"A country?"
"That's right, a country rich in population and land, with excellent craftsmen and weapons manufacturers, possessing technology unknown to the outside world, the closed-off Wano Kuni, have you heard of it?
Although the weapons you make here are quite good, there is still a significant gap compared to the level of Wano Kuni, hehe, I have a great proposal, we need your strength, and all the craftsmen and technology of Wano Kuni will be at your disposal."
Kurozumi Higurashi explained her proposal for Kaidou to help them completely rule Wano Kuni, making Kurozumi Orochi the true General with actual power, and then Kurozumi Orochi would fully support him, using the entire country's resources to produce weapons for him.
She knew the other party was a pirate and one of the remnants of Rocks', and being straightforward about benefits was the best way to deal with such people.
As for the destruction caused by mass factory construction, it was of no concern to them. The Kurozumi Family had already been destroyed, and after the death of many clan members, the remaining Kurozumi Clan Members' greatest aim was to take revenge on Wano Kuni.
This was the reason Kurozumi Higurashi sought out Kaidou, after all, he was both a pirate and a successful businessman.
Oh, that's not quite right, though he had the brains, he had no interest in management, so he was just a shareholder waiting for dividends, automatically giving up his right to participate in management.
However, she didn't know the details, but Hundred Beasts Fruit is now a leading enterprise, and Kurozumi Higurashi naturally knew it was a Hundred Beasts enterprise.
An astute Great Pirate who had made his business big and strong, such a person was a more suitable trading partner.
She had considered others, but the forces of BIG·MOM and the Golden Lion were too powerful, and Whitebeard was even less possible because Kozuki Oden was already on his ship, ultimately Kaidou was their most suitable target.
Then Kurozumi Higurashi continued, "Wano Kuni also has something the outside world doesn't, that's the world's only large Seastone Vein. As long as you cooperate with us, all of these will be yours, you'll gain huge profits from it.
Whether it's for building an army or whatever, these are things you need, aren't they?"
Seastone wasn't entirely unattainable in the outside world, but if you wanted a stable Seastone production site, the only choice was Wano Kuni.
Wano Kuni had been closed off for hundreds of years, but Seastone still flowed to the outside world, some of it was secretly taken out by a few individuals from Wano Kuni, even in a closed country, some chose to leave.
Wano Kuni wasn't an absolute ironclad prison, anyone determined enough could leave, such people had appeared occasionally over the centuries.
In very rare cases, Seastone was found in the outside world, due to natural changes causing P Particles to gather, eventually forming scattered Seastone chunks outside, which were then discovered.
"A good proposal, but why should I ally with you? This way you still take half, why shouldn't I just take it directly? You better give me a compelling reason."
Essentially, he was still a pirate, and plundering was always a pirate's most straightforward way of acquiring things. According to Kurozumi Higurashi's idea, directly occupying Wano Kuni was the most straightforward approach.
Hundred Beasts had many businesses, and after doing too much business, Kaidou started to dislike the middleman.
"Hehe, Kaidou, Wano Kuni is different, it's not a powerless little island you can easily manipulate, Wano Kuni has over a million people, it's a great country even in the New World, and the Samurai and Daimyo in the country have considerable strength.
Wano Kuni is very xenophobic, without a legitimate title you cannot truly conquer it, even if you can oppress them with force, facing Wano Kuni's terrain requires a huge sacrifice, not to mention countless rebellions.
By allying with us, you won't lack anything you want, and you don't have to worry about a thing, isn't that good?"
Kurozumi Higurashi's reasoning could barely persuade Kaidou, plus his subordinates were his fighting power, and they could die in battle, but not die meaninglessly.
If he had to exhaust his hard-earned company for a country, it would be somewhat unprofitable.
"Then according to what you say, you've already obtained that so-called 'legitimate title'?"
"That's right, I am a Clone-Clone Fruit user, I can turn into other people, the current General of Wano Kuni has been imprisoned, now our personnel serves as the Acting General of Wano Kuni."
Kurozumi Higurashi didn't mind explaining this to Kaidou, if Kaidou accepted her proposal, this would need to be explained to him sooner or later, if Kaidou didn't accept, he wouldn't be able to relay this information back to Wano Kuni.
She didn't believe a pirate would play the hero and do something meaningless, like helping the people of Wano Kuni maintain authority. Besides, even if he was a good person, those long-isolated people wouldn't believe him.
Wano Kuni had been closed off for a long time, even the World Government was filled with unknowns regarding its current internal situation, and the cloistered life made everything about Wano Kuni different from the outside world.
For instance, Belly circulating in the Blue Sea was no more than waste paper in Wano Kuni, they operated with a special currency of gold and silver.
Moreover, the people there had no understanding of the outside world, News Bird didn't approach there, and Radio Snails couldn't communicate with Wano Kuni, not because of signal blockade, but due to species difference.
The Radio Snail itself was a special type of snail, equipped with parts after being transformed to become Radio Snails, but they didn't resist this, these snails liked this captive life.
Yet in Wano Kuni, there were no snails for Radio Snails, instead there was a type of pond snail, these pond snails functioned like the snails, but the pond snails couldn't communicate with the snails, so communication with Wano Kuni was virtually zero.
Devil Fruit Users were referred to as Demon Mages in Wano Kuni, and even getting the regular citizens to understand the Clone-Clone Fruit was a difficult task.
People there didn't even know why they had strange abilities when they unintentionally consumed a Devil Fruit.
"Very well, in that case, why are you looking for strength outside?"
According to Kurozumi Higurashi, Wano Kuni was already in their hands, so why look outside for someone to share their strength?
"That's because of him! That damned Kozuki scion, Kozuki Oden! He left the sea, giving us this opportunity, but he's still alive, once he returns to Wano Kuni, the title of General will fall back into his hands."
Kurozumi Higurashi took out a newspaper, gritting her teeth as she pointed at the news photo on it.
This was the condition of Wano Kuni, as long as the Kozuki Family had an heir, no matter how incompetent he was, the General of Wano Kuni would only be him, and Kurozumi Orochi was just the Acting General, in the current situation he could only be the Acting General.
To permanently gain the General position, the Kozuki successors must be dealt with.