SWNOVELXO Chapter 488: Chapter 2. Manpower
[V3] - Chapter 2. Manpower
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"???"
The king sent people to smash the stores?
Yuto hung up the Den Den Mushi and frowned slightly, falling into brief thought.
Because this sea was simply too vast, it wasn't yet possible to build signal towers on every remote island. So once you left a covered area, you could only rely on the commonly used Den Den Mushi for communication.
You have to understand—
Even Alabasta hadn't been fully covered by signal towers yet, let alone anywhere else.
After all, there just weren't enough people. Even transferring staff from the Ninja World wasn't enough. Otherwise, why else would he have gone through so much trouble to recruit that rebel army from Alabasta?!
"I wonder how Danzo is doing in the North Blue."
After helping them establish a trade route, Yuto left. As for the rest…
If they wanted to defeat the Yuto Group, they'd have to rely on themselves.
He couldn't be the one drawing up the plan to beat his own company—
What a joke!
And over in the Ninja World, Suzune still needed to manage the alternate Ninja World's business, so there was no manpower to spare. Which meant he, the boss, would have to go back to running things again from scratch and quickly build up the Grand Line branch of the Yuto Group.
After all, the Root Group was still on his heels, relentlessly chasing him!
How terrifying!
Thankfully, he had a knack for making money. Otherwise, just dealing with all these scattered islands would have been enough to give him a headache.
Even the God of Delivery would need a full day just to make a single delivery across this sea!
"Mr. Yuto, is something wrong?" The King of the Ryugu Kingdom—King Neptune—asked curiously, "Do you need help from Fish-Man Island?"
"It's just a small issue. No need to trouble yourselves," Yuto shook his head, then added after a brief pause, "Though I'm sorry… the next phase of our cooperation might be slightly delayed."
That's right.
He had come to Fish-Man Island to find manpower. After all, merfolk were quite useful in a sea like this.
Incredible strength, and able to live and work underwater.
They were born laborers!
Even just delivering couriers, they'd be way more efficient at sea than any humans!
Of course, Fish-Man Island had initially refused. After Queen Otohime's death, the country had become extremely wary of humans. Not to mention the recent uproar over the fish-man hero Fisher Tiger, and the subsequent arrest of Arlong from the Sun Pirates by the Marines. Without protection, Fish-Man Island fell into chaos. Human traffickers became rampant, coming to Fish-Man Island to make a quick fortune.
Just one mermaid could fetch 500 million Berries!
You know, even the seas didn't have that many pirates with a 500-million bounty!
Until a few years ago—
Jinbe led the Sun Pirates to join the Whitebeard Pirates, gaining the protection of one of the Four Emperors, Whitebeard, which finally brought some stability to Fish-Man Island.
Of course, even with the Whitebeard Pirates' deterrence, many slave traders still took the risk and secretly snuck in to capture merfolk.
Though today's slaver gangs weren't as rampant as before, Fish-Man Island still deeply resented humans.
So when the seemingly unknown Yuto Group, claiming to be a serious commercial organization, proposed employing fish-men, the Ryugu Kingdom directly refused.
Until he, the boss of Yuto Group—Uchiha Yuto, moved them with [love].
Only then did they agree to give it a try!
After all, there were quite a few unemployed fish-men on the island. And having a decent job is indeed a good thing!
"No problem!" King Neptune shook his head and said thoughtfully, "This gives us time to consult with our people and also to discuss with the leader of the Sun Pirates—Jinbe."
"Then I'll leave it to you. If anything comes up, contact me by Den Den Mushi," Yuto nodded, then stood up, opened the door, and prepared to leave.
Even if Fish-Man Island said no, it didn't matter. At most, he'd just ask Morgans to advertise for the Yuto Group and recruit across the entire sea. With the generous pay, surely some quality workers would turn up?
If not...
He could always head to Wano Country. There were loads of mining samurai over there—probably easier to hire!
Not long after—
Yuto walked out of one of the milk tea shops in Alabasta, frowning as he saw the closed shop being cleaned up inside. He quickly stepped forward, "How bad is it?"
"About half of the milk tea shops were smashed!" Seeing the boss arrive, Koza quickly stepped up, his face serious. "Even a bunch of stores that hadn't opened yet were wrecked!"
"Any casualties?"
"No fatalities so far!" Koza shook his head. Hearing that the boss asked about injuries first, he felt a bit moved and added, "Just a few dozen people injured. Nothing serious—should recover in a few days! But most locations can't reopen for now, and the workers are furious." He hesitated slightly and said, "We're planning to talk to the king about this. Why is he doing this?"
After all—
They had just received a generous paycheck a few days ago, and now their jobs had been smashed to pieces.
How could they not be angry?!
"Get me a report on all injuries." Yuto rubbed his forehead in frustration.
Without Suzune around, everything was such a headache!
It almost felt like starting a business from scratch again.
But back then, when he started in the Land of Fire, he still had Suzune to help him.
The two of them built up from a single small milk tea shop...
All the way to today's Yuto Group!
Those days...
He really missed them.
As soon as he finished speaking—
Koza nodded, though as he recalled the king and the tax exemption policy they'd just received a few days ago, he hesitated. "About the king…"
"It wasn't the king who did it." Yuto paused, sighed, and said, "I had originally planned to do business honestly, using my identity as a rich man. I didn't expect the result would be smashing and looting!" He shook his head with a sigh. "Forget it, I'll go deal with it myself. Doing business really isn't easy!"
At first, all he wanted was to recruit people. Especially thanks to that guy, recruitment in Alabasta had been going quite well. But he never thought that they would end up targeting his Yuto Group instead.
As expected—
Doing business really requires a peaceful environment!
"I'll leave things here to you."
"You're going to the royal palace, boss?" Koza was a bit surprised to see Yuto striding off without hesitation. "Want me to arrange some men to go with you?"
"No need! I'll finish quickly. Just stay here and make sure everyone gets back to work."
"Understood!"
Left with no choice—
Koza could only agree.
As for whether the boss would be in danger…
Given that strange ability of his, if things really got dangerous, he could just open a door and escape instantly. So Koza wasn't too worried.
Suddenly—
He seemed to remember something, and quickly called out, "Oh right! Boss! We just caught someone who dined and dashed—looks like a pirate. What should we do with him?"
"Dined and dashed?" Yuto, already walking away, raised his eyebrows in surprise, but didn't think too much of it. After all, pirates skipping the bill were common on these seas.
So he paused and asked, "Did he hurt anyone?"
"No! Actually, he was pretty well-behaved!"
"Then make him work it off. Once he's earned enough to cover the meal, let him go! I'm not running a charity here. If he refuses, just turn him in for the bounty!"
Saying that—
He walked on without even looking back.
As expected—
Doing business on this ocean is no easy task~
One moment of carelessness and you're hit by some 'zero-dollar shopping at sea'!
"…Work?" Koza frowned slightly, thinking aloud, "I think that guy's a Logia-type user. Turning him in for the bounty might not be that easy!"
Forget it.
Just make him work a day and then kick him out!