Pricing

(The tenth chapter was posted after Chapter 15 by mistake. This is Chapter 11.)

Two hundred million—was that a lot?

Not at all!

At the current gold price of 390 yuan per gram, two hundred million amounted to 512 kilograms of gold, or a gold cube measuring thirty by thirty by thirty centimeters.

Zhou Qi knew that gold was everywhere on Sky Island. Enel had even built a ship out of gold!

That little bit of gold was merely a drop in the bucket for Sky Island!

But Sky Island had its gatekeeper boss, Enel. To get the gold, he would first have to defeat Enel.

"To get Nico Robin, I need to defeat Desert Crocodile Crocodile. To get the Door-Door Fruit, I need to defeat all of CP9..."

I just wanted to make some money. How had I somehow ended up scheduling so many enemies?

"First, I need to make money. What if I find a pharmaceutical company, but can't afford it..."

As for where the money would come from—

"Lord Lelouch, you're here!"

Hearing that name, Zhou Qi was stunned for a moment before remembering that it was his alias in the One Piece World...

It was not particularly useful, really. He had already told Smoker his real name.

The main reason was that Tannis had initially been a stranger, while Smoker was an acquaintance.

Abbu actually already knew that Lelouch was an alias, but since Zhou Qi had said his name was Lelouch, he did not dare rashly use his real name.

"Ah, it's me. By the way, is Chairman Tannis here?" Zhou Qi asked.

"He is!" Abbu nodded. "Lord Lelouch, the medicine you brought is incredibly effective. It can practically cure every illness! Since the trial results came out, Chairman Tannis hasn't left. He's been waiting for you!"

"Alright!" Zhou Qi nodded.

Amoxicillin sounded like a fairly ordinary name, but its ingredients were anything but ordinary.

It was the famous penicillin!

"Tell me the results of your trials!" Zhou Qi said.

"Yes. There were forty pills in total. We sent twenty to Loguetown and twenty to the docks. Four were used on Reza, the most severely injured Marine soldier, while the remaining sixteen were used on other patients. Of the twenty sent to the docks, nineteen were distributed among more than sixty people..."

"Wait, this stuff can be divided up?" Zhou Qi asked in surprise.

"It can. Our doctors tested it. This medicine's treatment effect is exceptionally good, so a whole pill is not needed at once. Just one-third of a pill can treat most inflammations..."

"That's normal enough!" Zhou Qi nodded. The penicillin he had brought had been fighting bacteria on Earth for over sixty years. As bacterial resistance increased, it had undergone countless upgrades.

Meanwhile, the people of the One Piece World had never experienced antibiotic treatment. It was like using a Version 10.0 character to fight Version 1.0 monsters—of course it would be a massacre.

The bacteria in their bodies naturally could not withstand such powerful antibiotics.

"Wait, could this portal bring bacteria over with me?" Zhou Qi suddenly thought of the issue. But judging from the people around him who had interacted with him often, nothing seemed to have happened...

Thinking about it, what bacteria could he possibly carry? At most, the various parasites and symbiotic bacteria commonly found in the human body. Even in another world, they could not suddenly become pathogenic.

If he had been carrying COVID or plague viruses, then he might have caused a Biohazard Crisis, but it would not have been too serious.

There were too many incredible doctors in this world.

What he should really worry about was accidentally bringing viruses from the One Piece World back to Earth. Then he would become a sinner to his people!

"Thankfully, I don't go out often. But in the future, I should change the travel point to the bathroom and disinfect myself before every entry and exit..."

Abbu was still explaining the trial results.

Overall, Amoxicillin performed extremely well in this world. Even severe infections showed improvement after just one pill, while ordinary infections only needed one-third or even one-fourth of a pill.

It was practically a miracle drug!

That Reza had been given four pills directly because they had lacked experience during the first trial. The doctors were still heartbroken over it!

"By the way, didn't you notice any other symptoms?" Zhou Qi was somewhat puzzled by the results. "Did no one have any adverse reactions?"

"Uh, no. Does this medicine have some other problem?" Abbu asked.

"Some people have allergic constitutions and cannot take Amoxicillin. To them, this medicine is poison..." Zhou Qi said.

"We didn't see anyone like that..." Abbu thought for a moment before answering.

"I see!" Zhou Qi nodded. Were people in the One Piece World physically stronger? Or were there simply fewer people prone to allergies here?

But whatever. I'm not a scientist, so why am I thinking about this? I'll leave it to professionals to study in the future.

"Then do you think this medicine has a market?" Zhou Qi asked.

"It does! Absolutely!" Abbu hurriedly said. "Loguetown alone needs a huge amount of this medicine, let alone the entire East Blue and even the whole world. Fishermen, laborers, dockworkers—countless people are injured every day. As long as you have it for sale, you won't have to worry about finding buyers!"

"Then how much do you think I should price each pill?" Zhou Qi asked again.

"Eh? This..." Abbu fell silent at once. I'm just a butler. I don't know anything about that...

"If you ask me, one pill of this medicine would be worth one hundred thousand Beli!" Tannis's voice came from outside. "After all, this is life-saving medicine..."

"One hundred thousand Beli?" Zhou Qi looked at Tannis, who had just entered. "How much gold can one hundred thousand Beli buy?"

