"My idea is simple: use the harshest means to kill Sauron and warn everyone within the Navy, so they no longer dare entertain thoughts of betrayal."
Sakazuki spoke coldly and mercilessly. After Sauron defected, Sakazuki had personally dealt with the Marines who had helped him escape.
Traitors had to die!
"I think Vice Admiral Sakazuki has a fine idea. Vice Admiral Sakazuki, feel free to state your views boldly. If Fleet Admiral Kong has any objections, tell him that I support your ideas," Ross replied with a smile.
He liked straightforward people like Sakazuki.
With Sakazuki taking the lead and charging ahead, Ross only needed to stand behind him and wave the flag.
If Sakazuki had not been so obsessively devoted to the Navy and pirates, Ross would have wanted to poach him.
Thinking of Sakazuki risking his life in the Summit War, then comparing him to those other slackers, any superior would sincerely wish for more subordinates like Sakazuki who gave their all.
"I will convey my views to Fleet Admiral Kong."
Sakazuki nodded seriously. It was not that he failed to understand Ross's intentions, but having a Celestial Dragon backing him could only benefit him.
He only wanted to kill every pirate. As long as Ross was willing to support him, he would be willing to elevate Ross to one of the Five Elders.
Absolute justice would judge all pirates!
"Then I'll wait and see."
Ross nodded with a smile as he watched Sakazuki turn and leave.
"Both he and Kong are using you."
Zephyr stood beside Ross and gave him a complicated reminder.
"If they're using me, that means I still have some value. Isn't that a good thing? I'm not Belly; it's impossible to make everyone like me."
Ross smiled. It seemed his efforts over the past few days had not been in vain. At least Zephyr was willing to consider things for him.
As for being used, as long as he gained tangible benefits, reputation meant nothing at all.
Celestial Dragons, good reputation?
Putting those two phrases together would sound absurd to any normal person.
"As long as you understand. Sakazuki's justice is somewhat extreme. He only cares about results, and the process may cause considerable trouble," Zephyr reminded him.
"If justice isn't extreme, can it still be called justice?"
Ross smiled and asked in return, then added without reservation:
"Besides, his justice isn't extreme enough. The truly extreme ones want to press their fists against my forehead, rather than aim them at those pirates."
"You mean Dragon. After defecting from the Navy, he did make some improper statements and even formed some Self-Bravery Army. His thinking has already gone astray." Zephyr shook his head.
"What do you think of Dragon?"
Hearing Zephyr's assessment, Ross became interested.
This was the first time he had heard someone from the Navy discuss the Revolutionary Army and Dragon, and he wanted to hear Zephyr's views.
"You should know his background. His father is Garp. During his years in the Navy, we had all been training him as the next Admiral."
"But after witnessing several cases of conflict between nobles and commoners, he began to grow dissatisfied with the justice advocated within the Navy."
"In his view, justice suppressed by the current cruel order was not justice at all. The Navy was not the embodiment of justice either, but an accomplice of the World Government and its allied forces. That was why he left the Navy."
"Because of Garp, the Navy did not publicize the matter. We merely kept an eye on him to prevent any uncontrollable situations."
"After Roger's death, the Great Pirate Era began, and Dragon took the opportunity to establish the Self-Bravery Army. When it was founded, the Navy held a meeting, and I took part in it as well."
A trace of reminiscence appeared in Zephyr's eyes as he spoke unhurriedly:
"As its name implies, the Self-Bravery Army was an army of free and valiant people. Led by Dragon, it aimed to eliminate all injustice and bring freedom to the world."
"Isn't that platform good? Freedom—what a wonderful word." Ross sneered.
"A child's way of thinking." Zephyr shook his head. "No matter how dark an order is, it is still better than the chaos brought by freedom."
When it came to order, Zephyr had never wavered.
No matter how poorly the World Government performed, it was still ten thousand times better than so-called freedom for the entire world.
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"Indeed."
Ross agreed strongly with that view.
People were fundamentally different from one another. One should not assume that after the entire world became free, everyone would behave themselves.
