One Piece Gunslinger

Although Jaka wanted to nip it in the bud, since Cobra insisted, Jaka had no choice but to comply.

So, this young man, Okosha, is stubborn, insisting that the whole world is short of water, and that's the royal family's fault. I don't know what he's thinking. Desert countries don't lack water, so what? Surely they don't lack oil? Water scarcity is perfectly natural, okay? Even if the king has many gods, he can't magically transform the world and turn this desert country into a green oasis.

It was precisely this kind of hothead that made him easy for Crocodile to exploit. He would seize any possibility he saw and relentlessly pursue it, without ever actually verifying whether the dancing fans were actually from the royal family or where they came from. He simply took it for granted as evidence of the royal family's wrongdoing, and even thought he had connected everything perfectly.

As an experienced and wise old king, Cobra had ruled his entire life in a country plagued by water scarcity and perennial drought. It would have been impossible for him to do without a certain level of intelligence. Or rather, even if he didn't have much intelligence, the environment he was in would have honed it into something much more sophisticated.

This may be why the Nefertari family has maintained its intelligence for eight hundred years. The rich can live well without using their brains, while the poor have to rack their brains just to survive.

Even so, Cobra was already defeated from the start by Crocodile's relentless offensive. The three major events discussed earlier were all related to Crocodile. Two years later, they became the foundation for his conquest of the nation and acquisition of "Pluton."

To escape this calamity, Cobra must solve these three major problems:

To thwart or destroy Crocodile's objectives; to ascertain the composition of Baroque Works; and to dismantle the rebels led by Koza.

Chapter 210 A Solution

Cobra lost because he didn't connect these three events. If he had been able to fully connect them and understand all the key points, Crocodile wouldn't have succeeded even without the Straw Hat crew's arrival.

However, Cobra has done quite well. It's said that those involved are often blinded, while bystanders see things clearly. As the king of Alabasta, Cobra certainly doesn't understand things as well as an outsider like Leon.

Furthermore, Leon was able to see through the situation in Alabasta and Crocodile's schemes. He even spent years meticulously preparing for this, aiming to reap huge profits. That's all because he had a cheat code called "hindsight bias." If you hadn't read the comics, you'd probably be "as clueless as a pig beforehand."

However, once the cheat is activated, Li Ang can apply his "hindsight is 20/20" skills to the present moment, and can perfectly handle this series of problems.

Therefore, Li Ang's idea is simple: as long as he can help Kobra solve these three major problems, he can gain Alabasta's support.

While Cobra was inside the palace discussing the three major issues with others, Leon had already arrived at the palace gates, ready to go in and meet the king.

Of course, Cobra isn't like Walpo, who's mentally challenged. He can't just fool people by saying "I am XXX's messenger." If you're a messenger, where's the document? At least produce the document.

Of course, documents can be prepared in advance. Since Li Ang has already been preparing for two years, he won't mind preparing one more. Moreover, as mentioned before, besides Drum Country, there are several other countries that are still nominally part of the World Government. These countries can provide Li Ang with the necessary documents.

But Li Ang didn't want to do that, because he had put all the things he had prepared over the past few years under the name of a large conglomerate. Otherwise, it would be hard to explain how these things appeared out of thin air and why he had prepared them in the first place.

Alabasta is a powerful nation that Leon plans to use to influence the World Congress, so its connection to the Revolutionary Army cannot be exposed. These behemoths are so eye-catching, so they all need to be given a plausible origin.

Huh? A behemoth? What kind of behemoth could Li Ang possibly carry? His spatial bag can't hold much at all. I'll keep you in suspense for now.

"Um, could you please announce that an envoy from the Grandet Group has arrived and wishes to discuss a collaborative project with His Majesty the King?" Li Ang walked to the palace gate and handed over his identification and relevant documents from the Grandet Group.

Heh, just from the name, you can tell what kind of company this Grandet conglomerate is. It was definitely secretly established by that guy Leon.

The guard took a look at the items and, seeing that they appeared to be genuine, had no doubts. He said to Li Ang, "I'll inform them for you, but I can't guarantee whether we can get in."

After saying that, he took his ID and went inside.

"What can you do about the gravel oasis being in dire need of water and about to dry up?" Kobra had just received another piece of bad news: an oasis was about to be swallowed by the desert, so he quickly brought it up for discussion.

Faced with this problem, the people below looked at each other in bewilderment. After a while, a minister mustered up his courage and said, "It hasn't rained in the gravel oasis for many years, which has accelerated the desertification process. The only solution now is to let it rain there, and then we can save it."

“You mean using dancing powder?” Cobra said. “That’s not feasible. If we use dancing powder, even if we save the Shattered Oasis, it will cause problems for the other oases.”

Kobra understood that using the dancing powder was like drinking poison to quench thirst; it might seem to temporarily save the situation, but it would exacerbate desertification across the entire country.

Seeing that no one else was stepping forward, Cobra understood that another oasis was about to be lost. He had only asked out of reluctance, not really expecting anyone to be able to solve the problem.

"Alright, that's enough for now..."

