"Rear Admiral Gaspardi, this place looks pretty good. Seems like the Marines here are pretty responsible?"
"Who can say? Besides, I told you not to use ranks outside. Just call me by name. Didn't you work undercover among pirates before? How do you keep forgetting something like that?"
"Well... my cover identity was a mute."
"..."
If Rosinante had not established himself as a mute, the day he was exposed would probably have come much sooner.
"Forget it. There's no one around right now, but remember to watch yourself when there are people. If you really can't remember, just pretend you're still undercover and keep being mute."
Gaspardi did not demand too much from him. It was such a trivial matter that he could not be bothered to argue with one of Sengoku's protégés over it.
Besides the issue of how he addressed him, Gaspardi agreed with Rosinante's assessment. This place did look pretty good.
Not every place could be expected to become an economic center. In Gaspardi's eyes, as long as the people of a place did not go hungry or freeze, it was acceptable.
Cocoyasi Village more or less met that standard.
In the original timeline, after Arlong took over Cocoyasi Village, he forcibly collected protection money at a rate of one hundred thousand Beli per month for adults and fifty thousand Beli per month for children.
Most of the villagers could afford that amount. If Bellemere had not adopted Nami and Nojiko, she could have afforded her own share as well.
At the time, Bellemere's main source of income had been her tangerine grove.
The cost of living here was not particularly high. Without outside interference, the people of Cocoyasi Village had more than enough to support themselves.
Arlong was still under Tiger's control. At the very