About three months after the Roger Pirates left the Heavenly Kingdom, Annus convened a sizable meeting in the Central Hall.
More people attended than usual.
Besides the four core members-Diumil, Yale, Lilith, and Sariye-Nami and several other executive officers responsible for the daily administration of the island clouds had returned from Brian, the Western Extreme Cloud Plains, Kam, and elsewhere.
Annus sat on his divine throne, a stack of reports from various regions piled to his right. The topmost report came from the Brian Exchange, with Sariye's temple seal stamped along the edge.
He lifted the stack from the armrest onto his lap, leafed through a few pages, then closed it.
"The Heavenly Kingdom's territory now stretches from the Western Extreme Cloud Plains in the east to God's Island in the west, and from Birka in the south to the island cloud cluster that joined us last year in the north. Every Sky Island above the first half of the Grand Line has been incorporated into our territory. You should all be aware of that. I didn't summon you here to confirm it."
He drew the bottom report from the stack on his lap and spread it open, faceup.
The ink on that report was fresher than on the others. The handwriting was Lilith's, so meticulous that every stroke looked as though it had been measured with a ruler.
"The Heavenly Kingdom has enough territory, and its population is growing. Thousands of miles of cloud rail have been laid, and the wheat fields and vegetable plots on the Eightfold Lands produce enough food each year to feed the entire kingdom for more than six months.
"But we still lack what we lack.
"Ironware, copper, medicine, cotton and flax for textiles, wood pulp for papermaking-Sky Islands either don't produce these things