Playing the Old Master

We've won so much!

We've won so many times we're numb!

Seeing the data steadily rising in the background, Ma Qiao couldn't wait to pop open some champagne and celebrate.

However, opening champagne at the halfway point is a risky thing, let alone opening it right at the start.

A simple calculation shows that, excluding the revenue from selling Big Bird Den Den Mushi) earlier, the revenue from gifts in just the last half hour has already exceeded 30 million Beli.

Vivi watched in stunned silence. Her father had taken out 300 million Beli of his private savings as starting capital for Baron Ma Qiao's desert farming venture.

It was only after Vivi's earnest persuasion that this money was given; she said, "You can't catch a wolf without risking your cub, and you can't catch a wolf without risking your daughter..."

In short, it took a lot of determination for my father to come up with 300 million Beli.

But that stinky old man did absolutely nothing, and in the blink of an eye, he earned a tenth of his father's secret stash of money!?

Vivi fell into deep self-doubt.

On the other side, the eyes of the righteous kitten, already made up, unsurprisingly turned into the shape of Beli.

Ma Qiao felt utterly contemptuous of the two girls' pathetic behavior.

This is nothing!

This amount of money isn't even a fraction of the tax evasion by livestreaming e-commerce hosts in later generations.

However, although the number of viewers on the Big Bird Live Platform today cannot compare with those of the big streamers in the past whose live streaming rooms had tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of fans.

But everything is difficult at the beginning.

With a good start, the Big Bird Consortium will have a smooth journey on its path to becoming a trust.

After all, the World Government of this world can't even handle pirates, so it has no ability to crack down on capitalism.

The expansion of the Big Bird Consortium knows no bounds!

Momonga Vice Admiral Flying Squirrel looked very unhappy.

He never expected that his earnest efforts to help his nephew would only earn him deep resentment.

Even Smoker, the Logia user who was notoriously difficult to deal with in Marineford, looked quite disdainful.

All of this made the flying Momonga, who had come from afar, feel uncomfortable. He felt like a mouse caught in the middle, suffering from both sides.

Because of the live broadcast cameras at the dock, he couldn't lash out. But once inside the Loguetown Marine Base, the Momonga immediately frowned:

"You bastard, tell me honestly what you want to do?"

What do I want to do?

Twitch blinked his bright green beady eyes and said in a day or two:

"Of course, it's to uphold justice, eliminate the evil bloodlines of the old era, and maintain the dignity of our navy!"

The Momonga was speechless for a moment.

Onigumo, standing nearby, wanted to offer some advice and inquire about the figure.

But seeing the two men, uncle and nephew, acting like two volcanoes, he had no choice but to swallow his words.

The conversation ended unhappily.

Twitch found Smoker and said to him, "Those guys at headquarters are unreliable. They've been basking in the sunlight for too long and have forgotten what it feels like to be rooted to the earth and embrace the darkness. This execution plan will probably require the two of us to shoulder the responsibility of upholding the Navy's justice!"

Smoker nodded seriously. "That's exactly what I was thinking."

As the highest-level naval base in the East Blue, Loguetown has barracks that can comfortably accommodate more than 4,000 officers and soldiers, even if you squeeze in a little.

The soldiers' meals were outsourced to Cocoyasi Green Organic Farm.

Although the promotional video East Blue Cocoyasi, directed by Ma Qiao, featured hundreds of layers of filters, making the island appear almost otherworldly, it does indeed possess abundant agricultural resources.

Many people believe that the world of One Piece is a place where people live off the sea, and that both the marines and ordinary people can make a living by eating fish, but this is actually wrong.

Let's not even talk about the fact that people can't live without vegetables and fruits, otherwise they'll suffer from medical problems like scurvy.

Even from the perspective of taste and food culture alone, eating fish long-term is unacceptable.

For example, the giants of Elbaf are so enormous. Fish are certainly one of their sources of meat, but the most famous local food, and the most common food they eat during the winter, is a cream puff called Samla.

To make cream puffs, you need milk, wheat, and sugar, all of which require agricultural and livestock support.

The Marine Headquarters officers who accompanied the two Vice Admirals to Loguetown initially thought there wouldn't be much good food in the countryside. However, the variety of food provided by the Loguetown branch far exceeded their expectations.

Some soldiers at headquarters were particularly curious when they saw the so-called 16th Branch Shadow Unit Guards not eating properly in the mess hall, but instead pointing at strange Den Den Mushi) on it. Soon after, a freestyle penguin would swim to the dock and bring them a hot meal.

