The matters of the Alabasta Kingdom had received only a brief mention in Leo's report.
But the fact that Leo had dispatched Nami, the Revolutionary Army's foremost meteorologist and navigator; released Enel, the Revolutionary Army's secret trump card; and sent Smoker, the foremost among the surrendered officers, was enough to show how seriously he regarded the Alabasta Kingdom.
The Alabasta Kingdom occupied an excellent strategic position. Its land was barren yet vast, its population numerous, and its people fierce and battle-hardened. It was a high-quality source of recruits second only to Sky Island.
Not to mention that they had endured the rule of king after king, generation after generation, without ever living good lives.
They could be called the Revolutionary Army's most steadfast fighters.
But even so, their patience with the Revolutionary Army had its limits.
They could not tolerate the Revolutionary Army indefinitely, especially if it could not bring them any benefits.
Human beings were such practical creatures. The ordinary people of New Oriental had been willing to go hungry and tighten their belts to supply the soldiers on the front lines only because they had just survived a massacre that had nearly exterminated their nation and people. Under those circumstances, slowly starving to death was still better than having every man, woman, elder, and child slaughtered.
The Alabasta Kingdom owed the Revolutionary Army nothing, so naturally its people could not reach the same level as the common folk of New Oriental.
But just as Leo had said, bringing prosperous lives to the people they governed was an important duty and burden.
If they could not provide lives better than before, then the Revolutionary Army's regime had neither legitimacy nor justice.
This was entirely true even for the ordinary people of the Alabasta Kingdom.
That was why Leo attached