Oran neither knew nor cared what Doflamingo was planning.
He is a Celestial Dragon who has been expelled from the list. Although he has Celestial Dragon blood, which leads to some special treatment of him in Mary Geoise, the premise is that Doflamingo's actions do not infringe on the interests of the World Government.
Given the current situation, the World Government won't do anything to Oran for him.
If Doflamingo wanted to act on his own, he would experience what it feels like to have his house destroyed by a pink-clad girl all by himself.
"Let's start with the North Blue. The Grand Line is still too far away from us. Let's finish devouring the underground world here before we talk about other things."
Doflamingo still has some sense; at least he's not one of those hotheads who shout things like "I'll be the Pirate King!" or "I'll win!" and then go off to challenge those sea monsters.
Even when he encountered Oran in Loguetown, he never considered directly becoming his enemy.
He hadn't even entered the Grand Line, while his opponent had already established a firm foothold there; the difference was quite obvious.
As it turns out, Kaido's "love of talent" is actually quite good; if you anger someone like Shanks, your ship will sink even faster.
Several days later, the navy's warships arrived at Firefly Island.
"Your Majesty Oran, may you be well."
A little boy, just over six years old, walked over with a wildflower he had picked from the roadside. He was among the first generation born after Piltover's founding, and could be said to have grown up listening to stories of Oran.
In this country, there is never a shortage of praise for Oran, even after news of the Seven Warlords of the Sea came back.
Ordinary people know very little about the Seven Warlords of the Sea, but some people on the island have still managed to glean key information about them.
The world governments acknowledge this country's strength.
Legally speaking, although this place is not yet a member state, it is already a nation recognized by the world government.
Unless one has truly experienced the darkness of the World Government, for most ordinary people, the World Government and the Navy are more trustworthy than pirates, and member states are more reassuring than non-member states.
The special country under the rule of the Seven Warlords of the Sea has put many people at ease, making them feel that the future of the country is finally stable.
"Your Majesty Siddiel, it seems the people of the nation trust you greatly."
Kuzan and Oran weren't that close; they'd only met once before.
Unlike Zephyr and other familiar faces in Oran, and Borsalino's rather outgoing personality, Kuzan chose to address him as "Your Majesty".
"Most people aren't fools. If you treat them well, they'll naturally know how to be grateful."
"The vast majority of people? Then you must be a tiny minority among the kings. The royal family of the Goa Kingdom should really come here and learn a thing or two from you."
The word "the vast majority" reminded Garp of other things, such as his homeland, the Goa Kingdom, where the royal family was considered one of the worst among the member states.
The World Government collects its Heavenly Gold based on population; the more people there are, the more it collects.
Faced with this situation, the Kingdom of Goa took a different approach, choosing to designate a portion of its territory as a lawless zone, where its citizens were unprotected, thus reducing the tax burden on the Heavenly Gold.
But they just don't protect those people, not that they don't collect their taxes.
Garp had no fondness for that country, and even when he returned to his hometown, he only offered shelter to Windmill Village.
Amidst the greetings of the people, Oran returned to the royal city and showed Karp some of his research findings.
Looking at the grayish-purple lines in the petri dish, Karp's eyes were full of curiosity.
What is this?
"Bio-alloy, an essential component in the manufacture of this combat body, is the metal that provides the machine with powerful propulsion and even allows it to exert power close to that of the user."
Blitzcrank is a special bio-metal created by fusing shape memory metal and alchemical potions. In its development, it drew inspiration from Mundo to some extent.
Mundo was originally a gangster's henchman, but he offended an alchemist baron and was sent to a mental hospital by him.
There, Mundo underwent nerve punctures, lobectomy, and large doses of uncertified drugs, eventually turning him into a madman.
The potions had a special effect on him, giving him a near-immortal body. Even if he was slashed by swords or shot by bullets, he could recover at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The self-healing ability of bio-alloys stems from this idea.
"Next, we'll conduct some data tests, perform some examinations on your body, cultivate new bio-alloys, use these alloys to form muscle fibers, and then..."
"Mmm, mmm, mmm."
As Oran explained each step, Karp would nod accordingly, pretending to know the stuff, even though he didn't understand a thing when the words were put together.
In the end, they simply followed Oran's lead and cooperated with his actions step by step.
"By the way, Doctor, did you also conduct this kind of research on the Golden Lion?"
"Of course not, he wasn't that cooperative. It took a lot of effort to get his sample."
