A Social Butterfly and Standouts

The weather was fine and sunny, with the sun shining brightly.

The enormous fountain in Water 7 reflects the seven colors of sunlight.

The central square of Water 7 Municipal Government was packed with people, filled with the sounds of gongs and drums, and white flags were waving everywhere...

The audience and photographers are all in place.

The young recruits all looked nervous.

Ma Qiao, clutching his stomach, stood on the makeshift guest stage.

Last night, that son of Teach ate over five hundred pig ear pies, and I only slightly outated him.

If they keep eating like this, the big-eared sheep of Cocoyasi will lose their ears.

That said, the Whitebeard Pirates is really rich!

Teach, a marginal figure with no official position and no reward, somehow earned a salary that most people wouldn't even dare to dream of, simply because of his seniority.

At least we've achieved freedom in pig ears.

Then consider Whitebeard himself: he lived frugally, always sharing drinks with his crew, and sent all his savings back to his hometown for its development.

I must say, this old man is indeed a good person.

If given the chance, Ma Qiao would also like to invite this older brother to drink a bowl of his hometown's local liquor.

Looking at the white flags fluttering in the sky, Ma Qiao was not quite sure why the World Government and the Navy would use white as the main color of their flags.

People from island nations who are living comfortably at least have a red mark in the middle, which looks like a patch of ointment from a distance.

However, the World Government's white background with a black cross and the Navy's white background with blue, along with flocks of seagulls, looked far too plain.

Ma Qiao felt that if he picked up a suona and blew a tune right now, it would send him to his death.

However, Akainu, sitting on the platform, clearly didn't think so.

As the massive conscription, which he had orchestrated to balance the situation at sea and increase the navy's combat power, finally took place as scheduled, Akainu remained as stern and unsmiling as ever.

In contrast, Hannyabal, sitting below Akainu, was much more lively.

Although the insurmountable gap between Impel Down and the overall strength of the Marine Headquarters prevented Hannyabal from achieving his goal of being on par with Akainu.

But he remained very active in front of the camera.

He meticulously styled his Ancient Egypt pharaoh headdress, waxing the horns on his forehead and carefully combing the feathers on his wings.

However, a small mishap occurred at the beginning of the live stream.

When the camera zoomed in on Hannyabal Lecter, who was always shirtless and bare-chested, the live stream was immediately shut down, and a warning from the moderator popped up.

[This live stream has been temporarily shut down due to alleged vulgar content, exposure of private parts, and indecent dancing.]

Hannyabal was completely stunned.

How could I, a prison civil servant in my thirties weighing over 800 pounds, be considered vulgar?

I wore this outfit to the meeting at Enies Lobby too!

Okay, I'll tolerate being called vulgar and involved in pornography.

What's the story behind Sadi?

This guy's clothes don't seem to have much more fabric than mine, do they? (See picture)

Why isn't she vulgar?

Why not ban her?

At that moment, Hannyabal felt the deep malice emanating from the censors.

Akainu shook his head and said in a low voice, "I told you long ago, the live streaming industry is a murky business; you can't handle it."

I absolutely will not wear clothes.

Just like Franky will never wear pants.

Exposing one's body—that's a man's romance!

Hannyabal appealed repeatedly.

Ultimately, he reached a compromise with the platform administrator.

After Hannyabal placed two black cat-shaped stickers on his private parts, the live stream returned to normal.

Fortunately, this minor incident did not affect the popularity of the live stream.

The number of viewers in the live stream increased rapidly.

Moreover, after six months of market cultivation, the number of viewers for this live stream has exceeded that of the previous live stream from Loguetown.

It's important to understand that the appeal of live-streaming recruitment and live-streaming executions are completely different.

However, the former now has more viewers than the latter, which is enough to show just how much the number of netizens in the One Piece world has increased in the past six months.

Hannyabal was very pleased; these were all achievements of his administration.

He ignored the comments on the screen cursing him as a pervert and telling him to put his clothes on.

Take a picture of the number of people watching the live stream at this moment, so that it can be included in the report to the World Government later.

At the same time.

Led by their officers, the new recruits entered the square.

Ma Qiao was positioned to the side of the presidential platform.

Accompanying him were many guests invited by Hannyabal, such as senior editors of major newspapers, kings, crown princes, or regents of several small kingdoms.

Ma Qiao was the only guest invited by the Navy.

Akainu was worried that Ma Qiao was feeling uncomfortable, and he secretly glanced over several times.

