"How about this place? Take a look, Chief."
On New Year's Day, everyone is usually busy shopping for New Year's goods or visiting neighbors to exchange New Year greetings.
But that's not entirely the case for everyone.
At this moment, Morgans doesn't want to take a break at all; he just wants to work.
Because Dak presented him with a new concept.
It's called the Universal News Agency.
The idea is to use Pokémon Island as a base and expand his previous work to various worlds, delivering newspapers to different realms so people can see the hottest news from other worlds.
This time, instead of using non-combatant news birds as couriers, various Flying-type Pokémon will be used. They are not only faster but also have some combat capabilities, making deliveries much safer.
There are also new ideas like express delivery and takeout, which astonished Morgans to the point where he almost bowed to Dak.
So, when Dak invited Morgans to develop on Pokémon Island, Morgans couldn't wait.
He wished he could show Dak his heart to prove his loyalty.
Now, Morgans is following Dak, selecting the location for his company headquarters.
In the western part of Alliance City, there is still a large vacant area that Dak plans to use as an 'office zone'.
Commercial organizations like Morgans' that frequently interact with the Alliance will be located in this area, making it more convenient for the Alliance to request reports from Morgans in the future.
"Yes, this area looks good."
Dak nodded.
"That's great! Thank you so much, Mr. Dak. I'll transfer a billion immediately to order a custom batch of Flying-type Pokémon eggs!"
Morgans was ecstatic.
He had longed to be a part of Pokémon Island, and now he was officially one of them.
Morgans was never one to lack money.
He had already planned to breed a large number of Flying-type Pokémon and start piloting new job content in Alliance City, Fishman City, and Angel City. If successful, he would promote it to the One Piece world.
His news agency had enough funds to hire a large number of employees to help breed Flying-type Pokémon.
However, Morgans still needed to return to the One Piece world to find a trustworthy subordinate to act as his agent there; otherwise, he would be overwhelmed eventually.
After seeing Morgans off, Dak immediately began using coins to build the office zone's skyscrapers.
Indeed, a city without these blocky office buildings would feel strange and uncomfortable.
Let's see which other merchants will choose to come to Pokémon Island and become capitalists after Morgans.
After Dak finished building the office zone, it only cost him 500,000 coins.
These office buildings were not expensive.
After completing these, Dak planned to take advantage of the current time, while everyone was playing indoors, to transform the natural environment outside.
First, the two forests at the entrance of Alliance City needed to be expanded.
Ideally, they should be expanded to the scale of Viridian Forest in the Pokémon world, large enough that it would eventually give birth to Celebi in a thousand or ten thousand years.
Viridian Forest is roughly fifteen times the size of Viridian City.
Alliance City is at least five times the size of Viridian City.
The total area of Alliance City, including its suburbs, is over 1,000 square kilometers, roughly equivalent to the size of Hong Kong in Dak's previous life, but slightly smaller.
The urban area might be around 150 square kilometers, with the remaining 90% being suburbs.
The suburbs are primarily used for livestock farming, Alliance breeding bases, and research institutes. In the future, some parts might be used to expand the urban area, but generally, it's unnecessary.
Because the nature of Alliance City ensures that, except during holidays, the city's population won't be too large most of the time.
This total area may not seem large, but Pokémon Island's final form is like that of the Pokémon world, not like in the past, so such a scale is already considered one of the largest cities on Pokémon Island.
Cities in the Pokémon world generally don't have suburbs. The so-called suburbs are more like small villages outside the city, so the cities are very small. A city like Viridian City, with over 200 square kilometers, is already considered a medium-to-large city.
According to Kuma's research and proposed funding cost, it would require about 3 million coins to transform 3 million square meters.
But how does that compare to Viridian Forest?
3 million square meters = 3 square kilometers.
In different units, 3 million square meters don't seem that impressive.
According to Dak's requirements, at least 3 billion magic coins would be needed to create a forest on the scale of Viridian Forest.
But that's impossible; it would take at least three or four worlds to earn that kind of money.
Or a world like Super God Academy with multiple planets and universes. Worlds like One Piece or Naruto can't make that much money.
