Ortolan: As the Saying Goes, No Fight, No Friendship!
Ortolan was still interested in this technology.
If we can master this technology, the development of the Calm Belt will be much more promising. Instead of working haphazardly in different areas, we can find resource-rich islands, modify them, and then concentrate all the development in the same area, which will save a lot of trouble.
Furthermore, could similar arrangements be made for the G-5 Marines base?
G-5 is the Marine Base at the forefront. Basically, wherever the Marines's first line of defense in the New World is, G-5 will be stationed there.
There has been no significant progress or change in the past few years, and there have been no alterations. However, if there are any changes later, G-5 will have to relocate and rebuild the Marine Base.
This is such a waste of time and energy. If we could just get our hands on Moria's technology and turn the G-5 Marine Base into a warship, then we could fight anywhere. Wouldn't that be wonderful?
At the same time, this technology can also be applied to Tesoro's Golden City in the future. That Golden City is still promising. The original structure of the Golden City is two giant island turtles. Now, it would be very suitable to directly transform it into an island warship.
Thinking of this, Ortolan's ferocious expression vanished, and a gentle smile gradually returned to his face. He gently pulled Moria up from the ground and said with a smile, "Look at you, why didn't you say you had something so good sooner? If you had said so earlier, you wouldn't have suffered like this."
Moria saw how quickly Ortolan's expression changed and wanted to complain, but in the end he didn't have the guts. He could only say aggrievedly, "I was in a hurry and didn't remember... Vice Admiral Bane, do you think this can cover the guarantee fee for the Shichibukai?"
"No." Ortolan shook his head without hesitation. "I'll give you a maximum of two billion Belly. After all, you haven't even developed this technology. Whether it's real or fake, how effective it is, or whether it can be successful are all unknown. I'm already giving you face by giving you two billion, right?"
Moria opened his mouth, wanting to refute, but Ortolan's words were logical and seemed to make no mistake.
"If I invest all my money and resources and the final product turns out to be useless, then I'll lose even more. So, at most, I'll give you 2 billion Belly. You still owe me 18 billion Belly. What do you say?" Ortolan thoughtfully patted the dust off Moria's clothes and asked with a smile.
"I..." Moria hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "I still have four billion Belly in the Exchange House in the Underworld. This is my last remaining wealth. As for the rest, could I owe you for now... Don't worry, I will pay you back as soon as I have the money."
"Hahaha, sure, of course! We're all members of the World Government family, so I trust your credibility." Ortolan laughed and patted Moria on the shoulder, agreeing.
This gave Moria a slight sense of relief, but before he could exhale, he heard Ortolan say, "However, I have an even better cooperation plan here. I wonder if you would be interested?"
"Huh?" Moria really couldn't understand Ortolan's thought process. How could they be fighting to the death one second and then cooperating the next?
"Your ability to Shadow Fruit can control corpses, right?" Ortolan asked Moria.
Moria, though puzzled, nodded nonetheless. "I do possess that ability. I do indeed plan to develop it further, intending to build a Zombie Army to fight Kaido to the death... To this end, I've also contacted a renowned doctor, Hogback, who is very interested in this research on life and death and is willing to collaborate with me..."
"Don't rush things with Kaido..." Ortolan waved his hand, then said, "I have some businesses here that need a lot of cheap labor. If you're willing to cooperate with me, I'll forgive the money you owe me. If our cooperation goes well and is pleasant, we can truly become friends. Of course, I'm a very fair person. If the cooperation is profitable, I might even give you a commission..."
Why not rush to deal with Kaido?
Moria felt a pang of resentment, but the thought of Kaido filled him with a sense of dread. He had no way to back down, so he talked about revenge all the time but never took any real action.
Now, Ortolan's "No rush" actually gave him a way out, so after a brief moment of thought, Moria decided to go along with it.
