The Millennium Falcon underwent another major overhaul before departure.
The giant shipwrights' craftsmanship was excellent.
But no matter how skilled, they specialized in building ships for giants.
The size difference between ordinary humans and giants was a full ten times!
So after arriving at Sphinx, the first thing Silas did was have fish-man shipwright Dean make some detailed adjustments to the Millennium Falcon.
During this period, Silas gave his new crew members a long vacation.
After a year of development, Sphinx had become quite prosperous. Not only had the entertainment industry flourished, but clothing and cuisine had gradually developed their own local characteristics.
Silas regretted that his former chef had not returned. Now the Millennium Falcon's meals were prepared by him and Ripley.
They were not inedible but just slightly above ordinary people's standards.
There was plenty of entertainment on these seas.
But only fine food and wine were irresistible!
Silas sat alone in the White Wolf Pirates' Sphinx headquarters, eating pastries while drinking wine.
Everyone else had gone out.
Ripley, Kozuki Toki, and Linlin had been taken by Lily to buy clothes and cosmetics, while Rocks and Newgate had been taken out by Roya and Ed.
Thinking about it, Silas's expression suddenly turned grim.
Those two bastards would not corrupt Rocks and Newgate, would they?
But just as he straightened up from his reclining chair, Silas lay back down.
Never mind.
They were future maritime emperors. How could they be easily tempted?
Rocks and Newgate were his crew members, not his servants. They would encounter certain things eventually anyway. Rather than passive exposure later, it's better to have veterans like Roya and Ed show them the world.
Silas was reviewing Sphinx's financial reports.
Sphinx had always been profitable. Through helping pirates fence stolen goods and various underground black industries, annual profits reached 300 million Belly.
For a country with only 300,000 permanent residents whose main industry was agriculture, this was already an incredible figure.
Before the arrival of pirate crews led by Duke Gate, this number had been lower. Even after deducting protection fees paid to the White Wolf Pirates, it was more than enough to drive industrial transformation.
Unfortunately, this country's former king and nobles had not seized the opportunity.
If they could not do it, he would do it himself.
The 2 billion Heavenly Tribute was a complete windfall. If not invested, an ordinary person could not spend it in several lifetimes.
Even for investment purposes, given Sphinx's island nation scale, there was no way to spend all that money.
But money not spent would depreciate.
Last year's 2 billion Belly might only have 1.9 billion in purchasing power this year.
So Silas decided to establish a newspaper company.
Following the future underworld emperor "Big News" Morgans' approach, breeding News Coos and controlling worldwide news intelligence.
Of course, Silas would not become the newspaper's public controller, only its behind-the-scenes investor. The simplest method was directly acquiring an existing newspaper.
As for personnel, ideally someone with no apparent connection to the White Wolf Pirates.
"Unexpected!"
After thinking through various options, Silas could only sigh helplessly.
Short on people. Truly short on people.
And under the World Government's covert targeting, casually letting people into his inner circle was courting death.
But there was what Kureha had mentioned.
"Stussy?"
Thinking of what Kureha had told him, Silas's expression was strange. In the future, Stussy's clone joined the CP organization but was a double agent.
Now the CP organization had approached the real Stussy.
But Stussy had long wanted to join the White Wolf Pirates.
As for whether Stussy could be trusted, definitely not.
The White Wolf Pirates' veteran crew members were almost all comrades who had shared life and death, with common ideals. Even just hearing news that they needed to face Admiral-level fighters, they would willingly travel thousands of miles to support him.
If even they were not trustworthy, Silas had no one to trust.
Silas could confidently entrust logistics to them.
While Rocks and the others were pure combatants.
Only responsible for fighting!
Rocks had ambitions but was terrible at personnel management.
Ripley was pure-hearted, as most giants were.
Newgate was family-oriented.
Linlin still needed his guidance, but seeing her favorability at 80, reaching 100 was just a matter of time.
As for Stussy, Silas did not know much about her.
But while Silas did not trust Stussy, he definitely trusted Kureha.
Since Kureha said Stussy was fine, then he could give Stussy a chance.
After brief consideration, Silas did not hesitate long.
Goat Clinic.
Today was also a busy day for Stussy.
As Sphinx's most famous clinic, Goat Clinic charged pirates expensively but ordinary people cheaply.
So the clinic treated countless patients daily. When she was just a nurse, it was manageable, but now as a doctor, every difficult case made her rack her brains.
Sometimes Stussy even questioned life.
Had she studied medicine diligently just to treat these poor people?
She wanted to become the White Wolf Pirates' doctor, climb into Silas's bed, become his woman, and live a comfortable life without worries.
Not to work hard here!
But habit was truly frightening.
