Chapter 104

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Looking at the dense rows of numbers on the purchase list, Sengoku couldn't believe his eyes.

"This... how is it possible? I must have been too tired and didn't get enough rest," he muttered. "Yes, that must be it."

He took off his glasses in disbelief, rubbed his eyes, and put them back on. But the numbers on the list remained the same. The long string of zeros after each number left him speechless.

A high-voltage stun gun cost 500,000 Baileys.

A portable rocket launcher was priced at 1 million Baileys.

A flamethrower cost 800,000 Baileys.

A medium-sized ballistic missile that could be loaded on a warship, the kind that sank Byrnndi Valdo's last pirate ship with one shot, cost 8 million Baileys. This was just for the missile!

As for the cost of refitting the warship, Sengoku was even more stunned and couldn't help but curse. Darren, this prodigal, used 100 million Baileys to transform the keel of a medium-sized warship! Even 100 million Baileys could build two warships of the same size!

Sengoku thought for a while and came to a conclusion that made the corners of his mouth twitch. In the crusade against the Ward Pirates, the North Blue fleet dispatched ten warships and about 2,000 elite North Blue Marines. The cost of building this fleet was at least 2 billion Baileys, and this did not include the goods and ammunition destroyed in the battle.

But Byrnndi Waldo... his bounty was only 400 million Baileys.

Sengoku covered his face with his hands in pain. To put it bluntly, the victory of that operation was achieved by Darren spending Bailey recklessly.

"That brat Darren... where the hell did he get so much money?" Sengoku gritted his teeth suddenly. He wouldn't admit that jealousy made him grim. As the Admiral of Headquarters and a candidate for the next Fleet Admiral of the Marine, Sengoku knew better than anyone else how to allocate military expenditures to Naval Headquarters.

Fleet Admiral Kong is old and not very good with numbers, so Sengoku mostly manages the military budget for the headquarters.

Do you know how much two billion Baileys is? That is about a quarter of the Naval Headquarters' military budget! The two billion for the headquarters covers daily repairs of bases, forts, guns, and warships, as well as the payment of military salaries.

After these "daily" expenses, the headquarters has less than 300 million Baileys left that can be used freely in one quarter. And most importantly, the fleet's equipment costs a lot of money. Based on Darren's tone, he seems to want to keep expanding in North Blue and increase the size of the North Blue fleet in his next plan.

"Crazy... really crazy..." muttered Sengoku.

...

"So is it true?" The moment the door of the base chief's office closed, the warm smile on Dragon's face disappeared. He looked very serious and stared at the young Marine Commodore in front of him.

"The biggest talker in the North Blue underground world, the leader of the Don Quixote Pirates, Doflamingo... is your man."

Darren raised his eyebrows and smiled. "To be precise, Joker is my godson."

"Godson?" Dragon frowned, looking puzzled.

Darren lit a cigar and sat down on his desk. "It's a tradition in North Blue. We have a saying, 'This world is too dangerous. A child must have two fathers.' Joker is a very poor child. He lost his parents at a young age and wasn't disciplined properly."

"After coming to North Blue, he made many mistakes. But I have already punished him. He understands his mistakes now and wants to start a new life."

"As Marines, we can't ignore a gifted child who wants to change, right, Rear Admiral Dragon?"

Dragon frowned even tighter.