Beacon Towers Won't Work: The Luo Ma Brothers

Beacon towers worked by transmitting military intelligence through smoke and fire signals: smoke by day (sui), fire by night (feng), using visible columns of smoke or firelight for rapid warnings.

Each beacon tower was staffed by lookouts who lit smoke and fire signals according to preset rules upon spotting enemies. For example, the Ming dynasty used the "five beacons, five cannons" system, matching the number of enemies to the number of smoke signals, fires, and cannon blasts to create standardized warning signals. Towers were generally spaced five to ten kilometers apart, ensuring they remained within sight and formed a relay network.

Firelight was primarily used at night, since there was less interference from sunlight. The number and duration of torches indicated the scale of the enemy force, while cannon fire enhanced signal recognition. For example, beacon towers in Ming-era Qinhuangdao stipulated that one or two hundred enemy soldiers meant one smoke signal and one cannon blast, while ten thousand or more required five smoke signals and five cannon blasts at once.

Beacon towers transmitted messages extremely quickly. With a dense network of towers, Han dynasty beacon stations could relay information three thousand li in a single night. The Ming Great Wall system combined sound and light—smoke, fire, and cannon blasts—to achieve rapid responses across regions. Beacon tower networks in Tang dynasty Xinjiang could even transmit messages two thousand li day and night.

The defensive jurisdiction under Marine Base 36 covered three kingdoms and six towns.

In reality, it was nine large islands, plus a number of subsidiary islands.

Their distances from Base 36 varied, but they were basically all within a three-hundred-kilometer radius.

If he wanted to use beacon towers to transmit messages, then given that the One Piece World was ocean everywhere, cities could not serve as relay points. They could only use ships as relays.

Since beacon towers transmitted messages over five kilometers, one route would require roughly sixty relays—sixty ships. Nine routes meant five hundred and forty ships.

Those ships did not need to be particularly good, but they at least needed room for three people. The cost of one ship would thus approach thirty million Beli. Five hundred and forty ships...

And manpower was also a problem. Three people per node, five hundred and forty nodes—that was 1,620 people. He had to provide food, shelter, and wages for all 1,620 of them!

Establishing a staff of 1,620 people just to transmit messages—if Yang Yunzhi dared submit that request, he feared Hina would beat him to death.

Clearly, beacon towers would not work.

Then what about using people to deliver messages?

Yang Yunzhi arrived at Glazed Town and met the town mayor, Afeng.

"Sir Marine, what can I do for you?"

As the mayor of a small town beside Marine Headquarters, with quite a few young people from the town having joined the Marines, his influence should have been considerable. After all, he could have thrown around the Marine base's name to bully others.

Unfortunately, One Piece was an era of power politics, and there were too many humanoid creatures among the higher-ups. As a result, the mayor had no such thoughts at all. He even felt that the town should keep its distance from the Marine base, lest pirates seeking revenge on the Marines drag them into it one day.

With that mindset, he naturally had no intention of borrowing the Marines' prestige.

"Your town has fishermen, right?"

"Of course we do!"

How could a small island by the sea possibly not have fishermen?

"I see." Yang Yunzhi nodded. "Then could you find me the fisherman who rows the fastest?"

"The fastest rowers would definitely be the Luo Ma brothers. I'll call them over right away!"

"Do they live out at sea?"

"Yes. Their parents died early, and the brothers depended on each other, so they've always lived by the shore. They fish in the morning and return at night. They should both be home now!"

After all, Yang Yunzhi had arrived in the afternoon, and it was nearly night by then.

"Then don't call them. We'll just go to their home!"

He had thought the so-called Luo Ma brothers would be lean, compact men, but when he saw them, he discovered that both were huge, broad-shouldered, and thick-waisted!

Luo Ma, the elder of the two, stood 2.56 meters tall, while his younger brother Luo Niu stood 2.43 meters!

"These are no ordinary men." Yang Yunzhi immediately had an idea, but he was in no hurry to say anything. He first needed to see what kind of talent and character the brothers possessed.

Were they good or evil? Did they truly have talent, or were they merely fat?

