After hanging up the phone, Wilder looked down at Nok-Arthur and his crew. Although Kizaru had said, "Wait for me," Wilder didn't think for a second that these people would just wait around obediently.
"If I'm not mistaken, you all must be the Nok-Arthur Pirates, correct? In that case... you are Nok-Arthur?" Wilder said, looking down at the bearded man from his high perch.
"Heh..." Nok-Arthur let out a cold smirk. "You could say that. I never thought the great Wilder would be a dog who only follows the Marines' orders. Ah... but that's right, you're a Warlord, after all."
With that, all traces of humor vanished from Nok-Arthur's face. His expression turned chillingly cold as he waved his arm. "Men! We understand the situation. It seems a rather troublesome Marine is on his way to capture us. So, for the sake of our own lives... what should we do now?"
"Kill him!" The surrounding men cracked their knuckles, raising their weapons to point at Wilder, their killing intent surging.
"Heh... you see?" Nok-Arthur looked up at Wilder, another cold smirk on his face. "As you can see, my men are terrified of dying. So, I'm sorry, Warlord Wilder, but no matter what, you're going to die here today."
"It seems everyone is brimming with confidence," Wilder said calmly.
With that, he raised his hand, his palm facing the group below. The expression on his face also turned icy, his voice heavy. "In that case, to stay alive, I'm afraid I'll have to fight back."
BOOM!
The moment his words fell, Nok-Arthur below him moved without any warning. He was incredibly fast. In a flash, a phantom-like blur shot straight to Wilder's front, his cold smirk now filled with murderous intent. A hand as large as a winnowing basket, faintly glowing red, swung horizontally at Wilder!
"Tsk, not giving his enemy any time to stall at all," Wilder remarked. He raised his arm as if to block the blow. Seeing this, a hidden smile flickered on Nok-Arthur's face, and the momentum of his palm didn't decrease, about to hit Wilder in less than an instant.
But just then, Wilder's body suddenly leaped backward. While dodging the attack, he also landed on the ground, right in the middle of the crowd below.
"Dammit!" Nok-Arthur's pupils contracted. He instantly understood what had happened and looked down, his eyes looking like they were about to split with rage.
"Swamp Skewer Technique!"
Sharp, hard spears shot out from Wilder's body in all directions. Accompanied by screams of agony, the pirates who had been surrounding Wilder were impaled, falling to the ground like porcupines before they even knew what had happened.
"Swamp of the Underworld!"
The ground began to churn. In the blink of an eye, a fifty-meter radius had completely collapsed, turning into a swamp. The few who were lucky enough to have survived the initial impalement watched in horror as their bodies began to sink, and terrified screams filled the air.
Wilder had always been one to never give his enemies any leeway once he seized an opportunity. His goal was to annihilate them in a single blow while they were in disarray.
"Swamp Dome!"
A huge, semi-circular object, like the lid of a pot, formed in the churning swamp. It hardened in an instant, enveloping Wilder within.
The next second, the enraged Nok-Arthur's crimson palm descended from above, striking the dome and causing a heavy, muffled thud.
BOOM!
A shockwave spread out from the dome. Nok-Arthur was half-squatting on top of it, one hand on its surface, his face ugly. He found that, under his attack, the dome was completely unharmed and hadn't even budged.
Dammit! If only that blow had touched him!
He didn't know that if it had been anyone else, they might have truly fallen here. But Wilder, knowing the abilities of the Seiki Seiki no Mi in advance, had been secretly on guard, determined not to let those hands touch him.
"Let's see how long this turtle shell of yours can last!" Nok-Arthur knew that if he let Wilder hide like this, things would turn bad. Time-wise, the Marines shouldn't take too long to arrive. So, he had to finish him off before they got here.
Nok-Arthur's face hardened, and he raised his palms to strike again! A two-handed barrage! A rapid and dense flurry of palm strikes rained down on the dome!
After more than fifty consecutive strikes, a faint crack reached Nok-Arthur's ears.
"Hahaha! Die!" Nok-Arthur laughed excitedly at the sound, but his eyes were ferocious as he brought down a heavy palm strike!
BANG!
