Nami still felt dazed.
When Reddy asked if she wanted to do a big deal, she had imagined many kinds of highly profitable businesses.
But she never expected Reddy to hand this business over to her.
"I must be dreaming."
Nami watched as the crowd formed an orderly line under the watchful eyes of two intimidating monster dogs. She secretly pinched herself.
It hurt!
Only then did Nami confirm she wasn't dreaming.
Thinking of this, she excitedly focused on a man who had just paid and was about to carry away two bags of flour. She mocked, "Today, everything including flour is in unlimited supply."
The man gave an awkward laugh, then hurried away with the flour he had just bought.
If he didn't leave quickly, the glares from the people still in line would have driven him mad.
"Nami-chan, is it really unlimited supply?"
Someone in the queue asked curiously.
Nami looked over and immediately flashed a confident smile. "Uncle Wells, of course it's unlimited."
The bakery owner, Wells, gave her a thumbs-up.
The skyrocketing grain prices these past two days had kept him on edge.
Others only worried about going hungry, but he not only worried about hunger but also his business.
Originally, he had his own supplier, but these past two days, he couldn't get enough flour, forcing him to personally rush to buy it.
Soon, it was Wells' turn.
This boss, who had made a fortune from Loguetown's rise, bought five tons of flour in one go.
"Do you need help transporting it?"
Nami grinned at Wells, who was now fretting over how to move everything. She urged, "You can trust me, it'll be the lowest price."
"Then I'll leave it to you."
Wells immediately felt relieved.
One bag of flour weighed 25 kilograms, so five tons amounted to 200 bags.
There was no way he could move all that by himself.
Nami triumphantly snapped her fingers.
"Make way!"
Several teenagers pushed through the crowd with handcarts and quickly loaded the flour onto them.
Wells relaxed and led them out of the crowd.
With this example, no one doubted Nami's honesty anymore.
The line became even more orderly, completely free of the panic from the past two days, and smiles returned to their faces.
Nami was ecstatic.
This kind of guaranteed profitable business was something she had never experienced in her life.
Until a fat man stood in front of her.
"How much grain do you have?"
The fat man craned his neck, trying to peer into the store, and impatiently urged, "No matter how much you have, I'll take it all!"
Nami blinked.
Before she could speak, the people in line erupted in anger.
"He's a merchant!"
"I've seen him before. He has at least three ships full of grain at the docks!"
"He wants to starve us all to death!"
"... "
Facing the crowd's curses, the fat man remained unfazed and sneered, "Isn't this an unlimited sale?"
The crowd fell silent.
Though they wanted to beat this fat man up, no one dared to act under Reddy's decrees.
This made the fat man even more brazen.
"Little girl, this isn't how you do business."
Confident no one would attack him, the fat man adopted a condescending tone. "Grain prices are still soaring. If you limit sales, you can earn wealth beyond your wildest dreams."
Rather than buying all the grain from Nami, he preferred to rope this young girl into price gouging for massive profits.
After all, he had already bet everything he had.
The past two days had allowed him to recover some costs and make a killing, but buying all the grain here at regular prices was impossible.
"Are you buying or not?"
Since Reddy had secretly covered all the costs, Nami wasn't foolish enough to cut him out. Her single question left the fat man stammering.
"Yeah, yeah!"
"If you're not buying, get lost!"
"Nami-chan, don't mind him. My family is almost out of food!"
"... "
The crowd now realized this merchant probably didn't have enough money to buy everything and began jeering.
"Of course I'm buying!"
Just then, commotion broke out at the back of the line, and soon the crowd parted to reveal a convoy.
Each carriage was loaded with chests.
The man at the front smiled faintly and signaled his attendants to unload the chests.
When the chests were opened, the crowd gasped.
Most were filled with neatly stacked bills of Berries, while one chest gleamed with gold and jewelry.
Nami's eyes turned into Berry symbols at the sight of so much money and treasure.
"Total value is about 10 billion Berries. Is that enough?"
The man wore a confident smile, thrilling the fat man, who eagerly shook his hand.
Perfect timing!
The man smiled slightly and discreetly withdrew his hand.
Part of this money was pooled by other merchants, while the rest was his own funds.
Loguetown might belong to Reddy now, but the town's banks still belonged to the World Government.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to produce 10 billion Berries in cash and gold so quickly.
This sum had practically emptied the town's bank vaults.
The merchants only had to sign loan agreements with high interest rates.
Now, no matter how much he disliked these merchants for acting on their own, he had no choice but to press on until they won this grain war.
"More than enough!"
Nami nodded vigorously and seized the chance to promote her logistics business. "Do you need help transporting it? Just 100 million Berries, and I'll make sure everything is handled smoothly."
"Then we'll leave it to you, little girl."
A 100-million-Berry transport fee was indeed extortionate, but the man couldn't afford to care now. Their coalition couldn't possibly move 10 billion Berries' worth of grain on their own.
"Please trust my credibility."
Nami's eyes turned into Berry symbols again.
The grain business was given by Reddy. Selling at regular prices meant slim profits—she only earned a small service fee.
But the logistics business was her own idea.
This was all her own money.
"Why don't we just buy this shop?"
The fat merchant winced at the exorbitant transport fee and muttered under his breath.
The man gave him a sidelong glance but didn't respond.
Nami was young.
For someone her age to handle such a large business, she undoubtedly had a powerful backer.
Without even thinking, he knew Nami's patron had to be Reddy.
Since Reddy wasn't resorting to underhanded tactics but playing by commercial rules, he wasn't afraid to face Reddy head-on and defeat him.
Soon, Nami gathered the workforce she had organized earlier.
"Listen up, this is a huge deal!"
Nami looked at her young friends emerging from the open-air workshop and raised her hand triumphantly. "Let's begin. Make sure our big clients are satisfied!"
The children cheered and started loading bags of grain onto the handcarts.
"Nami-chan..."
The others grew anxious, hesitating to speak.
By now, they had all guessed Nami's background, and no one dared to cause trouble.
"Relax, they'll buy theirs, you'll buy yours. There's enough for everyone!"
Nami was entirely absorbed in this big deal and waved dismissively, signaling the others to buy their grain or watch quietly without bothering her.
The crowd relaxed and obediently lined up to make purchases.
The grain merchant coalition, led by the man, was stunned.
Where did all this grain come from?
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