New Gods of North America.

Chapter 727 Cub
As it turns out, Mr. Paul, this shrewd old fox who managed to turn the Rabbit Gang into a "shareholding company," certainly has some skill in dealing with people.

When he arrived at the venue early in his carriage at noon, he brought the jaguar back with him.

When Wayne first found out, he was a little surprised. He thought, "This guy is willing to cooperate even with tax collection, so why is he arguing with me over something so trivial?"
When we actually got there, we realized that they really had a reason for what they got. We never expected that Mr. Paul had brought us a jaguar cub, which was about the size of a nearly adult mongrel dog and seemed to be weaned not long ago.

The little guy was brought to an unfamiliar environment and seemed a bit nervous. He hissed at anyone who came near and occasionally made a move to pounce and bite.

Unfortunately, Inessa hasn't arrived yet. The person it encountered at this moment was Lina, who was very experienced in dealing with unruly children. She was currently squatting on the riverbank, breathing on the little leopard as if to tell it who the king of the kids was.

The little leopard couldn't escape, and after being pounced on, it was repeatedly pinned down and its fur stroked. There was also a circle of crows watching nearby. In short, it was quite humiliating, and gradually it started to lower its head and bend over, not daring to talk back.

Wayne wasn't sure if it was truly a case of "pets behaving like their owners." The peregrine falcons or owls in the detective agency were clearly the real birds of prey, but the falcons showed no intention of approaching the leopard cub, remaining vigilant from a distance in the trees. The pigeons that were out for a walk flew away en masse the moment they saw the leopard's spots.
On the contrary, the flock of crows that included a raven seemed particularly bold. They collectively landed on the ground close to where the leopard could not reach. If the leopard spotted them, they would keep their distance and pretend to look around at the scenery. If the leopard turned its head slightly, the crows that were not being watched would sneak forward, as if they were playing some kind of thrilling extreme sport.

Noticing Wayne approaching, Mr. Paul, who was watching Lina play with the baby leopard from a distance, explained, "This is a cub brought back by a merchant ship. The mother animal was attacked by a caravan that crossed the Central Plains and has been skinned by the guards. I think a cub this size would be the best if we wanted to tame it; it would be a shame to miss out."

Mr. Paul didn't bring up the question of "why the gift was returned." He said, "If Mr. Wayne is interested, I can sell it to you at the original price I paid for it from the merchant ship. Otherwise, I'll have to return it. It needs to be fed fresh meat, and I can't afford to raise such a troublesome little guy."

Wayne was willing to accept this level of favor, as it would be easier to repay later. After indicating to Doug that he should add an extra "brokerage fee," one of Mr. Paul's henchmen followed Doug to collect the money.

There was no one else around at this point, and Mr. Paul had shown goodwill, so they began to discuss serious matters:

"I heard that Mr. Wayne recently had a labor union organized in the Ellan community, and that this workshop is currently recruiting workers from other sites in the dock area. Is Mr. Wayne planning to extend this 'union' model to the entire dock area?"

This topic is actually a bit sensitive. In a sense, for gangsters, this might be another form of "territory consolidation."
Today's gang meeting was precisely about this: "Yes. I hope to unite the dockworkers and get them to form their own unions—but I must clarify that these unions can be formed according to different industries, regions, or docks. Our detective agency is just setting up the framework; we will not be subordinate to them in any way."

"The detective agency will not intervene in their internal management, nor will it profit from them. The existing operating models of the various docks or territories will not change drastically."

Seeing that Wayne had once again distanced himself so clearly, Mr. Paul did not stop there as he had done before, but continued to ask:
"It seems Mr. Wayne has no intention of swallowing up the other gangs. But changing the name of a gang to a 'guild' is just a change of name; what's the point of doing that?"

Wayne shook his head: "Unions are not gangs. In my opinion, while unions do not exclude gang members, their main members should be ordinary workers or employees, which are two different things from gangs."

"As for the significance of forming them, it is to add a 'safety rope' to the order of the dock area—even the largest Erland gang has had to back down when faced with the collective condemnation of the community—this is the power that the people have when they organize themselves, and it is used to remind the gangs not to go too far."

To put it simply, the work that unions do is actually quite similar to that of many grassroots churches in the United States these days.