Just as Cobra was feeling disheartened and preparing to adjourn the meeting, the guard who had been at the door arrived with a pile of documents belonging to Leon: "Report, there is an envoy from the Grandet family requesting an audience."

Cobra took it and looked at it, muttering to himself, "The Grandet Consortium, I've heard of them. It seems to be a big consortium that has emerged in the last two or three years, but its speed of accumulating wealth is astonishing. Everything they do makes money. I wonder what they've got their eye on in Alabasta this time."

Ikaram also warned, "This conglomerate doesn't have a good reputation; they might be up to something shady this time."

There's no way around it; naming someone Grandet (or misogynist) guarantees a bad reputation.

Cobra hesitated for a moment, then nodded: "Let him in and see what he's up to."

Li Ang waited outside the door for a while before the guard came out and said, "Come in with me, but you have to leave your weapons here."

Li Ang readily agreed and handed over the gun he had tricked from Tashigi to another guard for safekeeping. After all, it was just a toy, and Li Ang didn't care. Besides, even if there were any problems, Li Ang had plenty of weapons in his own storage bag.

Then Leon followed the guards to the council hall, where King Cobra stood in the center. Below him were many ministers, but Leon only recognized Icarum, Bel, and Jaka; he didn't recognize the others. However, Icarum's large, curly hair caught his eye a couple more times.

"I am Li Ang, CEO of the Grandet Group."

When Li Ang spoke, everyone was dumbfounded. What the hell was a CEO? They had never heard of it.

"Um, just think of him as someone in charge." Seeing everyone's confusion, Li Ang didn't want to explain what a CEO was and skipped the topic altogether.

Cobra wasn't one to dwell on such trivial matters; he was more concerned about what Leon had come for: "So, what brings you here today?"

Leon nodded and said sincerely, "Cooperation, to seek cooperation between us and Alabasta. This is a mutually beneficial cooperation that will greatly benefit both sides."

"Oh? I wonder how this cooperation works?" Cobra was also curious to hear what this mutually beneficial cooperation entailed.

Li Ang said, word by word, "It's very simple. Alabasta provides us with all the resources we want, and we help solve Alabasta's problems in return."

When Li Ang uttered these words, it was as if a fat man had suddenly jumped into the water, causing a huge uproar.

"Hmph, who do you think you are, daring to say that Alabasta has all the resources? What a big mouth you have."

"And they say they'll help Alabasta solve its problems? What problems do we have that need others to solve? Alabasta is perfectly fine."

"Get out, get out! I knew the Grandet family was no good."

……

Such voices rose and fell, and seeing the indignant expressions of the crowd, Li Ang seemed to be a heinous criminal.

However, Li Ang didn't care. He let the ministers do as they pleased; in the end, it was up to Kobra. Although Kobra was also somewhat annoyed, he didn't directly order Li Ang to leave.

That's a good idea. Li Ang's whole plan is a setup. He said that to stir up the crowd's emotions, so that when he comes up with a real solution, they'll be completely surprised and impressed.

So Li Ang didn't explain anything, but instead asked Cobra, "Your Majesty, what is the most troublesome problem in Alabasta right now? Perhaps we can solve it, so that you can know that our Grandet Consortium is capable of making this cooperation a success."

Kobra, enraged, laughed and said, "Since you want to know, then I'll tell you." With that, he recounted the three major problems they had discussed earlier.

But after hearing this, Leon shook his head and said, "Crocodile's unknown motives? The sudden emergence of armed groups within the country? And a weak rebel? Can these really be considered the biggest problems in the country? Think about it again, what is the most troublesome problem for Alabasta?"

Hearing Li Ang say this, Kobra simply threw the unsolvable question back at Li Ang: "The gravel oasis is about to be swallowed by the desert. The lack of rain year after year means we are about to lose another oasis. Can you solve this too?"

Upon hearing this, Li Ang thought to himself that they had finally hit the nail on the head, and laughed, "They're very close, but this is still not the biggest problem for Alabasta. Alabasta has faced a major problem since ancient times: water scarcity and desertification. The problem of the gravel oasis is just the tip of the iceberg of this big problem."

When Cobra heard Leon say that the biggest problem was the lack of water, he realized that Leon was not there to cause trouble, but rather to be targeted again: "Now that you mention it, do you have a solution?"

Li Ang laughed heartily and said, "That's right. Our Grandet Consortium has long studied the problems of Alabasta. All of Alabasta's predicaments stem from the lack of water resources. If I said that we could help Alabasta completely solve this problem and eliminate its water shortage, I wonder if Your Majesty would be willing to cooperate?"

To gain anything from Alabasta, Leon will have to pay a higher price. Not everyone possesses noble sentiments, nor is everyone a saint. It's impossible for Leon to persuade a powerful nation to willingly join the revolutionary camp simply through his words.

Li Ang had been preparing for Alabasta for several years in order to solve Alabasta's water shortage problem and thereby establish a basis for cooperation.

That's right, three major problems? An unsolvable dilemma? These can all be solved with just one solution. Let alone the three major problems, even with countless variations, Li Ang can solve them with just this one method.

We won't just treat the symptoms, we'll address the root cause.

