In the vast castle, Moria fell into a brief silence after hearing Jake's words.
After a long pause, he finally spoke in a raspy voice.
"Everything else you told me doesn't matter. I just need you to confirm one thing—are my old companions really still alive? Give me a straight answer."
"They're all working in Kaido's mines. Most of them are definitely alive, but I'd guess some have died. After all, that's no paradise. Is that answer straight enough for you?"
Jake's reply was blunt.
Upon hearing his confirmation, Moria let out two choked, stifled sobs from his throat.
Gradually, those faint sobs grew harder to suppress, until finally, Moria broke down in front of everyone, weeping uncontrollably.
"Balk, Regis, Dunba… you bastards, you better stay alive for me! I swear—one day, one day I'll come and save you all!"
One name after another spilled from Moria's lips.
He covered his eyes, trying to hide his tears, but the huge droplets still pattered onto the ground.
Perona, seeing her "father" crying like this, mustered her courage despite her fear of Jake and Monet.
She stepped forward and gently patted Moria's back, speaking in the softest tone she could manage:
"Lord Moria, please don't cry like this. Seeing you so heartbroken… I—I can't help but want to cry too!"
Absalom, meanwhile, had already buried his face in his hands.
Large tears streamed down between his fingers.
Though he was a lecher, his loyalty to Moria was absolutely unwavering.
After all, it was Gekko Moria who had given him the chance to change his fate.
It was also Moria who had single-handedly elevated him to his current position.
From that day on, Absalom swore that his life belonged solely to Moria!
Unlike the inexperienced Perona, Absalom naturally knew that Moriah wasn't crying out of sorrow.
He understood those tears were shed from joy.
Yet, seeing Moria in that state, he couldn't help but shed tears himself.
That joy was genuine, but the grief and guilt hidden beneath it still weighed heavily on Moria, suffocating him.
Over the years, Absalom had witnessed Moria waking from nightmares more than once.
Each time, his face would be streaked with tears.
Those were the scars left by the Yonko Kaido, as well as Moria profound longing for his past comrades.
As for Hogback, he gazed at the zombie lady beside him with a pensive expression and whispered softly.
"If possible, I truly wish you could have lived back then..."
Jake watched the weeping Moria without rushing to interrupt.
Those painful memories were the very assurance that Moria would firmly stand by his side in the future.
After about twenty minutes, Moria sobs gradually subsided.
He wiped the tears from his face and turned to Jake, who was still meditating with his eyes closed, saying softly.
"Apologies, I got a bit too emotional just now. I agree to your request. How much gold do you plan to store here? I'll prepare crates and have them guarded day and night by zombies in the basement."
Hearing this, Jake merely smiled and replied.
"No, no. I don't think a single basement will suffice. Crates won't be enough either. As I've told you, the sheer volume of that gold is staggering."
Moria face showed a trace of confusion.
"My basement isn't some small, room-sized space. It's a massive cavern capable of housing the ancient giant Oars! No amount of gold you have could possibly fill it!"
To Moria confident words, Jake responded lightly.
"Roughly a hundred Moby Dick-sized loads of gold. Can your place handle that?"
"A hundred Moby Dick-sized spaces? My basement could easily— Wait! How many did you say?!"
"About a hundred. Did you catch it this time?"
At this point, Moria was almost laughing in disbelief.
He glared at Jake and retorted.
"Do you even know the dimensions of the Moby Dick? Six hundred meters long, eighty meters wide, and forty meters tall—one of the largest ships in the world! A hundred Moby Dick-sized spaces? You expect me to believe that?! Do you have any idea how much gold that would be?!
If you truly had that much gold, you could practically buy the entire Marine Headquarters!"
"The price you mentioned for the Marine Headquarters seems fair, but the figure of 600 Moby Dicks was told to me by Whitebeard himself. He estimated the amount of gold, and it's most likely around that number. Surely you don't know the Moby Dick better than Whitebeard does?"
Hearing this, Moria expression stiffened slightly before he rubbed his chin in contemplation.
"If it's Whitebeard saying it, then the credibility is pretty high. But I don't have such a large storage space ready at the moment. Do you need it transported right away?"
To this, Jake simply smiled and replied.
"Just hide the gold all over your ship. This little island of yours has plenty of space to stash gold. We'll have Dr. Vegapunk come take a look later—he'll handle modifying your ship. All you need to do is cooperate when the time comes."
At the mention of Vegapunk's name, Hogback, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke up.
"Y-You mean… the legendary Dr. Vegapunk, the greatest scientist whose technology is centuries ahead of the world, will be coming here?!"
Jake had some impression of Hogback—he wasn't sure how to judge the man, half-good, half-bad.
But since he was here to negotiate business with Moria, he still needed to respond to his subordinate's question.
"Yeah, if you want a photo with Dr. Vegapunk later, just let me know. I'll put in a good word for you."