It turned out that there was nothing uncomfortable about it.

This guy is a social terrorist.

Actually, Akainu misunderstood Ma Qiao.

He's not a social terrorist at all!

It's like Nezumi entering a rice jar, or Sanji entering a women's bathhouse—they're overjoyed!

This is practically a massive trade fair and job market backed by the Navy's credibility.

Boss Ma was handing out his beautifully packaged business cards everywhere.

Those experienced newspaper editors are exactly the kind of talent that Big Bird Media urgently needs.

Of course, some old-timers who are used to traditional media cannot adapt to the pace of the internet age.

But that's okay, they have many intern reporters under them, many of whom are desperately trying to find a job at a traditional newspaper.

In life, choices are more important than effort.

The course of history is now before them; it remains to be seen whether they can seize it.

Ma Qiao promised these veteran journalists and editors a reward of 500,000 Beli for each qualified newcomer he introduced.

This is practically like getting money for free.

Veteran media professionals all regard Teacher Ma as a god of wealth.

In no time, news spread throughout the news circle that a Boss Ma from East Blue was eager to recruit talent and loved to spend money.

Of course, there were also many serious, seasoned media professionals who, tired of the monotonous routine, tentatively inquired with Mr. Ma Qiao whether he could offer them a job.

Ma Qiao also offered an extremely generous salary.

These people may not generate much benefit in the era of internet traffic, but they are still very useful to Big Bird Media.

After all, Ma Qiao's team can't all be like Ma Dudu Studio —prolific commentators and traffic manipulators, can they?

Ma Qiao already has plans to broadcast a very serious news program live every night at 7:30 pm.

Those old-fashioned, conservative types are perfect for this task.

Besides the media friends present, there were also many leaders from small kingdoms, with whom Ma Qiao quickly found common ground.

Besides being a media mogul, Ma Qiao also holds another title: Baron Ma Qiao, the Minister of Agriculture of Alabaster.

Regardless of whether this Minister of Agriculture has ever actually owned a single acre of land in Alabasta, at least his position is genuine.

Meanwhile, Ma Qiao chatted and laughed with the leaders of those countries.

When discussing financial markets and national welfare, one thing inevitably comes up in the end: food.

In Ma Qiao's previous life, food was no longer something dependent on the weather.

The food industry is undoubtedly a high-tech industry.

The four major grain traders monopolize the international seed market.

Their boss can decide the outcome of an election in a small country with a snap of his fingers.

This kind of good thing is something that Boss Ma Qiao, who is determined to become the ultimate producer in the pirate world, absolutely cannot miss.

Since recruiting Zyra and Maokai, Heimerdinger's biochemistry lab has had another research task.

That is to work with Zyra to develop various high-quality seeds.

These include drought-resistant seeds, salt-alkali resistant seeds, cold-resistant seeds, and ultra-high-yield seeds, among others.

The world of One Piece is mostly comprised of island nations with highly variable climates.

Especially along the Grand Line, the climate of each island is often extreme due to turbulent air currents.

This undoubtedly affected their food production.

As for using aquatic products to replace staple food, that is also highly unrealistic.

No ethnic group on Earth eats fish as their staple food, not even island peoples.

Alabasta is a good example.

Zyra and Heimerdinger's first-generation drought-resistant wheat seeds yielded about one-third the normal wheat yield in experimental fields in Alabasta.

While this number may not seem like much, considering its growing environment, it can already be considered a gift from God.

If placed in many drought-stricken countries like Alabasta, it could definitely save many starving people.

Of course, Ma Qiao himself felt that the flour made from this drought-resistant wheat tasted terrible, so he did not grow it in Alabasta.

In conclusion, Ma Qiao spared no effort in promoting his special seeds, successfully attracting the interest of many national leaders.

Of course, some people dismissed this idea.

King Wapol of the Drum Kingdom disdainfully remarked, "If the people have no food, why don't they eat stones?" (as shown in the picture)

If I, as king, can eat anything, how can those peasants be so picky?

Ma Qiao couldn't be bothered with such a jerk.

After smoothing things over with potential employers, Ma Qiao focused all his attention on the recruitment fair.

The vast city square is divided into two parts according to the golden ratio.

The smaller piece was used for recruiting soldiers for Impel Down, and the larger piece was used for recruiting soldiers for the Navy.

Since the entire live broadcast was orchestrated by Hannyabal, the density of Visual Den Den Mushi in the Impel Down area was much higher.

