Ten billion Belly—that was a massive amount of money, enough to make anyone gasp.
In the one piece world, a place filled with fights over money and power, wealth could control almost everything.
However, for the Eternal Divine Kingdom, which now controlled several resource-rich islands, this huge amount was not completely impossible to gather.
After all, the resources on those islands were like endless treasure chests.
With the right planning, saving up that much money was definitely doable.
"But what in the world is this 'faith'?" Ron whispered to himself, his eyes full of total confusion.
"I have never heard of it before. Does it mean making these people believe in me? That seems unlikely."
Ron's thoughts drifted back to the Divine Kingdom.
The faces of the people living there flashed through his mind like scenes from a movie.
On the outside, they obeyed the Eternal Divine Kingdom—maybe because of its scary military power, or because they could live mostly peaceful lives here.
But asking them to worship the Divine Kingdom like hardcore believers, with total loyalty, was going to be difficult.
"System? Bro System?" Ron called out softly in his mind, a hint of hope in his voice.
"Is 'Divine Kingdom Faith' the kind of faith I am thinking of?"
[Divine Kingdom Faith]
[Divine Kingdom Faith comes from the faith value of residents within the Divine Kingdom toward it. The number of people praying or making wishes daily, along with various influencing factors, determines the faith value. For example: devout, loyal, and convinced residents clearly yield higher faith values than ordinary residents.]
[Current Divine Kingdom Population: xxxx]
[Divine Kingdom Faith Value: .3]
Ron stared at the numbers floating in front of him.
His frown grew deeper as he thought to himself, So it is about faith in the Divine Kingdom, a feeling of belonging to it.
But why is the faith score so low? There are over forty thousand people in the Divine Kingdom!
He could not help but complain under his breath, sounding helpless and annoyed.
"Are they all just taking up space in the Divine Kingdom?"
Just then, the system's robotic voice sounded again.
[Faith value is related to the residents' faith in the Divine Kingdom. Residents with 100% loyalty to the Divine Kingdom gain 1 faith point every seven days! Others range from 0.1 to 0.9.]
"Seven days? Does it really have to take that long?" Ron frowned slightly. "It is not like God creating the world in seven days here. This is the one piece world, System."
He sighed helplessly.
It was just too slow.
At this rate, who knew how many years it would take to save up ten thousand faith points?
Ron refused to give up and continued pressing, "Are there not other ways to increase faith points? Like holding some kind of ceremony, or..."
But the system seemed to have vanished, giving no answer.
Ron could only shake his head with a bitter smile.
It seemed this system was stubborn and did not play by normal rules.
"I need to find a way to improve the residents' loyalty..."
Standing on the Dragon's back, Ron squinted against the roaring sea wind that whipped his pure white cape wildly.
His eyes locked onto the far horizon where the sea met the sky.
"It seems I must speed up our expansion."
"Not only must I grow the Divine Kingdom's land, but I must also grow the population!"
"As the population grows, faith points will naturally rise. After all, the amount of faith points is most directly related to the population size."
Ron whispered to himself as a picture popped into his mind: countless believers kneeling loyally on the land of the Divine Kingdom.
Their faith flowing like small streams, joining together into a powerful river that poured right into the Divine Kingdom.
At this thought, a thoughtful smile appeared on Ron's face.
He suddenly realized that the system seemed to change mission rewards based on his actions.
This discovery made his heart skip a beat.
Just like the "Divine Kingdom Faith" reward he got this time—if he had not firmly built the Eternal Divine Kingdom, and if he had not set up his own base in these waters full of chances and dangers, would the system have given him such a great reward?
Obviously not.
[Possibly.]
Just then, the system's emotionless voice suddenly rang out.
The faint smile that had been on Ron's face just moments before froze in place.
"..." Ron shook his head with a helpless, bitter smile.
"You win, System!"
However, upon second thought, Ron's eyes lit up again.
This actually proved that his choice to build the Eternal Divine Kingdom was completely correct!
Every move had been timed perfectly, and every choice built the foundation for where he was now.
And that secret mission he had given to Shiki earlier now looked like a genius move.
Back then, he had simply told Shiki to move islands to expand the Eternal Divine Kingdom's land—a seemingly normal task that now played a huge role in this grand plan.
"Eighth layer, ninth layer, tenth layer... even one hundred layers!"
In his mind, every island on the sea, no matter its size or wealth, would be scooped up to become part of the Eternal Divine Kingdom!
This crazy idea made Ron's heart beat faster.
Yet, he fully understood that doing this was the same as declaring war on the entire sea.
The World Government, the massive power controlling the world's order, would never just sit back and allow such wild growth.
They would definitely step in to stop him.
And what about the Yonko and other pirate crews? How could they allow someone to build so much right under their noses?
Because of this, he had always kept the true goal of this mission a secret from Shiki.
At first, he only had Shiki move some empty, faraway islands, claiming it was to look for minerals and gather resources to build up the Divine Kingdom.
In reality, this was laying the groundwork to grow the Divine Kingdom's land, each step quietly moving him closer to his real goal.
"But it seems the plan needs adjusting now." Ron's eyes grew sharp. "It is time to start moving those inhabited islands. Let them merge into the Eternal Divine Kingdom and become its subjects."
A grand plan had already formed in his mind: countless islands floating around the Eternal Divine Kingdom, stacked layer upon layer reaching high into the clouds.
Each island filled with life and energy, the people living and working in peace, full of respect and faith for the Divine Kingdom.
This power of faith, like bright starlight, would join together into a massive force that would finally help him reach the very top of the world!