thefictionvixens Chapter 138 Warship Prices, the Sea Train Plan, and the Mad Kaido
Chapter 138 Warship Prices, the Sea Train Plan, and the Mad Kaido
After successfully occupying the Spring Queen's Castle, Kaido began to think that it was time to rein himself in.
The feud with Luigi Arno is another matter.
By continuously planting flags in Carnival City and Food City, buying up Water City, and occupying Spring Queen City, this is indeed too arrogant.
If they continue to act recklessly, they could easily cross the line with the World Government and the Navy.
He is still far from being fully capable.
In particular, the current top members of the pirate crew are all too young and need enough time to grow.
Therefore, he chose to take the initiative to curry favor with the Navy and the World Government.
Led by Master Tom, and with the combined efforts of all the top shipwrights in Water Seven, a flagship-class ship of the Navy Headquarters was built in just two days.
At the same time, he deliberately reminded Vegapunk to develop the technology that would allow warships to sail in the doldrums ahead of time, and then installed this technology on the warship that Tom and his team had built.
After that, Makima, a CP9 member who was more likely to gain the Navy's trust, was sent to the Navy Headquarters with a prototype ship, disguised as a legitimate merchant ship.
That's how Makima came to be, speaking eloquently in front of Sengoku and the others.
"What did you say?! This ship can sail in the doldrums?!"
"Are you sure you're not joking?!"
A naval officer asked in surprise.
Machima nodded slightly and smiled, "Without a particularly unique selling point, my Beast Shipbuilding Company wouldn't have enough confidence to sell ships to the Navy Headquarters."
Sengoku fell into deep thought upon hearing this. He raised his hand to stroke his chin and asked, "Will Kaido continue to conquer other affiliated islands?!"
Carnival City, Food City, Water Seven, and Spring Queen City are all islands named after cities, but they are not actually nations.
Therefore, even though they are all member states of the World Government, they are not called member kingdoms, but member islands.
Naturally, they are also ineligible to participate in the World Conference held every four years.
Therefore, even though Kaido occupied four islands in succession, it did not make the World Government too sensitive or too provocative to the Navy.
After all, a member island and a member country are two completely different concepts at the political level.
This is also the reason why Lucci and others from the original timeline of CP9 had the confidence to assassinate Iceberg and frame Luffy's crew.
However, even though it's just an island that has joined forces, if Kaido doesn't know when to stop, Sengoku will have no choice but to take action.
Even if Selene could get Kaido back by running back to the Holy Land and crying her eyes out, Sengoku would still have to prove to the world that the Navy wasn't incapable of capturing Kaido, but simply unwilling to do so.
Upon hearing Sengoku's question, Machima's smile faded considerably, and her attitude became serious.
"In the first half of the Grand Line, Captain Kaido will no longer attack or occupy any affiliated kingdoms or islands."
The hidden meaning behind this statement is that Kaido is still very likely to attack non-affiliated kingdoms and islands.
However, the Warring States period itself only needed to be responsible for the affiliated kingdoms and islands.
"In that case, the Beast Shipbuilding Company is a legitimate business!"
Sengoku asked, "How much does this ship cost?"
Machima smiled and replied, "1.5 million Berries!"
After all, the ship's hull was not made of Adam Wood, and it was not equipped with weapons. The most expensive part of the entire ship was the so-called Seastone base.
Furthermore, the purchasing power of Bailey in this era is about 2.5 times that of Luffy's era.
Converted to Luffy's era price, this warship would cost 3.75 million Berries.
After some thought, Sengoku compared the ships with his own.
Currently, the cost of a Navy flagship is around 1.2 million to 1.4 million Berries. It is fully armed, but it cannot sail in calm winds.
Although this ship from the Beast Shipbuilding Company was not equipped with weapons, it was otherwise fully equipped, and crucially, it could even sail in the calm zone.
Although the price is a bit high, the total price may rise to around 1.7 million after the navy equips it with weapons.
However, a warship capable of traversing the doldrums would allow the navy to save a great deal of time when dealing with emergencies at sea.
Considering this, a higher price does indeed have its advantages.
Thinking of this, Zhan Guo nodded.
"No problem, the price is acceptable. However, we still need to conduct tests to determine whether this ship can actually navigate in calm winds."
Turning around, Sengoku looked at Dragon.
