The Kingdom at War

When Aokiji said that, the others could understand. A country had undergone such enormous changes in just a few years, and they had even mastered the Marine Six Styles. Producing two people capable of using Haki was hardly impossible.

"How scary. What if our Vice Admiral Aokiji goes there and dies?"

Kizaru twisted his mouth and tilted his head as he smiled at Aokiji.

"Kizaru, can you stop making sarcastic remarks here? It's just a country in the South Blue. What is there to worry about?"

Akainu said coldly.

"That's enough. We'll settle it like this for now. Aokiji, let me emphasize this once again: you must not get involved in their country's war. And after you get there, avoid taking action if you can. If someone catches the Navy in a compromising position, things will become difficult."

Sengoku said it once more.

"Ooh... Got it, Fleet Admiral Sengoku..."

Aokiji replied carelessly.

At present, Nova had no idea that the Navy already knew about them. More importantly, even if he did know, what could they do?

Since he had already begun sending the King's Guard out into the open, Nova was no longer worried about others learning of it. They were not a member nation of the World Government, so there was no need for them to concern themselves with that.

Having been in this world for so many years, he understood its rules quite clearly.

However, the flames of war were still being urgently extinguished throughout the Tru Kingdom.

The only good thing was that after those pirate crews had been wiped out, the Roa Kingdom's advance had completely stalled, with signs that it was even beginning to retreat.

Inside the royal palace, Nova sat in the highest seat, looking at the people below him with a grave expression.

Unlike before, most of those standing below were now young people. The older generation of officials who had served under the old king had begun gradually stepping down and handing their authority over to them.

"Lostar, as the person currently in charge of all commerce, tell us about the overall state of our trade."

Nova looked at the man standing below. He was around thirty years old, wore glasses and a formal suit, and carried himself like a perfect gentleman.

Lostar stepped forward two paces and pulled a small notebook from his pocket. Then he respectfully said, "Your Majesty, our country's trade currently centers mainly on perfume and cloth. After nearly two years of development, our perfume business has spread throughout the Four Seas. We also have dedicated channel agents on the Grand Line handling perfume sales. As for cloth, we have only just begun opening up markets across the Four Seas, so the results are not particularly noticeable yet.

"At present, the total number of perfume makers and flower cultivators has reached around 120,000. Our average monthly perfume revenue remains at 5.5 billion Beli, which is fully sufficient to support domestic economic expenditures. Cloth production has only just begun, but its monthly net profit is already holding at roughly 1.3 billion Beli.

"As for the next stage of planning, I believe we should begin expanding beyond the Four Seas. I hope Your Majesty can offer some guidance."

As he listened to Lostar's report, Nova could tell that the commercial planning was still rather inexperienced and did not hit the key points. However, Lostar was exceptionally serious and meticulous in his work, so Nova did not dwell on the process.

There was no longer any need to worry about the Roa Kingdom's attack. What remained was to bolster the economy, and relying on just those two products would clearly not be enough.

Nova sat there in thought for a moment before saying, "We never considered this aspect of the perfume business before, but how much inventory do we currently have?"

"Your Majesty, our perfume inventory has reached nearly one million bottles. It is more than enough to meet the current demand of our kingdom."

Lostar said.

Perfume was currently a high-end commodity. Selling it throughout the Four Seas still required considerable effort, since the people with real money were almost all outside the Four Seas.

"You should make a proper plan for this in the Ministry of Commerce. In the future, our domestic business will definitely not consist of only these two industries. Train everyone with a head for business. As for the rest, we'll discuss it later."

Nova said.

"Your Majesty, this time you intend to..."

Gogoya wanted to ask out of curiosity, but in this setting, she swallowed the words that had reached her lips.

"The Ministry of Commerce must produce a plan as soon as possible, including the overall domestic population, regional distribution, age groups, employment, livelihood guarantees, and so on...

"Also, prepare for expansion. Next, I have decided to take the Roa Kingdom. Make sure all preliminary preparations are in place.

"From today onward, everyone must remain fully alert."

Nova stood up and spoke sternly. The determination in his voice made the others' blood boil.

What Nova had said also stunned everyone. The Roa Kingdom was far larger than the Tru Kingdom, yet Nova actually said he intended to take it?

The group was immediately at a loss, completely unable to understand what their king intended to do.

"Your Majesty, do you mean to declare war on the Roa Kingdom?"

Lostar asked doubtfully.

"What? Do you think it can't be done?"

Nova's tone was extremely serious. Since something like this had already happened once, it could very well happen again in the future. Nova would not allow the Roa Kingdom to interfere with his plans again.

Although their overall national strength had improved, they still retained their old, rigid mindset. Fundamentally, they still had a long way to go before changing their way of thinking.

"Your Majesty, Lostar wholeheartedly supports your decision. It is only regrettable that I lack sufficient ability. Otherwise, I would certainly follow Your Majesty to the Roa Kingdom."

Lostar said emotionally.

Nova smiled faintly at those words. Having someone support him was quite nice.

Besides, he had already devised a response plan before making this decision. Since the Roa Kingdom had needed to fund pirates to attack his country, it only proved that their own strength was insufficient.

The entire King's Guard had already reached the border. The next step would likely be to enter Roa Kingdom territory directly.