What's more, Ortolan has a dog-like face, and he's already figured that out. He seems to be talking nicely and politely about some kind of cooperation, as if he's willing to listen to your opinions.
Actually, who knows if he'll turn on you after you reject him?
What if he turns hostile again?
Therefore Moria dared not refuse Ortolan.
"What kind of cooperation? I'm quite interested." Moria composed herself and quickly responded.
"Mining!" Ortolan said in a low voice, feigning seriousness. "There's a high chance of major problems arising in Flevance in the North Blue, which could affect the mining of Lead-Platinum Ore. By the way, do you know anything about Lead-Platinum Ore?"
Lead-Platinum are very famous substances, and Moria had heard of them before, so he nodded to show that he knew about them.
"The mining of that stuff is actually toxic. Flevance will most likely be destroyed by Lead-Platinum Disease caused by generations of Lead-Platinum Ore mining. As a precious metal and an essential commodity for the high-end military industry, the demand for Lead-Platinum will not decrease, and may even increase as the era of chaos progresses. Therefore, Donquixote Doflamingo of the North Blue and I plan to take over the Lead-Platinum and lead business after Flevance is destroyed. This will require a large number of laborers to go to the mines..." Ortolan briefly explained the situation to Moria.
Of course, he couldn't directly reveal the development plan for the Calm Belt to Moria. The Admiral Sengoku had repeatedly ordered him to keep it a secret, and Ortolan didn't trust Moria at the moment.
However, the foundation of trust can be built gradually. Let's test the waters with Lead-Platinum and lead first. If the cooperation goes well, the relationship between the two parties can be further strengthened. In the future, when the time is right, we can also carry out the Moria Calm Belt Development Plan.
"Because mining Lead-Platinum Ore can cause poisoning, so you mean, you want to use my zombie to mine?" Moria looked at Ortolan with some confusion.
What kind of brilliant business acumen is this? So, the greatest potential I can develop isn't combat power, but productivity?
For a moment, Moria felt that if he had met Ortolan earlier, perhaps he wouldn't have chosen the path of a pirate, and might have ended up as a wealthy merchant.
"Yes, I will provide a large number of cheap pirate laborers, imported from Impel Down. Sending them to the North Blue to mine is not feasible, as they can't work 24/7. So I thought that during the day, they can rest and let their shadows drive the corpses to do the work. At night, after they have rested, they can work with the shadow-driven corpses... Wouldn't that increase efficiency immediately? With the same number of laborers, we can directly double the profits!" Ortolan said sincerely.
Seeing the stunned Moria, Ortolan continued, "Once this business gets going, with the production and price of Lead-Platinum and lead, let me tell you, the money you owe me will be negligible. Who knows, you might even become a famous and wealthy tycoon on the high seas because of these resources. Then, taking revenge on Kaido cake. You can put a bounty of hundreds of billions of Beli on Kaido's head; plenty of people will be willing to risk it. Even if they don't kill Kaido, they'll drive him crazy..."
Moria didn't think that the hundreds of billions that Ortolan mentioned were an exaggeration, because even if he didn't know much about the price of Lead-Platinum, he knew that Flevance in the North Blue had become the richest kingdom in the North Blue because of Lead-Platinum!
This is the concept of the richest country or sea area.
And if this country were to become privately owned, that would be even more extraordinary!
Moria quickly recovered from the shock. He looked at Ortolan and wanted to ask, "Is it permissible for your Marines to do such a thing?"
Considering Ortolan's demeanor just now, and his blatant extortion of the Shichibukai.
Moria felt this was understandable; whether the Marines allowed such a thing or not, he, Ortolan, probably didn't care at all.
Just as Moria was lost in thought, Ortolan enthusiastically grabbed his arm and said, "Hey, as the saying goes, 'No discord, no concord.' It's hard to explain in a short time. Let's continue eating at the restaurant and chat as we go..."
Moria??? You've ruined the restaurant so badly, are you still going to stay open?