Dragon: So You're Just Going to Keep Screwing Me Over?

East Blue, Shimotsuki Village Port.

Dragon was standing on the port dock at that moment, and said with a smile, "This batch of grain is very important to us. Thank you so much this time, Koshiro."

That's right, the man standing opposite Dragon at this moment is none other than Shimotsuki Koshiro.

He looked still young, but he was already wearing glasses, and a warm smile graced his face. Hearing Dragon's words, he gently shook his head and said, "You're a grown man, and as a friend, this is all I can do to help you. The food will be placed in the usual spot; you can go and get it anytime..."

Shimotsuki Koshiro was the largest landowner in Shimotsuki Village, as can be seen from the village's name.

Shimotsuki Village is not an isolated village; it belongs to a kingdom in the East Blue. Although Koshiro is not of noble birth, he is a wealthy landowner and gentry with considerable influence in the country.

He might not be able to help Dragon with other things, but it was easy for him to secretly gather some food to support Dragon.

Considering that even though Shimotsuki Village was relatively remote, the longer he stayed, the greater the risk to both sides, Dragon didn't exchange any pleasantries. After saying goodbye, he immediately boarded the ship and left.

Before long, his boat sailed beyond the horizon of Shimotsuki Village.

Inside the cabin, Dragon held a piece of paper, crossed out the word "no" on it, and then, with a slightly furrowed brow and a worried expression, said, "In the past two years, fewer and fewer friends are willing to continue supporting and helping us..."

Since the conclusion of the World Conference in 1502 of the Marine Era, the Revolutionary Army has been officially recognized by the World Government as an 'illegal armed rebellion organization'. Previously, Dragon could still have some room for maneuver.

Now, as the leader of the Revolutionary Army, he has been listed as an extremely dangerous and heinous criminal by the World Government.

Although he was still a ways off from his later reputation as the 'world's most dangerous criminal,' the meaning was clear. Under these circumstances, the number of people willing to risk their lives to remain his friend naturally decreased significantly.

The remaining people, like Koshiro, valued friendship and secretly offered whatever help they could.

Or they are people who want to place bets and try to gain some benefit from the Revolutionary Army (such as Ortolan).

However, Dragon still uniformly refers to these people who are willing to support his business as 'friends'.

After a moment of reflection, Dragon Ivankov, sitting opposite him, shrugged slightly with a hint of helplessness and said, "The situation these past two years has been far too urgent for us. The intensity of the attacks and the level of attention from the World Government are far greater than in previous years. Our living space is being gradually squeezed, which means that the confidence of some outsiders in us is also being eroded. I believe that to break this situation, we must stage a resounding comeback. Only by proving to the outside world that we still have enough strength to confront the World Government can we gain more covert support..."

Dragon listened to this and nodded in agreement with Ivankov's statement.

Although the Revolutionary Army currently has some secret bases around the world, in reality, they still do not have a suitable base of operations. Without such a base, it means they cannot be self-sufficient in production.

In this situation, if they wanted to survive, they had to rely on 'exploiting the noble lords' to obtain a lot of benefits. In other words, they had to constantly attack the noble class, raid and rob their wealth.

Then they would use these 'friends' to monetize their wealth, converting it into various supplies they needed.

However, due to the intense political climate surrounding these two events, the Revolutionary Army is also facing difficulties. In essence, they have acquired considerable wealth through overthrowing the aristocracy and spreading revolutionary ideas, but now most of this wealth is tied up in their hands.

Because fewer friends are willing to take the risk to help them monetize their assets in the past; not everyone can withstand the pressure to help!

This has resulted in Dragon having accumulated a considerable amount of wealth, but being unable to convert it into the driving force of the Revolutionary Army!

The reduced mobility of the Revolutionary Army in the field will restrict their actions, and this restriction will likely lead to a rapid decline in their ability to acquire wealth, thus creating a vicious cycle.

The overall strength of the Revolutionary Army will gradually decline, eventually becoming a minor problem that can be easily suppressed by the World Government.