While enjoying some fruit and snacks, Ma Qiao was curious about how this so-called World Military Draft actually worked.

I wonder if Fujitora and Ryokugyu, those two psychopaths, will appear ahead of schedule.

The final result left Ma Qiao completely stunned.

No wonder they say the naval high command is a bunch of unruly monsters.

The conscription in the square wasn't much different from the arena Doflamingo set up in Dressrosa.

No vision tests, no education level tests, and no political vetting; only simple identification is required.

Kaiser Caitlyn, the Piltover Caitlyn, uses the name from East Blue to identify herself as the daughter of a small-town Peacekeeper.

In the East Blue, it's easier for Ma Qiao to get a fake identity document than to drink water.

Darius, the Hand of Noxus, was originally named after the North Blue, and his identity was that of an officer from a country destroyed by Germa 66 who refused to surrender.

His identification was handled by Reiju.

Sett, on the other hand, is an underground gangster from the Alabasta Kingdom on the Grand Line, specifically from the Rainlands.

Nico Robin had prepared his identification documents well in advance.

Now, these three people, along with other new recruits from all over the country, have been simply and crudely divided into several groups to participate in randomized group battles and multiplayer battle royale matches.

Isn't that incredible?

A veteran journalist who had previously accepted Ma Qiao's invitation noticed the confusion in the new boss's eyes.

"The recruitment process at the Marine Headquarters has always been like this. Discipline, teamwork, and tactics are all things that can be trained after enlistment."

"Only combat talent and basic strength—these are the fundamental differences between the main branch and other branches of the Navy!"

Ma Qiao nodded, agreeing that it was good and reasonable for the pirate world to have such a perception.

After all, the Marine Headquarters itself has stated that it is a point in a triangle that checks and balances the Four Emperors and the Shichibukai. At the same time, it is the most powerful of the three and the true overlord of the sea.

Since the government forces consider themselves the dominant force, Ma Qiao doesn't have high expectations for their professionalism or specialization.

The referee presiding over this free-for-all was actually an old acquaintance of Ma Qiao's. (See picture)

Ma Qiao couldn't remember the guy's exact name.

All Ma Qiao remembered was that this guy had been in charge of holding meetings from the moment King Luffy first received a bounty until he became the Fifth Emperor, earning him the reputation of "King of Meetings."

Moreover, not only did he attend meetings, but his own military rank also rose along with King Luffy's.

Like riding a rocket with superpowers, he was second only to the deserter Koby.

At this guy's command, the five zones abcde simultaneously began fighting.

This was for conscription, not a real gladiatorial arena.

Therefore, the attrition rate is not that high.

Each arena is supervised by experienced officers to prevent malicious cheating and serious bloodshed.

The three undercover agents sent by Ma Qiao were all level six heroes, with strength reaching the level of Arlong.

Among these greenhorns, he stood out like a crane among chickens.

After all, the soldiers in the Marine Headquarters are only equivalent to ordinary melee and ranged soldiers.

Even without equipment, a level 6 hero can't be dealt with by minions just by using basic attacks.

The Fujitora and Ryokugyu -level fighters that Ma Qiao was hoping for did not appear.

However, there were also a few young people with impressive skills who caught my eye.

Ma Qiao remembered that those people seemed to be troublemakers from a naval fortress that was monitoring Big Mom Pirates in the original work. They were quite strong, but King Luffy easily took them down.

Apart from that, Ma Qiao didn't show any highlights in the ring.

But that's just his perspective. To passersby, the recruitment process was quite a spectacle.

The tall and slender Caitlyn, like a butterfly, flitted among the carefully set Yordle Snap Traps. Rubber bullets hit her head with pinpoint accuracy.

Drexler, wielding a giant axe, wreaked havoc in the chaos. In the melee mode, his rage sent his entire family to their deaths, as he single-handedly took down several recruits who had broken the rules and formed a secret alliance.

Sett easily picked up a female soldier who resembled a fat version of Alvida, or a bankrupt version of Charlotte Linlin, and with a single Haymaker, caught the Facebreaker, then threw her off the stage, shocking many newcomers.

Even Akainu 'Admiral, gripping the armrest of the chair, couldn't help but curl slightly.

The quality of this year's new recruits is beyond imagination!

In particular, the young man named Sett, who acted decisively when necessary and whose unpretentious style greatly impressed Akainu.

"Perhaps it's time for me to take on a disciple?"

This was the first time in his more than 30 years of military service that he had such a thought.