking industry, the immense profits generated by the banking industry were evident. Otherwise, where would Tesoro get the confidence to make the Gorōsei (Five Elder Stars) yield to him? Where would he get the confidence to befriend the haughty Celestial Dragons?
However, even so, Tesoro was not perfect. He still had a very obvious weakness...
That was, the entire Golden City, including him, couldn't be considered as top-tier fighters on the sea. Without top-tier fighters guarding it, it eventually fell victim to being single-handedly taken down by the Straw Hats, leaving him with nothing.
So, Tesoro's charitable intentions were quite obvious. He wanted to bring Fujitora, who could rival a Marine Admiral, onto his side to compensate for his own last remaining weakness.
"What's your opinion..."
After all, Fujitora and he were only in a cooperative relationship, so Rowen wanted to hear his thoughts before speaking.
"Letting wicked individuals go is not as effective as holding their lives at stake!"
"I can agree to Tesoro's invitation, but I want to strive for maximum initiative!"
Fujitora stared at Rowen with his pupil-less eyes.
Rowen was momentarily stunned, then his mouth curled up. "Understood!"
No wonder Fujitora brought up this matter now. It turns out he was waiting for him for this.
...
Bang!!!
Haki enveloped the fist, and a powerful force burst out, shattering the incoming torrent of flames. Ace inwardly exclaimed that this was not good, retracting his prepared follow-up attack. He propelled himself through the air with flames shooting from his feet, using the recoil to land on the roof.
Shuā... chī la!!
As expected, in the next moment, a sharp claw force appeared not far in front of him. The hard stone wall emitted a crisp sound as it tore open, leaving behind a clean and smooth fissure.
"Oh? You managed to dodge it, not bad. You must be Ace, the 'Fire Fist', the Second Division commander of Whitebeard!"
A golden-haired youth in a long black coat descended from mid-air. The wide-brimmed hat couldn't conceal the extensive burn scars on his right eye. He glanced at Koala, breathed a sigh of relief, and picked up the metal box from the ground, tucking it into his pocket.
"You guys go first, I'll stop him!"
"Sabo! I..."
"He's right, Koala."
Hack stopped Koala, who wanted to say something, and said to Sabo, "Sabo, we'll wait for you at the rendezvous point for three days!"
"Yo! Understood!"
Sabo raised two fingers to his forehead and grinned playfully at Koala. Then, he put away his playful expression and solemnly promised, "Don't worry, I'll come back alive."
"Okay!"
Koala nodded slightly, her eyes slightly moist. Then, she and Hack retreated towards the distance.
Mustache Town was too dangerous right now, with frenzied forces battling everywhere.
They were not only after the Dark-Dark Fruit, but also driven by personal vendettas to strike down their opponents!
Everything was in chaos!
"Alright, I have the Dark-Dark Fruit now. Big guy, you seem to want it very much?"
Huā Lā La...
Teach pushed aside the rubble on top of him, blood dripping from his forehead. He panted heavily through his nostrils, his wickedness roaring ruthlessly.
"Give me the Dark-Dark Fruit!!"
"Wait, Teach!!"
Ace, who had been silent until now, hurriedly spoke, but the torment of being close to Teach several times only to be pushed away by various accidents had already driven Teach into madness.
From the battle at the summit, it could be seen that Marshall D. Teach was a formidable figure, but he was by no means a calm and decisive strategist.
His emotions were running high, and he didn't care about any orders.
"Die!!"
A jet of black light burst from Teach's hand, and in the next moment, he was clashing with Sabo.
"Be careful!"
Ace gritted his teeth inwardly, looking at the golden-haired man fighting Teach with a serious expression, his footsteps hesitating.
Who was he, after all?!!!
(End of this chapter)