Julian absorbed the White Wolf Pirates' five pirate ships. After doing the math, he now had six ships in total. Julian planned to divide them up, stationing each division captain on one ship. He would remain aboard the Mud Dragon, Allison would command the White Wolf, and George, Pekki, Leo, and Pierre would each choose a ship and rename it as they pleased.
George chose the Giant Bear, Pekki took the Wild Boar, Leo chose the Flying Eagle, and Pierre took the Black Wolf. Julian separated the new crew members and the slaves they had rescued earlier, assigning them to George's First Division, Pekki's Second Division, Allison's Third Division, the Fourth Division, and the Sharpshooter Brigade. Julian also instructed the division captains to assess their members and classify them according to strength.
The weakest crew members would be called Rookie Pirates. The second tier would be ordinary pirates, the third tier senior pirates, and the fourth tier Elite Pirates. Rookie Pirates would earn ten thousand Berries a month, ordinary pirates fifty thousand, senior pirates one hundred thousand, Elite Pirates two hundred thousand, and officers one million Berries.
Julian promised, "Anyone who breaks through to Elite Pirate can form their own squad." He assigned all the old, weak, sick, disabled, underage, unwilling-to-work, or unwilling-to-be-pirates people to Pierre, having him lead them in logistics support.
Pierre had previously been the White Wolf Pirates' first mate, and his administrative abilities were indeed excellent. Julian trusted Pierre greatly. "I'll be relying on you from now on," Julian said to him. Pierre replied, "Rest assured, Captain. I won't let you down."
The ship's doctor, Rose, had already been surrounded by women. Julian assigned most of the female crew members to Rose and had him teach those girls who wanted to study medicine. Julian also promised every ship's doctor ten thousand Berries a month. The female crew members were stunned by the salary, and many asked to become doctors or nurses. Rose instantly became everyone's favorite.
The next month was about to begin, so Julian had the girls write the ship rules and training principles into handbooks, then distribute them to every division captain and crew member. Julian demanded that everyone memorize them. Anyone who failed would be confined to their cabin for five days. Julian chuckled inwardly. Once these Elite Crew Members memorize enough, they'll be physically brainwashed. They'll definitely become my loyal homies and diehard fans.
Captain of the ship's doctors Rose worked aboard the Mud Dragon. Julian was also quite happy to have those beautiful young nurses stay aboard the Mud Dragon. The ship was no longer so crowded now that each division captain had stationed themselves on their own vessel.
There were now six sailing ships. Julian had originally planned to assign Herbert to the Black Wolf, but his body had not yet recovered, and his division only had a dozen or so members. So Julian kept Herbert aboard his own ship for the time being, planning to replenish his manpower later.
Pierre, the Head of Logistics, had the most people aboard the Black Wolf—over two hundred in total. That was because Leo, that sly bastard, did not want his division filled with weaklings and had weeded out a large number of people. The other division captains had also removed some. Many slaves had yet to recover physically and were too embarrassed to join other divisions. Recuperating in the logistics department was a good thing, so Pierre took them all into logistics.
Julian walked up to Herbert and asked, "Brother, how's your wound? Feeling better?" Herbert answered, "It's much better. I'll be fine in a couple of days." Julian smiled. "I've got something good for you. Can you understand this secret manual, Gale Style Swordsmanship?" Herbert looked at the swordsmanship manual and said, "I can. This swordsmanship focuses on drawing and swinging the blade at high speed. It's called Gale Style Swordsmanship, a powerful sword art."
Julian saw the anticipation on Herbert's face and immediately understood. Julian smiled and said, "This is my gift to you. I also have a katana for you." As he spoke, Julian handed the katana to Herbert. That was right—it was the katana of that idiot Quick-Blade Nedup. No one aboard the ship had known swordsmanship before, so the blade had simply gathered dust in the warehouse. Herbert said, "Thank you, Captain."
That afternoon, Julian took Beatrice into the city on the island to shop. As they walked, Julian held Beatrice's little hand and chatted with her. "Anna, how have you been finding life on our ship?" Beatrice said, "I've made many friends aboard the ship, and I'm very happy getting along with everyone." Smiling broadly, Julian hurriedly painted her a bright future. "Don't worry. Once I become strong enough, I'll take you to see the most beautiful scenery in the world, buy you the most precious gifts in the world, and make you the happiest woman alive." Beatrice blushed deeply. "Julian, thank you."
Before long, Julian and Beatrice entered the town. Numerous notices had been posted at the entrance. The king's palace had been stripped of all its gold, silver, and jewels by a thief. Fat Pig Count's territory had been attacked. The king had issued an order offering a reward for the thief. Julian laughed as he read the notices. "Don't worry. Tonight, I'll clean out all your noble estates. I'll treat everyone equally. Not a single noble will be left out."