"Go and tell the finance department to bring over 1.5 million Baileys in cash."
Just as Dorrag was about to set off, Machima suddenly called out to him.
"Wait a minute!"
"This boat is actually free!"
Dorrag turned around and saw Machima calmly smiling, "Consider it as the registered capital of the Hundred Beasts Shipbuilding Company changing from illegal to legal."
"This ship was donated to the navy free of charge."
"Once you have tested the ship's performance in the calm zone, you can place your order in Water Seven."
"We will definitely charge you the full amount when the time comes!!"
Upon hearing this, Sengoku couldn't help but smile.
"That Kaido kid has quite the scheme. Does he think the Navy will let him go completely this way?"
Machima remained unperturbed and continued with a smile, "The feud between the Beasts Pirates and the Navy has nothing to do with the Beasts Shipbuilding Company."
"The shipbuilding company's employees are all innocent citizens of Water Seven."
"I doubt that a great general from the Warring States period would stoop to the level of a bunch of ordinary people."
Sengoku snorted coldly, "Don't think I don't know what Kaido is up to!"
They advanced step by step, gradually eroding the enemy's and the world government's bottom line.
When things finally spiral out of control, and a rebellion breaks out, the world will be thrown into turmoil in an instant.
As a strategist, it's impossible that the Warring States period couldn't have missed this point.
Machima smiled and took out a stack of blueprints from her briefcase.
"Beast Shipbuilding Company does not just undertake shipbuilding business."
"These are the blueprints for the sea train project designed by Mr. Tom, the master shipbuilder of this company. General Sengoku can take a look at them when he has time."
"The Sea Train Project is a great project, Kaido said. If it can be fully completed, it will benefit all the islands it passes through. I hope that Admiral Sengoku will pay attention to it."
"Similarly, this is also a sincere suggestion I made to the Sengoku general as a member of CP9."
Upon hearing this, the Warring States' expression turned serious.
Previously, Makima had always claimed to be a member of the Beasts Pirates, and even though Sengoku knew she was a spy, he would still cooperate by scolding her.
However, now that Makima is giving advice as a member of CP9, Sengoku cannot afford to ignore it.
He took the blueprints from Machima and examined them on site.
Although he wasn't a technical person, he was, after all, a naval admiral, with a commanding perspective.
Putting aside the technical aspects he couldn't understand, Sengoku immediately made a judgment by focusing on the islands the sea-going train might connect to and the economic and military benefits it could bring.
The sea-train project is indeed a truly magnificent undertaking!
Several tens of minutes later, Machima successfully left the Navy Headquarters.
During this trip, Machima successfully helped Keda achieve the strategic plan he wanted.
For at least the next few years, he can focus on farming and development in the Spring Queen's City without worrying that his hard work might be destroyed in the war with the navy.
[Ding~ This month's trial is complete. Please choose one of the following rewards!]
[Minerals, Food, Timber, Fresh Water, Seeds, Lifespan, Specialization Replacement, Backpack Space, Fruit Enhancement]
Here comes another new monthly trial reward.
Now that Kaido has accumulated enough Devil Fruits through ascension, he is finally starting to consider other rewards.
"I'm going to settle down and focus on farming now, so this time I'm choosing seeds!"
[Ding~ Seed reward selected. Please choose the acquisition percentage from the following seeds, totaling 500 kg.]
Kaido frowned slightly when he saw that the total amount was only 500 kilograms.
The rewards for grain, minerals, timber, and fresh water are 500 tons each time, so why are there three zeros missing when it comes to seeds?
Is it because crops grown from seeds yield a greater harvest?
Unable to figure out the answer, Kaido could only guess.
He then began to check the seed list.
[Super Rice: Rice seeds that can yield up to 3000 kg per mu (666.67㎡). Once the seeds mature, they can be planted indefinitely, but only within the host's territory. If planted outside the host's territory, they will degenerate into ordinary rice.]
[Super Wheat: Wheat seeds with a yield of up to 3000 kg per mu (666.67㎡). Once mature, the seeds can be planted indefinitely, but only within the host's territory. Planting them in territories outside the host's territory will cause them to degenerate into ordinary wheat.]
[Super Corn: Corn seeds that can yield up to 4000 kg per mu (666.67㎡). Once the seeds mature, they can be planted indefinitely, but only within the host's territory. If planted in a territory outside the host's territory, they will degenerate into ordinary corn.]
