Nicholas took a step back, which made his back hit the blackboard full of writing and because of this his dark brown shirt was smeared with white chalk powder "Sir Arlong, I do not intend to betray you and at the same time I cannot" Nicholas quickly explained his reasons so that Arlong, who began to direct his murder intent towards him, calmed down. "I may seem cunning to you and I have other plans in mind, but in fact I don't have any."
"Heh!" exhaled Arlong coldly, "Do you think I would believe you so easily?"
Nicholas shook his hand and swore, "I swear I don't intend to betray you."
Arlong's eyebrows arched because he felt how credible Nicholas was, "So what's your goal?" And why did you choose me out of all the people in this world"
Nicholas lowered his hand and calmly replied, "I have already told you, you are a special person and my plan will only be realized by very few in this world, first you are an Yujin and this makes it easier for you to take the trust of your genre, in addition, there are many humans under your authority, in addition to a large island where we can base and headquarters to develop the strength of your followers from human and non-human Pirates until the right moment to implement our plan."
Arlong scratched his chin as he sank into deep thought and after a few moments he shook his head strangely and said, "Well, your plan looks very elaborate and the error rate is low, so what do we have to do now?"
From the extreme happiness that Nicholas felt upon hearing Arlong's answer, he could not suppress his laughter and was about to smile strangely, but he quickly corrected the matter and changed his expressions with difficulty and spoke to hide his expressions "Currently we have to control the villagers on the island and recruit them, from what I heard there are a lot of villages under your control and you impose a high tax on them, the value of which is collected every week."
"Yes, that's right" Arlong replied very calmly and coldly.
"The plan to control the villagers should be divided into three stages and may take a total of two months to 6 months, the first stage is to make the villagers confused and afraid of you in a different way."
Arlong felt puzzled "They are afraid of me, why should we make them confused and afraid in a different way?"
Nicholas shook his head and denied what Arlong was about to say, "We don't want them to be afraid of your strong and tyrannical bad side, but we want them to be afraid of your calm and gentle side."
"This weekend you should not take taxes from them."
"What!" so annoyed, Arlong stood up quickly, but calmed himself down, sat down again and said, "Go on"
"The week after this week, the villagers will be paid the weekly tax amount."
"What are you raving about!" how upset Arlong was this time, he stood up until he reached to Nicholas's side and reached out his hand until he was about to grab him by the neck and said in an annoyed voice, "do you think I'm going to give up my money so easily, tell me your plan clearly, and your purpose for these actions?"
Nicholas expected such a reaction and calmly replied "You have to make the villagers bewildered, if you suddenly stop taking money they will think that you intend something evil towards them and they will wait next week with impatience and with all fear and anticipation waiting for what you will do, if you come and give them money you will make their bewilderment multiply and it will become the tax for people who refuse to enlist will increase by about 10%"
"Be sure that many villagers will reject your followers, but the tax rate will increase every week by about 10%, but because you gave them some money, they will not suffer at first while watching the people who have become your followers enjoy your blessings, and then everyone will start following you voluntarily, greedy for your generosity and afraid of your anger."
Arlong smiled strangely and said, "The more I hear you talk, the more I feel that you are a person who knows everything about this world, as if anything you say will come true."
Laugh!
"Well we will carry out your plan, you made me excited to see the positive results, but if they are negative I will make you make up for all the money I lost"
Nicholas obediently shook his head "absolutely, Sir."
…
A few days after the tax collection time arrived, all the villagers gathered in their village yards carrying the money they had struggled all week to collect, some of the children cried while their parents tried to calm them down, although this routine procedure in the village continued for many months and years, but they feel the same fear every time the tax collection day arrives, they do not realize when their turn may arrive and die at the hands of Arlong, some seemed hesitant as if they did not want to let their money go, while some sighed calmly and showed no reaction to what is happening because their surrender.
The villagers waited for several minutes while they watched their watches, but strangely no one from Arlong's followers appeared, they continued to wait until another half an hour had passed and then they began to feel some ominous omen.
Suddenly, amid the strange silence, the voice of one of the villagers echoed, "Do you think they are exterminating one of the villages? they are always late when there are some problems in other villages"
The village head raised his hand to silence the person who was talking, and then coldly said "There is no need for us to ask questions, all we will do is wait until they come, none of you show doubts or leave his place, Arlong and his followers are crazy and they may deliberately escalate things against us when they come."
All the villagers shook their heads in support of their leader's opinion and continued to wait but nothing happened until some waited for several more hours, the sun began to set while the villagers ' faces were filled with bewilderment and fear and at the same time some felt some kind of hope.
After the night fell, all the villagers dispersed and returned to their homes full of puzzling questions that had been bothering them all night.
'Why didn't they come!'
But a few days later they learned the fact that Arlong did not take taxes from all the villages that week.
…
[ Few days later ]
Nicholas stood quietly next to Arlong, who collected several bundles of money and piled them into a small wheelbarrow with a face full of pain, as if he did not want to part with that money.
'That's good, the moment has finally come, I hope everything goes smoothly without any mistakes or problems, I'm tired of flattering this damn fish'
After organizing all the money, Arlong ordered one of his followers to withdraw it and ordered some of his best followers to accompany him.
Slowly and quietly, the Yujins group and Nicholas set off towards the villages under their control.
…
The villagers gathered again in their village squares while their faces were filled with bewilderment, fear and hope, some were afraid of Arlong's actions while some hoped that he would not come and take their money specifically, but everyone, despite their different thoughts, did not dare to be absent and not bring the required money, everyone stood quietly and after several minutes they saw several people walking regularly towards them and then swallowed their saliva and sighed resignedly.
Everyone stood silently until Arlong arrived, one of his followers pulled a cart full of money, but none of the villagers dared to look at that money at length, on the contrary, when they saw the abundance of money, they felt dizzy, thinking that he had come to take away everything they had.
"Let the head of your village come forward."
Full of fear, the village chief walked towards Arlong while his legs trembled and when he arrived in front of him, he spoke amicably "does Mr. Arlong need me for something" and unexpectedly, Arlong picked up a wad of money from the cart and gave it to the village chief, which made his eyes full of wrinkles open wide and made the rest of the villagers deeply shocked and felt as if they had seen something incredible and illogical.