Signing the Contract

Carrying the weights, he returned to Shimotsuki Village and began Suburi for an hour.

Seven to nine o'clock was supposedly when yin and yang converged, the best time for meditation. He couldn't miss it.

With yesterday's experience, he had found a method: first, focus all his attention on a single thought and discard every other thought. Then discard that one thought as well, ultimately entering a state of no-self, no-thought.

Without Koshiro's sword chant, he focused on visualizing the Space Gate.

The Space Gate looked like nothing more than a simple circle. To the naked eye, it truly was just a simple circle, but in Zhou Qi's imagination, it was a super circle capable of severing space, time, and even fate!

Though it was still a circle.

However, visualizing the Space Gate seemed quite effective. Not only did it quickly focus his attention, but before he knew it, he had visualized the Space Gate away as well.

In the end, nothing remained in the entire world but emptiness.

With each breath, the tides came and went...

He was able to meditate in earnest, but Tashigi, in the room next door, was a tangled mess inside.

So, what should I do?

She had never planned out her own goals. She had merely followed her father's arrangements and become Smoker's disciple. When Zhou Qi asked for her, she had not voiced any wishes of her own. Once Smoker gave the order, she had simply followed Zhou Qi away.

She did have a dream: to reclaim every Famous Sword held by pirates. But she had never considered how that dream could be achieved.

Until today, when she suddenly realized that she needed to make her own decisions!

Should she continue being a Marine in peace, leave once Zhou Qi's career and his cooperation with the Marines had stabilized, or join Zhou Qi and strive to change the world?

Can I change the world too?

She thought of the laughter and joy in Huaxia, where everyone had clothes to wear and shoes on their feet. No one had to worry about pirates attacking without warning, and no one needed to carry weapons when leaving home.

Then she thought of Loguetown: townspeople in ragged clothes, herself feeling unsafe without a sword whenever she went out, homeless orphans, and displaced refugees...

Was this world really good?

Didn't this world need to change?

In a nation with complete peace, where weapons were unnecessary, even treasures like the Ten Great Famous Swords could only be displayed in museums.

Would such a world be a tragedy for swords?

No, it would be a sword's greatest honor!

Because only in a peaceful world would swords cease to be weapons of murder and instead bear all kinds of stories and beautiful virtues...

And there was only one way to collect every Famous Sword held by pirates around the world.

That was world peace!

Otherwise, even if she succeeded one day, new Famous Swords would emerge and continue to fall into pirates' hands!

"Do you want to be a weapon of murder, or a work of art that represents beautiful virtues?" Tashigi looked at the Small Night Rain in her hand and fell silent.

Thus, the next day, when Zhou Qi opened his door, he saw Tashigi standing there, haggard and red-eyed, yet exceptionally spirited.

"Qi-kun, I'm willing to join you. Please tell me what I should do!"

"You've thought it through?" Zhou Qi hurriedly invited her inside. Otherwise, seeing her like this, people would think he had bullied her.

"Mhm!" Tashigi nodded repeatedly. "I believe that only by changing this world and making it like Qi-kun's country will treasured swords never need to be drawn again!"

"The best destination for Famous Swords should be to become works of art, not to be held in people's hands as weapons of murder!"

"Have a seat first!" Zhou Qi smiled at Tashigi's eagerness. "Here, have some water first."

Only then did Tashigi realize that she had stayed awake all night and stood outside for quite a while. Her throat was now parched.

After draining the tea in one gulp, Tashigi finally felt much better, and her emotions gradually calmed.

She asked softly, "What should I do to change this world?"

Zhou Qi shook his head. "It's still too early to talk about that. We need to do things step by step. First, it's best to set a small goal we can actually achieve. Opening your mouth and saying you want to change the world isn't a dream. It's delusion."

"Ah..." Tashigi froze. But that was true. How could just the two of them change the world?

They definitely had to take things one step at a time.

