The events of Rica Island had played out as Alyssia had expected and slowly there was some small changes taking place within some areas as they gained more courage to risk their lives to gain freedom from the rule of the lawless king.
Alyssia finally received a call from one, two and three who had been monitoring the underworld and she started spending her berries as she burned through quite a bit of it.
Many shipments of Wapol Metal arrived Rica Island after moving the hands and feet of the White Storm to help speed everything up and make everything go smoother.
With the arrival of the Wapol Metal, many projects that had been halted were once again reignited and several alterations were made to different robots, mechs, exoskeleton suits or other tools.
It was not long before Alfred and Medea were both called back so that their modifications could be improved upon once Zhihaojin and others had properly gotten used to shaping and using the Wapol Metal.
Medea had already been modified to allow her to gain a better use of her Rumble Devil Fruit abilities and to store up extra energy within her body but also disguise her abilities as cyborg enhancements so she was able to build up her achievements in a short amount of time since gaining her new abilities but upon receiving her latest modifications, she had improved to a whole new level.
The Wapol Metal added more free movement than what she had on her body before and was very durable so her body would not be so easily damaged even if she had not changed her body into lightning.
Even if some certain types of ability users could touch her like Luffy, she would still have a very tough body that could withstand those attacks above the level of a Pacifista.
While Medea had completed her transformation, Alfred was laying on the table and his arms were undergoing modifications along with his legs while the rest of his body had been stripped of its outer layers.
The Wapol Metal parts were being added to his body and his new modified arms and legs were properly adjusted to suit his body.
There was not a big change with his overall appearance but his build did seem a little bulkier and stronger.
Although he did not show that huge of a change, there was a hidden feature built into his body that would help him out in battle in the future.
Several improvements were being made to the robots and the mech project was pushed forward after seeing the success from Medea and Alfred so K1 was next to receive an upgrade.
A little while later, the protection for Alfred was reduced due to his increase in endurance and he was able to attend meetings more freely without worrying about his safety.
One evening, Alfred was seated with a man surrounded by guards as they discussed the possibility of working together.
However the man opposite did not seem to want an equal relationship as he threw down some documents. "Work for me and I can make you richer than ever before. All you need to do is sign here and bring over everything on the White Storm."
Alfred closed his eyes and thought to himself. 'The greed of these people are growing everyday. So much that they even hope to attempt such an obvious temptation upon guessing that I am either the leader or the group or a puppet. They believe that either I can be turned against my master or that the short term benefits will make me wish to fall under them. If that dies not work then… the next step he will take is obvious..threats, intimidation and coercion until they are no longer useful before resorting to capturing and torturing me to make me their obedient dog.'
Alfred was very experienced and had seen all kind of tricks and how the nobles or big businesses acted towards those who had managed to get ahead.
He had survived as a merchant because he was able to know when to move forward and when to give up or retreat which resulted in some losses on his side, it was thanks to his smarts and abilities that he was able to survive those setbacks and make a living for himself and others around him until he had to give it up to find and save his daughter.
Within the White Storm, he had to keep advancing but occasionally pay attention to outside threats and power struggles but most of the time he rarely retreated unless it was absolutely needed.
Alfred crossed his arms and calmly spoke. "Did you really believe that someone in my position did not do their own investigation into you before meeting? A new on the rise businessman who just shows up out of nowhere is already a cause for concern that would make me not wish to show up to this meeting but I found something interesting."
The man lay back arrogantly in his seat and waved nonchalantly. "Go on."
It was like everything was in his control and no matter what Alfred revealed was not going to affect the final outcome.
Alfred continued as he was just as relaxed. "Bruce the 'Golden Tongue', wanted dead or alive with a bounty of seventy million berries because of his crimes in the underworld and the involvement in every type of illegal activity but his most known crimes are his targeting of many prominent businesses ten years ago which he used all types of means to gain more wealth by tempting people with short term gains of wealth and other promises due to your large amount of connections, wealth and power behind you."
The man smirked triumphantly. "Haha, go on please!"
Alfred went on with his speech. "If you fail to temp them, you make it your mission to use your power to make them your own personal dog and hand over any wealth or power they had while using their businesses as a front for your illegal activities whether it be turning the place of work into something else entirely or as a way to promote your public image while making your ill gotten wealth look cleaner. Anyone that accepts your bribes are kept under your control by means of threats because you like to record the conversations with Tone Dials and keep them. You escaped from Impel Down after being imprisoned and now you have used everything you had previously gained to rise up quickly. The reason for your nickname is that your usual methods start with persuasion and bribes before resorting to other methods and your crimes in that area is still unknown to this day. However.. I have already informed the Marines so they will be here shortly to capture you. I do have to thank you for the reward, it was quite a gain for me."
Bruce burst into laughter as he replied. "Sorry but they will not be coming because you miscalculated this time. Nobody will be coming so I win this little confrontation and while you know why I got this nickname, you should know that my range of control thanks to those so called bribes and the influence that I hold over many people is what has helped me grow so quickly and can guarantee that I will remain untouched."
Bruce was expecting the calm look on Alfred's face to crack but it did not as he remained calm.
Alfred replied in a calm and stable voice. "I see what you mean. So you admit to either bribing the Marines stationed here and that they have accepted it even going as far as to ignore reports on a previous prisoner of Impel Down or that you have dirt from the past on certain individuals of high enough rank to be able to make them look the other way."
Bruce smirked. "There is nothing that you can do about it. Everything is within my control. Just give up and become mine. I can easily snap my fingers and have my men beat you into submission or I could kill you and go to the next person to take over your business. I am sure that they will be easier to turn, the only reason why I am humouring you now is because I think you have potential and it would result in a loss of many things once you die."
If Alfred died and someone else took over, there may be many who would no longer wish to be a part of the White Storm and would take their talents somewhere else resulting in a big loss for him once he gained control.
He had big plans to swallow up the many businesses and keep them running through Alfred before making some changes to a few things.
The entertainment business could be used as a corrupt way to buy peoples influence with lust, many beautiful entertainers would be coerced into jumping into bed with people of influence that he wished to create a weakness for and use it when necessary while making extra berries on the side from the deals made to arrange such things.
The mercenary group which had a clean name would be corrupted as it would start getting involved with other matters like kidnapping, intimidation and assassination which they had stayed away from.
Bruce was like a living devil which saw peoples desires and used them to manipulate and trap many to do as he wanted.
Even when facing Alfred, he was confident in himself and the power he held over the situation because he had enough strength to win over Alfred and many strong bodyguards who were willing to do anything for him should Alfred refuse him.
Alfred stood up calmly as he dusted off his trousers and suit jacket. "That is all I needed from you. Thank you for your honest confession."