"You bastard Gawain, you were really after our money!"
As soon as Gawain finished speaking, the Elder of Economy smiled and took over the conversation.
"Although we won't provide you with extra wealth, don't worry about your annuity; we certainly won't skimp on it."
All the Heavenly Tribute is always divided into four parts: one part for the three armed forces, one part for general education and intelligence, one part for various large-scale projects and job creation, and the remaining part is your pension.
We must find a way to circulate the confiscated money back to countries around the world. If we only collect money and don't let it out, the world will eventually run out of wealth, no matter how much it has.
However, if we only carry out various projects, those projects can only provide basic jobs and salaries for ordinary people, which is far from enough to stimulate the consumption tendencies of the nobility in the major Affiliated Nation around the world.
Therefore, although 99% of the Celestial Dragon living in Mary Geoise are not as insightful as you and me, their stupidity and extravagance also have value for us to exploit.
Gawain, I don't know if you've noticed, but under our deliberate guidance, none of the Celestial Dragon living in Mary Geoise have ever had the habit of collecting or accumulating wealth!
They weren't like dragons, constantly piling Beli into the treasure room.
On the contrary, after accumulating several months' worth of annuities, they embark on wave after wave of competitive consumption.
It is precisely their continuous, competitive spending over the years that has fueled the consumption enthusiasm of the vast majority of Affiliated Nation families and nobles worldwide.
And so it went, year after year, until our Celestial Dragon's shopping preferences became a popular trend among the nobility of the vast majority of Affiliated Nation around the world. At that point, we could corrupt them while keeping the world economy functioning at a basic level.
We use the small commodity market to create an economic cycle among ordinary people, and then use the extravagance and debauchery of our Celestial Dragon clan as a foundation to build a luxury goods market among the rich.
Only in this way could the world be peacefully plundered by us for eight hundred years!
Of course, things are not as simple as I make them out to be. If we were to explain those things in detail, we would probably need to talk for hundreds of days and nights.
We don't need to talk that much right now.
The Elder of Economy nodded slightly to Gawain as he finished speaking.
Hearing the Elder of Economy's words, Gawain smiled knowingly; he understood what the old man meant.
Just like the luxury goods market before Gawain's time travel, he wasn't the only one who thought that many of the things appearing on the market were just for fooling idiots.
But if luxury goods aren't sold at such high prices, and if they aren't given a sufficiently high-end positioning...
Where should the world's rich go to spend their money?
Should we allow them to live on affordable goods like ordinary people?
They probably wouldn't be able to spend all that money in dozens of lifetimes.
If they can't spend all the money, do you think they'll donate it to the public?
Forget about it, that's too outrageous, anyone would know that.
Letting them spend their money on luxury goods at least allows us to collect hefty luxury goods transaction taxes, which can then be used to supplement education, political work, and social welfare.
As for encouraging wealthy people to invest in engineering projects, thereby creating jobs for society?
Not every rich person enjoys hard work, especially those who become rich overnight. If they don't have access to high-end markets and expensive goods to match their wealth, they'll end up like old landlords, burying their silver and gold in their cellars for centuries!
The same applies to the world of One Piece, Gawain certainly knows who the exploiters are in the Pirate World.
Celestial Dragon like himself is naturally one of the exploiters at the very top.
But below them, every noble within the World Government Member States also possesses the status of an exploiter and a vast amount of wealth derived from exploitation.
Next up are the great pirates, gangs and large corporations from all over the world, and the Marine Branch who collude with Four Blues sides.
There are so many exploitative classes in this world. What if the Celestial Dragon led all these people to learn from Grandet and hide all their money for display?
The economic system of the Pirate World should have collapsed long ago.
Putting ourselves in their shoes, the Pirate World isn't a unified world; in fact, it still maintains a backward political system based on slavery.
But their economic system Koby more sophisticated than that of Earth before the time travel.
Here, in this world, there is only one currency: the Beli!
In some respects, the Pirate World has at least completely standardized its system of weights and measures.
As for standardizing the written language, it seems that only two languages remain in the Pirate World at present.
One is a universal language, so people all over the world can understand the news in the World Economic Journal.