The dome shattered and collapsed! As the billowing dust and smoke cleared, the savage smile on Nok-Arthur's face froze solid.
How could this be?
His eyes were wide with disbelief.
With the dome shattered, there was no cover. When the dust settled, there was no one inside.
If someone who had witnessed that war were present, they would know: this was Wilder's famous survival technique!
On the battlefield of the Summit War, he had used this move to dodge countless fatal attacks from Kizaru, attracting the attention of countless people and laying the foundation for his great reputation, which drew many subordinates to his side.
However, no one knew that this survival skill, under certain circumstances, could also become a killing technique!
Just like now.
The ground beneath Nok-Arthur's feet suddenly turned into a swamp. His expression changed, and he tried to pull away, but just then, he heard a gurgling sound behind him. A humanoid swamp figure rose from the mire.
A certain, deadly killing intent had already locked onto him.
Nok-Arthur's body stiffened, his pupils, dilated to their limit, trembled at an extremely high frequency.
Wilder's body solidified behind Nok-Arthur. He grinned, his smile sinister, as he brought his face close to the back of Nok-Arthur's neck and said in a chilling voice, "Why aren't you moving? Is it because you're scared?"
Wilder had no intention of waiting for an answer. After saying this, the swamp in his hand slowly writhed, forming a sharp, short spear.
The sharp point of the spear pressed against Nok-Arthur's neck. The chilling sharpness gave him goosebumps all over his body.
Nok-Arthur desperately wanted to escape, but his body wouldn't move. It wasn't because he was scared, as Wilder had just suggested, but because the swamp below had imperceptibly entangled his entire body, and he was continuously sinking into it.
Wilder felt it was a bit of a pity. A bounty of 500 million Beli meant Nok-Arthur was a very powerful pirate on the high seas. The combat power Nok-Arthur had displayed so far didn't seem to match such a large bounty, but on the battlefield, bounties weren't everything. A single moment of carelessness could make a pirate with a billion-Beli bounty display less combat power than one with a hundred million.
If they could do it all over again, the situation would be completely different. What Wilder regretted was that such a powerful fighter couldn't be used by him.
Five hundred million. If Wilder had fought him without any knowledge of his enemy's abilities, it was very possible he would have been the one to capsize in this gutter.
"Let me go, and I'll do anything for you," Nok-Arthur said, a few beads of cold sweat trickling down his face. He looked at his legs sinking deeper and deeper, his heart unable to calm down. His body was tightly bound by the swamp, unable to move an inch.
Under these circumstances, he knew he had no chance of turning the tables. So, after an internal struggle, he gritted his teeth and said these words.
Pfft!
Wilder expressionlessly released his hand. The sharp spear pierced through his neck and remained there. Nok-Arthur's eyes shot open, his mouth agape, unable to make a sound.
Wilder didn't want to insult him, so he chose not to respond to a request that was destined to be rejected, nor did he want such a decent powerhouse to die in too pathetic a manner.
Forget it.
In any case, Wilder knew he couldn't agree to his request right now. Kizaru was on his way. For the man to be gone, dead or alive, without a body to show for it would be too suspicious.
He wouldn't be able to explain it.
Ending this hard-won life, Wilder felt a little "melancholy." He lit a cigar and sat on a rock, waiting for Kizaru to arrive.
The body beside him went from warm to cold. He didn't know how much time had passed, but when his cigar had burned down to the end, he felt the birth of a new life nearby.
It appeared without any warning, as if... it had appeared out of thin air.
A subtle change came over Wilder's gaze. He turned his head slightly and looked up at the tree.
A round fruit hung on a branch, very conspicuous.
It was different from its "kin" around it. Perhaps with some idea of being a maverick, it had tattoos. Wilder was very familiar with those mysterious patterns.
"Truly... should I say this trip was not in vain, or should I marvel at the wonders of nature?" Wilder said as he stood up. He walked unceremoniously to the base of the tree and plucked the Devil Fruit from it.
A blinding light appeared on the horizon. Wilder turned his head to look, then very naturally hid the Seiki Seiki no Mi within his body.
