Pirates: How Many Divisions Do the Five Elders Have? A Disheartened Crocodile

As it turns out, Cobra was not the most outrageous or incompetent of the fifty kings.

As the meeting continued, Ma Qiao finally understood why this world was a place where scumbags ruled and pirates roamed freely.

Among these kings, Cobra was actually above average.

No matter how naive or innocent he may be, at least his starting point was for the benefit of the people of Alabasta.

At least half of the other kings completely disregarded the lives of their own people. They came to Mary Geoise purely for performance art or to spout nonsense for their own selfish desires.

These rulers of a country put forward all sorts of utterly absurd proposals.

For example, some guys, because they like goats and have married one, demanded at Reverie that the World Government pass a law banning people worldwide from eating goats.

Some have even suggested cutting naval funding to provide private bodyguards for the kings of the fifty Affiliated Nation.

Only in this way can the tragedy of the former king of the Goa Kingdom be avoided.

In most cases, Ma Qiao views these issues as a bystander.

However, one guy's proposal directly targeted Ma Qiao, or rather, Cobra.

That was the king of the Drum Kingdom, a medical superpower bordering Alabasta, Devil Fruit User, White Iron Wapol.

This guy accused neighboring Alabasta of massive healthcare infrastructure development at Reverie.

Not only did Shurima Old Western Medicine Hospital, which preys on high-end clientele, but it also recently established the Shurima First People's Hospital more affordable hospital for the general public.

Wapol believes this is undoubtedly a serious violation of the sovereignty of the Drum Kingdom.

Several years ago, Wapol abolished all private hospitals in the country and "invited" all the country's doctors to the palace.

If the people of the Drum Kingdom fall ill, they can only receive medical assistance by coming to the royal palace and paying exorbitant medical fees.

Moreover, in order to obtain even higher profits, Wapol also mastered the art of scarcity marketing without any formal training.

He stipulated that only thirty patients could be treated each day.

The criteria for determining who receives priority treatment and who does not are completely unrelated to the severity or urgency of the illness; they depend solely on how much money the patient can afford.

It's important to understand that every year, due to the advanced medical technology of the Drum Kingdom, an enormous number of overseas patients flock to seek treatment there, making the competition for these services incredibly fierce.

The local people of the Drum Kingdom already had a hard time under Wapol's rule. Once they fell ill, it wasn't just a matter of falling back into poverty due to illness; they would either be completely ruined or left to die.

Under such policies, Wapol was able to live a life of extravagance and debauchery.

"Until that damned Alabasta Kingdom stole my business, now my revenue is only one-tenth of what it used to be!"

"Furthermore, six months ago, a horrific incident occurred in our country where a doctor secretly slipped away from the royal palace to practice medicine in Alabasta!"

"Therefore, I want to denounce that old Cobra here. Cutting off someone's livelihood is like killing their parents. This guy deserves to go to hell!"

Faced with Wapol's accusations, Cobra showed his tough side.

He made no attempt to shift the blame to Ma Qiao; on the contrary, he abandoned his usual kind and gentle demeanor and engaged in a fierce verbal battle with Wapol.

Even when Wapol threatened war, Cobra remained unyielding.

"Doctors are dedicated to saving lives, and providing people with good medical care is something we, as leaders of a nation, must do!"

"I've heard about Shurima, and I'm very dissatisfied with the exorbitant medical and convalescent fees there. However, I believe that my appointment of the Baron of Shurima is absolutely right in providing affordable healthcare to the common people!"

"Of course, war is terrible, and I don't want anyone to be harmed because of it. If you feel your interests have been damaged, then I can give you half of the revenue from the first Alabasta Food Festival as compensation!"

Ma Qiao:???

Looking at his Cobra, who stood confidently on the debate stage as if golden light were emanating from the back of his head, Ma Qiao finally realized one thing.

He's not bad, he's just really bad at it.

After all, he's the kind of naive and innocent guy who would go to Pangaea Castle and question the Five Elders with top-secret information that could mean certain death if touched. You can't really expect him to behave normally in the face of the threat of war...

They're just making empty threats, and you're already thinking about war reparations?

That's absolutely amazing.

However, to be fair, Cobra is a true leftist; he's genuinely willing to sacrifice everything for world peace and environmentalism.

Much better than those show-offs.

Of course, there's another possibility: Ma Qiao thinks Cobra looks like he's on the first level, but he might actually be on the fifth level.

After all, he said he would use half of the revenue from that Alabasta Food Festival as compensation.

It wasn't that Ma Qiao didn't have faith in Cobra's abilities, it's just that he genuinely felt Cobra was very likely to turn this food festival into a money-losing endeavor...