Chapter 211 Milestone

"What? You really have a way to stop Alabasta from running out of water?" Cobra hadn't expected that Leon had come with this purpose, and he was so excited that he stood up from his seat on the spot.

Not only Cobra, but the ministers below also got excited. After the fat man jumped into the water, another person, even fatter than the fat man, jumped into the water from the platform.

"Impossible, is there really a way to do this?"

"Can it really work? If it does, how many people in Alabasta will be saved?"

"Yes, yes, if it really works and can solve the problem once and for all by making a scene, then we are willing to pay any price."

……

The commotion was so great that Kobra had to shout "Quiet!" twice before it subsided.

There's no way around it, you can't help but get excited. Anyone who isn't excited is definitely not someone with deep feelings for Alabasta. Any wise ruler or loyal minister must have been troubled by this problem night after night, and have thought about this problem that has plagued Alabasta for thousands of years.

Looking at everyone's expressions, Li Ang knew that his first step in the plan had succeeded. He had completely stirred up everyone's emotions. Now, all he had to do was take out that big treasure and show it to Cobra, and the cooperation would almost be a done deal.

"What exactly is the method? Tell me quickly," Kobra asked Li Ang hurriedly after everyone quieted down.

"Please look at this, Your Majesty." Li Ang said, taking a book out of his bosom (I believe everyone can see that from now on, "from bosom" means "from a spatial bag," so I won't explain further), and handed it to Cobra.

After Cobra finished speaking, Leon continued, "This is what our Grandet Consortium spent a lot of time and resources, and several years to research and develop."

Li Ang said that this research was genuine, and in order to develop this thing, he even recruited many relevant scientists to participate in the research.

Cobra took the thin book and examined it carefully. The solution to saving the country might very well lie within this book, so he couldn't help but be cautious.

The cover was blank except for a single line of large text: Introduction and Instructions for Use of Seawater Desalination Equipment.

That's right, the thing Li Ang painstakingly developed over several years is this seawater desalination device. This is the behemoth Li Ang prepared. Although he only brought an instruction manual this time, as long as Kobra agrees to cooperate, a large construction team will immediately rush to build this device and other supporting facilities for Alabasta.

To be fair, although Alabasta is a desert country, it is more of an island nation than a landlocked desert country. It is located in the middle of the Grand Line and is surrounded by ocean.

As the timeless poem says: O ocean, you are all water.

When it came to solving Alabasta's water shortage problem, the first thing that came to mind for Leon was the endless seawater.

Is seawater drinkable? Of course not. This is common sense; many have experienced the devastating reality of facing a vast ocean only to die of thirst. This idea is deeply ingrained in the minds of every Alabasta citizen.

But because of this, people's thinking has been limited. They never imagined that seawater could be made drinkable simply by being desalinated.

As someone from Earth, Li Ang was naturally familiar with seawater desalination, a method that had long been widely adopted and commonly used on Earth. Many coastal desert countries used seawater desalination to obtain water resources.

Since no one in the world had proposed it, Li Ang decided to be the first to try it. The technology in the One Piece world wasn't too outdated; Li Ang only needed to provide his theories and experience, and give a direction, and then a seawater desalination device could be developed.

Not to mention some advanced technologies, and Devil Fruits that create perpetual motion machines. It only took a few years to develop such a new type of large machine. On Earth, it would take more than ten years to accomplish this.

Seawater desalination technology is already quite mature on Earth. A large-scale desalination plant can produce tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of tons of fresh water every day. Moreover, the cost is gradually decreasing, almost becoming the same as that of ordinary tap water.

Li Ang also has reason to believe that the ocean in the One Piece world is larger and less polluted. With the addition of some kind of black technology and perpetual motion machine, it is not impossible for the technology of seawater desalination to surpass that of Earth in the future.

Cobra flipped through the instruction manual, growing increasingly alarmed with each page. However, the manual wasn't thick and contained many pictures, so Cobra quickly skimmed through it.

"Are all the functions described here true?" Cobra asked, looking up after closing the instruction manual.

Li Ang nodded and said sincerely, "It's absolutely true. As long as you agree to cooperate, it can be established on our territory very quickly. At that time, the water shortage problem in Alabasta will be a thing of the past."

Cobra could tell that the instruction manual was well-written and contained detailed diagrams, making it seem authentic. Furthermore, Alabasta wouldn't need to build it; the Grandet Foundation, for reasons of technological secrecy, would manufacture it themselves, and Alabasta could simply wait to use it.

Furthermore, this cannot be fake. If it is fake, then not only will the hundreds of thousands of troops in Alabasta not let the Grandet family off the hook, but the Grandet family itself will probably have no place in the world, and may even be wanted as fraudsters.

So the question now is, how exactly does the Grandet Foundation want to cooperate, and what does it want to gain from Alabasta? The Grandet Foundation isn't a charity, or rather, there aren't any charities in the entire One Piece world. Since it's a collaboration, and the Grandet Foundation has prepared such a grand gift, even Cobra is worried he can't afford the price.

"Then let's leave the terms. How do you want to cooperate?" Cobra put down the booklet and asked Li Ang.