This is also the current strategy employed by the World Government. As mentioned before, the World Government has been established for over 800 years. While there have been periods of periods of widespread support, there have also been numerous periods of tyranny. During these periods, they have dealt with countless revolutionary organizations, including the Revolutionary Army, and are therefore highly experienced.

Dragon was certainly aware of this tactic, and now that he wanted to break the deadlock, Ivankov's suggestion was indeed an effective method.

In this world, there are many ambitious people. Ortolan had previously commented on the nature of the Revolutionary Army. At least at this stage, in the eyes of various ambitious people, the Revolutionary Army is positioned as a 'vanguard for the king,' a role used to test the power of the world's ruling government.

If he can grow his business into a large and powerful entity, then various investments will definitely follow, and some people may even start to form similar organizations to prepare to divide up the territory of the mortal government.

If he encounters setbacks and everyone discovers that the World Government is still powerful, then the Revolutionary Army will be quickly abandoned, and all sorts of ambitious individuals will still unite under the banner of the World Government and continue to be a loving family.

Ortolan, who was building G-5, was also one of these ambitious men. He was also using the Revolutionary Army.

Now that the Revolutionary Army is showing signs of weakness, if Dragon wants to continue to get support from his various "friends," he'll have to find a way to create a Big News Morgans to prove to these "investors" that we are still capable of fighting the World Government in a real battle!

If he can create a Big News Morgans, the situation will change drastically.

Just as Dragon was thinking about how to create Big News Morgans so that all his friends could see for themselves that the Revolutionary Army was capable and strong, and that they were in the early stages of their business and wanted to invest quickly to secure a spot so that they could also benefit more when the Revolutionary Army succeeded, the Den Den Mushi on his table suddenly rang.

Dragon's private Den Den Den Mushi) contains only a few signal waves that can contact him, but anyone who can reach him through these signals is someone Dragon considers valuable enough.

Therefore, as soon as the Den Den Den Mushi rang, Dragon looked over immediately, and then a hint of doubt appeared in his eyes.

Because the person who contacted him this time was Bane Ortolan.

"What's with this bastard suddenly contacting me?" Dragon muttered to himself, somewhat puzzled.

He readily admitted that Ortolan was a man of great value, especially after witnessing firsthand the arrival of the 'Great Age' that Ortolan had predicted in Loguetown, which made him find Ortolan even more interesting.

At the time, Ortolan was clearly capable of preventing the situation from worsening, but he didn't. Instead, he laughed like a madman. If you say he's fine, would Dragon believe you?

However, although he acknowledged that Ortolan was very valuable, he was also very clear that Ortolan was definitely a rip-off for him!

Although this bastard didn't trick him that many times, every time he did, he did it to the point of near destruction. Even now, many people on the high seas still believe that he, this vicious criminal who had a secret meeting with the Pirate King Roger in the South Blue, is responsible for half of the troubles of this Great Pirate Era.

Good heavens, when the hell did I ever have a secret meeting with Roger?

I'm innocent!

After hesitating for a moment, Dragon took a deep breath and answered the Den Den Mushi: "Ortolan?"

"Hahaha, it's been a long time since we last talked, Dragon. How have you been lately?" Ortolan greeted him in a very familiar tone as soon as he came in.

Dragon's face twitched slightly. This clueless person thought we were such close friends.

"So-so..." Dragon replied casually, then cut to the chase. "You haven't contacted me in ages, so this sudden call must mean something's up and you need me to take the blame for you, right?"

"Haha..." Ortolan chuckled slightly awkwardly, then said, "What kind of person do you take me for? I'm your father's best friend. I just heard that your Revolutionary Army isn't doing too well lately, so I came to offer you some advice."

"Fine, very well. From your few words, I'm already certain that you're up to no good by coming to me." Dragon mocked her without any politeness.

Although he made a few sarcastic remarks about Ortolan, Dragon still wanted to hear what kind of ridiculous story this guy had to blame on the Revolutionary Army.

Honestly, if the price is right, Dragon doesn't think he'd mind taking the blame. After all, his reputation is already like this, so what else can he do?

Talking nonsense is useless; it all comes down to whether Yang Yi is up to par. If Yang Yi is up to par, even if he knows that Ortolan is a rip-off, Dragon will still be willing to step into it.