Lena had already left this place, taking a ship full of pirates with her.
His deal with these gangs was obviously a form of human trafficking, but he didn't feel any psychological burden about it.
Once you come out to be a pirate, and especially the kind that lives by robbery, you're a being that has no human rights by nature. Throwing them to the gangs is a deal; throwing them to the Navy is also just taking money to do a job—still a deal.
If it were like Luffy, running around looking for treasure and acting more like an adventure group, Vane might hesitate a bit.
Only when the other party has value—enough value to him—would he try to subdue them and make use of them.
"Meow, what's going on with this snail, meow? Could it be a spirit?"
Meowth poked the Den Den Mushi with his hand, finding it extremely fascinating. The Den Den Mushi seemed rather indifferent to Meowth's behavior, until Meowth took out a cucumber-like vegetable and placed it in front of the Den Den Mushi. The Den Den Mushi began nibbling at it in small bites.
"It's really alive, meow."
"Of course it's alive. This little guy is as magical as a spirit—it's a multifunctional communication tool."
The internal structure of the Den Den Mushi was extremely fascinating, and this thing was wild, not some kind of technological product. Vane remembered that back when he was still following One Piece, Robin had said you could personally use a wild Den Den Mushi to make a Den Den Mushi capable of communication.
"Buru~ buru buru~"
At that moment, the Den Den Mushi rang.
"Meow, why is it calling?"
"Someone is contacting us."
As Vane spoke, he picked up the receiver on the Den Den Mushi. The Den Den Mushi's expression also changed subtly—clearly that of a woman.
"Hello, hello, may I ask if this is the gentleman on Shell Island who defeated the great pirate? I heard from Lena that the Den Den Mushi had already been delivered to you, so I hurried to contact you."
"Oh right, I forgot to introduce myself. I am the princess of this kingdom, currently on Rose Island."
So it was the princess of this country. At first, Vane thought it would be some gang boss.
"Your Highness the Princess, may I ask what purpose you had in having someone deliver the Den Den Mushi to me?"
Vane guessed it had something to do with the current chaotic pirate situation around Thorn Rose Island.
In fact, it was exactly as he thought. Princess Martha had indeed come to him because of this.
She roughly hoped that Vane could take action in the Thorn Rose sea area to strike the pirate groups, making these pirates not dare to act so recklessly.
"What do I get… If it's honor, then forget it. I need something more tangible. The pirates' full bounties are the bare minimum."
Although exchanging bounties through gangs was convenient, they would skim off a portion of the money. Once or twice didn't feel like much, but as the number of times increased, the shortfall became quite significant.
"The pirates' bounties are what you deserve, and I can also provide supplies to you within a certain scope of authority…"
If you could really provide the supplies I want, then your country wouldn't have been beaten by pirates to the point of cowering on a single island, afraid to come out.
What he wanted was either high-tech products, Devil Fruits, or things like experience in Haki cultivation.
Dealing with pirates was something he could do; there were many possible reasons—even continuing the kindness from the Demon Slayer world. But once it involved a kingdom, he absolutely could not do it for nothing.
You drive away pirates for the townspeople, and the townspeople are grateful and bring out their best food to treat you—that's the most they can do.
If a kingdom asks you to act and only gives you food in return, then the kingdom really doesn't know how to conduct itself.
When Princess Vivi asked the Straw Hat Pirates to save Alabasta, Nami even wanted to ask Vivi for a billion. In the end, both sides became companions, and the final big bomb was carried into the sky and sacrificed by the kingdom's own guardian.
For the princess of the Thorn Rose Kingdom to speak and want Vane to drive away pirates and maintain their rule without paying anything was simply impossible.
The other party wasn't a protagonist who could make him bow his head at the first word.
He didn't understand the other side, so it was better to talk business—both sides would feel more at ease.
"How about this: I do indeed need one thing. If you can get it for me, then for at least the next month, I'll strike pirates in this sea area."
...
The Den Den Mushi hung up.
Princess Martha looked worried. The other party only wanted one thing, and he would help them strike pirates in this sea area.
"Devil Fruit Encyclopedia."
At her level, she naturally knew what this was. The Devil Fruit Encyclopedia was like a useless picture book when you didn't need it, but when you could use it, it could change your life.
For ordinary people, eating even a normal fruit was already a change of fate. For the strong, no one wanted to eat a trash fruit.
The Devil Fruit Encyclopedia was precisely meant to help strong people with the chance to choose avoid trash fruits.
"Devil Fruit Encyclopedia… I feel like I've seen it somewhere… I wonder if Father might have one."
...
"They say the Thorn Treasure is very likely on that Shell Island."
A wealthy town was engulfed in a sea of fire. Against the backdrop of the flames, the Black Panther Pirates were enjoying their spoils.
The captain, Calder, was "entertaining" the pirates who had come to seek refuge with him.
"Yes, Captain Calder. Our captain was defeated by the people there, and the Buri pirate ship—"
His two "companions" had actually been taken out in such a backwater place. What a pity. If only he had acted earlier and swallowed them up.
He was a Devil Fruit ability user, a pirate qualified to rule this sea area. In the future, he would spread his fame throughout the West Blue and eventually head to the Grand Line to obtain the Pirate King's treasure.
"Since we know the treasure is on Shell Island, then we'll go raid Shell Island, gain more funds, build a powerful pirate fleet, and become the Pirate King."
"But boss, weren't we already planning to raid the next island?"
"It doesn't matter. We'll raid while heading over."
How clever—just align the raiding route with the destination. Neither gets delayed.
A remnant quietly asked his companion, "He really won't leave, right?"
Another remnant said, "Don't worry about that. The people on the island are pretty fierce too. Anyway, no matter who wins or loses, we won't get a Devil Fruit. In that case, it's best if they don't fight at all. If we arrive a bit later, maybe that person will have already left."
Those who came to seek refuge naturally hoped that fewer problems were better than more. Captain Calder was indeed very strong, but the ones who took down their original two pirate ships were also experts. If the two sides fought, the outcome was hard to say.
They didn't want to experience the risk of losing their backer again right after defecting.
It was just a pity they couldn't persuade Calder. Relying on his status as a Devil Fruit ability user, he had already become far too arrogant. How could they change his decision?
They delayed quite a bit of time by raiding along the way. Hopefully, the other party had already left Shell Island.
...
"Look, meow! These are the cannonballs I made, meow."
Meowth was inventing again. This time, what he made were cannonballs.
"These cannonballs can be loaded into a cannon and fired, or you can manually light the fuse and throw them, meow."
Vane picked up one of the cannonballs. There was a cat paw print on it. It seemed that Meowth's inventions would always have cat paw prints on them, just like a trademark.
"This cannonball seems a bit small."
"That's because the cannon I made is small too, meow."
In the pirate world, cannons were basically the bigger the better in terms of range. So cannons were rarely pushed around; they were usually installed in fixed positions, such as on a ship's gunwale.
The bigger the cannon, the stronger the power. The cannon Meowth made… used the simplest materials to achieve one-quarter the weight of cannons with the same power.
"That's really impressive. Two people can just push it along."
"Meow, it's just that the materials aren't good enough. Otherwise, I could make something even better. The cannonballs could also be made more aerodynamic."
Aerodynamics? Meowth, what kind of books did you read when you were learning human language back then?