The Candidate, T-Bone! (Two-in-One)

Marine Headquarters' series of operations surrounding Heavenly Gold was undoubtedly the most closely watched matter in the world today.

After all, this was different from purging great pirates. The latter was far removed from ordinary people, and for the vast majority, following such matters merely gave them something to talk about after meals.

Heavenly Gold, however, was different. It was closely tied to the lives of all ordinary people and would tangibly affect everyone's interests.

As Marine Headquarters set about collecting Heavenly Gold, it also deliberately—or perhaps unconsciously—further reinforced the Marines' influence and image of justice in the minds of ordinary citizens. Thus, they often made sure to have a legitimate pretext for their actions.

For the Marines, whether their methods were forceful or gentle, they had to earn the approval of the overwhelming majority of the public.

When it came to improving the Marines' reputation, Tsugikuni Yoriichi naturally had his own methods.

To be honest, how much could they really obtain by collecting Heavenly Gold from ordinary citizens, even if they squeezed those people dry?

At the end of the day, those who controlled the means of production in this world were still the great nobles and wealthy merchants. Under the World Government's rule, they did not care whether Heavenly Gold came from ordinary commoners or from those great nobles and wealthy merchants.

They had only one requirement: the full amount!

This logic of action was bound to produce one outcome: beneath the Celestial Dragons, those with power would naturally refuse to suffer losses themselves. They would squeeze those weaker than them in order to satisfy the demands of the Celestial Dragons at the top.

Thus, in the past, ordinary people all over the world could be seen struggling to survive because of Heavenly Gold. Yet nobles remained nobles,