If the whole world became free, it would inevitably descend into a dark age. In the end, ambitious people would still emerge and establish oppressive classes and systems.
Universal human self-awareness, a world of great harmony—so long as humans still had desires, such things could never happen. Thousands of years of human history in his previous world had already proven that.
Even if an absolutely capable Saint appeared, once that Saint died, the future would return to what it had always been.
Rather than equality under a Saint, it was more accurate to call it humane rule under a Saint's dictatorship.
However, Ross wanted even more to hear Zephyr's thoughts on the matter.
Zephyr's views could also represent a portion of the Navy, and Ross could use them as a reference.
"Saint Ross, do you know about the Non-aligned Nations?" Zephyr asked in return.
"Not very well. I only know that Non-aligned Nations are not governed by the World Government and do not need to pay Celestial Gold, but the Navy will not protect them either." Ross shook his head.
He truly did not know much about the Non-aligned Nations. He only knew that every few years, the World Government would use one of them to make an example.
Yet even so, Non-aligned Nations still sprang up like mushrooms after rain.
Some were located in remote and chaotic areas, while others were simply lawless lands.
"I once visited several Non-aligned Nations. You could say there was basically no order there; strength was everything."
Zephyr fell into remembrance and spoke slowly:
"After eight hundred years of development by the World Government, nearly every country with even a little order had been incorporated among the affiliated nations. Only some chaotic small countries, chaotic islands, and countries with unusual geographical conditions remained Non-aligned Nations."
"I once visited a Non-aligned Nation area called Rata Town. It was a small town on Rata Island in the South Blue. Located at the edge of the South Blue, it had around ten thousand local residents and was basically controlled by pirates or warlords."
"The local residents could not exactly be called miserable. In truth, they lived quite well. On average, every resident earned one million Belly a year."
At this point, a trace of mockery appeared at the corner of Zephyr's mouth.
One million Belly. Even in the Sabaody Archipelago, that counted as a high-income group.
"They were doing illegal business," Ross said with certainty.
For ordinary people to earn that much, they could only be engaged in illegal business. That was normal even in Non-aligned Nations.
Not just Non-aligned Nations—affiliated nations did the same business. Everyone was alike.
"Exactly. Rata Town advertised itself as a tourist paradise and a city of freedom, attracting large numbers of visitors from affiliated nations every year. But internally, it was involved in the Slave Trade." Zephyr snorted.
"The Slave Trade? Is that illegal?"
Gion looked somewhat confused beside them. This was the first time she had heard that buying and selling slaves was illegal. Were there not many slave shops in the Sabaody Archipelago?
"Buying and selling slaves is not illegal, but kidnapping and trading citizens of affiliated nations is illegal," Ross said calmly.
The World Government's laws were rather bizarre.
Robbery, murder, and kidnapping were all crimes, with corresponding punishments. Of course, the law did not apply to nobles, and each affiliated nation had its own autonomous laws.
But one point was basically the same everywhere: kidnapping was illegal, while buying and selling slaves was not.
Then the question was, where did the slaves come from?
Don't ask. The answer was always slaves from Non-aligned Nations; no affiliated nation had missing persons.
As long as they stuck to that claim, there was a way to explain the slaves' origins.
"They can do that?"
Gion could hardly believe it. She felt the World Government's laws were somewhat childish. Wasn't that giving slave traders an opportunity to exploit a loophole?
"That was how areas like Rata Town came about. They were lawless places themselves, and every year they used different methods to deceive or forcibly seize people and bring them to Rata Town. Once those people had Rata Town identities, they were sold throughout the world."
"The slave sales in the Sabaody Archipelago already dealt in handpicked premium goods. These Non-aligned Nation areas like Rata Town, along with the slave-catching ships rampant across the seas, were the true front line of the slave trade."
"As long as you made a deal with them, even if you were once a noble, they could fabricate a story about you giving up your noble status and joining Rata Town."
Zephyr snorted coldly. He disliked such behavior as well.
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