"What is this? Can penguins cook?"

"No, they don't produce the food, they're just the food deliverymen!"

The Shadow Unit soldier took two small dried fish out of his pocket, stuffed them into the penguins' mouths, patted their heads, and waved goodbye.

Don't you need to pay for these penguin bento boxes?

The soldiers at headquarters were quite surprised, because when the News Coo delivered newspapers, you couldn't just give them a handful of corn; you had to put coins in their pockets.

Oh, you mean that one?

The Shadow Unit operative shook the large bird-shaped phone in his hand. "Electronic payments are all the rage now, otherwise it's inconvenient for the penguin brothers to carry around a bunch of coins."

Sanji also ordered takeout, but instead of food, he ordered a pack of Short-Lived Ghost cigarettes.

He never complained about the cafeteria food, even though he could make it taste better himself using swill.

Sanji never wastes a single grain of food.

After finishing his portion of food in the cafeteria, he leaned against the wall and lit a cigarette.

By the time he finished his cigarette, his comrades who had ordered takeout had already left.

Sanji got up, collected the leftover food they had eaten, put it in a large box, and turned to walk into the kitchen.

The cooks in the kitchen had clearly seen Sanji do this before.

They were unsurprised and left Sanji a stove.

The fire was lit and the water was boiled; the actions were completed in one smooth motion.

In no time, a fresh army stew was ready.

Sanji carried the hot pot to the outside of the military camp. A large group of emaciated, hungry children were already waiting there.

"Big brother with curly eyebrows!"

With a little girl's happy shout, all the children joyfully gathered around.

"Eat it while it's hot, you little devils."

Sanji used Shakushi to divide the steaming hot food into small bowls and handed them to the children.

"Oh, I didn't realize you weren't such a bad guy!"

Not far away, Zoro was lying on a pile of grain, holding three swords.

"You'd better shut your mouth, I don't want to kick you into a pig's head in front of the kids."

"Hmph! Curly eyebrows!"

Zoro spat out the grass stem from his mouth, turned over, and continued sleeping.

Sanji was too lazy to bother with the Moss Head anymore.

He smoked a cigarette, quietly waiting for the children to finish their food.

"Thank you, Curly-Eyebrow Brother."

The little girl who was the first to finish eating handed her bowl to Sanji: "Will you come again tomorrow?"

Sanji smiled and stroked its dry, yellow hair. "Of course, I'll come."

"And the day after tomorrow?"

"And the day after tomorrow?"

"And what about the day after tomorrow?"

Faced with the children's incessant barrage of questions, Sanji could only smile and nod.

But he knew he had lied.

Because in three days it will be the day Dana D. Buggy is executed. Afterwards, he will return to Shadow Isles with the Dark Shadow Unit.

The East Blue is vast, and whether I will ever be able to return to Rogge Island in my lifetime is uncertain.

As Sanji walked back to his dormitory, deep in thought, his brows suddenly furrowed.

"No wonder Vice Admiral Garp has his eye on this promising talent."

"Commander Twitch?"

"Yes, it's me."

Twitch's figure slowly emerged from his invisibility, less than a meter behind Sanji.

Sanji possesses an extremely strong talent for Observation Haki.

Although Garp didn't personally teach him physics for a long time, he was actually grooming him as a close disciple, just like Koby.

Regarding the concepts of Observation Haki and Armament Haki, Garp didn't tell Sanji as a Marine hero. Instead, he used his disguise—the identity of a beautiful, carnivorous swordswoman from Marine Headquarters —to reveal it during casual conversation.

Because Garp discovered that this teaching method was a hundred times more effective than him punching Karp in the Riot Games.

So, although Sanji hasn't mastered Observation Haki yet, he's already got the hang of it.

Twitch's level 3 Q ability, Invisibility, was detected by Sanji from about one meter away.

However, Sanji was not smug about it, because he knew that Commander Twitch was a skilled archer.

Let alone a meter away, even if it were a hundred meters away, if I didn't spot him in time, his crossbow bolt would pierce my chest in the next second.

"Young man, you seem to have something on your mind?"

Twitch walked up to Sanji, put his hands behind his back, and pretended to be a master.

"That's right, Commander Twitch. It wasn't until I joined the Navy that I realized how many people in the world go hungry, and no matter how hard I try to cook, I can never feed everyone."

Sanji clearly didn't act like a dutiful subordinate in front of his superior. He lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and exhaled a puff of smoke, as if trying to release all the pent-up emotions in his heart.