"I understand..." Tashigi said. "Then what should my first step be?"

"Hmm, how about becoming a Marine Admiral?" Zhou Qi asked with a smile.

"You?"

"You!"

"Me?" Tashigi froze, then hurriedly waved her hands. "No, no, that's impossible! How could I ever do that?"

Zhou Qi said, "Like I said, if the goal is too big, we break it down further! If becoming an admiral is too difficult, how about making Marine captain our first goal?"

"This..." Tashigi frowned. That was still very difficult.

Her benchmark was Smoker, and Smoker's strength completely overwhelmed hers!

"No need to rush. Just steadily improve your strength!" Zhou Qi said. "Teacher Koshiro is a Great Swordsman. With his guidance, our strength should improve considerably within three or four years. Reaching captain in terms of strength might not be impossible!"

"This..." Tashigi still found it difficult, but she soon clenched her fists.

Precisely because it was difficult, she needed to work even harder!

"Also, while you're in the Marines, you need to cover for me!" Zhou Qi continued. "If you want to accomplish great things, you need money and people. I'll be responsible for those two things, while you need to reduce the Marines' attention on me and let me develop peacefully in the East Blue."

"What should I do?" Tashigi asked.

"Hmm, tell the Marines this: Huaxia is a nation located beneath the sea. It never sees sunlight and survives by relying on undersea volcanoes for warmth. This nation has only three thousand people, and I am its prince. By chance, I obtained a Devil Fruit that allowed me to leave the ocean floor and come to the surface..."

"Mhm, mhm..." Tashigi nodded. "What else?"

"That's enough for now. You've only been with me for one day, after all. How much information could you possibly have uncovered?" Zhou Qi said. "When they ask later, we'll slowly make up more intelligence bit by bit. Better yet if nobody cares, then we can develop peacefully!"

"Mhm, mhm!" Tashigi nodded repeatedly.

"And there's the matter of the gold!" Zhou Qi thought for a moment, then said, "Tell them that Huaxia wants to return to the surface to live, but to leave the ocean floor, it needs to build a treasure ship cast from gold..."

"A ship made of gold? How could it sail beneath the sea? They won't believe that!"

"Then let's change it..." Zhou Qi thought for a moment. "Say that the nation is controlled by a sea eagle. It's a powerful Sea King that demands the nation offer up one boy and one girl each year. Gold can be used to pay off the debt, but the nation has already run out of gold..."

"This works!" Tashigi nodded. The story even sounded a little tragic.

After discussing the details for a while longer, Zhou Qi opened a Space Gate and sent her back to make her report.

After all, he had already confirmed that Bingxing Town was quite safe and did not need protection.

As for himself, he practiced swordsmanship for two hours. Seeing that it was already nine in the morning, he hurriedly opened a Space Gate and returned.

"You're awake? I was just about to call you!" When Yibing saw Zhou Qi emerge from the room, he curiously peered through the doorway. "Where's that Okinawa girl?"

"She left!"

"She left?" Yibing stared in astonishment. "When? Why didn't you keep her?"

"I already told you, we're just friends!" Zhou Qi said helplessly. "All right, work comes first. Let's not talk about this."

"All right..." Yibing sighed. What a great opportunity. That girl had been so pretty, too.

He suddenly found himself worrying about Zhou Qi's lifelong prospects. He was such a straight-laced guy—would he be able to find a wife in the future?

At half past nine, the group arrived at Baofeng Pharmaceutical. Under Luo Baofeng's guidance, they took a tour of the factory.

It had only been a formality to begin with. Zhou Qi saw that the production lines were operating normally, then heard from the accountants, who had worked all day, that there were no dead accounts or bad debts. He immediately nodded and signed.

The 138 million in his hands instantly became 58 million. Losing eighty million all at once made Zhou Qi's heart ache.

But from that moment on, he owned a factory and had become one of those utterly vile capitalists.

Heh, that actually felt pretty good?