Pirate: I was just slacking off, do you really think I'm bad?

Kingdom of Eryo, 6:00 AM.

The dragon had already gotten up early.

Here, there is no such thing as day or night.

During the day, it's only slightly brighter.

Under the dim yellow streetlights, the city awakens like a sleeping monster.

Today, Long is leading the cadres of the Self-Defense Army to the city's recruitment office to prepare for becoming miners.

"Chief, are we really going to do this?"

A middle-aged man walked over and said respectfully.

He himself didn't care about mining, after all, he used to make a living by farming.

But he knew that Long had never done such a thing before, and he couldn't help but want to share some of the burden with Long.

"Swall, I know what you're trying to say, but if you're always the ones doing everything, I won't be able to learn anything from it."

"Besides, we're all the same kind of people. What you can do, I can do too."

The dragon's eyes were filled with determination, its piercing gaze seeming to pierce through the thick, iron-like fog.

"This country has been sick for a long time, and how can we talk about change without understanding the illness?"

Dragon, Swall, and the other members of the Self-Defense Force bid farewell to the old man Snow who had taken them in and embarked on a journey to seek the truth.

"Hello, is this a job posting?"

Long and Swall, dressed in tattered clothes and looking like beggars, walked over.

It was only after Old Man Snow reminded them that Long and the members of the Self-Defense Army really didn't notice such a small matter.

A man with a burly face was fast asleep in a chair.

Hearing the noise, he barely opened one eye, and before he could even get up, his loud voice rang out:

"What the hell are you yelling about? Can't you see I'm sleeping? You son of a bitch!"

The burly man, looking displeased, slowly got up from the chair and yawned.

"What are you two doing?"

Before the dragon could speak, Swall greeted him with a fawning smile.

"Boss, we're thinking of going to work at the mine for a few days. I heard that they provide meals, right?"

The burly man glanced at Swall in front of him, and snorted coldly at his skinny appearance:

"Dude, if you're like this, you'll get crushed to death by ore in the mine."

Swall was all smiles:

"Boss, don't let my small size fool you, I'm still pretty strong. I'm starving and want to go to the mine to beg for some food."

The burly man stopped talking, since the mine was always short of workers anyway.

Even if the person in front of him doesn't want to go, he will find a way to coax them to go.

Having worked here for a long time, his eyes have become incredibly sharp.

It's obvious at a glance that these two people will definitely go to the mine, so there's no need to try to fool them.

"The guy following you is pretty burly, why isn't he saying anything? Is he mute?"

The burly man pointed with his short, thick fingers at the dragon standing silently to the side.

Long was taken aback, but quickly realized what was happening.

"Boss, my uncle said to keep quiet when you're out and about, and to let him know if you need anything."

Swall also said repeatedly:

"Boss, this is my nephew. I usually think he's too clumsy with words and I'm afraid he'll offend people, so I try to keep him from talking."

"Really? Your nephew looks quite robust."

The burly man looked suspicious, but then thought, "What's it to him?"

Whether they are vicious pirates or people with ulterior motives, can they affect his monthly salary of 8,000 Berries?

Of course not, he's not the foreman at the mine.

Then it doesn't matter, better to die for a fellow Daoist than for myself.

If these two really have ill intentions, then he will be the one who dies.

It's better to avoid trouble than to get involved; that's the survival principle for ordinary people.

Swall hadn't expected this burly man in front of him to have so many thoughts, and quickly explained:

"He's always eaten a lot and grown strong. He's just a little slow with words, but he's very strong when it comes to work."

"Alright, alright, stop with the nonsense. I've given you the contract to sign. Someone will take you to the mine in a bit. Don't bother me while I'm trying to sleep."

The burly man didn't want to say another second. He grabbed a piece of paper with messy handwriting, signed both of their names, threw it on the table, and went back to sleep.

Dragon and Swall were left there questioning their existence.

Both of them were very perceptive, and they were quite certain that the burly man had noticed something was wrong.

But he didn't say anything. Instead, he readily signed the contract, rendering Long and Swall's prepared arguments useless.

Swall lowered his voice and said:

"What should we do, Chief?"

He was also somewhat undecided, while Long seemed more open-minded.

"It's alright. Now that we've gotten in so smoothly, let's just focus on our work."

Long had many thoughts on his mind; he had listened to Old Man Snow's words last night.

I spent the whole night thinking, but I still couldn't come up with a way to break the deadlock.

The collapse of the Kingdom of Eryoko did not depend on whether the so-called rebel army could defeat the overseers and the king's guard.

The naval branches in the four ports and the large naval bases nearby are the most troublesome issues.

They completely overwhelmed the rebel army.

Possessing advanced weaponry and a physique honed through rigorous training, they are far superior to miners who toil year-round in the mines.

Once the uprising is complete, their opponents will change from the mine overseers and the King's Guard to the armed suppression forces of the World Government.

From the dragon's perspective, it was an unsolvable problem.

But he was not discouraged, because if this matter could not be resolved...

Therefore, he believed there was no way to continue changing the world.

"Anyway, our first day at the mine is about to begin. I'm really looking forward to it, Swall."

Long encouraged Swall beside him.

-------------------------------------

"Hmm!"

After a long stretch, Raleigh woke up from his nap.

I stayed up until after 11 p.m. last night in the office, almost the first time I've ever been to that time since he came here.

There's not much entertainment in the One Piece world, and you don't have a cell phone to play with.

He usually reads a book and goes to sleep at night.

If it's the East China Sea, he does know a few good Kabukicho districts.

But he really didn't know much about Beihai.

Moreover, Gion seems to have developed a special interest in him lately, as she always stares at him with her beautiful big eyes.

It made him feel like he had done something wrong if he slacked off.

Fortunately, Gion's strategy has begun to show results; at least Gion no longer criticizes Raleigh when he's slacking off.

What is this?

That's Raleigh's victory!

(Actually, it's just that Raleigh is too shameless. Gion has told him eight hundred times, but he still won't change, so Gion just lets him do whatever he wants.)

Raleigh took off his pajamas, revealing his well-defined eight-pack abs.

While getting dressed, he was mentally plotting how to set a trap for the World Government.

He's not a rabbit that eats grass; he only slacks off for the system rewards.

(System: This is our nature, why pretend to be someone else!)

Since the World Government wanted to use him as a warning, Raleigh planned to knock out a few of the World Government's teeth.

He couldn't get involved in the power struggles at the top.

However, with his low- to mid-level strategies, he can make the other side lose everything.