After a moment of excitement, Auguro calmed himself.
No matter how tempting the Blue Gacha Pool was, the most important task now was establishing the Divine Realm!
One square kilometer of territory and three subordinates.
It didn't sound like much.
But he was just a 16-year-old kid! Who would willingly become his subordinate?
Suddenly, he saw children kneeling beside the corpses of their relatives, weeping in the street, and his mind stirred. Who said his subordinates had to be adults?
Auguro narrowed his eyes, stored the haori into the System Space—that thing looked far too valuable and conspicuous for a kid to wear—and walked out of his house.
That day, with the help of the neighbors, Auguro buried the bodies of his original body's parents.
"Though I am not your true son, I have borrowed your son's body. Let me perform this last service for you."
Before the grave, Auguro bowed seriously, settling the debt of gratitude.
Immediately afterward, he began the great enterprise of establishing his Divine Realm: coaxing children.
His main targets were the children who had lost their families in the recent disaster. He promised them a place to live and food, and in return, they had to obey his every command!
His original body came from a relatively well-off family. Although the pirates had looted the place, they still had a house and a small amount of cash left, enough to feed seven or eight people. As for food, the One Piece world had plenty of fish and beasts everywhere! Using his knowledge from his past life, setting small traps to catch rabbits or birds was easy enough.
In less than a day, Auguro had gathered five loyal "little brothers"! Their ages ranged from six to ten. Any older and they would have been much harder to fool.
As expected, when he checked the mission, the requirement for subordinates had vanished!
But the second requirement—territory—was a big headache.
Papaloko Island had a Lord!
That's right, not a mayor or a village chief, but a true noble Lord! Therefore, every inch of land on this island was owned.
If he wanted territory, he had to figure out a way to get it from this Lord. Although most nobles in this world were somewhat deranged, they wouldn't just hand over their land casually. Auguro mused that this would likely take a great deal of trouble.
But, unexpectedly, the opportunity arrived quickly!
Two days after the pirates left, a Marine warship finally arrived, long overdue.
A scruffy-looking Marine officer, whose face had six whiskers and who wore a rat-shaped cap, stepped off the ship. Auguro immediately recognized him as Colonel Nezumi, the Base Commander of Marine Branch 16! The Marine scoundrel who had colluded with the Fish-Man Arlong to exploit Nami and the main characters! Papaloko Island was clearly within his jurisdiction.
"Marine-sama! We were robbed by pirates! You must deliver justice for us!"
An old man rushed forward and grabbed Colonel Nezumi, crying and pleading.
Seeing this, Auguro secretly shook his head. This Marine disgrace, who had worked hand-in-glove with Arlong in the original story, would never deliver justice for the common folk! In fact, his extremely late arrival was most likely deliberate!
Sure enough, a flicker of impatience crossed Colonel Nezumi's face. He didn't even look at the old man, instead shouting, "Where is the Lord? I recall this island having one, yes?"
"Ah! Colonel Nezumi! I'm right here!"
A richly dressed man, fat as a ball, waddled quickly toward the Colonel.
Auguro clearly saw the obese Lord, with a dexterity completely unfitting for his size, quickly slip a thick wad of Berries into Colonel Nezumi's hand.
Good grief! It would take at least two and a half years of dedicated practice to become that smooth!
Colonel Nezumi stroked his whiskers and smiled brightly. "Lord, sir, where did those pirates run off to? Hurry and point them out! As a Marine Colonel, I must rush off to pursue them!"
"Of course! Colonel, they ran that way!"
The Lord immediately pointed in a direction, and Colonel Nezumi hastily boarded his warship and sailed away with his Marines, spending less than five minutes on the island!
Auguro rubbed his chin, recalling how this man had conspired with Arlong to exploit the residents of Cocoyasi Village, and an idea sparked in his mind.
"Could this guy be colluding with the Lord, faking a pirate attack to steal money?"
The more Auguro thought about it, the more likely it seemed! Logically, the Lord should be the wealthiest person on the island! Yet, the pirates hadn't targeted the Lord; instead, they had plundered the poor commoners' wealth. That defied logic! Don't tell him the pirates were afraid of the Lord. When you're a pirate, what Lord are you afraid of?!
After seeing the Marines off, the obese Lord's subservient expression vanished, replaced by an arrogant sneer.
"You people had better hurry up and pay your taxes this year!"
This declaration instantly enraged the residents.
"Lord! We were just plundered by pirates! Can you please reduce the tax a little?"
The fat Lord glared at them.
"Heh! Just because you were robbed, you want to blame me? Do you know how much money I spent just to get the Marines to help us chase the pirates?!"
"I'm telling you! Not one Berry of tax will be reduced! If anyone dares to pay less, I'll have them exiled from this island!"
Seeing the fat Lord's vicious look, all the residents were furious but dared not speak. If they were truly exiled, ordinary people like them wouldn't survive three days at sea!
Watching the scene, a plan suddenly popped into Auguro's head. He stepped forward and said, "Lord-sama! I have a request for you!"
The fat Lord replied impatiently, "If you're going to ask for a tax reduction, don't bother speaking!"
"No, no, no!" Auguro shook his head repeatedly. "The Lord has sacrificed so much for us, how could I be so ungrateful!"
"I simply wanted to ask, if it's not too much trouble, could you allocate the stretch of forest outside the town to me! I will take my friends to hunt beasts and use the meat and hides to help subsidize the town, considering it our contribution to you, my Lord!"
"Hmm?! You're a very sensible boy!" The fat Lord was delighted. He pointed at the adults. "Look at you! Your awareness isn't even as high as a child's! Do as you said!"
"Thank you, my Lord!" Auguro shouted.
After the fat Lord left, several adults approached Auguro, their faces full of sympathy. "Auguro, you're just a child. We adults will handle the taxes. How can we let you go hunting beasts!"
Auguro smiled.
"Everyone has looked out for us children who lost our parents, so of course, we must repay you! Don't worry, we won't be reckless!"
The adults were moved by Auguro's maturity. If the child were this responsible, they couldn't possibly fall short themselves!
As the crowd dispersed, Auguro returned home, his heart pounding wildly.
Just now, the System notification he had been anticipating finally arrived.
"Ding! Congratulations, Host, on successfully establishing the Divine Realm! You have gained 100 Achievement Points!"
"Current Divine Realm Level: 1. Daily Achievement Point gain: 2 points!"
It worked!
The Divine Realm was built!
Did others think his request was merely to help with the taxes? How could that be!
He had set a trap for the fat Lord with his words!
Allocating the forest to him, the fat Lord likely thought he was merely granting them hunting rights.
But in reality, he had transferred the land! Because he was the Lord and had the authority to dispose of the land!
Humans will always interpret words in a way that benefits them, but the System wouldn't! Interpreted strictly by the letter, Auguro had been effectively appointed a minor Lord by the great Lord!
Of course, this hinged on the premise that the forest was not under the fat Lord's actual control but had been left idle. Otherwise, a formal transfer of power would have been necessary.
"Ding! Divine Realm Missions Activated!"
"Daily Mission One: Patrol the Divine Realm and maintain its order. Reward: 1 Achievement Point."
"Daily Mission Two: Recruit subordinates. Reward: Achievement Points fluctuate based on the subordinate's potential."
"Daily Mission Three: Expand the Divine Realm's territory. Reward: Achievement Points fluctuate based on the territory's value."