Organizational Alignment

"First, we need to establish our organization's alignment!" Zhou Qi handed over a picture. "There are nine alignments here, and they basically define all of a person's—or even an organization's—morals and attitudes!"

What he had brought out was naturally the famous nine-grid alignment chart, consisting of nine alignments formed from good, evil, and neutral personalities, along with lawful, neutral, and chaotic orders.

"Personally, I think we should be neutral good. That way, we won't be bound by rigid rules, nor will we commit evil without any bottom line!" Zhou Qi said.

The other two had yet to say anything, still studying the nine-grid chart.

The more they studied it, the more extraordinary it seemed. It appeared to summarize every possible aspect of a person.

Of course, it was not without flaws. After all, a person's personality was complex. Someone could be good one second and evil the next.

There were also plenty of people who looked righteous on the surface while committing all manner of vile deeds in secret.

But overall, it was still quite accurate.

"We're definitely inclined toward good. Evil is for pirates!" Smoker nodded, and Koshiro nodded as well. There was no disagreement on that point.

"As for neutral..." Smoker looked at Zhou Qi. "How do you explain that?"

"It's simple. We won't consider matters from the standpoint of any organization. We act only for ourselves!" Zhou Qi said. "Pirates have Devil Fruits, and we want them. The Marines have them too, and we want those as well!"

"This..." Smoker's expression darkened somewhat.

"Of course, because we're good, I won't just snatch them from anyone. At the very least, we need to see what kind of reputation that person has, whether they obey the law, and whether they've committed evil..." Zhou Qi continued. "There may be fewer evildoers in the Marines, but there are definitely some. There may be fewer good people among pirates, but there are some too..."

"That... works!" Smoker felt a little better. He had no objection to removing scum from the Marines.

"How do we judge whether someone obeys the law?" Koshiro had a question instead. "Is there a standard?"

"By our basic moral standards, of course. A murderer pays with his life!" Zhou Qi rummaged around behind him for a while, then pulled out a copy of Qin Law.

Well, it was a vernacular pinyin edition.

"This is a book of laws from my country. You can take a look. Of course, since our national conditions are different, some provisions may not be applicable. We'll analyze specific situations on a case-by-case basis!"

Smoker accepted the book. After flipping through it twice, he frowned and asked, "Ancient language? But it doesn't quite look like it. I don't recognize a lot of these characters!"

"That's normal. This is the language of our country. It developed from ancient Chinese, so you should still be able to read it. If there's anything you don't understand, I can teach you." Zhou Qi asked.

Japanese language also had ancient Chinese: no hiragana or katakana, just pure chinese characters and traditional classical writing. It could be considered chinese characters from the Tang and Song eras.

Because so many books could not be understood without Classical Chinese, it was also a required subject in the Japanese education system.

"These characters are much simpler than ancient Chinese, though?" Smoker asked.

"Yeah. The original language was too complicated and inconvenient to spread, so the original characters were simplified. Now, everyone in our country can read, and these simplified characters deserve much of the credit..."

"Everyone can read?" Koshiro asked in shock.

Zhou Qi nodded proudly. "Well, not literally everyone. Ninety-five percent of people can read. The other five percent have extremely high educational qualifications. If they were here, do you have any ranking for academic credentials?"

Koshiro shook his head. "What are academic credentials?"

"Looks like you don't have universities here. Then I'll use military ranks as an example!" Zhou Qi said. "In terms of education, five percent of our people are at least rear admirals!"

A bachelor's degree was a rear admiral, a master's degree was a vice admiral, a doctorate was a lieutenant general, a professor was an admiral, and scientists at even higher levels were called fleet admirals. No problem with that, right?

Smoker and Koshiro exchanged a glance. Looking at Zhou Qi's frail body, they understood somewhat.

So this was the true nature of a nation of technology. The entire country studied culture, which was why their bodies were weak.

Zhou Qi looked at Smoker. "Are you wondering why you recognize so many characters? That's because both the language you use and the language we use came from the same ancestor. It's just that ours is more orthodox. Unlike yours, where you started using radicals whenever you ran out of characters!"

"Uh?" Smoker was somewhat speechless. Though he had no idea who had done it, he inexplicably felt a bit ashamed.

But after Zhou Qi put it that way, Smoker felt that it did not really matter which version of the characters the book used.

Or perhaps...

"It's even better if it uses characters none of us recognize. To a certain extent, it can keep things secret!" Smoker said. "Could you teach us these characters?"

"No problem!" Zhou Qi nodded. "I'll go back and prepare."

"In that case, we'll judge matters according to this law!" Smoker did not recognize many characters, but he did recognize the character for death.

"If we encounter a situation we can't determine, then we'll discuss it again!"

Koshiro nodded, having no objections.

Seeing that one clause had passed, Zhou Qi recorded it as he spoke. "We've discussed the alignment issue. The third point is how we carry out our work!"

"Smoker, you're a Marine, so it would be inconvenient for you to act against the Marines. We can ask Teacher Koshiro to handle it. The same goes for you, Teacher. If someone is inconvenient for you to deal with, hand them over to the Marines. If neither of you can act, then leave them to me!"

"Also, my ability only needs a photograph to locate someone. If you want someone killed, all you need is a photo and certainty that complete secrecy can be maintained. Then we can move out!"

"Mhm, mhm!" The two nodded together. There was nothing to discuss about that.

"Then there's the issue of secrecy!" Zhou Qi said. "Not only must our individual identities remain confidential, the fact that we can recover Devil Fruits must also remain secret. My ability must be kept secret too, mainly from pirates. Otherwise, no one will dare show their face in the future, and no one will dare go out alone!"

"So our operations cannot be high-profile. We cannot make the news, and we cannot send the process to the Marines!"

"That is only proper!" Koshiro nodded, and Smoker had even less objection.

Then came the next point.

"Fourth, the forces each of us manages!" Zhou Qi said. "To prevent conflicts between our forces, I think it's necessary to set boundaries for each person's development. If anyone wants to cross those boundaries, they must obtain the other two people's consent!"

"I'll focus solely on developing within the Marines!" Smoker looked at Koshiro. "What about you?"

"My hand will not reach into the Marines!" Koshiro said. After all, they were only rebelling.

"Then I'll focus on doing business!" Zhou Qi continued writing. "I hope you two big shots will take care of me. I sell medicine, food, and weapons. I can also print books, run advertisements, transport goods and people, and so on. As for payment, I only accept gold. Devil Fruits can also be used to offset the price: Zoan Type, 100 million Berries; Ancient Dangerous Species, 200 million; Paramecia, 300 million, with famous ones priced separately; Logia Type, 500 million, with powerful ones priced separately; Mythical Zoan Type, 600 million!"

"This!" Koshiro and Smoker suddenly realized.

Damn, where were they supposed to get that much gold? Wouldn't they still have to pay with Devil Fruits?

But refusing did not seem possible either. Zhou Qi's medicine was genuinely useful, and if they wanted to develop armed forces in secret, food and weapons truly were major problems.

At that moment, the two suddenly began to believe Zhou Qi's claim that capitalists could control a country.

Wasn't he already beginning to control the Four Spirits Society?

And he had even recruited and invested in Tashigi ahead of time. As a result, two of the Four Spirits Society's members were already his.

Meanwhile, Koshiro and Smoker could not possibly join forces.

How cunning!

Still, the two only thought about it casually and did not complain much.

After all, Zhou Qi had pulled the organization together, provided the method for recovering Devil Fruits, and settled the entire organizational structure.

Although Smoker was the Ao Dragon ranked first among the Four Spirits, all three knew that Zhou Qi was the true president.