Julian and Beatrice began strolling through the streets. Julian asked, "Is there anything you like?" Beatrice shook her head. "No." Julian took Beatrice into an enormous shopping mall. In the market section, he spotted Den Den Mushi for sale. "I finally found Den Den Mushi," Julian said. Beatrice replied, "Many affiliated nations sell those, but only nobles can afford them." Julian smiled. "Nobles are exactly who I rob."
Julian turned to the saleswoman and asked, "How much is one Den Den Mushi?" The saleswoman replied, "Two million Berries each." Julian looked at the twenty or so Den Den Mushi before him. "I'll take them all." The saleswoman smiled. "Handsome, that'll be fifty-eight million Berries." Julian immediately paid. Seeing how generous he was, the saleswoman respectfully said, "Handsome, these are your items. Please take them." Julian said, "Thank you," then continued through the mall with Beatrice. "I'll give you one of these," Julian said. Beatrice replied, "We're together every day, so we don't need one."
Julian thought to himself, This mall must be owned by the island's nobles. It even has guards specifically maintaining order, and it has several floors. He immediately began a massive shopping spree. He bought hundreds of outfits, thousands of pairs of shoes in one go, and huge quantities of daily necessities, toiletries, and tableware. After paying for everything, Julian stepped aside and stored it in Mud Space before heading elsewhere to buy more.
Beatrice asked, "Julian, why are you buying so much?" Julian smiled. "I'm handing out clothes to the brothers aboard the ship. Many of the crew members who just came aboard are in rags, and the temperature on the Sea is unpredictable, so we need to prepare more warm clothing." After saying that, Julian found a medicinal herb shop and bought out the entire store.
Julian also planned to steal all the nobles' treasures that night before heading to the next island. He intended to go to a Marine base in the South Blue and steal the training methods for Marine Rokushiki. After buying over three hundred million Berries' worth of goods, Julian returned to the ship with Beatrice and summoned all the division captains to the flagship.
Julian gave every division captain and officer a Den Den Mushi. He also placed the clothes and daily necessities he had bought in town that afternoon on the deck, telling the division captains to take their members and choose what they wanted. Now that they had Den Den Mushi, communication would be much more convenient. Julian told the division captains, "You can all go into town and spend some money. Everyone must return to the ships by nine tonight."
After saying that, Julian took fifty million Berries out of the Mud Space within his body. He gave ten million Berries to each division captain. "Brothers, go spend it. Your captain is covering today's expenses, but you're not allowed to visit brothels." The division captains all wore righteous expressions as they said, "Thank you, Captain. We're decent men. We won't visit brothels." George said, "Captain, you've given us too much. We really can't spend it all. There's no way we can spend it all!"
Julian instantly became a master of success philosophy. "You need to learn how to spend money before you can learn how to make money. Money is merely an external possession. People like us should put loyalty first." The division captains looked at Julian with worshipful expressions. Pekki chimed in, "Captain is a man of unparalleled loyalty on the Sea. He treats money like dirt, sacrifices himself for others, and acts bravely for justice." Julian said, "That's right. Loyalty and friendship are worth a fortune." All the division captains shouted, "Long live Captain!" Allison added, "A captain like you—I love you to death."
Seeing that he had put on a convincing enough act, Julian added, "Everyone, go shopping in the city. Make sure you spend plenty." He then reminded Pierre, "Keep an eye on Monkey. He can't start a conflict with someone just because they objectively comment on his looks." Pierre replied, "Don't worry, Captain. I'll keep an eye on him." The members of the Mud Dragon Pirates rushed toward the town.
Julian was not worried about the crew causing trouble. It was simply that Julian himself disliked trouble. At that moment, a flock of News Birds flew past. Seeing Julian on the deck, they asked whether he wanted a newspaper. Julian examined the News Birds and recalled one of the six emperors of the pirate underworld: Morgans, the King of News, also known as Morgan, who controlled the power of public opinion and raised a large number of News Birds.
Julian said, "Give me a newspaper." A News Bird immediately handed him one, and Julian stuffed Berries into the basket on its chest. Julian looked over the paper. The headline was about Marine Hero Garp pursuing Roger in the New World, only to be led around in circles by Roger. The second page listed Roger's bounty. Julian said, "Whitebeard and Garp joined forces to defeat the Rocks Pirates. The Rocks Pirates were the only ones who dared to directly wage war against the Celestial Dragons at the God Valley Hunting Ground." Julian laughed. "That idiot Morgans really dares to write anything. Isn't he afraid of betraying Marine Hero Garp like this? Is he not afraid of Garp's iron fist?"
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