As it turned out, Ortolan's intuition was correct.
As Gan Fall watched as a large number of elite Marines soldiers poured off the warship, roughly estimating that there were more than two thousand men, he immediately abandoned any further thoughts.
Are you kidding? There aren't many people on Angel Island, and the guards only have about two weeks' worth of men. How could they possibly fight against this group of Marines who look like the elite of the elite, the ace of the ace?
So Gan Fall completely gave up. In his opinion, the Marines from the Blue Sea couldn't stay on the Skypiea for long. As long as he cooperated with them to accomplish what they wanted, Angel Island would still be Angel Island.
Ortolan didn't stand on ceremony and directly asked Angel Island to send people to lead their Marines to find the Golden Country.
The so-called Golden Country, on Angel Island, is known as the 'Land of God'.
More than four weeks ago, the gods of Angel Island discovered the Land of God that had been washed ashore, and a fierce war broke out among the inhabitants there, the Shandia people.
What followed was that the Shandia people had just arrived in Zhazi, were driven out of the Land of God.
The people of Angel Island occupied that area, but the Shandia people did not give up and fought four consecutive wars with Angel Island... well, let's just call it a war for now.
To be honest, Angel Island isn't a large Skypiea, and there aren't many Shandia people there.
In Ortolan's view, this so-called war of four villages was somewhat like a four-village brawl between two villages.
In the several major battles, the total number of troops involved on both sides did not exceed one thousand.
This can't even be called a war?
But then I thought, this is Skypiea, and we're just country bumpkins, so it makes sense.
Anyway, after these few weeks of struggle, the so-called 'Land of God' is now in a vacuum. The people of Angel Island can't take it, and the people of Shandia can't occupy it either. Neither side can do anything to the other, and neither side will allow the other to ascend to the Land of God.
The two sides continued to harass each other around the Land of God.
Gan Fall had long been fed up with the endless struggle with the Shandia people, but the historical tradition dictated that they had to fight for the Land of God, and the Shandia people were in the same boat. Moreover, the two sides had been fighting for several weeks, and the old grudges and grievances were impossible to resolve. Even if Gan Fall gave up the Land of God, it would not end the war.
That would only allow the Shandia people to prosper rapidly, eventually swallowing up Angel Island.
Now, when he heard that this Marines bigwig who had suddenly come to Sky Skypiea wanted to take that Land of God away, his feelings were quite complicated.
On the one hand, there was some relief. Without the Land of God, the fundamental conflict between them and the Shandia people would be gone, leaving only hatred. But hatred could eventually be alleviated. Perhaps in the future, generation after generation, after another week or two, this war that had lasted for several weeks would come to an end.
On the other hand, they felt helpless, having fought for these few acres of land, only to have it ultimately fall into the hands of outsiders.
Unfortunately, this group of outsiders possesses extremely formidable strength. If they don't agree, Angel Island and the Shandia people might be wiped out at the same time.
Anyway, Gan Fall didn't dare gamble on the quality of the Marines, so he simply lay down and did whatever Ortolan told him to do.
After settling the people on Angel Island, Gan Fall then became a guide, leading Ortolan and the others on a warship to the Land of God.
Then along the way, they encountered many crazy Shandia people who seemed to have no concept of yielding or forbearance. Even though the warships had enough deterrent power, they would still charge forward like madmen, yelling and trying to stop them.
However, it was all for naught. Ortolan didn't even need to lift a finger; his Marines soldiers and officers swept through the Shandia people with lightning speed.
All the Shandia people attacked the warships were captured and imprisoned.
They captured nearly seventy Shandia warriors on just the short route from Angel Island to the Land of Gods.
And these people, Ortolan also promised, would later be given to Angel Island for Gan Fall to deal with himself.
This greatly surprised Gan Fall. He had fought the Shandia people before, so he knew that the Shandia people only had about 150 warriors. With half of them wiped out, they probably wouldn't have the strength to fight Angel Island anymore. Perhaps this was a great opportunity for them to resolve this 400-strong conflict!
Led by Gan Fall, the warships quickly arrived at the sacred land. After leaving a Marines guard ship behind, Ortolan and his group passed through the dense forest and soon saw the legendary Golden Country on the edge of a cliff.
Even though they had prepared themselves mentally before coming, seeing a city built of gold directly from the cliff still made everyone feel the overwhelming aura of wealth and luxury.
I even felt a little suffocated.
"Tina... Hina..." She smiled, looking at the golden city towering over the valley, swallowed hard, and asked somewhat absentmindedly, "How many Belly can one gram of gold be exchanged for these days?"
"Ten thousand eight hundred and forty-two Belly ..." Hina's eyes were also dazed, and she instinctively responded with a smile to the question. (This refers to the exchange rate of Japanese Yen to gold.)
"One gram of gold...more than ten thousand Belly, and here, there is a whole city's worth of gold. Just that towering pyramid structure alone must have...must have..." Yi Xiao said, hesitating for a long time, but in the end, he still couldn't give an estimate of the weight.
But he knew that there was no need to estimate anything; the amount of gold here was absolutely astronomical!
If the World Government cannot meet the Marines's military expenses with cash, now that it is facing the Golden Country, Yixiao thinks that if someone really controls this amount of gold reserves, they can at least meet the Marines's military expenses for several months with cash!
Just taking over this Golden Country would be enough to make the Marines independent for several decades!
Although Ortolan had been prepared for some time, and even had a general idea of what the place looked like.
But as I said before, when this Golden Country truly reflects reality and appears before people's eyes, the overwhelming impact is truly awe-inspiring.
Ortolan took a deep breath and said, "Don't rush, if it's gold-plated, that would be ridiculous..."
As soon as he finished speaking, Ortolan stretched out a hand and released an Inazuma chain that landed precisely on the top of the pyramid in the Golden Country. Then, everyone watched as Ortolan's lightning power began to permeate the interior of the pyramid.
Soon, the gold spread out from the pyramids again, covering the entire Golden Country. During this process, everyone was surprised to find that the gold they had just seen was not all of it!
Many buildings were buried in dust, making it impossible to see any of their original gold color. However, as Ortolan's lightning swept across, the dust on these buildings gradually dissipated, revealing a dazzling golden light. Furthermore, the foundations beneath these buildings were also constructed of a large amount of gold.
It took about ten minutes before Ortolan withdrew the lightning power. He swallowed hard, a serious look flashing in his eyes, and said, "They're all extremely pure gold... not a single one of them is gilded!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the crowd that had followed him cheered!
Gan Fall, standing to the side, watched the cheering Marines, but he couldn't really empathize with them. He already knew about the situation here and it wasn't his first time here. But, to put it simply, gold wasn't that significant for the size of Angel Island Skypiea.
Furthermore, since the Skypiea has no gold resources, they never recognize the precious value of gold.
Ortolan was gradually influenced by the cheering atmosphere around him. The solemn look in his eyes gradually disappeared, and an excited smile appeared on his face. He said, "Damn it, if we transport this Golden Country back, who will dare to raise their voice at us anymore?"
Once this gold is brought back, Ortolan's financial system will be stable, and its foundation will be thoroughly solidified.
If we can bring this gold back, having a million soldiers and aiming our swords at Mary Geoise will not be such a distant dream!