We purchased various foodstuffs and clothes on the island with the Marine branch and returned to the 'Odyssey' to continue our voyage. The fruits I had found were only 2 from the Zoan type. So this time, thinking of finding more fruits, I took [Jack Sparrow's Compass] and moved to where the needle pointed.
After moving for about 2 hours, I found an island with strange ocean currents around it. The compass needle from [Jack Sparrow's Compass] was spinning round and round again, so I teleported to the island and started searching for Devil Fruits.
Searching like that, I saw one fruit, and this was a fruit I knew.
"Oh! This is the 'Mera Mera no Mi'!"
That meant this was 'Sixis' Island. I held the Mera Mera no Mi and pondered. Since it's the fruit Ace eats, I didn't know what would happen to the original story if I ate it.
"Who cares!"
After thinking for a moment, I ate it immediately. Honestly, I disliked Ace. How many people died or got injured because of Ace.
"Strangely, there are many women who like Ace, they say."
I can't really understand it, but apart from being cool and Luffy's brother, Ace's actions were definitely wrong. Now that I've eaten the Mera Mera no Mi, I hope Ace gains some maturity instead of acting recklessly relying on his ability. Then is it not Ace? Anyway, I finished eating the Mera Mera no Mi and returned to the Odyssey.
Now I immediately moved to East Blue. I could probably find more fruits if I tried, but it seemed hard to get any better fruits, so I decided to focus on establishing a base. I also needed to quickly create goods to sell.
After moving for about 4 hours, I finally arrived at 'Loguetown'. I planned to purchase necessary goods here to take with me. I gathered all the personnel aboard the Odyssey.
"We've arrived at Loguetown. We won't be able to come to a big city for a while, so buy everything you want. Especially, take good care of the kids and don't wander off separately. Stick together. If you get kidnapped this time, I might not be able to save you."
"Yes!"
We all gathered, held my hands, and teleported to Loguetown. Loguetown's public order was relatively good, but we couldn't let our guard down. And since they all had enough beauty to be sold as slaves, who knew what misfortune might occur.
As expected, as we walked around, we started attracting attention. They tried to ignore those stares, firmly holding the children's hands and following me. We first entered a clothing store and started buying clothes each wanted. Being women, it took some time. 'Mary' was responsible for picking out the kids' clothes.
Next, we purchased loads of food ingredients. It seemed like we bought about half of the items in the market. We didn't just buy randomly; with 'Lan's' help, we bought items in good condition and new ingredients.
Then we went to a jewelry store and sold Seastone. This time too, I earned more than I spent. Perhaps from walking a lot, the kids were tired, so we rested for a while in what looked like a plaza and bought them each ice cream.
Then a group of men approached and started harassing the women.
"Oh~ Pretty lady? How about having some fun with me?"
They were spouting lines like third-rate villains. The women, having memories of being kidnapped, were frightened and trembling without a word.
"Hey! Don't mess with my employees?"
Puhahahaha!
When I spoke loudly, the guys found it ridiculous and started laughing holding their stomachs.
"Prince on a white horse. Trying to act like a hero because there are women? Puhahaha!"
I quickly moved and started beating the guy who looked like the leader to death.
Thump thump thump!
"Gah! Keuk! It hurts, stop!"
Some guys seeing that tried to back away and run, but I immediately pulled them back with [Telekinesis] and beat those who tried to run first.
Thump thump thump thump!
"Arg!" "Guah!" "Save me!"
After properly pounding them, I made them kneel and sit.
"Everyone, repeat after me. Manners!"
"Manners!" "Manners!" "Manners!"
"Make!"
"Make!" "Make!" "Make!"
"A person!"
"A person!" "A person!" "A person!"
"Hey! Your voice is small, want to get hit more?"
"No."
"Louder again!"
"Manners make a person!"
People seeing that chuckled and passed by. With such a commotion, Marines came. Among them was a Marine holding a cigarette; he seemed to be Smoker. I didn't see Tashigi. Well, it's 10 years earlier, so natural?
