Starting as a pirate, he rose to become the strongest Shinigami in Soul Society.

Chapter 5 The Current State of the Empire: It's best to run away and avoid the limelight for now!

Bane took the RC cell injection from his briefcase, examined it for a moment, and then asked, "How do you use it?"

"Just insert it into your waist and inject it," Frant explained, but after a moment's hesitation, he added, "However, I've never actually seen one before, so you'd better not use it lightly."

"Afraid I'll eat you up?" Bane chuckled.

Of course, even if Frant hadn't said that, Bane still wouldn't have injected it. Before eating the Dark-Dark Fruit, he might have considered it, but now he has many options and there's no need to take the risk.

However, this injection is not without value. Perhaps it can be taken to the world of One Piece and someone can try it. If the effect is really good and there are no unacceptable side effects, then it can be considered.

After putting the injection back into the box, Bane casually asked, "How many injections do you have left?"

"A few injections? You really think this is some ordinary stuff? This is a stable superpower from another world. Although it has some side effects, there are plenty of people willing to take the risk in the black market." Frant said with a look that said, "Are you kidding me?"

In fact, what he said made sense. Although there were certain side effects, this kind of thing would definitely be in high demand on the black market. Even if the side effect was cannibalism, there would definitely be plenty of desperados who wanted it!

But Bane didn't respond to that. He tapped the ash from his cigar and asked again, "So how many needles?"

"I'm really impressed with you. Three needles, do you want them?" Frank asked.

"How much does it cost?" Bane asked again.

"Well, I also bought it from someone else at a high price. I'm not saying I'm making money off you, it's 800,000 per injection." Frant rubbed his hands together and looked at Bane with a smile.

"Alright, including the injection you just said you'd give me, that's three injections for 1.6 million pesos, deal!" Bane immediately agreed.

Frant was stunned for a moment, then quickly wailed, "What pesos? I want Imperial Silver Dollars!"

"Where would we find any silver dollars in this godforsaken place? Even if we did, do you think someone of our caliber could get our hands on that many?" Bane waved his hand, speaking in a roguish manner.

When talking about pesos and silver dollars, we have to mention the current situation.

On this continental plate today, there once stood two powerful empires, one in the west called Sodexo and the other in the east called Seris.

Both empires have long histories, with a history spanning thousands of years. However, more than three hundred years ago, a civil war broke out within the royal family of the Sodis Empire. The Seris Empire seized the opportunity to stir up trouble, causing the civil war in Sodis to last for two or three generations, more than sixty years.

Sixty years of bloodshed brought Sodis's once-powerful national strength to the brink of collapse. Feeling that the time was right, the Seris Empire launched a full-scale war against the Sodis Empire. This war lasted for more than twenty years, and Seris basically broke Sodis down.

Nearly half of the Sodis Empire's territory was seized, and the remaining area was fragmented into several so-called "kingdoms and duchies." From then on, there was only one empire on this continent.

That was the Seris Empire. In the two hundred years that followed, the empire slowed down its war in the west because it needed to digest these newly conquered territories. As the saying goes, it's easy to conquer but hard to maintain. The empire paid a heavy price and consumed a lot of its national strength in order to digest these new territories.

Twenty years ago, the Empire was preparing to restart a new round of war against the West to completely wipe out the remnants of Sodis. However, not long after the war began, portals to other worlds suddenly started appearing all over the world, causing chaos within the Empire. As a result, the Empire had no choice but to abandon the war in which it held the advantage.

Since then, the mode of warfare has gradually shifted from absolute dominance by the imperial military to a model of cooperation with the civilian population, which is now known as the "Westward Expansion Movement".

In other words, the empire encouraged civilian forces to spontaneously encroach on the west, seizing land, resources, and so on, and would reward those who performed exceptionally well with official titles, noble titles, and legal territories and status.

To some extent, this can be seen as a way to divert the large number of internal contradictions that have accumulated in the country. It is hoped that some ambitious and powerful people will be guided into this westward movement to cause trouble for the people in the west.

