The first large trading ship of the Four Seas Alliance officially set sail.
On this special day, Wapol, the king of the Drum Kingdom, was nowhere to be found.
Along with him, his two ministers, Chess and Kuromarimo, and many guards had also disappeared.
When Crocodile asked about this, Dalton couldn't help but cover his forehead, wishing he could find a crack in the ground to hide in.
"They ran away in a submarine..."
Dalton frowned and replied, "The king of a country actually became a pirate because he was scared!"
"Hehehehe, that's interesting."
Crocodile glanced at Rowan next to him, "Hey, the king has run away, who are you going to ally with?"
"I don't plan to ally with a big metal mouth anyway."
Rowan answered with a smile, obviously in a good mood today, "The Four Seas Alliance is fine with just the Drum Kingdom itself, does it matter who the king is?"
A resident of Drum Island also chimed in, "That's right! Wapol is not a king at all, why not let Dalton be the one!"
As soon as this was said, more people began to agree.
"I trust Dalton to be king!"
"I agree!"
"Dalton, don't refuse!"
"..."
They had suffered under Wapol's rule for a long time and missed the peaceful and stable Drum Kingdom under the old king.
On Drum Island today, Dalton is the only one who can lead this country like the old king.
Dalton waved his hands repeatedly, but couldn't refuse at all, and finally could only reluctantly nod in agreement.
After all, the Drum Kingdom has just established a fixed shipping route with Alabasta, and trade between merchants or academics will be very frequent.
If there is no leader, even if Rowan himself doesn't mean it, the people of the Drum Kingdom won't be able to stand in the Four Seas Alliance on a relatively equal footing.
This is Dalton's responsibility as the captain of the Drum Kingdom Guards.
"I understand, then I'll take care of it for now."
Dalton nodded to the surrounding residents, receiving cheers.
At the same time, some people from the Drum Kingdom had already prepared to board the ship.
Among them, there were a small number of merchants and soldiers, but most were elites in the field of medical research.
Led by Doctor Kureha, these people will be the first users of the fixed route, traveling to Alabasta with Rowan and others.
This even includes the quack doctor Hiluluk.
Kureha pulled Hiluluk aside and said in a low voice, "Hey, you quack, sea voyages are very tiring!"
Hiluluk waved his hand, laughing loudly, "It's okay, it's not like I've never been to sea before."
"Stop joking, you know I don't mean that!"
Kureha's face darkened, and she said seriously, "Your body...can it still handle it?"
As a skilled doctor, she had long known the fact that Hiluluk had a terminal illness. That so-called "being cured by the miracle cherry blossoms" was just a "miracle," and a miracle wouldn't happen a second time.
In other words, Hiluluk is still suffering from a terminal illness and doesn't know when it will strike again!
This man can't die peacefully.
But Hiluluk looked relaxed and indifferent when he heard this.
"Kureha, compared to some crazy terminal illness, I'd rather create a miracle drug that can cure all diseases!"
He looked at Kureha and grinned, "So, let me work harder!"
"Tch, whatever, just don't die at sea..."
A trace of worry flashed in Kureha's eyes, but she still cursed a few times as usual.
Hiluluk laughed even more happily, turned around and shouted to the residents of the Drum Kingdom, "Hey, don't worry, it's easy to travel together with a fixed route, we'll be back soon!"
As soon as this was said, the residents of the Drum Kingdom immediately became excited.
"Don't come back, you quack!"
"Doctor Kureha, come back soon!"
"Quack, don't harm the people of other countries!"
"..."
Hiluluk looked at those people with a smile, not feeling upset by the words of disgust.
He believed that one day, he would find that "miracle."
Pulling down his hat, Hiluluk was the first to board the big ship, followed closely by a group of people from the Drum Kingdom.
Vivi, Crocodile, and some of the Alabasta Royal Army also boarded the ship.
The other part of the Alabasta Royal Army stayed in the Drum Kingdom, and among them were many engineers who would help the residents here expand and maintain the original docks.
Rowan also boarded the big ship and gave the order to set sail.
Dalton stood on the dock, waving goodbye to the people on the big ship.