[Super Potato: Potato seeds with a yield of up to 12000 kg per mu (666.67㎡). Once mature, the seeds can be planted indefinitely, but only within the host's territory. Planting them in territories outside the host's territory will cause them to revert to ordinary potatoes.]
Super sweet potatoes, super soybeans, super cucumbers, super cabbages, super apples...
Looking at the detailed descriptions of each seed, Kaido suddenly felt a pang of regret.
"There are too many fruit-growing seeds! If only we had selected the seeds earlier!!"
If he had chosen these super seeds earlier, he could have easily amassed 10 troops in the West Sea.
Even if the entire country only has 300 million people, we could absolutely afford to support them!!
Fortunately, it's not too late now.
The Beast Shipyard and the Sea Train project successfully bought him several years.
With the time he has spent planting these super seeds over the past few years, he could fill his current territory, including the Dragon Kingdom in the West Sea, with them.
At that time, they will probably make a fortune just by exporting grain.
With that in mind, Kaido didn't hesitate any longer and directly chose the potato seeds with the highest yield.
[Ding~ Selection complete. Congratulations, host, you have obtained 500 kg of super potato seeds, which have now been added to your system inventory.]
Looking at the large bag of seeds that had been successfully added to his system inventory, Kaido couldn't help but start calculating how many potatoes he could grow on his current territory.
"The total arable land area of the City of Spring Queen is about 4500 square kilometers, or 45 hectares, which is 675 million mu."
"According to the system, the seed yield of super potatoes can reach 12 tons per mu."
"675 million x 12 tons = 8100 million tons!"
"8100 million tons of potatoes, based on an average daily consumption of 5 kilograms per person, would be enough to feed approximately 8876.7 million people for a whole year!!"
Upon realizing this, Kaido couldn't help but gasp. This data was simply outrageous!
Unable to believe it, Kaido promptly took out paper and pen and recalculated.
No matter how he calculates it, for a medium-to-large island like Queen City of Spring, which is 3 square kilometers, if all 4500 square kilometers of arable land could be planted with super potatoes, it could feed more than 8000 million people.
If we add to that the approximately 12 square kilometers of arable land in the Dragon Kingdom, it's entirely possible to feed a population of about 30 billion people for an entire year!
Of course, this only calculates staple food, and does not take into account the demand for vegetables, fruits and meat.
Even if we halve the above data and use more than half of the land for growing other vegetables and fruits and raising livestock, the grain produced each year would definitely be enough to feed 10 billion people.
If the seeds used to grow vegetables and fruits were also the super seeds provided by the system, the population that could be fed would be even greater.
"10 billion...10 billion!!"
Kaido's eyes instantly turned red.
"If I had a billion people, the world government would just wipe me out!!"
Even if a war results in the deaths of 10 million soldiers, a population of 1000 billion would have at least 2 million able-bodied men. He could afford to fail 20 times!
Launching 20 wars involving tens of millions of people—with such a high margin for error—even if he were incredibly stupid, he could still overwhelm the World Government.
"No way! I can't keep causing trouble everywhere. I want to farm! I fucking want to farm!!"
Inside the mayor's office of the Spring Queen's City, Kaido, his eyes red, kept suppressing low growls.
"And they encourage childbirth! Have as many as you can, fucking do it all! I'll raise as many as you have!!"
"A few million isn't enough, tens of millions isn't enough either! Go and have over a hundred million births!!"
Kaido's manic behavior in his office successfully caught the attention of Makima, who had recently returned from Marine Headquarters.
She opened the office door, stepped inside, and looked at Kaido with a slightly worried expression.
"Kaido, what's wrong?"
"What's wrong with me?"
Kaido raised his head, his eyes bloodshot.
"I'm so angry right now!!"
With a wave of his hand, flames swept across the room, the door closed, and the curtains were drawn.
Immediately afterwards, the sound of clothes being torn echoed in the office, along with a man's deliberately suppressed beastly roar.
However, this is just the beginning.
When the Den Den Mushi in the maid lounge makes a call, when the Den Den Mushi in the MADS Research Institute, MISS Bakkin's laboratory makes a call.
Kaido's voice gave them only one command.
"Come to my office immediately!!"