Twitch smiled, but instead of answering his question directly, he asked, "Do you know Mr. Ma Qiao?"

"That Mr. Ma Qiao, the male mentor who single-handedly built the Shadow Unit and is known as the world's most knowledgeable about human nature?"

"That's right, it's him!"

Twitch nodded, a look of reminiscence on his face. "Back then, I was just like you, a passionate young man with a heart full of enthusiasm. I believed that as long as I worked hard to capture pirates, I could restore peace to the world and let everyone live a happy life."

It was Professor Ma Qiao who enlightened me, making me realize that if I were just a captain, it would be impossible to change the world. So I had to climb up step by step, and eventually firmly grasp enough power to protect more people.

You said that wanting every child to have enough to eat is both simple and difficult.

The fish in the sea are countless, the desserts on Whole Cake Island are more than you can eat, and giant ships can sail on the wine pools of Mary Geoise.

But why are there still people going hungry?

Which factor is more important, production or distribution? And when will they reach equilibrium?

If it were someone like King Luffy, Twitch wouldn't waste his breath talking to him.

However, Sanji is different from Luffy, and even he is different from Zoro.

Aside from Robin, Sanji is the intellectual ceiling of the Straw Hat Pirates, the one who can truly think about complex problems.

Seeing Sanji deep in thought, Twitch pressed on, saying, "Mr. Ma Qiao once told me an old saying from his hometown: 'Governing a large country is like cooking a small fish.'"

You were a cook before you joined the army, so you should understand the meaning of this sentence better than I do.

Young people should think more deeply.

Twitch walked away slowly with his hands behind his back, his shadow growing long in the setting sun.

"Boss Twitch..."

In Sanji's view, his short, hunched figure appeared so tall.

Twitch's plan to pretend to be a master craftsman was a great success.

In the following days, the East Blue naval forces remained on high alert, while the naval personnel from headquarters were dazzled by the new sights in the East Blue.

Spending 200,000 Beli on Mobile Den Den Mushi might be too much to bear, but spending a few dozen Beli to go to an internet cafe for a while is definitely worth a try.

This Big Bird Den Den Mushi, similar in size to a desktop computer, is a second-generation product resulting from the collaboration between Teemo and Heimerdinger, and is a byproduct of the Den Den Mushi gigantification experiment.

Because the era of mobile phones had already rapidly arrived, these large Den Den Mushi, which were inconvenient to carry, were not initially given much attention by Ma Qiao.

However, with the advent of the era of live streaming, Ma Qiao suddenly discovered that these large Den Den Mushi (snail Den Den Mushi) that made it convenient for everyone to watch from all sides did indeed have their unique charm.

Many savvy businessmen began stockpiling these large Den Den Mushi). They then transformed their taverns and inns into new entertainment venues for people to watch live broadcasts or temporarily access the internet.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

Soon, the final moment for Buggy's execution arrived.

According to official statistics from the Big Bird Live Platform, the giant execution platform in the central square of Loguetown has been painted a Barbie pink.

A wealthy woman with the online name "Ghost Princess" spent twenty Carnivals to finally decide the color of the most important prop at the event.

Of course, from the perspective of cultural relic protection, the fact that this execution platform, where the Pirate King Roger was once executed, has suffered such damage is heartbreaking for many people who admire Roger.

However, despite their deep regret, these people were unwilling to spend real money on gifts, making it difficult for Boss Ma Qiao to do anything for them.

And so the result is what it is now.

Buggy was dressed in prison clothes, bound hand and foot, and stuffed into a prison van, where Twitch, the commander of the 16th Branch Base.

The prison van drove through the streets of Loguetown, occasionally scattering eggs and vegetable leaves, but more often it was filled with rebellious words like "Buggy, you are my hero."

There's no way to simply apply past life experiences to the relationship between the World Government, the Navy, and the pirates.

The navy is not the people's army, and pirates are not simply highway robbers.

These guys have tons of fans.

Moreover, this is Loguetown, the hometown of the Pirate King Roger. Among the tourists who come here, countless people idolize Roger.

Those scattered rotten eggs and leaves, whether intentionally or not, didn't hit Buggy's big head at all. Twitch, on the other hand, was covered in bruises.

Fortunately, Ma Qiao, who was acting as a guest director, switched the camera to the studio in time.

The hero's adopted daughter, a righteous little kitten, begins to endorse Cocoyasi's orange soda.

"Orange soda goes even better with pork head meat!"

The righteous kitten wore an expression that was just the right amount of alluring yet innocent.