The first route of the Four Seas Alliance was declared established!
...
Half a day later.
The Four Seas Alliance's ship sailed on the sea.
Crocodile sat on a box under the mast, enjoying the sea breeze and smoking a cigar.
Rowan settled Vivi down and also walked onto the deck.
"...Is it feasible?"
Crocodile suddenly asked a question out of the blue.
Rowan smiled, "What's feasible?"
"The establishment of this fixed route, and the protection measures you have planned."
Crocodile tapped the ash of his cigar and explained, "Trading ships on fixed routes—this is simply a piece of fat that drives pirates crazy, they won't be able to resist."
He looked at the sea and pointed out, "Although you have established places for troops to stay on each section of the route, this is the sea after all, and you can't guarantee safety at all times. Pirates will always find loopholes to attack."
"A giant like the World Government might be afraid of you, but those small pirate groups won't be."
Crocodile smiled darkly, "Maybe one day, someone on the ship will be enjoying the sea breeze and smoking a cigar, and suddenly get robbed by pirates, what will you do?"
Rowan replied, "I'll have Bell, Chaka, or Hocker follow the ship a few more times."
"Strong people can protect for a while, but they can't protect forever."
Crocodile retorted, "You don't have that many experts to send to protect every ship."
Rowan shook his head, "You don't need to protect many, just protect a few times."
He reached out and pointed to the flag of the Four Seas Alliance flying on the ship, and said:
"As long as the pirates remember the flag of the Four Seas Alliance, that's enough."
"Hmm?" Crocodile raised an eyebrow, "What are you going to do?"
Rowan asked in return, "Why don't pirates rob World Government ships?"
Crocodile couldn't help but laugh, "They're not stupid, rob World Government ships? Are you looking for death..."
Having said that, Crocodile suddenly realized what Rowan was going to do.
At this moment, the lookout from the watchtower sounded the whistle.
"Pirate ship appeared at six o'clock!"
Everyone looked, and sure enough, they saw a medium-sized sailboat. No one recognized the black banner on it, it was probably some third-rate ordinary pirate crew.
The pirates on the deck were cheering, seemingly excited to have discovered an unknown trading ship.
Rowan patted Crocodile on the shoulder.
"Go easy."
Crocodile got up and spat out a puff of smoke, "How easy?"
Rowan thought for a while, "Leave 10%?"
Crocodile frowned slightly, felt a little unhappy, and casually said, "I'll try my best."
He understood what Rowan was using to maintain the long-term safety of the route.
The method is simple:
Just like the World Government's position in people's minds, Rowan wants all the pirates in this sea area to remember the flag of the Four Seas Alliance.
Remember the fact that "once you attack the Four Seas Alliance, you will face an extremely miserable end!"
...
The pirate captain excitedly brought the ship closer, calling for his men to throw grappling hooks, intending to pull over that ship that looked very valuable.
He picked up an amplified Den Den Mushi, intending to shout, but suddenly it seemed like there was a small black spot in front of him.
Looking closely, the pirate captain found that it was a grain of sand.
"Huh?"
"What the hell?"
...
Three minutes later.
The four surviving pirates rowed the lifeboat, desperately fleeing.
And it was at that moment that the name "Four Seas Alliance" and the flag representing the Four Seas Alliance began to spread on this sea!
Crocodile returned to the ship, raised his hand and created a sandstorm, blasting the pirate ship to pieces.
But the pirate ship did not sink, but maintained a shaky feel and floated into the distance.
Rowan nodded slightly to Crocodile, "Thank you, little Crocodile."
"Don't get me wrong, I'm just very unhappy!"
Crocodile frowned, suddenly smiled darkly, "But if you really thank me, answer me a question?"
Rowan nodded, "Ask."
"Medicine—can be applied to daily life, but it is also an indispensable part of war."
Crocodile became somewhat interested, "I don't think you're bringing a large group of medical elites here just to build a medical research institute in Alabasta, so what are you going to do next?"
"So you were curious about this."
Rowan didn't mean to hide it, directly pointed to the sky, and smiled:
"Next, let's go to space."
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