Sabaody Island No.1 was swept.
Some were happy, some were not pleased, and some were burning with anger.
"Damn it, is he sick or what?"
All over the world, countless people who were themselves engaged in the slave trade, and had shops in the Sabaody Archipelago, collectively let out this shout.
They usually also did not lack in offering tributes to the Celestial Dragons, but who would've thought, suddenly such a madman would appear, and directly sweep away their most profitable shops.
The key was, they really couldn't afford to offend Rosse and his group.
If it were some other noble, even a king of an allied nation, just kill him and it would be over, no need to think too much.
But Rosse was a Celestial Dragon, no one dared to be the bird that sticks its head out.
Right now, they were all waiting for a bird to stick its head out.
If facts proved that Rosse was playing for real, then they'd honestly accept it.
But if Rosse wasn't playing for real, then there would be far too many manipulations to be done inside.
———
[Sabaody Archipelago, Port]
Sora stood by Rosse's side, watching the slaves in the distance continuously being loaded onto ships, transported to Arabasta or other areas under their control.
"If we do it like this, the influence caused will be very big," Sora said softly.
Otohime wasn't by their side, so she could speak freely.
Slavery, though not the foundation of this world, involved the interests of too many people.
Even the pirates of the New World had their hands in this area.
Rosse could forcibly enforce his policy below, but he would offend too many people all at once.
"It will be big, but did I ever say to prohibit the buying and selling of slaves?", Rosse asked with a half-smile.
"Hmm?", Sora was confused for a moment, "Freeing slaves isn't prohibiting slave trade?"
Even with her brain's processing speed, she was having trouble keeping up with Rosse.
"As long as there is a market, some things just can't be stopped. We only have so many people under us, can we even monitor the entire sea?"
Rosse shook his head, gazing into the distance, and softly said, "To liberate slaves, the premise is first to have slaves. As for in what manner they're liberated, that's a matter that requires reaching tacit understanding." [T/N: So, how are you any different from World Government?]
Whether it's employment or slavery, in essence both are methods of achieving domination.
What he just said sounded righteous, but in reality, he didn't care at all whether it was slaves or not.
"If one day, slaves truly disappear, it definitely won't be because slave masters suddenly found their conscience, but because they found a more advanced method of enslavement," Rosse said calmly.
"Is the employment system more advanced than the slave system?", Sora frowned.
"To give a simple example, suppose I have several thousand acres of land to farm."
"Do you think if I use a whip to beat you, force you to work, you'll be more efficient? Or, I give you a bit of money, and let you work on your own, will that be more efficient?", Rosse smiled and asked.
"If you don't whip me, why would I work for you?", Sora covered her mouth and giggled.
"Because of economic reasons. If the price of food across the sea rises, and you have no money, you'll starve to death," Rosse shrugged.
"Then if you've already paid me, what if I slack off, doesn't matter?"
Sora glanced at Rosse, at the end of the day, it was still a threat of death.
It was just that the direct contradiction between slave owner and slave had been transferred onto civilians and other things.
"Sure," Rosse smiled and said, "Pay by piecework. The person with the lowest efficiency gets the lowest wages, maybe can't even afford food. But the most efficient person, not only can renovate their house, but maybe even eats sea king meat every day."
"Being your wage earner is really miserable," Sora showed a strange expression.
According to Rosse's plan, without even thinking one could tell, those employees would work desperately, just to earn better income.
If previously they could only farm one acre a day, now they might farm five, far more effective than whipping.
And Rosse had even thought of the method to reclaim wages. Because food prices rose, Rosse's revenue from farming grain also increased.
As long as he used that extra profit to build a circulation system for employees, those employees might even be grateful.
And the money Rosse earned, besides the cost-benefit brought by increased efficiency, also included the money saved from buying and keeping slaves.
"This system is indeed superior to the previous one," Sora lightly nodded.
However, she still had one doubt, "But to implement this plan, you'd need to break the current balance. Each allied nation now has at least tens of thousands of slaves, only places like Arabasta have fewer."
"Suppose food prices or commodity prices rise. They don't even need to invest extra gains to achieve your envisioned result, they could even earn more."
"That's why there needs to be an Employment Association," Rosse smiled and explained, "The meaning of the Employment Association is to break this balance. A regular slave costs 100,000 Berries, and you also have to feed and house them. The price for strong young labor is at least five times that. 500,000 Berries, enough for me to hire a strong young person for three years."
"Each allied nation has different specialty products, the Employment Association will open directly in their territory, directly compete with their goods, suppress prices, start price wars, and collapse the industries of local nobles and royalty, forcing them to learn from us."
"What you're saying doesn't sound like it's for liberating slaves," Sora looked deeply at Rosse, instantly realizing it.
This wasn't about freeing slaves at all. Freeing slaves was just a pretext Rosse used.
Spreading influence into every allied nation, and harvesting public opinion from every allied nation, that was the real ultimate goal of Rosse's plan.
As for this slogan of freeing slaves, it was merely Rosse's rallying cry, aimed at the allied nations, preventing them from reacting too aggressively.
If he were to directly throw the real goal in their faces, even if Rosse was a Celestial Dragon, those allied nations would resist to the end.
But if it's just under the banner of opposing slavery, and seemingly losing money doing some naïve things, the other allied nations would just think Rosse is childish, and would fail sooner or later.
They might even think Rosse was giving them free money.
They just needed to buy Rosse's products at low price, then use their own channels to resell at high price to other islands, could make a fortune.
But once Rosse's influence had penetrated every allied nation, those allied nations would probably then understand what "cruelty" truly meant.
Cobra would be the cautionary tale ahead of them.
"Who knows, time will tell. So, this matter should be handed over to Otohime, that's the best," Rosse smiled, his gaze still directed at the port side, where Otohime was happily bidding farewell to the slaves.
Otohime's special ability gave her extremely powerful charisma.
Added to her innate kindness, she could easily make ordinary people accept the ideas Rosse publicly presented.
Working for anyone is still labor. Working for Rosse even has safety guarantees, so why not choose him?
Once more people worked with him, those allied nations would become a joke.
And as long as there were good seedlings among them, he would take them into his own fold first.
This was also the core of his plan.
Of course, freeing the slaves had to be done.
The slogan he shouted would also be carried out.
But all of this...
Was for greater benefit.
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