"You should know that without these world's most profitable businesses backing us, the World Government's finances would collapse."
Saint Nusjuro's face was stone-cold, pushing back harder than usual.
Yeah.
The World Government sounded all official and proper, but just relying on Heavenly Tribute? That barely kept those spendthrift Celestial Dragons fed.
Let alone government salaries, Marine budgets, research funding, all the random shit...
So the World Government had its fingers in every high-profit industry out there.
Entertainment, gambling, funerals, "special services," transportation, media control, loan sharking, warehousing, arms dealing, brokerage...
As the monster that'd ruled the world for eight hundred years, they drooled over these industries' insane profits just like everyone else.
They'd infiltrated deep, raking in cash.
Hell, plenty of underworld bosses had the World Government as their biggest backer.
Actually, when Aus first muscled into the underworld, they'd gotten distress calls from these proxies.
But compared to those businesses, making an enemy of Aus? Way worse for their bottom line.
So they looked the other way.
And that choice made these proxies think the World Government had thrown them under the bus. So they joined Aus with zero guilt.
That's why after the early warnings, tons of underworld bosses bent the knee to Aus.
But the Five Elders never expected Aus would actually be this greedy—
Actually trying to control the entire underworld.
"You're overthinking it, Nusjuro."
Saint Warcury sat on the sofa, voice low:
"Aus isn't stupid. He knows he can't swallow the whole cake. Neither can we.
Monopolize the world's business?"
"He'd become the world's enemy overnight!"
Capital's power was massive. Even in this world where individual strength varied like crazy,
Taking everyone's cake—even if they couldn't kill him, he'd get rejected by the whole damn world.
"What Aus wants is regulation, not ownership. We give him that authority, we give it. No need to make another enemy over this.
Our interests might take a hit, but nothing major. Conceding this much because of Aus? Still acceptable."
The logic held up. After thinking it over, the other Elders nodded.
"Call Aus. Talk it out. He'll give the World Government face."
"Agreed."
"Agreed."
After all, he ruled a World Government member nation. When they could negotiate, they wanted peaceful solutions.
If they couldn't solve the person causing problems, they'd solve the problem itself.
Regarding the World Government's underworld business share, they still needed detailed discussions.
And naturally, Aus had seen this coming a mile away.
What he wanted was establishing rules and collecting money.
Not stuffing everything in his own pockets—that kind of stupid move that forced rebellion? He wasn't that dumb.
But if he really wanted to monopolize everything...
How many Berries would that be?
Trillions? Ten trillion? A hundred trillion?
Based on Morgans's intel, Aus had a rough idea of the underworld market's total scale.
Even just skimming ten percent of profits, Aus couldn't spend it in one lifetime—hell, ten thousand lifetimes.
By then, the world's richest man title would be legit earned.
Aus felt damn satisfied.
And the World Government called right on cue.
Aus stretched out his hand. A Den Den Mushi materialized—the one for contacting the Five Elders.
"Elders, long time no talk." Aus smiled warmly.
But the Five Elders didn't want to dance around with Aus. They cut straight to it:
"Aus, skip the pleasantries. Our time's valuable too.
This call's about your thoughts on underworld interest distribution."
Nobody was stupid. No point talking circles about underworld conferences. As world-class players, they always looked straight at the core.
"Sounds like you heard some rumors."
Aus wasn't surprised. With this much money on the line, even the Five Elders personally calling made sense.
"Relax, gentlemen... I'll be straight with you.
The major interests stay with whoever owns them now. Long as nobody screws with the market or breaks rules, I'm only taking a tiny cut."
Hearing that, the five world authorities relaxed a bit, but kept pressing:
"How tiny?"
"Five percent of net profits. Not unreasonable, right?"
"..."
The five exchanged glances. Silent for a beat.
First glance? Not much. But it depended on the base.
A mere five percent—just what hit the World Government alone meant at least hundreds of billions of Berries less every year.
But after thinking it through, they nodded. Yeah, it was a lot, but not crippling.
And with Aus's unified management, maybe the chaotic underworld's total business would actually expand.
If the whole pie grew bigger, giving away some wasn't terrible...
"Acceptable. But we need our business share guaranteed."
"Naturally. After all, who on these seas would dare rob the World Government?"
Aus agreed with a smile, missing the Five Elders' irritated expressions.
Who dared rob them?
One was literally on the phone right now.
The talk stayed fairly warm and friendly. Both sides guaranteed and compromised on interests. But the Five Elders were no pushovers.
Their fangs only retracted facing things they couldn't control. But facing their own people...
"Buru buru buru..."
Soon, another call went out from the Room of Authority.
"Click."
"Marine Headquarters. Fleet Admiral Kong speaking."
Inside the Fleet Admiral's office, hearing the Den Den Mushi ring, the Marine officers analyzing the Totto Land battle all went quiet.
Kong saw who was calling and immediately stood respectfully, walking outside to answer.
"Lord Five Elders..."
After connecting, the Five Elders dropped their earlier nice-guy act. Cold orders only:
"Kong, we're calling to notify you of something."
"Go ahead."
"Due to special circumstances, next year's Marine military budget needs cutting. Roughly several tens of billions. Prepare for expenditure reductions now."
"This... Understood!"
Face black as thunder, Kong felt stifled by the Five Elders' order but could only comply.
Just walking back into the conference room, he spotted that bastard Garp stealing senbei again. He immediately snatched them away, roaring:
"Eat, eat, eat! All you do is eat! Garp, your salary next month's cut in half!"
"Huh!?"
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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