"We received a report of a disturbance and came."
"It's because these guys..."
I explained that I was giving them proper education for harassing the women. The women behind also testified together.
"I see, understood. Hey, take them away!"
"Yessir!"
Following Smoker's order, the Marines started taking away the kneeling gang.
"Haven't seen your face around here before."
"I'm a merchant. Here's my World Government certificate."
I took out the merchant certificate and showed it to Smoker. Smoker read the certificate and returned it.
"I see. You're not a slave trader by any chance, are you?"
Seeing the women behind, he seemed to have misunderstood. But the women and kids hearing that ran over and cleared up the misunderstanding.
"No. We're employees."
"Brother is a good person!"
"I, I see. Understood. Withdraw!"
Smoker was momentarily flustered, then gave the order and withdrew with the Marines. After that incident, they stuck even closer. We moved to a bookstore, purchased books about ingredients and cooking, and also books like fairy tales or study materials needed for the young girls, and finally bought a few high-grade Den Den Mushi. After checking personnel, we teleported back to the ship.
They also seemed tired from being tense while out, so they all rested on sofas or chairs. The kids went to their rooms and fell asleep immediately. I let them rest without a word and, since we had arrived in East Blue, I increased altitude and started flying around East Blue to find a useful large uninhabited island.
After flying around for a while and creating maps with AI, an uninhabited island located somewhere between Loguetown and Baratie caught my eye. Going down to check, the size was appropriate and there was clean water in the center of the island.
"This place looks good."
I parked the ship on the shore and everyone came out to look around the island. The kids played running on the shore. After warning them not to go far, I started creating a wall around the island by scooping up seawater into a huge square shape using [Control], [Telekinesis], [Gura Gura no Mi], and [Matter Manipulation] and turning it into stone. Since seawater was plentiful, I could easily create it without consuming the island's resources. Still, due to the scale, it taking time was unavoidable.
It took about a week to create a wall 20m thick and 40m high made of dense granite without gaps, making it sturdy, hard to climb, and smooth. I then created high ground inside the island and started building a large building on it. Not the most cutting-edge, but at least I made sure the boiler and air conditioning system, water supply and sewage treatment worked well. Of course, I separately created a research facility in the basement where my office and room were located.
To prepare for potential attacks, I created an enormous ship lift like a modern canal that could let large ships into the harbor using the height difference by taking in seawater when entering the island. This way, pirate ships couldn't directly enter and attack.
It was a base that took almost a month to barely complete. During that time, the women spent time teaching the kids and preparing meals. Perhaps because they all shared painful memories, there were no big fights. For security, I temporarily used drones I had made in the MCU. Since there were almost no pirates using Observation Haki in East Blue, drones would be sufficient for the time being.
After completing the base like that, I gathered the women and started producing goods. With 7 adults and 3 kids, the speed wasn't great, but with the help of drones, they could package goods while getting enough rest. Occasionally pirates came nearby, but I teleported and instantly beheaded them, absorbing their lifespans.
One day, it wasn't pirates but Marines who came. Looking closely, Garp was waving his hand, so I used the ship lift to raise their ship.
"Long time no see. You said Taejin, right?"
"Long time no see, Vice Admiral Garp."
We shook hands. Garp suddenly put strength into the handshake. This guy always shows off strength at times like this. I couldn't lose either, so I immediately put in strength.
"Hee hee hee, as expected, you're strong."
"Hoo hoo hoo, Vice Admiral Garp is no pushover either."
We had a proper strength contest and then let go.
"The reason we came is because a large structure suddenly appeared, so we came to check."
"I see. This is a base where we merchants produce goods to sell. We don't have many employees yet. It hasn't been long since it was built."
"I see."
I introduced the employees. Since there were only a few, it ended quickly.
"All beauties. You lucky bastard."
"Hahaha, it just turned out that way while searching. And I'm thinking of running an orphanage too; could I get help from the Marines?"
