One Piece: Groudon the Beasts

Chapter 266 The Five Elders' Countermeasures!
Several days later, the Fengyuan Daily was quietly published in Beihai. Although the process was a bit slow, it was only available in Beihai.

[The Kingdom of Lubni is for sale at a high price!]

[The royal family and nobles have left the North Sea!]

When the royal family wanted to leave, their final act of betrayal was merely to make a quick buck, and even if the price wasn't ideal, it still delighted the Lubni royal family.

Moreover, 100 billion is not a small number.

Newspapers carried photos of the royal family shaking hands with Hoenn envoys, and the royal family and nobles' ships safely left the North Sea under the escort of Hoenn warships.

This gave other royal families something to think about.

With pirates running rampant and the main force of the Navy withdrawing from the North Blue, the Navy can barely protect itself, let alone protect others.

Coupled with the World Government's inaction and the Hoenn Government's intimidation, they have no sense of security at all!

With the year-end approaching, a new "celestial gold" payment is due, but at least half of the member states haven't collected enough, driving their citizens to the brink of madness.

The overall economic environment is declining; there's nothing we can do about it.

With the Kingdom of Lubni setting a good example, other countries will naturally follow suit. As long as they have money, they can make a comeback in other sea areas.

The Holy Land, the Hall of Power.

The Five Elders looked at the report that had been delivered that morning.

"The Kingdom of Lubni has rebelled."

"A small hole left unrepaired will eventually become a big hole."

"It's too late now."

"Take a look at this. This is intelligence sent back by Spandam regarding the prices of Groudon Company's products."

"They have the cheapest labor and resources."

"We have absolutely no competitive advantage!"

The Five Elders were reviewing the intelligence reports; the atmosphere was quite tense.

The North Sea has become the backyard of the Hoenn government. Lacking military support, the World Government cannot intervene even if it wants to. It is only a matter of time before the North Sea member states are swallowed up by the Hoenn government.

Lubni just knelt down faster.

The situation at the Aruba trade port is equally dire.

The prices of Hoenn goods, for the same quality, are generally less than half the market price, far exceeding their expectations and even seeming unbelievable.

Maintaining the World Government requires a large amount of funds, and trade is an indispensable part of it. If it is affected by external market shocks, it may lead to the complete collapse of the World Government's economy.

As for the Heavenly Gold, that is the private property offered to the Celestial Dragons, and it is absolutely impossible for it to be used to subsidize the mortals below.

Everyone looked at Nassuro Sei.

"Don't be impatient, my fellow stars."

Nassou Sei is as steady as an old dog.

"I did underestimate Hoenn and wasn't prepared enough, but it doesn't matter, I've already come up with an excellent countermeasure!"

Given the prices of Hoenn's products, a price war is absolutely unwinnable. His attempt to curb the competition with tariffs has also yielded little effect.

The kings of the constituent republics were not of one mind with them, especially Cobra, who repeatedly rejected his tariff policies.

This made him very angry, but more than that, he felt helpless. Among the many royal families, the Nefertari family was the only exception. In addition, Hoenn's current trading partners were member states, not the World Government.

But he came up with a solution.

Nassou Sei points to the map.

"All stars, look here!"

"Upside-down Mountain?"

"That's right!"

"Reverse Mountain is the only entrance to the Grand Line. It is precisely because of Reverse Mountain that the Hoenn government is able to connect the four seas and engage in close trade with various sea areas!"

"As long as we set up toll checkpoints at Reverse Mountain, we can collect high import and export tariffs, just like on the Golden Route, increasing the cost of trade between Hoenn and other countries!"

The eyes of the Five Elders gradually brightened.

Wonderful!

In this way, even if the World Government does nothing, it can still obtain a lot of money, while simultaneously inhibiting the development of Hoenn.

"What about the member states?" "They have no right to bargain!"

Nassou's gaze was cold.

"Those opportunists need to be taught a lesson, and the royal family of the Kingdom of Lubni should not be let off the hook either!"

In the past, the decisions of the Lubni royal family were not problematic; if they squeezed a country dry, they would move it to another place.

Like the pyrite mine in Frevans.

But now the Hoenn government has posed a serious threat to the World Government, and the Lubni royal family's defection has enraged him!
We must kill chickens and monkeys!
The assets of tens of billions of peles can be used to cover the expenses of the global conscription, while also letting the member states know the consequences of betrayal.

Hoenn Headquarters.

Goode looked at the newspaper, which contained news about the developments in the new world.

The most active pirate recently is Katakuri, who has defeated many strong opponents and continues to hunt them down.

Many of the powerful individuals were prisoners who escaped from Impel Down.

Golden Lion is recruiting subordinates, seemingly wanting to rebuild his former glory. Many forces now regard him as one of the Four Emperors.

Although he is old, his fame remains.

There is also a guy who calls himself "Whitebeard Jr." who is hunting down captains under Whitebeard's command. Several captains have already been killed, and his formidable strength has attracted much attention.

In short, a massive pirate brawl.

After this trade war with the World Government ends, he will have to return to the New World to clean up the mess.

The chaotic situation in the new world is affecting his business. Now, Rumti and other Beastmaster executives are almost becoming Groudon Corporation bodyguards, specializing in escorting transport ships.

Speed ​​arrived at the office.

"Lord Goode, the Kingdom of Notis has agreed to our acquisition."

"it is good."

Goode was invigorated.

This is the third person to betray the country!

Moreover, Notis is quite wealthy among the North Sea constituent countries, several times stronger than Lubni, and can be considered a major power.

Seeing that no one else was around, Speed ​​sat down on the sofa and stretched. She had been in charge of acquiring member countries recently.

The woman complained, "Good, why go through all this trouble? Why not just occupy those countries directly?"

"We are now a legitimate government, not pirates. We must act with integrity and legitimacy, and we must always be guided by the banner of righteousness. We cannot afford to be tainted."

Goode explained patiently.

He certainly wanted to seize the territory by force, but doing so would lose him popular support. The most important reason Aokiji joined him was for the sake of "righteousness".

Simply put, it means the will of the people.

Even if they were to do something truly bad, it had to be done by a professional like Lucci, and it had to be done secretly.

"By the way, news has come from the port of Aruba."

Speed, holding his teacup, said, "The World Government sent an engineering team to Reverse Mountain; it seems they're going to build houses there."

"Build a house?!"

Goode's eyes lit up.

They've finally made their move!
He was starting to panic when the world government did nothing.

It's like the Empty City Stratagem.

Building on Reverse Mountain, there's no other option but to use it as a tollbooth; it seems this is the world government's solution to the trade crisis.

But doing so would undoubtedly offend all the beneficiaries; the World Government is going against the "greater good"!
However, given the World Government's power, member states dare not complain even if they have grievances. The only variable is the Hoenn government.

The reason for war has been found.

An opportunity to shake the "justice" of the world government must not be missed; that's how credibility crumbles little by little.

Moreover, this time he is on the side of righteousness!

I got home late today and only managed to write two chapters, so I'm taking a break.

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(End of this chapter)