The call came quickly, and it was hung up just as quickly.
Garp had just cursed once when Sakazuki directly hung up the line.
Believe it or not, that was Sengoku and the others' business. He was only responsible for delivering the message.
———
[Wano, Kuri]
After a day's trek, Rosse once again arrived at Kozuki Oden's main stronghold.
Kozuki Oden was hung up by him at the highest point of Kuri Castle. His retainers were treated the same, guarded by Kaido.
The entire Kozuki estate had been taken over, temporarily inhabited by Rosse and his people.
At Ringo, Zephyr and Toki's group had also received word and were rushing over quickly.
"Heh! A bunch of parasites, all they can do is indulge in unrealistic fantasies," Sakazuki hung up the call, his aura seething like burning magma.
He really didn't like Garp and that bunch.
Never did anything decent, always tangled up in useless ideals.
'Pirates, if they obediently surrender, then all of them should be exterminated!'
Thinking of this, Sakazuki couldn't help glancing at Rosse.
Sakazuki looked at Rosse seated at the head, his expression carrying a faint trace of respect.
On the seas, only strength was worthy of respect.
At the beginning, it was because Rosse was willing to support his ideas that Sakazuki was willing to become his partner.
Though partners, Sakazuki didn't actually value him that much.
After all, in his impression, Celestial Dragons were nothing but weak swine unable to truss a chicken.
At that time, he was only a vice admiral, with no right to know of the God's Knights.
The first time he truly acknowledged Rosse was in Arabasta, when the two of them fought the Red Count together.
After coordinating in that battle, he began to treat Rosse as an equal companion, even considering him in most cases a comrade who could be entrusted with one's back.
But this time in Wano, the results Rosse produced utterly shocked him.
Four top-class powerhouses, in the end one surrendered, one was captured, one was killed, one fled.
Such an ending, he had never imagined.
To ensure this side didn't collapse, Sakazuki had rushed here with all his strength, even abandoning his fleet to hasten here the moment he heard battle had broken out.
But before he could arrive, the outcome had already been decided.
Winning against superior numbers, and so quickly at that, was truly unbelievable to him.
Never mind Garp and the others, even he had never seen such an existence that broke the standards.
Two top-class fighters working together could defeat any one powerhouse, that had been the iron rule of the seas for years, unbroken by anyone.
Rocks couldn't, Roger couldn't, Whitebeard couldn't, Golden Lion couldn't. No exceptions until now.
But this exception had been broken by Rosse.
"Saint Rosse, when will you purge the New World and kill all the pirates here?". Sakazuki didn't concern himself with Garp and the rest. Whatever those people did, it had nothing to do with him for now.
Even if Garp and the others defected, as long as Rosse didn't order it, he had no interest in pursuing them.
Defectors weren't pirates, not within his hunting range.
But if they defected and became pirates, then he would personally clean house.
"Purge all the pirates in the New World?", Rosse chuckled twice, "If the Marine has the ability, it can do it anytime. If you want to subdue top powerhouses, I can even personally help you. But you must understand, the Marine doesn't have enough strong fighters to complete the task of chasing down pirates in the New World. The climate here is far too harsh."
Just a few words doused Sakazuki's fervor, leaving him silent.
That was the reality.
Even with Rosse's over-standard strength, able to kill top powerhouses alone, clearing the New World was still difficult.
The New World had hundreds of islands, terrible climates everywhere. Even with vice admiral-level strongmen aboard, death by natural causes was possible.
And vice admiral-level strength wasn't enough in the New World. There were too many of that level here. If a vice admiral dared to lead alone, there was always a risk of being killed.
The World Government's allied nations in the New World reached only as far as Dressrosa. At a battleship's speed, within two days one could reach the Red Line.
Any farther, and the World Government's influence could no longer extend.
Under such circumstances, purging the New World was basically impossible.
"You see, you're getting ahead of yourself again."
After tempering Sakazuki, it was time to give him something sweet.
Rosse paused, then smiled, "Let's go with our previous plan. Build Wano into the new Marine Headquarters. No matter how much the World Government funds, the Jaygarcia family will provide 2 trillion Berries for the construction of Wano's Marine Headquarters, and for recruitment issues."
"Thank you for your generosity!", Sakazuki bowed his head with genuine sincerity.
He had no solution to the situation in the New World.
The best path was as Rosse had laid out earlier. Build a new Marine Headquarters in Wano as a foundation, then recruit quality populations from other regions to fill it.
Two trillion, equal to ten years of Marine funding.
With that much money poured in, Wano's new Headquarters could be rapidly built. With the World Government's aid, gathering tens of millions of quality people would be no problem.
Under his personal guidance and training, in less than twenty years a great number of vice admiral-level strongmen would emerge.
Scatter those strongmen across, and the New World's problems could be solved completely.
This was the best, most practical solution Sakazuki had ever heard. Naturally, he had no reason to refuse.
One could even say Rosse was giving too much. So much that even he felt embarrassed.
"The original population of Wano is strong, but their moral standards are extremely low. The slightly stronger ones mostly become pirates when they go to sea. How many to keep and how many to kill, that's for you to decide."
Rosse briefly explained Wano's situation, without embellishment.
After killing off two regions' people, his strength had grown quickly.
[Strength: 76.41 million / 100 million (SS- rank)]
But because of the Flower Capital's special nature, the two regions combined already made up nearly half of Wano's population.
The rest were in Hibi, Hakumai, and some in Kuri and Udon, which had few people to begin with.
And they were scattered, living in villages, not gathered in main cities like Ringo and the Flower Capital.
Killing such scattered people would be too time-consuming and exhausting. Rosse couldn't be bothered.
And with Sakazuki's temperament, in the end few would likely survive anyway.
Now, in this situation, his self-preservation was entirely secure, and the initiative was already in his hands.
If Imu didn't oppose him, he wouldn't go looking for trouble either.
After all, Imu was just a hands-off ruler, rarely managing things.
But if trouble came, he could face it anytime. At worst, he'd just head to Elbaf and kill a wave. Though the giants weren't many, their quality was extremely high.
Wiping out all those rebels would be enough for him to advance to SS rank.
As for SS+, for now he wasn't counting on it.
Wano's scale wasn't enough. Even if he massacred three more countries in a row, it wouldn't be enough to upgrade again.
Since that was the case, better to take it slowly.
Slowly enjoy this pleasure.
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