One Piece? (22)

After leaving the laboratory, the group returned to the Government Headquarters building.

After hearing his proposal, the Five Elders wore varying expressions. Finally, the swordsman Five Elder pondered briefly before speaking.

"You mean the Sea Train?!"

"That is only one possible method. Airships, cargo vessels, and the like can all be put on the agenda and repurposed for civilian use, so that islands will no longer feel worlds apart and their ties with the government can be strengthened."

"Isn't that nonsense?!"

Had the person not been Ron, the hot-tempered bald Five Elder would have already leaped up and started throwing punches.

"Your idea is good, but it would also give pirates more options. For the government, that would be an enormous hidden danger!"

Strengthening the connections between islands—indeed, under Ron's constant advocacy of centralized rule, the Five Elders could see the prospects for future development.

Take the simplest example.

Was humanity's aristocracy so obsessed with mermaid girls truly because of their beauty?

Of course not.

It was merely because mermaids differed from them, lived beneath the sea, and were rarely seen. That novelty made them the object of unusual fascination.

But in the eyes of Fish-Man Island's residents, however pitiful and lovely those mermaid girls who drove human nobles mad might be, they were probably an everyday sight and nothing worth mentioning.

Now that the fate of the Celestial Dragons was uncertain, if that day truly came, then without fear to suppress the world, changing from "tyrants" into "benevolent rulers" would be their only path forward.

But reality would not allow it!

People had already grown accustomed to "setting sail." That deeply ingrained mindset could not be changed simply by adding one or two means of travel.

Making travel more convenient would not only benefit ordinary people; it would also