The light converged in front of Wilder. The tall figure of Kizaru surveyed the tragic scene around him, smacking his lips and sighing, "Didn't we agree you'd wait for me? This was very dangerous, Wilder-kun. After all, your opponent was a great pirate with a bounty of 500 million. A single slip-up and you could have died."
Wilder glanced at him and said lightly, "Do you think they would have obediently waited for you to arrive?"
Kizaru looked as if he had a sudden realization, looking at Wilder in amazement. "That's true!"
"Heh..."
Wilder felt a little tired. He started to walk away. "Well then, if there's nothing else, I'll be going. The boat to pick me up has arrived." With that, Wilder pointed towards the sea not far away without turning his head. Sure enough, a small boat was bobbing its way over.
"Maa... speaking of which, I'm quite curious. Why were you here all alone, Wilder-kun?" Kizaru stood his ground, not moving, and asked casually.
BOOM!
Wilder released his small boat from storage, pointing at the large hole in it. "Attacked by a Sea King."
"That's some bad luck," Kizaru said, looking at the broken boat on the ground. "What an enviable ability. Well, since there's nothing else, you can go ahead and leave, Wilder-kun. I still have to deal with this mess. What a headache."
Hearing this, Wilder waved his hand and left without looking back.
He boarded the boat that had come to pick him up and, in silence, floated all the way back to the Kingdom of Morass.
In the luxurious and noble bedroom of the royal palace, Wilder sat on the sofa, frowning in deep thought.
"To develop a nation, besides having order and a complete and detailed system, what else is necessary?"
The question Wilder was pondering now was for the sake of the future. If he didn't figure these things out now, it wouldn't be so easy to implement them later when he suddenly thought of them.
"There are many countries that possess the above two points. In fact, most countries have both, which is why they can exist. But I feel like something is still missing."
Wilder thought about the path he was going to take in the future, and at the same time, he thought about how his country was different from others.
Without a doubt, a country couldn't develop with just those two conditions.
"It's a forward-thinking consciousness!" Wilder had a sudden epiphany. "A forward-thinking consciousness brings about all kinds of forward-thinking affairs! Order, systems, and so on are all included in it!"
Wilder finally realized where that feeling of unease in his heart came from. He also realized the difference between his country and other countries. It all stemmed from the fact that his consciousness was more advanced than that of the people in this world.
The path he was going to take was different from the path other countries took.
Therefore, those countries could develop by "swallowing things whole," but he couldn't!
Wilder took out a pen and paper and began to write on the desk.
"The most pressing problem right now is the trade blockade."
Wilder wrote the words "Trade Blockade" on the first line. After thinking for a moment, he added parentheses after it and wrote the words "Big Mom" inside.
This problem was all due to the Yonko, Big Mom. So, to solve it, he either had to get rid of Big Mom, or find a way around her.
The former, Wilder knew, was currently impossible. As for the latter, no matter how he thought about it, it seemed completely unfeasible
Pending.
Yes, Wilder decided to leave this problem pending. For the short term, apart from his deal with Doflamingo, the trade blockade wouldn't affect him yet. His country was still in its initial construction phase. Although domestic demand required purchases from the outside, once it developed, it wouldn't be necessary. And in the short term, all of this could be handled through trade with the Marines.
The deal with Doflamingo was manageable as long as he was careful, as the scale wasn't large.
He would set aside the trade problem for now and look for opportunities for a breakthrough. The main focus now had to be on internal development.
And all of this, whether external or internal, could actually be summed up in one word: money.
The problem right now was a lack of money. But if he looked at it from another angle, assuming there was no such thing as money in the world, then the most important thing would be food.
Food was one of the major problems for the Kingdom of Morass right now. Not considering money, the food that could be produced domestically was currently entirely dependent on seafood. But eating seafood all the time would eventually lead to health problems. Necessary vegetables were indispensable. Even if there were no vegetables, there had to be fruit.
The staple food was Bread-Rice. Although it was actually a fruit, it was more suitable as a staple food than a fruit. It didn't have the "function" of a fruit.
Unfortunately, it hadn't been harvested yet. The seeds had been planted, but it would take a few more months for them to mature.