"Deep Sea Current" Umit

New World.

A certain island.

On this small island, there were fewer than a hundred households. The land was too barren to farm, the sparse forest held little game, and there were no mineral deposits underground. As for fishing... hah, a few Sea Kings lurked nearby. Not much in the way of scraps slipped past those big fellows' jaws, and you might even end up swallowed whole, boat and all.

In short, this was a desolate, remote godforsaken place where even seabirds couldn't be bothered to drop their droppings.

However, Seabirds might not want to crap on a place like this, but the King of Maritime Transport, Umit, had no qualms about such barren, worthless islands. Controlling most of the shipping routes in the New World, Umit needed plenty of transfer stations to ease the strain of long-distance transport, as long as they weren't too far off course and didn't pose lethal danger.

Islands like this—Umit never had enough of them, never too many.

"President!"

A subordinate in a suit and tie hurried over.

"Supplies are loaded. The damaged parts of the ships have been patched up as best we could. As long as we don't run into a major storm on the way, we should make it to the next big port for a replacement vessel without issue."

The subordinate bowed respectfully, reporting to Umit, who sat on a reef gazing out at the sea.

President, Umit liked that title.

Though Morgans' newspapers called him 'King of Maritime Transport,' 'Deep Sea Current,' and other epithets—each more exaggerated and intimidating than the last—he still insisted on seeing himself as a pitiful merchant with no stable territory, drifting from place to place.

The Black Water Association was his company.

Black symbolized the company's special nature, while the word 'Water' represented that they made their living from the sea.

Starting from nothing, growing from small to large, he'd spent half his life building the Black Water Association into a near-monopoly over shipping in the New World. But this was as far as he could go. Every route and ounce of shipping capacity he could swallow, he'd already swallowed.

What remained

were troubles he couldn't afford to provoke, dared not provoke, and didn't want to provoke.

If he wanted to keep expanding, the only choice was to break into a new industry.

But, the territory of the New World was vast, yet also small.

Not to mention the Four Emperors each carving out their own domains, the big shots of the Dark World and the powerful forces just below the Emperors had already divvied up nearly every profitable business—usury, entertainment, news and newspapers, warehousing, slave trading...

Every industry

was held by a big shot no less formidable than Umit.

There was no easy field to enter.

But Umit had no intention of standing still. Life meant endless struggle, and he wanted to climb higher... After a thorough survey, his gaze fixed on the Ekmondo Kingdom, a nation that had minted mountains of gold and silver from its coffee plantations.

Don't underestimate coffee plantations.

The world's three non-alcoholic beverages—coffee, cocoa, and tea—were all top-tier bestsellers.

The cocoa market in the New World was basically monopolized by the BIG Pirates. After all, the Tyrant of Sweets—anything with even a hint of sweetness couldn't escape Big Mom's clutches. As for tea, the New World had no particularly concentrated production areas; it was scattered piecemeal among various big shots, none of whom were easy to mess with.

Finally, coffee beans. The main production areas for coffee beans in the New World were highly concentrated, likely due to specific climate and geography. In short, Latte Island, Mocha Island, Cappuccino Island, Macchiato Island, Au Lait Island, and others—all the major coffee-producing islands—were clustered in the same region.

That was the Bikashi Archipelago.

Also the core area of the Ekmondo Kingdom.

Umit had crunched the numbers based on the annual coffee bean shipments from the Ekmondo Kingdom and market prices at the time. Though his calculations were rough, he still uncovered the Ekmondo Kingdom as a massive gold-devouring beast lurking in the deep sea.

The Ekmondo Kingdom was a regional power in the New World, but from the intelligence he'd gathered, it wasn't untouchable. The only real headache was that Whitebeard Pirates flag.

But that wouldn't stop Umit's drive to expand. If he played it clever and didn't clash head-on with the Whitebeard Pirates, it might just work.

After all these years in the shipping business, Umit understood the principle well: the bold eat their fill, the timid go hungry.

So, everything fell into place from there.

He meticulously schemed against the Amento Kingdom, using their identity to start a war with the Ekmondo Kingdom. Seizing the moment when the Whitebeard Pirates' Second Division Captain was on the verge of death and the whole crew had no mind for other matters, he minimized the chance of Whitebeard Pirates interference to the lowest possible.

"Don't let me down, Venkura."

Sitting on the reef by the shore, Umit gazed at the churning waves, eagerly awaiting more good news.

★

Toothed Whale Sea Area, Whale Tail Island.

An island not particularly suited for coffee cultivation. But precisely because of that, no one would mind if it got smashed to pieces. The third king had poured great effort into occupying these three islands in the Toothed Whale Sea Area, turning them into the Ekmondo Kingdom's northern gateway.

This greatly expanded the kingdom's buffer zone against external threats, preventing catastrophic losses from a sudden enemy attack.

That day, eight ships sailing up from the south slowly came into view of the lookout stationed on Whale Tail Island.

Colonel Susa, the Chief Officer of the Whale Tail Island garrison, soon received word of the reinforcements' arrival. He let out a long sigh of relief—finally, the reinforcements were here. Perhaps he wouldn't have to die for his country after all.

The fall of Whale Head Island and Whale Belly Island had already proven the ferocity of the invading enemy. He didn't think he was much stronger than his colleagues stationed on the other two islands. As the only three islands in the Toothed Whale Sea Area, the three colonels communicated frequently and knew each other's capabilities well.

Now, two of his colleagues were finished.

When his turn came, he doubted things would turn out any differently.

Fortunately, the reinforcements had arrived before the enemy. Still, he didn't let his guard down completely. The reinforcements were here, but whether they could repel the invaders remained uncertain. Based on the intelligence relayed via Den Den Mushi by his two fallen colleagues from Whale Head Island and Whale Tail Island before their deaths, the situation was far from optimistic.

Among the known threats were five Great Pirates with bounties over a hundred million.

But worry aside, the Colonel swiftly mustered his troops and headed to the port to welcome the reinforcements.

"Sir, who do you think it will be?"

Colonel Susa's adjutant stood beside him, watching the warship slowly entering the harbor, and couldn't help guessing: "It should be General Foy, right?"

The Whale Tail Island garrison had only received notice that reinforcements were coming; the kingdom's central command hadn't disclosed their specific identity.

"Who knows? Maybe His Majesty the King is leading the campaign himself! You know as well as I do, this enemy isn't easy to deal with." Colonel Susa snorted, his eyes fixed on the warship entering the harbor, silently praying that it would be His Majesty the King in person.

After all, only if the King himself led the campaign would the strongmen of the Imperial Guard leave the capital, Arabica.

Aside from the two great powerhouses of the kingdom within the Imperial Guard, Colonel Susa didn't think anyone else in the kingdom had a sure chance of driving back the invaders.