Dragon knew that if he didn't explain the matter clearly, Diarmuid wouldn't rashly offer help, nor would he be convinced without sufficient self-interest. Therefore, for the next ten minutes or so, Dragon detailed his ideas and plans, attempting to drag Diarmuid into the water to carry out this operation together.
Little did he know, Diarmuid was completely bewildered by his proposal. Didn't this guy follow the civilian, grassroots, bottom-up path of revolution from beginning to end? How did he suddenly change his mind like this?
Diarmuid was even more astonished about Outlook Sabo. In the original story, Sabo was struck by a World Noble's cannon, lost his memory, and coincidentally joined Dragon's banner. But now, Diarmuid had already swayed Ace and Luffy, who constantly shouted about becoming a Marine Admiral or the King of the Marines. There was no longer any place for Sabo in their lives. Diarmuid hadn't paid much attention to Sabo, especially since his unique identity made it unwise to meddle with him casually.
Yet, here he was, still aligning with Dragon. And this time, he was much more aggressive, directly killing a World Noble as a pledge of allegiance...
Sure enough, those who are destined for greatness are exceptional from a young age.
But this was nothing major; at most, it was a rough return to the original trajectory.
However, Dragon's subsequent operation completely stunned Diarmuid. He actually planned to support the Outlook family to become the royalty of the Goa Kingdom, secretly controlling them through Sabo and the death of the World Noble. He would then transform the Goa Kingdom in the East Blue into their secret base? At the same time, using the Goa Kingdom's legitimate status as an affiliated nation, he would launch a shell company, engage in businesses they previously couldn't access but had channels for, and use this means to pump funds into the organization.
It must be said that Dragon's flexible thinking greatly impressed Diarmuid. He seized the opportunity presented by Sabo and immediately broadened his perspective, starting a two-pronged approach...
It was obvious that all of this was the result of Diarmuid's subtle, subconscious influence over the years, and the storm was merely erupting at this moment.
If Dragon genuinely found success in the Goa Kingdom and established a mature operating model, this guy might truly skyrocket to prominence! Diarmuid was secretly alarmed, realizing this bastard was not easily dealt with.
But on second thought, was it necessary to deal with him? Was it necessary to disrupt Dragon's plan?
It seemed not. During the period when the Marines couldn't operate without Mariejois, they naturally had to be united, and they couldn't allow Dragon to rise to power. If Mariejois fell, the Marines would also be greatly affected. Furthermore, once Dragon took over the Mariejois legacy, he might even 'buy out' the penniless Marines, becoming their new boss in one swoop. Diarmuid certainly couldn't accept this. So, prior to this, Diarmuid and the Marines had only cooperated with Dragon in secret, but on crucial matters, they would absolutely not help Dragon succeed.
But what about now?
Now, it seemed unnecessary to worry about Dragon gaining power. No matter how fast he was, he couldn't turn things around in five years. And after five years, whether Mariejois and the Gorosei lived or died, fell or not, would have nothing to do with the Marines.
Because the Marines would no longer need to rely on them.
No matter how capable Dragon was, all he could do was form a new international alliance. What else could he do? The power of the Marines, the largest military institution in the entire world, would still be Marine Headquarters, and Marine Headquarters would be self-sufficient, no longer requiring external investment. This would be the true highest authority!
Viewed in this light, Dragon and Marine Headquarters no longer had fundamentally opposing stances and could cooperate more deeply.
Suddenly, Diarmuid thought of Commander-in-Chief Kong and Fleet Admiral Sengoku. Their cooperation with Dragon had always been orchestrated by those two, and Diarmuid didn't know much about it, nor did he have much interest in asking. His cooperation with Dragon was mostly this kind of private 'profit-sharing.'
For instance, the reason Dragon contacted him this time was simply to leverage Diarmuid's status as a Marine Admiral to provide cover for their operations in the Goa Kingdom. Secondly, it was to use Diarmuid's connections to get through to Stussy, to see if they could directly link the Goa Kingdom to the Amway Group's sales channels. Once this was accomplished, Dragon would only need to arrange for someone in the Goa Kingdom to focus on manufacturing goods and selling them to the Amway Group, essentially making money while lying down...
So, was what he had just figured out something that Commander-in-Chief Kong and Fleet Admiral Sengoku had already anticipated and were secretly arranging?
It was very likely. If Diarmuid were in their shoes, at the point when the Marines truly had the confidence to say no and overturn the table, he wouldn't care about saving face and would immediately turn hostile. But given Fleet Admiral Sengoku and Commander-in-Chief Kong's cautious, old-fashioned, or rather, cunning approach... it was highly probable that Dragon was a tool they planned to hold in their hands.
Used for what? To help the Marines stab Mariejois!
After all, Marine Headquarters and Mariejois had been integrated for over eight hundred years. If the Marines simply gained power and kicked out their old boss, the public opinion of the Marines would suffer. But what if the old boss was stabbed to death by Dragon? Wouldn't the Marines' reputation be intact?
"Holy crap, that's dirty!" Diarmuid exclaimed in a low voice. Compared to them, I'm still too innocent!
"What's dirty?" Dragon was momentarily confused.
"I'm not talking about you. I just figured some things out and realized something. It's true that I'm not the only smart person in this world," Diarmuid said softly, his voice full of emotion.
"Are you calling me smart?" Dragon laughed heartily.
"You are indeed smart," Diarmuid said seriously.