"According to the current World Bank exchange rate, one hundred thousand Beli can be exchanged for forty grams of gold!" Tannis answered.

Forty grams of gold was equivalent to sixteen thousand yuan. In other words, ten Beli could be exchanged for 1.6 yuan. The exchange rate between yuan and Beli was 1 to 6.25?

He could not calculate it like that. A newspaper here cost fifty Beli, while a newspaper on Earth cost one yuan. By that calculation, the exchange rate should be 1 to 50!

"The World Economic Journal basically operates a monopoly. Things are expensive when they are scarce, so newspaper prices are probably inflated. Meanwhile, Earth's newspapers have become a declining industry because of pressure from self-media, and their prices are no longer what they used to be. Besides, gold on Earth is not only used for jewelry but also as an industrial raw material. Gold in the One Piece World is simply a precious metal, so Earth's gold prices should be higher than those in the One Piece World!"

If he treated the gold prices of the two worlds as equal, then the price he set would earn far less.

"I'll use an exchange rate of 1 to 10 for now. It's easier to calculate too!" Zhou Qi thought.

A pill of Amoxicillin cost about forty cents on Earth, which should theoretically make it four Beli here.

But if he calculated the cost based on the industrial level of the One Piece World, then the price would not be four Beli.

Mm, multiplying it by a hundred made five hundred Beli fairly suitable. He could see how the market reacted and lower the price later if necessary.

Five hundred Beli was only 0.2 grams of gold. That was really not much. Back when penicillin had first been invented, one gram of penicillin had been worth one gram of gold. That was no joke!

And this was one pill!

Even if Vegapunk saw this price, he probably would not be able to criticize it...

"One hundred thousand Beli is excessive. At that price, many people simply won't be able to afford it!" Zhou Qi shook his head. "I didn't develop this medicine to make money, but to save more people from illness and disaster, so that more people can survive their suffering. How about this? Five hundred Beli per pill, twenty pills per box, ten thousand Beli per box. What do you think?"

"This..." Tannis stared at Zhou Qi in shock. "Ten thousand Beli per box? Are you serious?"

"Of course I'm serious." Zhou Qi smiled.

"You truly are..." Tannis was stunned. In this world, anyone who wanted to make money could not be too conscientious. Tannis had seen plenty of ruthless, black-hearted merchants, and even he himself had done quite a few shady jobs.

He had never expected to encounter someone with such noble ideals one day!

"However..."

"Yes?"

"I've only just arrived, and I don't have any sales channels in the East Blue. Do you have any connections?" Zhou Qi asked.

"Yes, yes!" Tannis hurriedly said. "We work with pharmacies throughout the East Blue. In addition, the Tannis Trading Company has wineries and taverns in every country across the East Blue. They can be used to sell these medicines!"

It felt strange for taverns to sell medicine, but it was not cephalosporin, so it did not matter.

"Then you can handle the sales of these medicines. I can give you ten percent of the sales profits!"

"Thank you..." Tannis hurriedly nodded. He knew not making an enemy of this man had been the right choice. Look, had it not paid off already?

"Oh, right!" Zhou Qi continued. "I don't accept Beli. I only accept gold. Is that a problem?"

"No problem!" Tannis nodded. He would only need to exchange the money after it reached his accounts. It would not be troublesome.

Moreover, because he had to make that exchange, the funds would inevitably remain in his hands for a while. How important was that to a trading company?

Not to mention the connections and influence selling this medicine would bring to the Tannis Trading Company.

Why would he refuse a business that guaranteed profit without loss?

"There's one more thing!" Zhou Qi paused again.

"Yes?"

"I need some startup capital!"

"This..." Tannis's expression changed, but he quickly nodded firmly. "How much do you need?"

"Gold. One ton!"

"This..." Tannis was speechless. "My lord, you think too highly of us. The Tannis Trading Company may be large, but we can't produce that much liquid capital!"

What did one ton of gold represent? It was 2.5 billion Beli!

"Then how much do you have?" Zhou Qi asked.

"At most, three hundred kilograms!" Tannis calculated silently before answering.

"Then give me three hundred kilograms first!" Zhou Qi smiled. "That should barely be enough to get the factory started!"

"This..." Tannis hesitated slightly, then nodded again. "No problem. But it will take five days to mobilize the funds. You'll have to wait a little!"

"Five days?" Zhou Qi thought for a moment, then asked, "How many days does it take to get to Shimotsuki Village?"

"Three days!" Tannis said.

"What about Tang Peach Town?"

"Two days!"

"Perfect. Send two ships for me. I'll go to Tang Peach Town first, then Shimotsuki Village!"

"No problem. I'll make the arrangements right away!"

Zhou Qi nodded. Come to think of it, was there anything else he had not mentioned? Probably not!

"Lord Tannis!" A servant suddenly rushed in from outside. "Captain Smoker is here, right outside!"

"Hm?" Tannis froze, then hurriedly looked at Zhou Qi. Of course he knew the captain was not here to see him. He was probably here to see Zhou Qi.

"Since he's here, I'll meet him. I can tell him about the price too!" Zhou Qi had originally intended to leave Smoker hanging for a few days, but since he had already come, he decided to forget it.

He was not some scheming old fox. Rather than force himself to act mature, he might as well be himself.