Did the Empress truly believe him?
No.
Or rather, not completely.
She had indeed wavered, and in the end, she had agreed to cooperate.
But to a great extent, that was because he held her secret, while she held his. They had a basis for mutual restraint, and she could not kill him without risking the information getting out.
Part of it was indeed because his words had moved her, but more of it was probably helpless resignation.
He could not make her open her heart as effortlessly as Straw Hat had. After all, before that brat met the Empress, he had first beaten the Celestial Dragons to a pulp.
But it did not matter. Reaching a cooperation agreement was enough.
As for trust, they could slowly cultivate that later.
Bright sat down where he was and began discussing the details of their cooperation with the Empress.
"Amazon Lily is located in the Calm Belt. It is even more isolated than our Fish-Man Island, and that is a good thing for our cooperation."
Bright said to the Empress, "We can transport supplies to Amazon Lily continuously through the seabed without being discovered."
"We can even help Amazon Lily establish industries of its own, so this country will no longer have to rely solely on plundering to survive."
That was what he said, but given Amazon Lily's geography, even if it developed industry, it would still need to rely on Fish-Man Island to import raw materials and sell its goods.
In other words, if Bright wished, he could completely turn Amazon Lily into Fish-Man Island's processing plant.
But he would not do that. The value of this country and its people was clearly far greater than that little bit of sweatshop profit.
"We can help this country prosper."
Bright spoke earnestly.