"Oh~ I see. Then can we send war orphans or children without homes here?"
"Of course. Actually, we were short on hands and also built a school for the kids. And one more request—could you send someone who can teach martial arts? Since this base was just built, security is vulnerable. And they're all women."
"I see. I'll talk to headquarters once. If you're taking care of orphans, that much should be fine. And I'll talk about reducing taxes too."
I wondered why that topic wouldn't come up. In the One Piece worldview, taxes, aka 'Heavenly Tribute,' are the Marines' operating funds and the Celestial Dragons' allowance. Since I don't plan to antagonize the World Government yet, I didn't say anything.
"Oh right, and here's some liquor we made as a product; try it."
I also made liquor, mass-producing tasty, well-aged liquor I brought from the MCU. The liquors sold in the One Piece worldview had less developed brewing techniques, making them quite rough and high in alcohol content. Of course, the liquor I produced was also high in alcohol, but it was quite smooth and high-class.
Garp took the glass I gave him, savored the aroma, and took a drink.
"Oh~ This is good liquor! Tasty. The aroma is high-class too. Can I get some to take when I go?"
"Of course. But is Luffy doing well?"
"That guy's the same as ever. Not training, just running away all the time."
Perhaps because he was in a good mood from drinking, Garp kept smiling and talking. Anyway, it's fortunate to maintain good relations with the Marines too. We agreed to contact each other via Den Den Mushi and parted. When leaving, I loaded the Marine ship with gifts of MCU-brand German high-quality sausages and three barrels of liquor.
A few days later, I got a call from Garp.
-The World Government has given permission. We decided to send orphans too, and for the time being, the Marines will patrol and provide support, so don't worry. Giving them one barrel of the liquor you gave me made the persuasion faster. They said to only take 30% tax and send the rest as liquor.
"I'm glad it worked out well."
-I used some influence, so send some liquor to Marine Headquarters. And sausages too. Everyone tasted them and really liked them.
"Understood. I'll send them."
After a few more days passed like that, the Marines arrived with the children. But the Vice Admiral who came from the Marines happened to be 'Aokiji Kuzan'. Behind him was Hina too.
"You must be Vice Admiral Aokiji. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you. Merchant Taejin, right? The liquor we had at headquarters was so delicious that I came personally. And this is Commander Hina. I brought her as a teacher to teach the kids martial arts."
"Nice to meet you. Taejin, I'm Hina."
Hina, perhaps because it was 10 years earlier, was still a Commander. Just like in the original, she had long pink hair and wore sunglasses. And she was quite tall, seeming over 180cm. As expected, my looks seemed to work on Hina too, as she greeted me with a slight blush on her face.
"But as the rumors say, you really are handsome. Hina is a girl who thinks of men as stones, but seeing her face turn red makes me envious."
At those words, Hina turned around and covered her face with her hands.
"Hina, you didn't have to panic."
First, I guided the orphans and Marines brought by the Navy to the dining hall and treated them to a meal. It was food I had prepared in advance. While researching ingredients and making food, I had accumulated more dishes than I could handle, so I had stored them in my inventory.
"Oh~ Tasty. I want to stay here forever."
"Hina is impressed. So delicious."
"The liquor is tasty, there are pretty working ladies, is this heaven? Can I stay here for a bit?"
"Of course. On the condition that you don't bother the female employees."
"That... can't you let it slide a bit?"
Seeing the Marines and orphans eating deliciously made me feel good. I took out ice cream from my inventory as dessert.
"Even dessert is delicious."
"Come when you retire. I'll create a job for you. Teach the kids or something."
"Ara ara... Retiring from the Marines... This really makes me think."
"Hina is disappointed."
It wasn't an empty remark. Later, when he really does retire, coming here would be better for Aokiji than going to the pirates. From that day on, Hina taught basic martial arts to the kids and employees, while Aokiji was drinking liquor or hitting on the employees, so when I said something, he sulked and just drank more liquor.