After just a brief exchange, that inexplicable woman had suddenly switched to their side and directly addressed Bane as "my lord," looking ready to pledge her life in loyalty.
Zoro was utterly baffled!
"Why are you so surprised?" Nami nudged Zoro. "That's the power of language and intelligence."
"Of course I know that. It's not like I'm actually an idiot." Zoro snapped back at Nami, thoroughly annoyed.
He always felt like this navigator was looking down on him!
After a moment, Zoro said with some emotion, "I'm just curious. Where did Bane get all this intelligence?"
Back in Shimotsuki Village, whenever they talked about the Revolutionary Army, Bane had been able to keep up with him—and even with his master. Without ever leaving home, he had also reported a huge number of Pirates and Marines in the East Blue.
After they set sail, before they had even reached Cocoyasi Village, Bane had already thoroughly learned about Nami's past and was extremely familiar with the situation there.
And now, having only just arrived on the Grand Line, he had won over this woman named Nico Robin with just a few words.
Was that fucking reasonable?
"Didn't he already tell you? Stop asking about things in society and just focus on practicing your Sword Arts." Nami mocked him first, then smiled. "Besides... the more he knows, the better it is for us, right?"
On the other side, after Robin expressed her willingness to cooperate in killing Crocodile and pledged herself to Bane's service—
Bane stopped resting and once again began wolfing down the food on the table.
Still, he did not neglect business. Eating as he spoke, he said, "Now that you believe I really can order you around and threaten you into working for me, we can discuss what I need you to do."
Watching the man in front of her tear into meat without the slightest elegance, Nico Robin showed no disgust. Instead, she relaxed considerably, and a hint of amusement entered her voice. "Of course. I would also very much like to know what I can do for you, Lord Bane. And I look forward to receiving some insignificant reward after I flawlessly complete your task, such as..."
"I told you, I appreciate you, so I don't want to make you work for me this way." Bane chewed the dinosaur meat in his mouth and said, "In the New World, in the giant kingdom of Elbaf, Jaguar D. Saul is there. That is the first answer I'll give you."
The moment Robin received that answer, a trace of excitement clearly appeared on her face.
But before she could speak, Bane tossed a bone onto the table. "Still, appreciation is appreciation. We haven't established any real trust yet. So I'll hold off on the second answer for now. Once we've built a certain degree of trust, I'll tell you."
"You've already told me the second answer too, haven't you?" Robin said softly after calming herself.
When she looked at Bane this time, there was more sincerity and kindness in her eyes, and less pretense.
Where Saul was, the books of Ohara should be in the same place. In other words, they were both in Elbaf!
Bane was showing her goodwill and taking the initiative to demonstrate a measure of trust.
Bane neither denied it nor responded. Instead, he changed the subject. "Over the next few years, I have a rather massive plan. To carry it out, I'll need an enormous amount of money. That's the first reason I sought your cooperation."
"You want to take over the fruits of Crocodile's nearly twenty years of work?" Nico Robin asked after considering it.
"That's right. Your greatest advantage in this plan to eliminate Crocodile is that you're the Vice President of his vast Baroque Works organization. And as far as I know, Crocodile has basically handed all of the organization's affairs over to you. In other words, once I get rid of Crocodile, with your help, I can take over everything that belongs to him intact. Are you confident you can do that for me?" Bane looked at Nico Robin with a faintly oppressive gaze.
Nico Robin nodded without the slightest hesitation. "There will be no problem at all. You will receive everything Crocodile has."
"Very good. Then I have one small question. Is Crocodile truly as wealthy as my investigation suggests, with riches enough to rival a nation?" Bane asked.
If he remembered correctly, that bastard's plan to steal a country had already reached its final stage this year. It would be a real pain if the bastard had already spent all his money.
"He is." Nico Robin immediately confirmed it, then said, "Baroque Works has a vast organizational structure spanning the first half of the Grand Line. The upper-ranking officers are kept at around thirty members, with a last-place elimination system, so there are occasional rotations. The middle-ranking officers are known as Billions, and there are two hundred of them. To obtain that position, one must not only possess a certain level of strength, but also contribute at least one hundred million Belly to the organization. Beneath the Billions are eighteen hundred lower-ranking officers, collectively known as Millions. They are the most basic command-level members of Baroque Works."
"Billions have to contribute one hundred million Belly, so Millions have to contribute one million Belly, right?" Bane mused.
"It is at least one million Belly per person, per year. That is also why we did not establish a Ten Millions rank, because Billions must pay at least ten million Belly annually to maintain their status and position," Robin explained.
One million a year—there was no way they really only contributed one million. There definitely had to be competition involved.
But even assuming one million per person per year, those eighteen hundred people would casually hand over 1.8 billion Belly to the organization each year. That was not profit, but "membership dues." If you did not pay, you could forget about being an officer!
Then there were the two hundred Billions, each paying at least ten million a year. That was another two billion to start with. Damn, Crocodile had really built something here. Just from membership dues alone, he pulled in at least four or five billion Belly every year.
Seeing the somewhat stunned look in Bane's eyes, Nico Robin finally felt a little pleased. So you can be surprised too?
As a result, she became even more detailed and proactive in introducing Baroque Works.
"Over the past few years, I have basically stopped paying attention to the lower-ranking officers at the Millions level. But as far as I know, those minor officers who can pay at least one million Belly every year all definitely own at least one ship and have fifty subordinates. Otherwise, they would be unable to complete certain missions or earn such profits," Robin explained.
Bane could completely understand that. If they had no subordinates and no ship, what was the point of paying one million in annual membership dues just by doing hired work? Were they bored out of their minds? Relying solely on hired work, after food, drink, and entertainment expenses, they might not even be able to afford that one million Belly.
After all, judging by the villagers of the East Blue, Arlong only extorted one hundred thousand Belly a year, and that alone had nearly driven people to death.
Without thinking too deeply about it, Bane roughly calculated Baroque Works' numbers. Those eighteen hundred minor officers each had at least fifty subordinates, meaning the entire Baroque Works organization had nearly a hundred thousand members.
But that was clearly only the baseline figure. The actual number was probably three or four times that, perhaps even seven or eight times. In other words, over the past twenty-odd years, Crocodile had built a syndicate throughout the first half of the Grand Line that involved the entire region and had hundreds of thousands of members!
Back when Bane had read the story, he had never thought much of Baroque Works. But after considering it carefully now, Crocodile really was something else. What the hell was he trying to do? Was he trying to build a New Wo Luen Shing!?
Before you continue