As it turned out, the westward expansion had indeed achieved remarkable results. For example, the city of Newdale, where Bane was located at the time, was a city that the Empire had occupied and established during the westward expansion over the past decade.

It is precisely because this is a weak point in the Empire's control and a frontline area that Newdale City is in such chaos.

However, not long ago, they captured another piece of land, which is expected to become the new front line, while this place will become a transit point for supplies and logistics, and the situation should improve.

Even though the westward expansion movement achieved considerable success, there have been numerous rebellions within the empire over the years, especially in the western region, which was once part of the Sodis Empire.

Three years ago, in the western region of the empire, a guy named Thornis appeared out of nowhere. He claimed to be a descendant of the noble Sodis and, having mastered a certain interdimensional portal, instigated a blood rebellion, turning many people in the territory into vampires and establishing the Eternal Night Empire.

Although this so-called Eternal Night Empire was a joke in everyone's eyes and was quickly crushed by the Empire, the remnants of the vampires have not been completely eliminated by the Empire to this day, and they occasionally jump out to stir up trouble.

And there are many similar examples.

Therefore, at first, Bane felt that the empire was in an even worse state than he was, and that it might collapse at any time.

So the current situation can be roughly described as follows: the imperial military is suppressing rebellions everywhere, while various ambitious individuals are either rebelling or participating in the westward expansion movement. The overall situation of the country cannot be described as being in turmoil, but it is certainly very unstable.

The peso, being the currency circulating among the people within the westward expansion region due to the empire's relaxed control, was inevitably incomparable to the silver and gold coins issued by the empire.

After some haggling with Frantra, Bane finally secured three vials of RC cell therapy for 2.6 million pesos.

Even without selling the house, it was enough to empty Bane's savings. In fact, even Frant didn't expect Bane to spend so much money to buy this potion.

After the transaction was concluded, Bane inquired again, "The westward expansion has achieved another success. I estimate that the environment in New Darvre won't be so relaxed anymore. You're well-informed, have you received any interesting intelligence recently?"

"Is intelligence free?" Frant habitually wanted to take advantage of the situation a little more.

Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!

However, after watching Bane hold the potion in his hand and gesture with it, his gaze occasionally drifting over Bane's waist, he quickly smiled and said, "But with our relationship, talking about money would hurt our feelings."

He was genuinely afraid that Bane would give him an injection. Although the injection was very expensive, he felt he was not worthy of it.

After glancing around again to make sure no one was eavesdropping, Frant whispered, "There is a rumor, information I overheard while working for a real nobleman."

"What intelligence?" Bane asked involuntarily, lowering his voice.

"I don't know if it's true or not, but I heard that in the capital, the Dragon Emperor has finally lost patience with the endless rebellions in our west and is going to send the Dragon Guard to completely wipe out these messy rebels in the west. This is completely different from the intensity of the local armies' suppression of the rebellions before. Everyone in the world knows what kind of ruthless person the Dragon Emperor is. He is the iron-blooded emperor who truly slaughtered an entire other world." Frant said with some fear.

Bane fell silent upon hearing this. After a moment, Frant continued, "So the situation in Newdale City is probably worse than you predicted. Who knows, the Dragon Guard might have swept through here while they were suppressing the rebellion."

After saying this, Frant added with some regret, "I've only told you this news; I guess we won't see each other for a long time afterward."

"Are you leaving?" Bane raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, otherwise why would I sell all the goods I have? Isn't it to quickly recoup my funds and run away? Maybe I'll have a chance to come back and take a look when things are calmer here," Frant nodded in agreement.

Bane clicked his tongue and then said, "Actually, I'm also planning to run away. The Empire is too dangerous; I'd better find somewhere to develop my resources first."

"You're leaving too?" Frant's eyes lit up. "Where to? Want us to travel together?"

"You can't go where I'm going, so let's go our separate ways and see each other again someday." Bane shook his head, rejecting Frant's suggestion.

Given his relationship with Frant, he wasn't even worth two million six hundred thousand pesos, let alone entrusting a secret to him.

That's right, Bane plans to go to the world of One Piece to lay low for a while and develop his skills.

(End of this chapter)