After all, Ma Qiao estimated that Cobra's flash of inspiration most likely came from the Big Bird Consortium's Eve dinner six months ago.

He probably thought the Big Bird Consortium could easily invite so many people to dinner. If they charged a fee, it would be a huge source of government revenue.

But Cobra had no idea that the Big Bird Consortium's ability to easily organize a dinner party for tens of thousands of people was due to a combination of logistical, security, cold chain logistics, and food supply mechanisms—it was far more complex than he imagined.

Therefore, Ma Qiao estimates that this so-called Alabasta Food Festival will most likely lose money.

According to the agreement, Wapol might even have to pay extra money?

Amidst these absurd arguments, the week-long World Government Conference finally came to a close.

After the meeting, Ma Qiao once again suggested that his brothers Neptune and Cobra have a farewell dinner together.

Because Ma Qiao wasn't going to go back on that rickety old sailboat anymore; the Hothead Fish airship was already in place.

Ma Qiao originally planned to send the airship directly to Mary Geoise.

However, it is clear that although there is no such thing as air traffic control in this world, flying around in an airship above the Celestial Dragons is not a wise choice.

So Ma Qiao had the Fathead Fish Airship land on a small island not far from the Red Line.

Ma Qiao invited the two kings to a barbecue on the island, where they could also finalize the terms regarding the three parties becoming each other's most-favored-nation trading partners.

Cobra looked at his daughter, who was leaning against Ma Qiao with her head down and cheeks flushed, his eyes blazing with desire, but the thought of seeing Tahm Kench's cooking performance again made him nod.

As for Neptune, he had a very good impression of Ma Qiao, after all, Ma Qiao and Cobra were among the few national leaders who supported the abolition of discriminatory policies against Fish-Man.

Just as the three heads of state and their entourages were heading to Red Port to board a ship, an unexpected yet perfectly logical person appeared.

"Fufu!"

"It's been so long!"

Doflamingo, still wearing his flamboyant pink coat and sunglasses, strode over with his signature pigeon-toed gait, seemingly oblivious to everyone around him.

As he walked, Doflamingo unusually extended his right hand.

"Snort!"

Crocodile, standing behind Cobra, gave a haughty snort:

"Doflamingo, how many times have I told you? I will not accept your invitation to cooperate with you, unless you become my subordinate..."

Crocodile reached out to slap away Doflamingo's outstretched claw.

But the latter passed him by.

Under Crocodile's astonished gaze, Doflamingo laughed heartily and gripped Ma Qiao's hand tightly.

"Brother Ma Qiao, I thought I'd never see you again after that Monday at the Florian Triangle. I never imagined we'd meet again so soon in Mary Geoise!"

"Brother Dover!"

Ma Qiao patted Doflamingo's hand just as enthusiastically.

To be honest, unlike Crocodile, Ma Qiao looked down on this so-called King of Dressrosa.

Of course, Crocodile isn't a good person either, but after so many years in the world of One Piece, Teacher Ma naturally has a flexible moral bottom line.

Besides, he was Ma Qiao's former boss, so there was a bit of a "he who eats your food is bound to do your bidding" mentality.

Ma Qiao got freeloading from him for ten years...

Moreover, thanks to Ma Qiao's intervention, Crocodile didn't actually do many bad things.

The event that caused a large-scale drought and displaced people did not fully occur.

But Doflamingo is different.

Ma Qiao doesn't deny that this guy has a certain charisma.

Not only were his subordinates loyal to him, but even the daughter of his enemy was willing to offer herself to him. In his previous life, Ma Qiao knew that many One Piece readers were fans of Doflamingo.

However, according to Ma Qiao's investigation, there are two things about Doflamingo that he cannot forgive himself for.

One is involved in drug trafficking, and the other is involved in child trafficking and human experimentation with children.

This had crossed Ma Qiao's bottom line, and the Donquixote Family and the underground trade network he was involved with were among the targets Ma Qiao was determined to eliminate.

Of course, now is not the time to take action. If even the old b*tch Deng could shamelessly bump fists with the crown prince of a powerful family, then Ma Qiao could certainly shake hands with Doflamingo and feign politeness.

Watching Doflamingo warmly greet Ma Qiao, Crocodile, standing to the side, silently withdrew his outstretched hand.

For some reason, he suddenly felt an emptiness in his heart, as if something had been taken away.

I really hate Doflamingo.

I hate his constant pestering of me even more.

But why do I feel so sad when I see him in someone else's arms...?

Crocodile couldn't help but ponder the ultimate secrets of the art of sycophancy and manipulation.