The ground trembled beneath the entertainment city, catching the attention of Brook and his crew as they reveled in the festivities. But they weren't worried—no real threats lurked on this island, save for their own allies!
"Yohoho, Linlin, these guys don't have a single soul in 'em!"
Charlotte Linlin snatched a passing waiter, ignoring his frantic struggles. Her Soul-Soul Fruit powers enveloped him, but nothing happened—no soul to manipulate, no reaction at all!
"Don't bother, Linlin. These aren't real creatures! They're just Lily Carnation's imitations—fakes with no life in 'em!"
Brook savored a bite of Streusen's freshly cooked dish, prepared in a makeshift kitchen using Parrot's castle supplies. He wasn't about to trust the illusory food conjured by this island's tricks!
"Captain, you're saying all these noisy folks aren't even alive? They're all fake?"
Shakky gawked at the leaf people—performers strumming instruments, dancers twirling, and crowds cheering. Every single one was an illusion? She couldn't tell the difference!
"They're fakes, alright. Go ahead, give one a good whack—see if they bleed or drop dead!"
Brook munched on a piece of roast Stussy fed him, speaking leisurely. His curiosity about Lily Carnation was growing—this rare ability was something else!
At his words, Linlin tore the struggling waiter clean in half. Shakky flinched, expecting a gory mess, but the figure shriveled into wilted branches and decayed leaves. No blood, just rotting wood.
"How bizarre! To think this Lily Carnation can control thousands of these leaf people at once—it's downright terrifying!"
The entertainment city buzzed with leaf people, thousands of them milling about the island. It was almost absurd!
Brook recalled the Straw Hat era, where tens of thousands of leaf people filled the stands during Zoro and Sanji's speedboat race against that frog. Spectators lined the river course for miles, an endless sea of fake faces.
It hit him just how many pirates, tourists, and caravans Lily Carnation. The energy required to maintain this sprawling illusion of a city was staggering.
Yet, Lily's weakness was clear: its main body was fragile. A single solid hit could take it out.
The island's massive root system could morph into a barrage of deadly arrows, rivaling Enel's pinpoint Judgment of God in range, though not in raw power.
If they could tame Lily Carnation, it'd make one hell of a guardian tree for an island! Sure, it fed on living beings. What's one more life-and-death flower on his turf?
"Yohoho, Shakky, let's go hunt down this Lily!"
Shakky's eyes gleamed with interest. If this Lily Carnation was as powerful as it seemed, her mind was already spinning with money-making schemes. The Little Jew never wasted a second!
Thousands—maybe tens of thousands—of free laborers? Running an entertainment city without paying a single Belly for waiters or greeters? That was a goldmine!
...
Stussy, the future Queen of the Pleasure District, blushed as her own ideas took shape. Custom-made leaf people dolls—ones that moved—could rake in cash, entertain pirates, and double as spies for gathering intel. No need to hire pleasure girls who knew the ins and outs of the trade, no salaries to pay.
It was the ultimate capitalist dream! Shakky, the vampire of profit, ascended to Old Jew status, while Stussy embraced her new role as Little Jew, setting her sights on ruling the Pleasure District.
But Stussy's vision was still too small. Brook had bigger plans—he wanted her to dominate the entire entertainment industry, from dining to gambling, especially the cash-cow world of casinos!
Brook's mind wandered to his grander ambitions. If he built a Totto Land in the New World, how would he handle the endless stream of lawless pirates? He couldn't control their thirst for freedom and chaos.
Pirates, at their core, were destructive non-producers. Even the adventurer types weren't much better. A pirate empire with rules and structure would clash with their craving for reckless freedom and plunder.
He needed a system—a way to channel these pirates' ambitions. Let them climb the ranks, dangle rewards to keep them in line. The strongest could gain fame and fortune, becoming pawns in Brook's game.
Troublemakers and wildcards? Feed 'em to the flowers or grasses to keep his territory stable. Giving pirates a path to rise was generous enough!
Brook had the framework nearly figured out. Newbie pirates would act like Pokémon trainers, tackling island challenges he'd set up to earn fame, fortune, and ranks.
Each rank would come with perks—spending bonuses and discounts across Hell Pirates' territory. It'd keep them from wrecking the place, striking a delicate balance.
Anyone entering Hell Pirates' turf would follow his rules, but not so strictly as to choke their spirit. There'd be a path forward, not a dead end.
If the New World became a high-pressure zone of rigid rules and no freedom, what pirate from the Four Seas or Grand Line would bother coming?
Brook needed a sweet spot—a New World that remained every pirate's dream destination, without letting rookies run wild and force the Hell Pirates to clean up the mess.
...
For the foreseeable future, he had the Vesper Pirates and Rocks Pirates as perfect foils.
On Brook's turf, pirates could challenge islands for cash and rank discounts, join the Hell Pirates if they played by the rules, or even loot the other two factions and spend their spoils in his domain.
On Rocks' turf, it was submit or be hunted. Pirates there faced constant raids, surviving only by plundering and fleeing—a brutal, adrenaline-fueled existence.
Vesper's territory, meanwhile, enforced a strict Pirate Code. No trouble allowed. But how could penniless pirates stay docile? They'd still stir up chaos, inviting crackdowns.
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+300 chapters on p@treon/tambeerg