Foundation of Hegemony

The Farol Islands consisted of twenty-eight islands. Though fewer in number than the thirty-five islands of the Totto Land archipelago, their total area exceeded 9,000 square kilometers—dozens of times that of Totto Land! (Note 1)

Although the Calm Belt lay right beside them, with some islands even within it, meaning gigantic Sea Kings often came calling, and many islands already hosted extremely powerful wild beasts, only three of the twenty-eight islands had been developed to any significant extent. The others had at most a few colonial settlements. Even so, the Faros Kingdom's total population had reached four to five hundred thousand, several times that of Totto Land at present.

If they could control this place, that alone would greatly strengthen the BIG Pirates.

More importantly, this kingdom also had iron mines. If Totto Land, which currently relied entirely on imports for steel, could acquire this place, it could directly halve its import expenses, which made up the bulk of its fiscal expenditures!

Moreover, Mousse suspected that the iron mines on the Farol Islands were likely not limited to the three inhabited islands. The other islands might have them as well, perhaps in even greater reserves.

If that were true, then the Farol Islands could be built into a steel industry base ranking among the best in the New World, or even the entire world.

As for the threat posed by Sea Kings and the beasts on the islands, Charlotte Linlin's Soul-Soul Fruit was precisely their nemesis.

Combined with the two great Homies' ability to alter the climate and the head chef's Eat-Eat Fruit ability to reshape the natural environment, the Farol Islands would become as safe and well-provisioned as Totto Land within a few years.

By then, even ten million people—or more—could be guaranteed food and clothing without worry.

What did a population of over ten million mean?

As far as Mousse knew, the entire One Piece world might not even have a total population of one hundred million, with the vast majority living in the Four Blues. Alabasta, which the One Piece anime claimed had a population of ten million, actually only had a little over one million people. (For the reason, see the secondary-setting explanation in the work-related section.) Yet it was still the largest country on the Grand Line.

The New World's population was far smaller than that of the first half of the Grand Line. Excluding Wano Country, which was shrouded entirely in mystery, the total was only a little over two million. (So the Faros Kingdom could actually be considered a regional power.)

As the sea with both the highest power level and the most advanced technology in the One Piece world, the military potential represented by the same population in the New World was utterly different from that of the Four Blues, especially the weakest East Blue.

It was no exaggeration to say that even excluding those who came from elsewhere and grew stronger in the New World, the powerhouses born and raised in the New World alone were enough to become enemies of the entire world!

Take the so-called Yonko of the future. Whitebeard and Charlotte Linlin were clearly natives of the New World, while Kaido and Blackbeard most likely were as well. Only Red-Haired was clearly from outside the New World, yet he had joined the Roger Pirates as a child and grown up in the New World.

Considering the enormous population gap between the New World and the other regions of the One Piece world, that already said a great deal.

A New World nation with a population of over ten million, iron mines—the world's most crucial strategic resource at present—and no shortage of food or clothing, capable of supporting most adult laborers leaving their jobs to enlist... This was undoubtedly the foundation of hegemony that could conquer the entire world!

That night, after Charlotte Mousse found Katakuri and laid out his views, the latter, who was usually terrifyingly calm, could not help feeling a chill in his heart. How could a child who had only just turned six not long ago possess such enormous ambition?

Yet every word Mousse said made sense. Katakuri did not even know how to begin reprimanding him and could only change the subject. "No matter how reasonable you are, it's useless if Mother doesn't agree!"

But Mousse answered with complete confidence, "Mother will definitely agree, no matter how she reacts after hearing about Grandpa and Grandma's deaths. Because as long as we control the Farol Islands, I'll have a way to win over Elbaf. Even if we can't bring the Giant race under our command, we can at least improve our terrible relationship with them. So Mother will definitely support this. Definitely."

Katakuri was immediately left speechless. He knew very well about Mother's obsession with the Elbaf Giants.

If she could reconcile with Elbaf's Giants, Charlotte Linlin might not even hesitate if it required sacrificing several of her children.

Because to the Queen of Totto Land, the Elbaf Giants, who had shown her immense kindness in childhood and were close to her in size, seemed more like family than even her own biological children!

After a moment of silence, Katakuri finally thought of another reason. "But the World Government won't give up on Elbaf, will they? If we really take control of the Farol Islands, we'll replace the Whitebeard Pirates as the Marines' primary target. The family's current strength probably isn't enough to handle that, is it?"

"Before they capture Roger, the Marines won't have the spare capacity to deal with us for the time being. That gives us some time to strengthen ourselves. I already have a few ideas about that. If all goes well, even if we can't contend with the Marines on every front, we can still hold the Farol Islands. Besides, even after Roger dies, the Marines will still have to guard against the Whitebeard Pirates. Elbaf may be important, but if destroying us requires an enormous price, they may not be able to make up their minds," Mousse answered confidently.

That confidence partly came from the astonishing results produced when Mousse had previously guided several people in developing their Devil Fruit abilities, and partly because the Marines truly were not strong enough right now.

Perhaps reality had automatically corrected itself to maintain strict internal consistency. Perhaps this world merely resembled the one described in One Piece rather than actually being it. Or perhaps the movies had always belonged to an entirely separate timeline. In any case, as far as Mousse knew, this world had no Red the Aloof, no World Destroyer, and no Bullet. Golden Lion and Zephyr existed, but both had already died. (The plot holes surrounding those two were too numerous to resolve, so they could only be erased.)

Golden Lion in particular had encountered a superstorm during that naval battle and drowned directly in the sea. At least that was far more reasonable than the ridiculous movie plot. He had become a laughingstock known throughout the New World.

Thus, only Roger and Whitebeard stood at the pinnacle of piracy. There was no saying that Roger, Whitebeard, and Golden Lion stood side by side. At present, Sengoku was the only Marine Admiral, and together with Garp, the Marine Hero who drew a vice admiral's salary while doing a Marine Admiral's work, they barely managed to keep up appearances.

Note 1: According to data someone calculated from panels in the manga, Totto Land's islands were all pitifully small. This book enlarged their area tenfold. (It had to. If Seducing Woods were only a few hundred meters across, one burst of Soru would take someone straight to the edge. Climb to the top of a tree and they could directly see outside. It would be impossible to trap a powerhouse.) Even then, it was only this large.

Because the expanded area was mainly reserved for the two forests, Totto Land's population was not increased by much. Even more than twenty years later, it was still under two hundred thousand. Now, with the country having been founded only recently, its population was even smaller.

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