So how to do it?
Move it!
Angel City and Fishman City also couldn't rely on Dak exchanging coins for their cities.
But isn't this what Giratina can be used for?
Moreover, if Dak were to expand this forest himself, it would just be a 'dead forest' with barely any other living beings.
However, moving forests from the One Piece world would bring a variety of species.
But the question is, which forests to move?
Forests like the Little Garden, filled with countless pathogens, are out of the question. Nami nearly died there from an infection.
Complex forests are also not considered.
It would require Dak to spend a lot of money to modify the unsuitable parts.
This is a long-term project, and Dak might need to send out teams to find suitable forests and move them.
On the other side, at the Pokémon Zoo.
"Hey, Sandile, is that guy your relative?"
As soon as Sentomaru spoke, the Sandile by his leg bit his calf, "Ouch! You idiot, we're on Pokémon Island now. It hurts!"
"Roar."
Sandile let go, suddenly remembering they were on Pokémon Island.
Without the power suppression, Sentomaru's physical strength was far inferior to what it was in the One Piece world.
But he couldn't blame the Sandile for being angry.
Sentomaru had pointed at a banana crocodile from Alabasta in the zoo, saying it was Sandile's relative. Of course, it would bite him.
"Don't be mad. We don't have many days off. Sigh."
Sentomaru sighed.
A few days ago, he received orders from above to return to the One Piece world to serve as a gym leader.
Honestly, even though it was a high-status, well-known position, Sentomaru didn't want it.
He had grown to love life on Pokémon Island.
He didn't have to do much, just stay at home, receive a salary from Vegapunk, and spend his days with his two partners, Hippowdon and Sandile.
"Ugh."
Talking about this almost made Sandile depressed too.
They say Pokémon follow their trainers. Since Sentomaru was lazy, how could Sandile be any different?
"Alright, enough about sad things. Let's go. Hippowdon has already gone to see his hippo brothers, also from Alabasta."
Seeing Hippowdon walking away, Sentomaru picked up Sandile and followed.
The future Alliance Zoo is meant to gather beasts from many worlds.
But to be honest, the current Alliance Zoo is already quite unique.
In the One Piece world, each island has its own ecosystem, cultivating different creatures.
For the people of Alliance City, many animals in the zoo are ones they've never encountered, especially those living in the deep sea, White Sea, and Sky Island.
Even without mentioning those.
Even the South Birds from Jaya Island are birds that others haven't seen.
However, today being New Year's, everyone was busy with ancestor worship and god worship, mostly going to the shrines, so not many people came to the zoo.
But soon, undoubtedly, in the next few days, many residents from Angel City and Fishman City will flock to the hunting grounds, Alliance Zoo, and Alliance Museum.
After all, Alliance City is usually not open to outsiders, and only these few days offer the chance to visit.
"Only two weeks left..."
After Sentomaru left with his Pokémon, Kizaru remained.
His nephew had really put him in a tough spot.
Originally, he was having a good time drinking coffee at the Sabaody Archipelago, but then he was notified to report to the Sabaody Gym as its new Gym Leader.
This wasn't just because of Sentomaru's suggestion; Kizaru was indeed suitable for the position.
Among the three Admirals, Akainu Sakazuki wasn't very popular, and no Pokémon was willing to become his partner. Kuzan, though he had his Ice-type Pokémon, was busy distributing Pokémon eggs to the lower-ranked Marines.
Only Kizaru, with two Electric-type Pokémon, had nothing much to do.
Even Sengoku and Garp recommended Kizaru to take the Gym Leader role. In short, everyone didn't want to see him idle.
"We're all so busy, and you're just here drinking coffee?"
That was probably their mindset.
So, Kizaru was pushed to the Sabaody Gym, becoming the Electric-type Gym Leader.
His two Pokémon are Manectric and Electabuzz.
Kizaru's love for Electric-type Pokémon might stem from his liking for their sparkling discharge, which he found very appealing and similar to himself.
After all, he is a Glint-Glint Fruit user, not a Light-Light Fruit user. He likes sparks, not light.
(End of Chapter)