Chapter 277: Controlling the Five Elders

It did not take Uchiha Feiyu too long to control the Five Elders.

The only reason Momousagi was able to retain a shred of self-awareness for a time under Uchiha Feiyu's Heavenly Demon Secret was purely because Uchiha Feiyu had struck directly and forcefully; had he drawn out the control process even a little—even by half a minute—Momousagi would have been unable to put up any resistance at all.

As for the Five Elders, their inner demons had long since been planted remotely by Uchiha Feiyu. Having spent this time in a place as close to a demon's den as Mary Geoise, and possessing hosts like the Five Elders—whose five aggregates were burning and whose hearts were malicious—the demons had already developed to the point of occupying half of the Five Elders' spirits.

With the Heavenly Demon Secret now attacking from the outside while the inner demons acted from within, the Five Elders naturally fell in one fell swoop.

In the spacious office, Uchiha Feiyu sat on a sofa with his legs propped up on the coffee table, while opposite him, the Five Elders knelt on the ground with faces full of reverence:

"So, all the authorization for Uranus lies with that so-called Imu?"

"Yes, Lord Feiyu. However, Imu spends most of the time in a deep slumber within the Flower Room and does not interfere with the operations of the World Government."

"Because Imu suffered certain defects during the original modification, even the Surgery-Surgery Fruit can hardly grant him eternal youth, so he must remain in constant slumber to extend the usage time of Uranus."

"I see..."

Uchiha Feiyu nodded. He had originally thought that Lord Imu was some sort of old schemer hiding behind the scenes of the World Government to manipulate the world, but in reality, thinking back on the manga—this guy didn't seem to be involved in the World Government's operations at all, did he?

At most, he was particularly concerned about certain special individuals and then used a superweapon to wipe out the Lulusia Kingdom; it was hard to see any desire for power in this guy.

Combining this with the Five Elders' account, Uchiha Feiyu finally understood that this Lord Imu was only the King of the World in name. To put it bluntly, he was equivalent to a nuclear launch button, but he did not actually hold much power within the World Government.

Or rather, what was called power had long since been hollowed out by the Five Elders. Don't look at how respectfully the Five Elders treated Lord Imu; in reality, aside from when they encountered difficult problems, when had they ever gone to consult this Lord Imu?

Don't look at what a person says, look at what they do! Judging by the Five Elders' actions—blocking news of Lord Imu, obstructing communication between Lord Imu and ordinary people, and discussing all operational issues of the World Government themselves—they only went to Lord Imu to violently break the deadlock when they encountered thorny problems they couldn't solve.

From these actions, this Lord Imu didn't look like the supreme ruler of the World Government at all; he looked more like the World Government's strongest weapon!

After all... if a ruler is known to no one except the Five Elders, then what difference is there between them and a ruler who does not exist?

"Since Imu is still sleeping, let that guy keep sleeping!"

Uchiha Feiyu thought for a moment and reached a conclusion. Although he had confidence in himself, he didn't want to fight another battle with this Lord Imu, whose intelligence was entirely unknown. If this guy went crazy and flooded the entire One Piece World, Uchiha Feiyu's losses would be huge.

No one knew what this cyborg had on him; it would be better to wait until Uchiha Feiyu's strength was sufficient before dealing with this guy.

"Understood, Lord Feiyu. We will let him sleep forever."

The Five Elders nodded and agreed to Uchiha Feiyu's request quite easily. Afterward, Uchiha Feiyu rubbed his chin and pondered:

"For the time being, you will continue to rule the World Government as normal. Oh, and it would be best to stir up more rebellions. In short, while ensuring the order of the World Government, I want you to make this world more chaotic!"

The One Piece World was already chaotic enough, but this chaos was generally concentrated in local areas. Uchiha Feiyu hoped for a big wave that would allow him to eat his fill in one go.

His Heavenly Demon Secret was already mostly cultivated; what he lacked next was energy, which meant souls. With the help of the Vampire Fruit, the Blood Scripture was also progressing extremely rapidly. As long as he could carry out a massive harvest in the One Piece World, he might be able to complete the cultivation of these two Demonic Arts and truly step into a higher level of life.

