If the increase in Heavenly Tribute could not be spent on the Marines, it meant nothing.
The World Military Draft alone would add hundreds of thousands of troops. Maintaining an army that large would cost an untold fortune.
Postwar recovery would demand enormous investment. Even 330 billion Beli might not be enough.
More warships and more Marine Bases were essential. At present, the Four Seas had fewer than four hundred Marine Bases in total.
Some Marine Branches could not even put to sea to hunt down pirates.
They could only defend the islands or towns where they were stationed. Some Marine Branch warehouses were already empty.
They did not have enough weapons or ammunition.
Across the Four Seas, pirate crews could still sail their ships around islands with Marine Bases and taunt the Marines.
For the Marines, it was an outright humiliation.
Faced with this demand, the World Government compromised.
It had already planned to conduct the World Military Draft and increase naval funding, though not by so much.
But as long as the Heavenly Tribute went up, everything was negotiable.
The Marines had suffered devastating losses in this war. If their funding remained as it had been, no one knew how long recovery would take.
The Great Pirate Era would not wait for the Marines to recover at their leisure. They had to rebuild and grow stronger as quickly as possible.
They had to suppress the upheaval at sea completely.
Raising the Heavenly Tribute would also satisfy the Celestial Dragons, who had paid a considerable price in this war.
Their share accounted for forty percent of the total Heavenly Tribute.
If the Heavenly Tribute rose, the Celestial Dragons would receive more as well.
That might just be enough to silence them.
The World Government's decline and the depreciation of