This wasn't sarcasm. Diarmuid had always believed Dragon was highly capable. He also thought highly of himself, but now he realized that on some matters, he truly couldn't compare to people like Sengoku and Kong, who were already clever and had become old foxes.
"So, are we cooperating?" Dragon asked solemnly.
"The Goa Kingdom is just the beginning?" Diarmuid asked, pondering.
"Correct, it's just the start. If this operation proves successful and is of great benefit to my side, I won't give up this method based purely on profit motivation. I will certainly secretly expand into other countries in the future. If possible, I even plan to create a new East Blue Alliance... Of course, that's just a dream right now. If you can persuade Stussy-san to arrange for the Amway Group to cooperate with me, I'll give you a thirty percent share of the profits. How about it?" Dragon said quickly.
"The head of the Amway Group is Warlord of the Sea, 'White Hunter' Smoker. Stussy... I mean, she's just the spokesperson," Diarmuid probed.
"Are you still trying to lie to me? What's the point of saying that?" Dragon interrupted Diarmuid without hesitation.
Diarmuid was slightly surprised. Good grief, you really have excellent methods. You figured that out?
"It seems you know then?" Diarmuid said, his tone slightly serious.
"Of course, I know. Or rather, I'd guessed it long ago," Dragon said with a smile.
"In that case, there's no need to hide it from you. You guessed correctly. Smoker is just a figurehead. The Amway Group fundamentally belongs to..." Diarmuid prepared to reveal his hand. Since Dragon had already investigated, there was no need to hide it. Why bother?
But before he could finish, Dragon added, "Mariejois, of course. The Gorosei. It's easy to see. Otherwise, Stussy-san, being a high-ranking CP official, wouldn't need to put Smoker forward; she could run the Amway Group herself..."
Diarmuid was speechless.
"...Right, you are absolutely right!" Diarmuid quickly replied.
"I know you're worried that my cooperation with the Amway Group might expose something to Mariejois. Don't worry, I'll arrange for completely new faces with absolutely clean backgrounds. I definitely won't cause you any trouble," Dragon said seriously.
Should I cooperate? Are there benefits?
Of course, there were. If Dragon's plan succeeded and he tasted the sweetness of success, he would certainly expand vigorously using this model. At that point, the Amway Group could profit alongside Dragon, gradually taking control of sales channels in various countries.
In other words, the Amway Group would find a new breakthrough, potentially growing into a genuinely international, diversified, super-chaebol-like conglomerate.
At this stage, the Amway Group had actually hit a bottleneck, which was why Smoker wanted to create the 'Golden City' and cooperate with Whitebeard to elevate his pirate status. He needed external forces to break through the bottleneck. The opportunity Dragon presented was one of them.
Perhaps many people in this era couldn't imagine the consequences if the Amway Group grew into a worldwide mega-chaebol. Or perhaps Dragon had thought of it but didn't care, or he believed he would be able to deal with the Amway Group when the time came.
But his information was flawed because he didn't know that the force behind the Amway Group was actually Marine Headquarters. If the world's most powerful military institution and a super commercial conglomerate were working in tandem, could anyone else survive?
Diarmuid naturally wouldn't enlighten Dragon about this. He merely pretended to be indifferent and said, "Ugh, I'm truly fed up with you, always finding trouble for me to do... Forty percent?"
"Thirty percent, no discussion. You're just acting as a go-between. Thirty percent is already being very generous, alright? And this is only for the Goa Kingdom. Don't take me for a fool; you won't get a cut from future expansions. Of course, you can still ask Stussy for a share," Dragon said, being quite stingy.
Diarmuid didn't care about any of this. These were tiny scraps of profit. As long as Dragon connected with the Amway Group, Diarmuid himself would be the biggest beneficiary. Why would he need to take this commission? It was beneath him!
Therefore, Diarmuid pretended to haggle with Dragon for a while. Dragon ultimately used the 'thirty percent' profit share as leverage to persuade Diarmuid to help contact Stussy and secure her cooperation.
Was he putting his life on the line? No. This was the importance of intelligence. One wondered what Dragon would do when he eventually discovered the truth...
After hanging up the Den Den Mushi, Diarmuid smiled and squeezed his fist. "A gun in hand is true power..."
"Doesn't Dragon understand that principle?" Hina asked curiously.
"Doesn't understand? How could he not understand? If he didn't, how did he gather his forces?" Diarmuid chuckled.
However, how could the force he had gathered over ten or twenty years compare to the Marines, who had stood on the ocean for hundreds of years and were now undergoing a complete transformation?
Of course, Dragon's decision back then, abandoning the Marines, was perfectly reasonable. After all, besides Diarmuid using cheats, who else could truly free the Marines from the shackles of Mariejois? No one! Dragon knew better than to attempt the impossible and chose to start his own operation rather than die fighting this behemoth. He clearly understood that without breaking those shackles, the Marines could never truly become the so-called 'gun.'
So, even though he knew the Marines were a powerful heavy machine gun, he chose to go it alone and build his own small pistol. He believed no one but Mariejois could properly wield that heavy machine gun.
Then he turned around and found Diarmuid firing it!
"Is it right for you to scam Dragon like this?" Gion suddenly asked, slightly amused.
"What do you mean, me scamming him? You all heard it! I explicitly stated I wasn't interested, that I didn't want to play with him, and I even hung up the Den Den Mushi! Yet he was the one who came crying and begging for my cooperation. How is that my fault? I'm simply being charitable and bringing along my little brother!" Diarmuid said shamelessly.