But changing a country's ingrained way of thinking was not as simple as it sounded.

"Lostar, how much funding do we have left?"

Nova asked directly.

"Your Majesty, I just calculated it. We currently have around 3 billion Beli available for use. This is the amount we can freely deploy after excluding the people's living expenses."

Lostar said.

Nova sat in his seat and considered it. The country still had that much usable capital, and he had nearly another 2 billion Beli aboard the National. Let alone winning this war, they could accomplish many more things with those funds.

"Lostar, go arrange the next phase of planning, focusing mainly on the Roa Kingdom region. Once we take it over, we must at least be able to swiftly put the country on the right track and avoid being caught unprepared."

Nova said.

"Yes, Your Majesty..."

Lostar said, adjusting his glasses.

"That will be all for today. We'll discuss the remaining matters when the time comes."

Nova said directly.

As for the Roa Kingdom, the situation was already nearly clear. There was no need to worry about or care about anything else.

The Tru Kingdom's overall fighting strength was no longer weak. Junhe had at least reached the level of a Navy Vice Admiral, while most of the others had mastered one or two of the Six Powers.

The Tru Kingdom was absolutely no longer the timid, submissive nation it had once been.

After leaving the palace hall, Nova headed straight to the royal garden.

The environment there was elegant and quiet, but more importantly, it was his private garden. No one else would enter it.

Even so, Nova remained cautious and directly used Observation Haki to sense the situation around him. Only after confirming that there was nothing unusual did he slowly withdraw his perception.

Rather than calling it a royal garden, it would be more accurate to call it a patch of primeval forest behind the palace.

Its exact size was unclear for the moment, but a rather large square had indeed been built within it.

Standing in the center, Nova had come today mainly to familiarize himself with his Devil Fruit ability.

He had already lost the ability to come into contact with seawater. What he wanted most now was to thoroughly master every skill his Devil Fruit could produce as soon as possible.

But without even thinking about it, how could that possibly be accomplished overnight?

With a slight exertion of his right hand, a sky-blue color appeared over it. Yet he had absolutely no understanding of these things, much less how to control Space Power.

But since he could not figure it out himself and could not let others know about it, Nova still had one greatest trump card: the system within his body.

Entering the System Space, Nova felt the familiar blue space he had not entered in a long time. This place, with its mechanical sci-fi atmosphere, gave him an unprecedented sense of security.

"System, do you have a detailed explanation of the Space-Space Fruit's abilities?"

Nova asked directly. He fully believed that the System Space was practically omnipotent.

Yet while he was still wondering, the system's voice immediately appeared. This time, however, it did not speak. There was only a notification sound, along with information displayed on a panel before him.

It contained an extremely detailed introduction to the Space-Space Fruit's abilities and training methods.

Most importantly, Nova discovered that the method for training the Space-Space Fruit focused primarily on strengthening mental power. Moreover, the direction in which the Devil Fruit developed could be controlled according to the strength of one's mental power later on.

The Space-Space Fruit possessed comprehensive applications in defense, attack, movement, and more. After the fruit ability awakened...

There was no introduction at all regarding the abilities after Devil Fruit awakening. Although Nova was somewhat disappointed, the information for the early stages was already more than enough for him to absorb.

The mental power cultivation method mentioned earlier in particular left Nova somewhat bewildered. Observation Haki training also focused on mental power, and even Conqueror's Haki was the same. He had no way of judging what level mental cultivation needed to reach before it could be considered adequate.

Standing where he was, he felt somewhat troubled. Still, he subconsciously decided to test just how far the Space-Space Fruit's ability had developed.

He stood in place and waved his hand. The Devil Fruit's effect instantly surged forth, and a sky-blue barrier appeared before him. It was almost completely transparent, giving no impression of defensive power, let alone any supposed offensive force.

But could it really be that simple? Obviously not!

On that same day, Gogoya sat in the courtyard looking at the newspaper that had just been delivered. Yet to everyone's surprise, the headline was actually about their own country.

"The Tru Kingdom's Special Combat Methods, Loguetown Pirates All Captured..."

Just seeing the headline and then reading the details below made cold sweat begin to form on Gogoya's forehead.

She mainly remembered Nova's previous warning: the King's Guard trained in Navy techniques, and if that information leaked, they might very well draw the Navy's hostility.

Yet it had now been openly displayed in the newspaper. She did not believe that they were the only ones to receive a copy.

After confirming the contents, Gogoya hurried toward the royal palace.

At that moment, Nova was still training and studying his Devil Fruit abilities, completely unaware of what was happening outside.

The Tru Kingdom was extremely chaotic at present. Aside from the Royal City, pirate activity and warfare had not stopped elsewhere, but none of it had much impact on the people's lives.

The people of the Tru Kingdom no longer relied on farming to survive. They had already been desperately poor before, but now the two factories were fully sufficient to cover the living expenses of everyone in the country.

Over two years, those two factories had not only developed trade across the Four Seas, but had also begun gradually extending into the Grand Line. More than that, they had driven commercial and economic development around the factories, allowing the people of the country to become completely self-sufficient through the economic activity generated by those two factories.

Gogoya stood outside Nova's room in the palace until evening. The instant she saw Nova return, she rushed toward him.

Her face was grave and tense, with none of the composure expected of the person in charge of maritime affairs.