Another type is the script used by the Great Kingdom and the Kozuki Clan, which is inscribed on the Poneglyph.
However, nowadays, there are very few people who can read that script. Once the number of scholars proficient in that script completely disappears, the World Government will have completed the task of standardizing the written language.
Thinking of this, Gawain smiled leisurely.
There's very little left for him to build up in this world.
The standardization of writing and the unification of weights and measures were both accomplished by the World Government.
His future goals would naturally be limited to standardizing cart axles, abolishing slavery, and promoting global progress.
So Gawain cheered up and smiled as he spoke to the Elder of Economy.
"So the extravagance of my clansmen had this effect after all. How interesting. Our ancestors really did a lot."
"Hehe, stop being sarcastic, Little Gawain."
Even if you don't know the details of those things, you should at least have thought about them in general terms, otherwise your goal wouldn't be so clear. So stop pretending in front of us old men.
Getting back to the point, have you stated all three of your requests? Are you sure you have no other ideas?
"Nothing for now. Even if there were, I wouldn't need to say it all at once, right?"
Gawain grinned at the Five Elders.
"Look, you all call yourselves old folks, so how could I possibly cause you any more trouble?"
"Haha, you brat, you really have a terrible personality."
"Now that everything's alright, let's go. Seeing you gives us a headache."
"Okay, I'll leave now. Sorry to bother you."
"I won't bother you. Feel free to come over often in the future. Chatting with you is much more interesting than arguing with others. Whether it's Sengoku or Sora, they just throw tantrums and make a scene all the time, which is annoying."
All three Admiral in this term have personality problems; it seems each term is worse than the last.
Unfortunately, Garp was unwilling to serve as Admiral, and Kong had made countless requests for Garp to succeed him as the commander-in-chief.
That guy was quite interesting, and he certainly deserved it, but unfortunately, he refused to come see us at all."
The Elder of Military exchanged pleasantries while waving to Gawain.
"I don't know how long it will be before we can have a proper chat again. Before you leave, let me ramble on for you a bit more."
Stability, stability is the most important thing. Even if we know that many things are wrong, we can only try our best to maintain them if they have been in place for hundreds of years.
Many people dream of making a difference in the world, and we all felt the same way when we were young.
But every change doesn't just change the rules; if too many changes occur, the person sitting in that position may no longer be one of us Celestial Dragon!
Forget it, there's no point in talking to you all this time. Although your personality is similar to ours, you seem more resolute than us.
In short... you decide for yourself.
"I see!"
This time, Gawain's answer was much more serious.
After responding, Gawain saw that all Five Elders were smiling at him, so he nodded and then turned to leave.
But just as Gawain reached the doorway Chamber of Authority, the Elder of Diplomacy suddenly spoke again.
"Wait, I just remembered something!"
Upon hearing this, Gawain turned around and looked back, while the Elder of Diplomacy gave him a mischievous smile.
"I was really shocked when I heard about your fiancée!"
I understand you, after all, she's the Mermaid Princess, the most likely tool to become the Ancient Weapon Poseidon.
But you didn't need to sacrifice so much, did you?"
At this point, a hint of kindness gradually appeared in the eyes of the Elder of Diplomacy.
"You're still young, there's no need to take goals and ambitions too seriously. We've got your back, so there's really no need to rush."
I'd rather you spend more time at sea, broadening your horizons and... taking better care of yourself.
Love is like a bowl of fine wine; it's best enjoyed by sipping it slowly. You're drinking it down in big gulps, especially with a Merfolk as your lover. Even if she truly is Ancient Weapon, she's no more important than your youth.
"Youth only comes once, you brat."
"I...?!!"
Gawain was genuinely surprised by the Elder of Diplomacy's words. Was this really a topic we should be discussing?
He looked at the Elder of Diplomacy with a wry smile.
"This... it might not be a sacrifice at all; I even feel like I've gotten a great deal."
"Huh? Cough cough! Your fetish...?!
Okay, hahaha, we really are getting old!
Hey kid, next time you come back, bring that little Merfolk with you to pay our respects!
Otherwise, you wouldn't need to come!