It had to be said that Whitebeard's status in the hearts of the Whitebeard Pirates was incomparably lofty. After Luo Fan stated that controlling the Weapon Factory would benefit Whitebeard, Marco's attitude underwent a 180-degree turn.
"Luo Fan, how much profit can this Weapon Factory bring in?" Marco followed Up.
"That involves the issue of distribution. First, the Weapon Factory belongs to Wano Country, occupying its land, and it is the people of Wano who labor in the factory, so they must definitely take a portion."
"Next is Oden's family. As the future Shogun of Wano, it won't do for them to have no money in their hands."
"Finally, there's Donquixote Doflamingo. He is a Celestial Dragon. As long as he doesn't cause trouble, the World Government won't interfere with him. With his help, our weapon sales should be much easier."
"But if you want a horse to run, you have to let it graze. He should also take a share of the Weapon Factory's profits."
"The rest will be ours."
"By my estimation, if we divide the profits into ten parts: 30% for the people of Wano, 30% for Oden, 30% for us, and 10% for Doflamingo."
"Hmm, the distribution seems reasonable. So, roughly how much money is that?"
"It should be at least over a billion Berries!"
"O-over a billion Berries! Is 30% really that much?" Marco asked with a look of shock.
"Over a billion Berries is likely a conservative estimate. Marco, do you know about the heavenly tribute?"
"Of course I do. To put it bluntly, it's the protection money that the World Government's affiliated nations pay to the Celestial Dragons!"
"Exactly. But the royal families of those affiliated nations won't pay this protection money themselves; all that money is squeezed out of the people of those countries."
"But where there is oppression, there is resistance. People aren't cattle. When the royalty pushes them like this, they will naturally rise Up in revolt."
"When the people revolt, the royalty suppresses them. Ordinary weapons kill people. If too many people die, there's no one left to work and make money for the royalty."
"Therefore, the paralysis effect that comes with alcohol iron ore weapons becomes particularly important. It can stabilize the domestic situation without causing the country to lose its productivity."
After listening to Luo Fan's words, Marco's brow furrowed. As a pirate, Marco had some understanding of the World Government's actions, but he wasn't a savior and wouldn't interfere in such matters.
But now, from Luo Fan's description, Marco felt that once they took over the Weapon Factory, the Whitebeard Pirates would seemingly become accomplices to the World Government, which made him feel an instinctive repulsion.
Luo Fan had known Marco for so many years and understood him very well. One look at Marco's expression and Luo Fan knew exactly what he was thinking.
Luo Fan didn't want Marco to have a knot in his heart, so he decided to reveal the existence of the Revolutionary Army.
When Marco learned from Luo Fan's description that the guy named Dragon had actually established such an organization, he was completely stunned.
Could a behemoth like the World Government really be shaken by Dragon's small organization? The key was that Luo Fan placed so much importance on this organization. Was it because he had stayed in the New World too long and lost touch with the times? Or was it because Luo Fan was with beautiful women all day and his brain had gone rusty?
Seeing that Luo Fan had no intention of continuing, Marco sighed and didn't dwell on the matter for long. Then, changing the subject, he asked about Noy: "Luo Fan, I heard from Rayleigh that there's a pink cat by your side?"
"You mean Noy! She's not a cat; she's a human who ate the cat-cat fruit."
"That's not important. What's important is I heard she's female. Luo Fan, counting by age, have you grown Up by now?"
Luo Fan's face was covered in black lines upon hearing this. What was Marco talking about? Setting aside his mental age, physiologically, Luo Fan was still in his growth phase and hadn't changed much in all these years.
According to Luo Fan's estimation, he would probably have to wait for the game's three progress bars to accumulate to a certain value before he could enter the mature phase, just like when he transitioned from the infant phase to the growth phase.
As a side note, Luo Fan's current stats were as follows: Fur Hardness 2240, Speed 1210, Strength 1000, [Mink Tribe Discharge Ability] lv10 (Max), [Cat Needle] lv??? (Unupgradable), [Armament Haki] lv5, [Observation Haki] lv4, [Haoshoku] lv2, [Swordsmanship] lv4.
Regarding fruit development, Luo Fan could already transform into Cat Gun and Cat Sword Form without using a rumble ball and could switch between them freely. After eating a rumble ball, Luo Fan could now transform into a third form.
It was just that Luo Fan's mastery of the third form was not yet proficient, so he hadn't brought it out to use yet.
Luo Fan stayed with Marco in the bar for a while, then Marco suggested he wanted to meet Noy.
Luo Fan didn't refuse. After leaving the Tavern with Marco, he found a nearby cat and had it go call Noy over.
Marco seemed a bit surprised to see Luo Fan command the Cats so casually. In Marco's impression, Cats were always very aloof.
Luo Fan smiled and explained to Marco about how he could use Haoshoku to tame Cats.
Marco was surprised to hear this. Could Haoshoku really tame Cats? Or was it because Luo Fan himself was a cat?
If it was the latter, did that mean all feline animals could be influenced by Luo Fan's Haoshoku?
Marco told Luo Fan his thoughts, and Luo Fan's eyes lit Up. If Marco's line of thinking could really be realized, it meant the development direction of the Cat Corps would undergo a significant change.
Previously, Luo Fan had formed the Cat Corps just for the convenience of gathering intelligence. Compared to humans, Cats were obviously better suited for this.
But if his Haoshoku also worked on other felines, then the Cat Corps could form combat units.
In the One Piece World, there were many large felines, and among them were quite a few powerful ones.
While Luo Fan was pondering the future development direction of the Cat Corps, Noy had already arrived near the bar.
The pink cat jumped down from a treetop and landed in front of Marco.
"Meow~" Noy greeted Marco.
Marco cleared his throat and said, "Ahem, well, I don't understand cat language."
Noy scratched her head in embarrassment, transformed back into her human form, and said, "S-sorry, I'm used to communicating with Luo Fan in cat language, so I couldn't help but..."
"Hahaha, don't worry about such things. Hello, I'm Marco, Luo Fan's partner."
"I'm Noy, also Luo Fan's partner."
Subsequently, Marco asked Noy a bunch of questions. Upon learning that Noy had an indelible Slave Mark on her back, Marco tried using the Phoenix's flames, but the result was that he still couldn't smooth out the Slave Mark.
"That's really strange. My flames should be able to eliminate scars. Why are they ineffective against the Celestial Dragons' Slave Mark?" Marco murmured to himself.