The workers met regularly to keep each other informed, pass on opinions, and make it easier to notice if someone suddenly disappeared.

In this way, gangs can no longer simply "bully the few" by splitting up and attacking scattered ordinary workers. Illegal immigrants will at least have an organization to settle down and leave their mark. Therefore, some shady things will probably no longer be so easily covered up by gangs.

In other words, these "unions" are actually mutual aid organizations for laborers and undocumented immigrants. Since the authorities don't want to intervene, they have to help themselves.
The Erlan yakuza originally formed in the same way, but because they parasitized others and collected protection money, they gradually became gangsters.

The detective agency maintains a perfect distance from the community, the downside being that it doesn't belong to their "own people" and may never gain that sense of belonging based on region, language, or race.
The advantage, however, is that the detective community appears more objective and neutral, making it easier to act as an outside arbitrator offering their opinion. Wayne felt that this plan wouldn't easily attract the attention of the gentlemen in Richmond.

There are many ways to make them think the detective agency is "clean," but Wayne chose what he thought was the most reliable approach: the detective agency is genuinely clean in this respect and has no intention of becoming a new gang.

After listening, Mr. Paul pondered for a moment and said, "No wonder you accepted my promise so easily, Mr. Wayne, that the Rabbit Gang would completely eliminate certain practices. It turns out that you planned to ask them for their opinions directly, rather than just getting information from the gang."

Wayne nodded: "Our detective agency has limited manpower after all, so there are some things that we still have to let them do themselves. On the bright side, if it's just a minor conflict, even with the so-called 'guild,' ordinary people probably still wouldn't dare to offend a gang easily, and they'd just suffer a little grievance on their own."

"But if a serious incident does occur, such as a murder, a case of malicious assault, or if people who do not want to work are forced to 'work' in the profession, we must provide them with a relatively effective solution—after all, Mr. Paul, you promised me that you would restrain the behavior of your subordinates in the future, didn't you?"

Trust cannot replace oversight.

Mr. Paul thought for a moment: "It's fine for our gang. But some gangs are different from us; they don't have their own businesses, so they probably won't accept it so easily."

Wayne thought this made sense: "Don't many gangs have connections with the owners of those docks and warehouses, or with certain gentlemen in Richmond? If they can get more and more stable jobs for the workers, or provide them with corresponding rights, then even if the gangs take a certain percentage of the 'brokerage fee,' the workers should still be willing to pay it."

"As for certain gangs that can't even do these things and can only survive by exploiting others, I think they are destined to disappear sooner or later—I don't mind if that time comes sooner."

Even in modern society, some things are still unavoidable. When people want to enter a profession, they still inevitably have to pay various fees. Some of these fees do have their reasons for existing, while others make you want to curse the person in charge's entire family.

But at least one thing is certain: there is a difference between "charging for a spot" and "paid convenience" and "violent coercion" and "threats to personal safety." The former two can be gradually improved, but the latter two deserve to be dealt with.

Wayne held a similar view regarding those providing "red-light district services": if there's demand and people are willing to earn the money, then he wouldn't try to persuade them otherwise.

However, if someone is unwilling, and some people use irregular means to force them to do it, then it becomes a different matter altogether.

Upon hearing this, Mr. Paul glanced around the area around the venue and asked, "With so many gang leaders coming, there shouldn't be any fighting, right?"

"Don't worry. Today, the main focus is on communication. Anyone who finds something unacceptable can leave early. At most, we can 'discuss it privately' later. There's no need to fall out on the spot. I believe the order at the event can be maintained."

For the sake of appearances, today's gang meeting was held as a regular gathering; there were no body searches, no need to hand over weapons, and members were allowed to bring their entourages, lest the gangsters be deterred from attending.
Therefore, the first thing Wayne arranged for the gang meeting was the security setup.

The agents, having the home-field advantage, could easily pull out guns, and even had high explosives on hand, so they weren't worried about a shootout at all.

Even considering the worst-case scenario, if an extraordinary individual like Jason suddenly appears, there's always Inessa who will arrive later and Lina who's already on site as a safety net—otherwise, why would Wayne wait until the wall is almost finished before holding a meeting? It's all about being cautious.

He was ambushed in the dock area in the middle of the night, so not mentioning it doesn't mean he doesn't hold a grudge.

(End of this chapter)