"Understood, Lord Feiyu!"

"If that is the case, the best method is to march into the New World and wage war against non-World Government member nations!"

"In fact, the Heavenly Tribute currently collected by the World Government has already squeezed all non-member nations to their limits. If we increase the pressure further, we will be unable to maintain order on the seas, so war is the best choice."

Uchiha Feiyu nodded—although the World Government was a behemoth, the number of non-member nations was actually quite large. Some were poor countries that couldn't afford the Heavenly Tribute, while others were countries with fierce folk customs, bordering on pirate nations.

It wasn't that the World Government lacked the strength to rule the entire ocean; it was just that doing so would require too much effort compared to the benefits gained.

Therefore, leaving a portion of non-member nations served two purposes: on one hand, to show the member nations what the result of leaving the World Government's protection would be; on the other hand, to use those fierce, non-member nations as a threat, making it impossible for member nations to break away from their protection.

However, now that Uchiha Feiyu had given the order, the Five Elders would naturally comply. Taking action against non-member nations and the Great Pirates of the New World was the best reason and excuse.

This wasn't some small scuffle like the Summit War, but a true world-class war! Don't look at the One Piece World as a remnant world submerged by seawater; in reality, its population was far greater than that of the Naruto World!

Not only was the surface area of the One Piece World far greater than that of the Naruto World, but the combined area of its islands and landmasses was twice that of the original Earth. What was even more terrifying was that this world's resources were extremely abundant—otherwise, there wouldn't be so many giant animals and giant Sea Kings.

It could be said that the fertility of all arable land in the One Piece World far exceeded the imagination of ordinary people. Added to that were those nutrient-rich giant plants; on average, one mu of land could support at least five times more people than on Earth.

And this was based on the fact that people in the One Piece World had much larger appetites than ordinary humans. One can imagine how fertile the land in the One Piece World was.

Therefore, once the war began, it would be a battle involving at least millions, or even tens of millions of people. For Uchiha Feiyu, this could be called an excellent opportunity for harvesting.

"Alright, this plan is quite good. Start executing it now. How long do you estimate it will take to truly begin the world war?"

The Five Elders discussed it among themselves and quickly reached a conclusion:

"It will take at least about a year. First, the Marine currently only has a general framework left. To make up for those 100,000 elites and high-level combatants, it will take at least a year. And that is only possible to recover vitality in such a short time after conducting a massive conscription."

"There is also the army on the Red Line, which must undergo adaptive training before it can engage in naval warfare."

"Then there is the logistical mobilization; whether it is ships or food, it will take a long time to meet the demands of war... so one year is already the minimum."

"Good, then I will give you one year! It just so happens that during this time, I will go and deal with those Great Pirates in the New World!"

Uchiha Feiyu nodded, and at the same time, with a thought, his clones that were originally in the first half of the Grand Line all disappeared without a trace.

If one wanted to stir up the greatest chaos and the greatest war, how could one do without the help of these pirates? Without Uchiha Feiyu's suppression, the number of pirates going out to sea would soon skyrocket, and that would be the time for a new round of reshuffling and reaping the harvest!

Those Great Pirates in the New World were also the crops Uchiha Feiyu prepared to harvest, which was exactly where he needed the World Government's help—the weather in that ghost place, the New World, was bizarre and the magnetic fields were chaotic; even Uchiha Feiyu's Observation Haki couldn't perceive very far.

Therefore, the World Government's intelligence was very useful. In fact, the World Government had already mastered the lairs of all the pirates in the New World. With this intelligence, Uchiha Feiyu could kill all the Great Pirates in ten days or half a month.

Of course, the New World was known as a pirate paradise; it was easy to kill the Great Pirates, but those small pirates as numerous as the hairs on an ox, especially those without fixed locations, were not so easy to catch. This would have to rely on the Marine and the World Government to search slowly.

"Does Lord intend to take action against the New World? If there is an opportunity, one could actually take action against the Fish-Men under the sea. Compared to ordinary humans, Fish-Men are perhaps a greater hidden danger to the World Government."