"Luo Ma, Luo Niu, a Marine from town has come to see you!"

"What's this about?" Luo Ma asked curiously. "Are you here to recruit us? Our ma won't let us join the army!"

It seemed he was not the only one who had noticed the brothers' talent.

"Not recruiting." Yang Yunzhi said, "The mayor told me you two are the fastest-rowing fishermen around. Let me ask you this: if you rowed from here to Nine-Stone Town, how long would it take?"

"The fastest rowers? You came to the right people. No one in town rows faster than us brothers!" Luo Ma said bluntly. "I've been to Nine-Stone Town before. By sailboat, it takes about an afternoon. Rowing, it takes three hours! If the sea conditions and wind are good, we can even make it in two!"

"Two hours?" Yang Yunzhi was shocked. Nine-Stone Town was the town farthest from Base 36, three hundred kilometers away!

These two beasts claimed they could row there within two hours. What did that mean? One hundred and fifty kilometers per hour?

Even with the most advanced equipment, people on Earth could row no faster than twenty kilometers per hour!

It could only be said that this was One Piece. Nonhumans were everywhere!

If three hundred kilometers could be covered in two hours, then using people to transmit messages was viable. Even if others could not match the Luo Ma brothers' level, four or five hours was acceptable.

For nine towns, he could hire eighteen fishermen who rowed quickly. They would not become full-time intelligence agents; they could fish normally and only deliver messages when pirates appeared!

Even if he paid each fisherman twenty thousand Beli a month, that would only be three hundred and sixty thousand Beli!

As for small boats, they would naturally provide their own. What fisherman did not own a small boat?

The human method was viable, but he could not give up on seabirds either. Morgans used Telegraph Birds to distribute newspapers, and that was evidence enough that there was precedent.

The Telegraph Birds might have been modified by Morgans through Devil Fruit powers, but the One Piece World had no shortage of intelligent animals. He could absolutely find a bird that flew fast and was smart enough to deliver messages.

No matter how fast a person rowed, could they compare to a bird?

"Luo Ma brothers, thank you for the information!" Yang Yunzhi reached into his clothes, pulled out two stacks of cash, and handed them over. "This is ten thousand Beli, as a consultation fee for your information!"

"What's an information consultation fee?"

"It means you get paid for answering some questions."

"There's such a good deal?" Luo Ma's eyes lit up. "Then why don't you ask me a few more? I want to make money too!"

Yang Yunzhi laughed. The man was not stupid.

But then another thought struck him. These fishermen spent all year fishing at sea. If there were Devil Fruits out there, logically, they should have the greatest chance of finding them!

That was right. Though he had a system, that did not stop Yang Yunzhi from wanting to eat a Devil Fruit.

After all, this was the One Piece World. Wouldn't it be a wasted trip if he did not eat a Devil Fruit?

As for the claim that Haki was the power that transcended all else, he only needed to listen to it casually!

Had he not eaten a Devil Fruit? Had the Five Elders not eaten them? Had Imu not? Or had Ika not eaten one back then?

They had already eaten top-tier Devil Fruits and no longer needed to pursue them, so naturally they could say Haki was the power that transcended all else.

If you did not even have a Devil Fruit yet echoed that Haki transcended all else, wouldn't that be stupid?

It was like rich people saying money was not important because they already had money.

If a pauper also said money was not important, then he was simply an idiot.

With that in mind, Yang Yunzhi asked, "I actually do have something I want to ask you. You spend so much time at sea—have you ever encountered fruits that looked very strange?"

"Strange-looking? How strange?"

"They have unusual patterns. You can tell at a glance that they're different from ordinary fruits!"

"We haven't seen anything like that." The brothers and the mayor all shook their heads.

"Then have you ever seen a small, square box that was locked up?" Yang Yunzhi asked again.

He had not held out any hope, since he had only asked casually. Who would have thought that Luo Niu's eyes would light up? He nodded heavily. "Seen one, seen one! We even have one at home. It's been locked the whole time, and we can't open it. We have no idea what's inside!"