Golden Lion would never cooperate with the Navy, so the entire process of Project Shiki's creation was decided by Oran himself.
Oran made the process much more complicated, even bringing out some experimental logs from the Project Origin universe to demonstrate the complexity of the technology.
Garp had to rush to clean up Roger's mess, so he left after completing the first round of data entry and wouldn't be needed for a while.
Kuzan, however, stayed behind to test the new weapon with Oran.
Actually, it's not that difficult. Oran already had an ice gun; all he needed to do was change the power supply system.
However, the same old problem remains: while others' research might be developing step by step, Oran's research involves producing a finished product and then breaking it down, presenting it as a result bit by bit.
"Orlan, that Kuzan from the Navy is pretty good. With him here, we've saved ourselves a lot of trouble lately."
The research is ongoing, and Kuzan has earned the recognition of Piltover members as a model worker.
Now he believes in burning justice and his style is quite radical. Some pirates want to use Firefly Island as a stepping stone to make a name for themselves.
But before they could even set foot on the island, they were wiped out by the restless Kuzan.
Eliminating pirates is the Navy's responsibility, and based on this principle, Kuzan alone has made the guard team quite relaxed.
A novice can't handle a Logia-type Devil Fruit user, let alone a monster like Kuzan who graduated from Zephyr's training camp and then studied under Garp.
"It's a bit of a pity, though. He's too eager, which makes it harder for him to exchange those pirates for bounties."
Kate sat on the windowsill, telling Oran about what had happened recently. Putting aside their identities as naval officers, Kate and the others all thought Kuzan was a good person.
"Young people are like that, but this period of time is almost over. This phase of research is almost finished, and it's about time for him to return to headquarters to carry out other missions."
However, to facilitate his research, he probably comes every now and then.
Remember to have Ginny keep an eye on recent pirate news. While most pirates are scum, occasionally a few heroes emerge. You could try recruiting them.
One convenient thing about being a Shichibukai is recruiting pirates. Once a group of pirates chooses to join the Shichibukai, their bounties are automatically lifted, and they regain their legal status.
As long as they're not a thorn in the side of the world government, submitting a list is enough.
"Okay, I remember. But I failed the task you asked me to do before. I couldn't find a suitable accountant."
Many jobs are inseparable from mathematics, accounting being one of them; however, mathematics itself is a very peculiar thing.
In a world where nine-year compulsory education is becoming widespread, even something as simple as calculating 0.5 x 0.8 can expose a bunch of slackers, let alone here.
The accounting situation here in Oran is quite unusual.
One of them was the real account, which Oran himself read.
A false account was prepared for the world government.
At the same time, a special fake account book needs to be prepared. This book is for the undercover agents, so that they will think they have discovered the real account book, when in fact it is fake.
World governments can be quite suspicious at times; even a peculiar fake account can fool them.
"The World Government is really slow. By the way, what happened to Alifa, that CP8 agent from before?"
"She opened a flower shop in the main urban area and has settled down now."
"There's no ambition. It would be good if the World Government sent some new people over sometime."
"Meow doesn't understand, why do they need people from the World Government? We're their enemies."
Logically, eliminating the lurking personnel on the island should be the key, but Oran's thinking is somewhat unique.
"No, if their identities hadn't been exposed, they would indeed be agents. But since we know their identities, these people aren't undercover agents; they're just hard-working individuals like Kuzan."
Who is the most loyal? - A loyal undercover agent.
In order to complete their mission, undercover agents will spare no effort to gain the trust of those here and will do their best to handle every task well.
Before their true masters assign them new tasks, they are the most loyal employees, the kind who don't even ask for overtime pay.
These kinds of things can't be completely eliminated. Rather than letting them hide in the shadows, it's better to keep a close watch on those who have already been exposed.
"I understand, Meow. If there are any changes over there, Meow will give them a clue."
"Don't rush, just do things step by step."
As night approached, Alifa closed the shop and returned to the attic, awaiting new orders from the CP organization. Now that Oran had become a Shichibukai, it was theoretically time for the next step.
Unbeknownst to her, Oran had already begun plotting how to exploit the CP organization's workforce.
Oran himself also arrived at a familiar place.
"Hey, Chu Yuxun, long time no see."
"My name is Wei, not Chu Yuxun. I really don't understand why you have such a nickname. But it's been a long time, brother. You seem to be living a pretty good life."
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