Chapter 1040

Arriving at the bathhouse, Lin Cheng jumped straight into the pool — the same logic as drinking first at a Hongmen Banquet.

Ace didn't hesitate either; he tore off his tattered clothes and plunged straight into the pool.

"Bring me a set of clothes later." Ace, seeing Ma Erko also tearing his clothes, added, "Make it two sets — we can't have Ma Erko maintaining his Phoenix form the whole way."

Although Ma Erko had planned to do just that, given ready-made clothes were available, who would willingly streak naked in broad daylight? He nodded in agreement and gave Lin Cheng a brilliant smile.

"Want a Marine uniform? That's the one thing I've got plenty of here." Lin Cheng said, slightly annoyed: "At most I can give you a field-grade officer's uniform — our general-grade ones are very expensive."

"Anything works, even a sailor's outfit — who cares about your general's uniform?" Ace curled his lip and said dismissively.

"If you'd listened to the old man back then and joined the Marines, you'd definitely be a general by now." Lin Cheng said with feeling: "With your current strength, you could still compete for one of the three Admiral positions."

"Zephyr is old; having him replace one of the three Admirals isn't a long-term solution."

"You're not trying to recruit me into the Marines, are you?" Ace scoffed: "They can't accept the son of the Pirate King becoming a Marine Admiral."

Ace sank his entire body into the pool, leaving only his head above the water, and spoke in a low, drawn-out voice.

"Besides, after the Summit War, I no longer have any option to retreat."

"Dad died because of me. I want to inherit his will and protect our family as it is now."

Lin Cheng also knew that, after the Summit War, Ace truly had no retreat left — he had only been speaking offhand just now.

Marine Admiral isn't so easy to become; he could only gaze at it from afar, unable to reach it.

"Don't want to become Pirate King anymore?" Lin Cheng asked.

"I do, but there are too many things I need to do now — that one can be put aside for later." Ace said with a smile: "I'm not very interested in the great secret of Laugh Tale, and the title of Pirate King doesn't matter to me either."

"I just want to see the footsteps my father once left behind, not this chaotic era he stirred up."

Lin Cheng listened very attentively; he needed to get clear on Ace's current goal, as it concerned what he was about to say next.

"So you don't want to rule the world, and you don't want to command all the pirates either." Lin Cheng said to Ace: "I suppose the Bai Huzi Pirates don't necessarily have to survive through plunder, right?"

"Then why be pirates at all? You could completely abandon that identity and switch to another profession."

"But on this sea, apart from pirates there are only Marines — we don't want to serve the Celestial Dragons." Ma Erko said from the side.

"You could create one — adventurers, for instance." Lin Cheng explained: "This profession has always existed, but because there are too few of them it never reached scale; after several hundred years of development it's only barely clinging to life."

"If I establish an Adventurer's Guild, gather this force together, and make it the third power on the sea."

What Lin Cheng said was undoubtedly a bolt from the blue; Ma Erko and Ace were at a loss for a reply for the moment.

Building a faction is no simple matter — there's a reason only two powers have existed on the sea for so many years.

Pirates represent the camp of chaos, the dark side in everyone's heart; as long as people exist, there will be an endless stream of pirates setting out to sea.

And the Marines represent order, the embodiment of human civilization; as long as the social structure exists, the Marines have a foundation to develop.

So Lin Cheng's idea, in the eyes of the two, seemed a bit impractical.

"Your idea surprises me, but have you thought about how much material and financial resources it takes to build a faction?" Ma Erko said with a smile: "Besides, where would you find that many adventurers? The population of this profession is just too small."

"Rather than an adventurer alliance, how about a merchant guild — your Borusa family already has some foundation in that area."

Lin Cheng shook his head; a merchant guild was not what he wanted.

Since ancient times, merchants have chased profit; an organization steeped in the stench of money like a merchant guild will sooner or later split apart and splinter over profit, even from within.

Although Lin Cheng had always disdained things like belief, he had to admit that this kind of intangible, elusive thing was the first thing that came to his mind when doing something with little possibility — or even no profit to be gained.

It was the first thing Lin Cheng thought of.

Whether modern entrepreneurs or ancient rebel leaders, which of them ever pulled out real gold and silver upfront? Don't they all just paint big pies, talk up culture, and pull off a bare-handed catch of a white wolf?

That's how the reasoning goes, but Lin Cheng couldn't just come out and tell Ma Erko directly: I just want to pull off a bare-handed catch of a white wolf.

After choosing his words carefully, Lin Cheng came up with a line of reasoning better suited to these two righteous big friends.

"I hope this organization can be purer — people gathering because of dreams, not because of profit and power."

Ma Erko and Ace nodded in agreement; their Bai Huzi Pirates had gathered precisely because of dreams and ideals, so this way of putting it sat very well with them.