Chapter 366: Repay Slowly, Repay with a Plan

Hearing this, Harald fell into deep thought.

According to Aruru's understanding, Saint Saint Saiwen's mind was not truly on the 280 billion debt; what Saint Saint Saiwen truly wanted was Elbaf's alliance and loyalty.

Why was Saint Saint Saiwen so certain?

It was simply because neither Harald nor the Giant Kingdom of Elbaf were the type to renege on their debts.

According to this logic, every debt was a bond and a bargaining chip Saint Saint Saiwen used to tie Elbaf to him.

What Saint Saint Saiwen wanted was never temporary wealth, but a lasting alliance and absolute submission.

The more Elbaf owed, the less room for retreat it had; unable to repay the massive sum, it could only pay the price with the Giant Clan's bravery and loyalty.

"This guy," Harald said, smiling and shaking his head.

"So young, yet incredibly powerful, with a mind that is utterly unfathomable."

"How did such a monster emerge from Roger's ship?"

By every measure, Saint Saint Saiwen was simply a super-enhanced version of Rock's brothers.

The Morning Star Fleet's power was greater than the Rock Pirates; not only did it occupy Inazuma, a place with treacherous terrain, easy defense, and abundant resources,

but even Honeycomb Island, the Rock Pirates' former base, was under the Morning Star Fleet's control.

What was even more rare and precious was—

Rock had failed to convince Harald back then, yet Saint Saint Saiwen had step by step strapped Harald to the war chariot.

There were also the Four Emperors of the New World, and the Revolutionary Army, Fish-Man Island, and Alabasta, which had grown strong in recent years.

Even within the Marines, Saint Saint Saiwen had caused a complete mess.

To use Saint Saint Saiwen's own words to describe it—

Make friends as numerous as possible, make enemies as few as possible, and establish a united front to overthrow the World Government.

With Aruru's explanation, Harald's frustration over the massive debt vanished instantly.

"Senior, does that mean we won't repay it?"

"Why not repay it?" Aruru smiled and stroked his beard: "But repay slowly, and repay with a plan."

"If there is no pure gold, we will repay the 280 billion over one hundred years; since we know Saint Saint Saint Saiwen possesses pure gold, we will repay it over three hundred years."

"Repay a little each year, just to maintain the connection."

"Such a good opportunity; the Giant Clan must not miss it. Moreover, the world will likely look completely different before three hundred years are up."

"However, with pure gold in hand, perhaps Saint Saint Saint Saiwen's will will continue indefinitely."

Having lived for over three hundred years, Aruru understood that after the World Government was overthrown, the new regime would bring new vitality.

But how many years that vigorous vitality would last depended entirely on whether Saint Saint Saint Saiwen was willing to extend his will.

Besides, people inevitably change.

Would Saint Saint Saint Saiwen, having become King of the World, still be the Saint Saint Saiwen who wanted to liberate all slaves and ensure everyone could eat their fill?

Perhaps he would, perhaps he wouldn't.

Who could say for sure?

At least the current Saint Saint Saiwen was truly prepared to liberate all slaves and liberate this sea, which had long suffered under the World Government's oppression.

"I understand, Senior."

On the other side, after informing Jabba, Saint Saint Saiwen passed through the spatial door again to head to the Revolutionary Army headquarters.

After all, the matter was too critical; using a Den Den Mushi was not very secure, so it was better to speak face-to-face.

With the Door-Door Fruit ability imitated by the Sui Sui Fruit, no matter the distance, it was nothing more than pushing open a door for Saint Saint Saiwen.

Thus, Saint Saint Saiwen met with Harald, the Red Count, and others in succession, informing them of the plan seven months later, but this knowledge was limited to only a handful of people.

After all, there were still seven months; what if the leak occurred because too many people knew?

Meanwhile.

Marine Headquarters, New Marineford.

Akainu sat at his desk smoking a cigar; the Admiral's office was already thick with smoke.

Recently, Akainu had felt the atmosphere at Marine Headquarters was off; especially Sengoku, Tsuru, Zephyr, and Garp frequently gathered together for small meetings.

What exactly was so important that the Fleet Admiral would summon the Chief of Staff but not the three Admirals?

Not summoning Kizaru, Akainu could somewhat understand.

Kizaru had been stationed outside for a long time, guarding Punk Hazard while protecting Vegapunk's ongoing Pacifista Project.

Aokiji was nowhere to be found.

And Teacher Zephyr had retired years ago, burying himself in the Headquarters Training Camp, yet now he frequently attended small meetings, revealing abnormalities everywhere.

Akainu really wanted to ask:

What exactly happened at Headquarters during the time he was away at Punk Hazard.

But the others only knew the Fleet Admiral often gathered with three old comrades to drink tea and hold small meetings; the specific content of the meetings remained unknown to anyone.

Akainu had a feeling he was being isolated.

Moments later, Akainu, cigar in mouth, headed to the Fleet Admiral's office, intending to ask Sengoku face-to-face what exactly they were plotting.

But when Akainu pushed the door open, he saw only in the Fleet Admiral's office—

Zephyr and Admiral Tsuru brewing tea, while Admiral Garp rummaged for snacks in the cabinet behind the Fleet Admiral, leaving only a helpless-looking Sengoku to cast a questioning gaze at Akainu.

"Sakazuki, want to eat something together?"

Akainu never expected that the four of Sengoku's group were actually eating and drinking in the Fleet Admiral's office.

With such a Fleet Admiral, the Marines would sooner or later be finished.

"As the Fleet Admiral, you must set an example; even with budget cuts, you cannot... just lie flat."

The term "lying flat" was something Akainu heard from Smoker, and it perfectly described the current state of the four men led by Sengoku.

"Uh." Sengoku scratched his head.

"Isn't it almost the end of the year? We were discussing how to distribute the year-end bonus now that the military budget has been cut."

Discussing the year-end bonus was a pretext Sengoku had prepared in advance to fool internal spies, never expecting to use it on Akainu first.

Although the four of them knew Saint Saint Saiwen was preparing to rebel, they had no evidence, nor did they know when Saint Saint Saiwen would rebel.

Especially after the trip to Inazuma by Tsuru and the other two, the four had not yet reached a unified decision on how the Navy should proceed.

Hearing this, Akainu had nothing to say.

Could it be that he had misunderstood Sengoku?

The Fleet Admiral and the Chief of Staff, calling in two old comrades to discuss the year-end bonus, especially under the circumstances of a cut Navy budget, left absolutely no room for criticism.

"I don't want my share; distribute it to the soldiers instead."

After dropping those words, Akainu turned and left in a sullen mood.

Seeing this, Sengoku breathed a sigh of relief.

"Should we continue?"

"Let's leave it at that for now." Zephyr made the final decision: "In the short term, we won't reach a conclusion anyway, so we might as well wait and see for a while."

"That works too." Sengoku nodded.

In reality, Sengoku was more inclined to deploy the Navy's main forces to the four seas to hold the line when war broke out.

Compared to the numerous member and non-member nations of the four seas, the Grand Line's area is truly too small.

After Zephyr and the other two left one by one, Sengoku hesitated repeatedly before taking out a Den Den Mushi to contact his beloved son.

"Xiao Mi Guo, are you busy lately?"