The news of Whitebeard's defeat spreads very fast. It becomes the headline of all newspapers without any exception. After all, Whitebeard has stood on top of this world for decades and was the rival of the Pirate King Roger.
But now he finally lost his seat to a younger generation. Furthermore, the one who defeated him was Alan, the apprentice of Buggy who defeated him in his prime years ago. Also, it's a well-known fact that Alan's Legend Pirates are members of the Clown Pirate Fleet.
So this means that Clown Pirates, or to be precise Buggy is usurping another Emperor's throne again after Big Mom. This also means that Buggy has control over more than half of New World with the territories of Big Mom and Whitebeard in his hands.
Those who don't know are afraid of this because it looks like Buggy is trying to conquer the world. But those who know are not bothered and many are even happy with this. It's because the territories under Clown Pirates' control have always flourished.
Clown Pirates are the strongest and wealthiest pirate crew in the world. Their wealth might be comparable to the already destroyed Celestial Dragons. All their wealth comes from their giant businesses that are being run by their people.
They built factories, offices, academies, etc on their territories. Unlike other pirate crews that try to take over territories just to exploit the people, Clown Pirates' expansion is to grow their businesses. They always use local folks as their workers and they give fair wages with fair treatment.
Many pirates think they are fools for being nice by paying these common folks instead of enslaving them. But it's actually the opposite. By paying and giving the workers fair treatment, they increase work efficiency and the risk is lower too.
Those fools like Celestial Dragons who enslaved people to work actually spend more and the efficiency is also bad. Just to catch those people to make them slaves alone needs a lot of expenses. Many potential workers also died during the capture process.
Then just to save their expense, they give the slaves less food. Without enough food, they won't have enough energy to work, reducing their result. Also, many slaves died just after a few weeks because of starvation and abuse from their superiors, so they would need to keep catching people.
Those are just a few problems Clown Pirates found. Another thing is those slaves aren't professionals in the work given to them. Even miners need to have an education to do their job better, that's why Clown Pirates also built academies for the people in their territories.
With all these good treatments, Clown Pirates also reduces the risk of rebellion because people are satisfied. Those people would be idiots to rebel against Clown Pirates because even if they succeed, they would lose all the wealth and good lives they've received.
All these things have made Clown Pirates times better than those who use slaves. If being compared, even with the same kind of factory, Clown Pirates can produce 3 times the amount of weapons than other underground weapon factories of the same quality just because of this system.
After all, the people who work in Clown Pirates' businesses have been taught properly. That's why they can do their job much better than those slaves who were caught and forced to work without knowing anything. So even if they spend more on their workers, they also gain more from it.
But that is always overshadowed by their images as pirates. Just like now, people all over the world are more worried about Clown Pirates' ambition to conquer the world even though it never crossed Buggy's mind at all. Conquering the world sounds very tiring. After all, just controlling half of New World is too troublesome already.
"You want to give all those territories to me?"
"Yes, Grand Captain. We are your subordinates, so the territories we won are obviously yours."
"Brat, you just don't want to manage them because it's too troublesome, right?"
"N-no way, this is just our way to thank you for everything you've done for us."
Alan says that while sweat forming on his forehead and his eyes are squirming around. It's obvious that he is very bad at lying, making Buggy sigh.
"Fine, but you will be the protectors of those territories. It's your responsibility because you were the ones who took them from Whitebeard."
"Hehe, if it's just that, then we're fine with it. Also, Grand Captain, we have an agreement with Whitebeard to not take an island."
"Must be his hometown, right? Well, you were the ones who fought him, so it's your decision to take whatever you want. But now that you've won against Whitebeard, many people would come for your head, especially with your new bounty."
'Acidic' Alan: 3.54 Billion Belly
"It is a high jump, but lower than I expected."
"You were fighting an old man even though he was once the strongest in the world. His power has dropped a lot from his prime although it's still formidable. The Marines must've calculated this when deciding your new bounty and bounty isn't just about power, it's about threat level to the world. You should be glad you even get more than 3 billion after defeating a grandpa."
"Right, it's a high bounty, after all. But I'm more interested in what will come next. Now those who are eyeing the Emperor title will come to me, right? I hope they can entertain me."
"Just make sure to not kill needlessly. Only kill those who deserve it or you can imprison them and try to take the decent ones under our wings. If those decent ones refuse, then let them go, they might challenge you again. But you still need to show them that they shouldn't mess with you."
"How?"
"Brother, we can let them go after looting them to show the consequence of going against us. It's also compensation for the trouble they give us by challenging us."
"Ooh, so that's how it is, alright, that sounds good."
Just as predicted, many pirates start to challenge them just a few days after they defeat Whitebeard Pirates. But there's another big news after Whitebeard Pirates' defeat. Whitebeard disbands his crew and retires just as he planned.
His crew members are taking different paths now. A lot of them retire too, especially the older ones who have followed Whitebeard for a very long time and have gotten too old for this dangerous job. The younger ones continue being pirates, but they are splitting into some different crews.
They split into 3 crews led by Marco, Ace, and Jozu. Marco's crew is Blue Phoenix, Ace's crew is Spades Pirates, and Jozu's crew is Rough Diamond. The other division Captains join these 3 crews while the subordinate crews stay in their crews.
But even after splitting into different crews, they are still on good terms with each other and immediately form an alliance. They are splitting into different crews just because they want to do different things.
Marco's crew is composed of those who want to stay near Whitebeard and live a relaxed life even as pirates. Ace's crew is composed of those who want to continue adventuring the world and fight other forces. Jozu's crew is composed of those who want to hunt treasures all over the world.
After these 3 crews formed, they immediately do what they want to do. Marco's crew just stays in Whitebeard's hometown with the old man, Jozu's crew goes to Paradise, while Ace's crew goes to explore New World. That's what they say to Whitebeard and the others, but in reality, they are going to challenge Legend Pirates.
Ace's crew members are mostly the youngest members of Whitebeard Pirates. They respect Whitebeard a lot and they are hot-blooded. These guys still can't accept Whitebeard's defeat completely, so they plan to challenge Legend Pirates and show that Whitebeard Pirates are still powerful even without Whitebeard himself.
"Are you sure about this, Ace? Isn't this too soon to challenge them? You couldn't even defeat Yamato, so it's obviously much harder to defeat Alan."
"I know, Deuce. But if we wait even longer, then they will also get stronger. Besides, it might show that we are cowards by not fighting them as soon as possible."
"We will also get stronger after we train, so we need time, you know. The enemies are also very powerful. Even if Charlotte Pirates aren't there again, Legend Pirates have enough power to defeat us all. Legend Pirates don't have that many members just like Clown Pirates' main crew, but all their members are strong."
"Enough, we will still challenge them even if the odds are bad. But you don't need to worry, I already got ourselves good allies to help us in this plan."
"Eh? You were thinking about that? Unbelievable. So, who are they?"
"My brother. Straw Hat Pirates and Heart Pirates."
________________________________________
You can read more chapters ahead of my fanfics and more pictures on my Pa_treon page if you are interested.
Voting for this book is highly appreciate. Cover image is the MC, artist's ig: @fatmaqn_
I've uploaded Chapter 552. Newcomers
- Pictures of both stories (ex: bounty poster & magazine cover) by fatmaqn_
https://www.pa_treon.com/CaptMermain
(the web didn't use _underscore_, it's to avoid censorship)