One of the Five Elders suddenly spoke to Uchiha Feiyu. Uchiha Feiyu was slightly stunned and then realized—to the World Government, Fish-Men were indeed much harder to deal with than ordinary pirates.

The endless ocean was the best cover for the Fish-Men. Uranus, which was said to be able to destroy an island, was beyond its reach when facing Fish-Men hiding in the depths of the sea—the only gathering place for Fish-Men was Fish-Man Island, and this island was in the sea area below Mary Geoise.

Not to mention whether it was worth the price of blowing up Mary Geoise to deal with Fish-Man Island, even the thousands-of-meters-high, incredibly hard Red Line might not necessarily be penetrable even by Uranus!

Moreover, relying on Uranus, the World Government could purge all humans beneath the Red Line, but by the same token, the constantly rising sea level also expanded the living space for Fish-Men.

If it weren't for the fact that Fish-Men also needed sunlight to grow healthily, with this boundless, vast ocean, the number of Fish-Men would be at least seven or eight times that of humans. At that point, whether it was the World Government or the Fish-Man Empire that had the final say in this world would really be hard to say.

"In that case, I will go and eliminate these hidden dangers this time!"

Uchiha Feiyu nodded, preparing to deal with the Fish-Man problem. Even if he didn't wipe out the entire Fish-Man Island, he would at least have to make these Fish-Men suffer a major blow to their vitality.

Although the Fish-Men looked pitiful enough, often being caught as slaves in the Sabaody Archipelago, if one looked at the entire One Piece World, the number of humans harmed by Fish-Men was definitely far greater than the number of Fish-Men harmed by humans.

It was only because the Sabaody Archipelago was right above Fish-Man Island, and that place was the ultimate gathering point for all slave traders, that Fish-Man Island appeared so weak. But the vast majority of Fish-Men who left Fish-Man Island were domineering and had caused the deaths of many humans.

"Then many thanks, Lord. The World Government possesses the top-tier submarines here; entering Fish-Man Island will not have any danger."

Uchiha Feiyu nodded. Fish-Man Island was built in the sea area 10,000 meters below the surface. The survival rate of going there was not much higher than that of Reverse Mountain, especially for Devil Fruit Ability users; the danger was terrifyingly high. With this submarine, Uchiha Feiyu didn't need to worry about his subordinates' problems.

"Alright, then it's decided! I will go and solve the Fish-Man Island problem first... but give me half a month for now. I plan to stay in a geomantic treasure land like Mary Geoise for a while longer."

One of the Five Elders said respectfully:

"Then I shall go and prepare a room for you, my lord. Do you require some slaves to serve you? Here in Mary Geoise, we have slaves who have been specially trained; they are of excellent quality and have never been touched by anyone else."

"Forget about the slaves; just call my subordinates over instead!"

Although there were often hidden talents among the slaves owned by the Celestial Dragons, those of the caliber of Nami and the others were likely private collections, and Uchiha Feiyu did not want to go through the trouble.

"Understood, my lord. We shall summon your subordinates up here immediately."

Over half an hour later, Nami, Robin, Vivi, Mikita, and the others all arrived at Mary Geoise with expressions of shock on their faces.

However, the one with the most complex expression was undoubtedly Hancock; as this former slave of the Celestial Dragons walked through Mary Geoise, her face displayed a mix of resentment and pride, of gnashing teeth and high spirits, making her look as if she were suffering from schizophrenia.

Of course, there were Celestial Dragons in Mary Geoise, but with the Five Elders' warrant, even these brainless Celestial Dragons dared not show any disrespect toward Uchiha Feiyu's harem.

The status of the Celestial Dragons in the sea below was naturally inviolable, but in the Holy Land of Mary Geoise, it was not as if no Celestial Dragon had ever been executed; they knew what could be provoked and what could not.

Once this group of women walked into Uchiha Feiyu's room, Hancock was the first to pounce on him:

"Lord Feiyu! You are truly amazing! I never imagined that I would be able to walk into Mary Geoise so openly!"

(End of this chapter)