Clearly before her was a snot-nosed, shabbily dressed brat who would have disgusted her before.
But now she could force a smile.
"Just a common cold. Keep warm while sleeping these two days. Take this medicine three times daily after meals."
"This is three days' worth. 10 Belly total."
After sending away a kid with a cold, Stussy sighed inwardly.
"Next!"
Then Stussy saw a mountain-sized, scar-faced pirate with an obviously fierce aura appear before her.
"Miss Stussy, are you free today? I have reserved a private room at the town's most scenic restaurant. Would you join me for dinner?"
Saying this, ignoring Stussy's twitching mouth, the large pirate pulled out a crumpled rose from his pocket, looking at Stussy expectantly.
Die, fat pig; stay away from me!
Though roaring this internally, Stussy maintained her professional smile.
"Sorry, I still have patients..."
"Hmm, patients. Are there any?"
Hearing Stussy's words, the large pirate's expression grew stern and fierce. Looking left and right with menacing eyes, he scared away a crowd of patients seeking treatment.
Some patients looked indignant and wanted to intervene but were stopped by others.
"Do you not value your life? That is Demon Clint, an 80 million bounty pirate who has done countless bad deeds!"
Hearing this, the pirate's face showed smug satisfaction.
"Miss Stussy, you should be free now, right?"
Even though Sphinx was under Silas's protection, with so many people on the island, a few fearless ones always emerged.
Moreover, the large pirate saw nothing wrong with his actions.
He had not killed anyone or caused destruction.
He just wanted to invite a beautiful female doctor to dinner.
What was wrong with that?
As a pirate with an 80 million bounty, Clint felt that a small clinic doctor being noticed by him was her good fortune.
His pirate crew happened to lack a doctor. He could just kidnap her aboard. Once at sea, what could the White Wolf Pirates do to him?
Seeing Clint's expression, Stussy knew what he was thinking.
Nine out of ten pirates were like this.
Unable to move when seeing treasure or beautiful women. So beautiful women like her who possessed great wealth definitely could not survive without protection.
"Sorry."
But Stussy still shook her head in refusal.
"I still have work, and this is a clinic under the White Wolf Pirates. If you are not a patient, please leave voluntarily and do not disturb my treatment of other patients."
As more pirates arrived on the island, Goat Clinic had long been affiliated with the White Wolf Pirates, one of Sphinx's few properties actually related to the White Wolf Pirates.
Any pirate with decent information would not think of causing trouble at Goat Clinic.
Even if unaware, after she mentioned "White Wolf Pirates," they would slink away.
But as a vicious pirate, Clint's willingness to politely invite Stussy was already his limit. Now that Stussy had publicly refused him before a crowd, his anger flared.
"Shut up, bitch!"
Clint reached out to grab Stussy behind the consultation desk.
"What White Wolf Pirates! Just a bunch of old geezers! Even if White Wolf Silas appeared before me, I would not fear him!"
Except for New World native pirates, which foreign pirate had not risked nine deaths to enter the New World? Before encountering true powerhouses and learning New World rules, they feared nothing!
Stussy never expected Clint would actually dare attack her.
At other times it might be different.
But now Silas was on this island!
"Is that so?"
A light chuckle came from afar. Having come to find Stussy, Silas had not expected to witness such a show.
Silas approached from the distance.
His pace was not fast, but though over a hundred meters away, Clint's body froze in place, unable to move.
Cold sweat broke out on his forehead. Like an animal meeting its natural predator, though Clint roared internally, his body seemed to lose sensation and would not obey him.
Until Silas reached his side.
"Really not afraid?"
When Silas's voice sounded, Clint snapped like a broken string, suddenly roaring and attacking Silas.
"Go die!"
But Silas did not even need to raise his hand.
Just calmly looking at Clint once, Clint froze mid-charge with fist raised, becoming an ice sculpture.
The surrounding crowd erupted in commotion.
This was an 80 million bounty pirate, turned into an ice sculpture by a single glance, without any ability to resist?
"Silas. That is White King Silas!"
Until someone whispered this recognition, everything was explained.
Silas was a terrifying existence worth 600 million bounty.
Before him, what difference was there between 80 million and 10 million?
All small fry!
"I just heard this guy's bounty was 80 million, right?"
Silas looked at Stussy with a smile.
"Then how about this 80 million Belly serves as compensation for Miss Stussy?"
"Really!?"
Hearing Silas's words, Stussy nearly cried out, almost losing the persona she had been maintaining.
What an old man!
This was an old man. Giving away 80 million Belly without hesitation.
"Haha, of course it is real. But I came here to discuss another matter with Miss Stussy. Would Miss Stussy honor me with dinner?"
"Of course."
"After you finish work."