Achieving Nothing, I Can Only Be the Pirate King

"We’re not going in."

Sengoku turned toward Sage. "A Pirate negotiating with the Five Elders—an old retired guy like me better stay out of it."

"Hmph, afraid you’ll hear something filthy? Figures. What’s an old retiree doing worrying about so much—might as well go back and enjoy your retirement."

With one hand pressed on the great door, Sage smiled at Sengoku. "You old-timers, one less is one less. Worry more about the people around you. You’re already behind the times. Of course..."

He pushed the door open, revealing the spacious hall inside and a few plain sofas.

Facing the people standing or sitting inside, Sage bared his teeth in a grin. "You’re all rotten old ghosts too!"

Bang!

As Sage stepped in, the pushed-open door swung shut on its own without a breeze, making the corridor, which had been bright, sink back into a bit of gloom.

Sengoku stood at the door, silent.

Tsuru sighed. "Yeah, once you’re old you should quit the sea... but no matter how vast the sea is, there’s nowhere left for us to retreat to. What’s going to happen to Garp?"

"I don’t know."

Sengoku lowered his head slightly, his lenses flashing white. After saying this, his figure seemed to stoop a little more as he turned and walked toward the depths of the corridor.

"Let’s go, Tsuru. There’s one thing that young man was right about: for us old folks, one less is one less. For things like this, we’d best keep out of it from now on... But in the end, I still want to make a bit of a contribution. Wait outside."

Killing a Heavenly Celestial Dragon—he couldn’t do it.

But stopping the Five Elders from suddenly trying to kill Sage—that he could still do.

He knew a lot, and understood some of the history he was supposed to know. For example, eight hundred years ago, what kind of destruction the Ancient Weapons caused, and what sort of resolve was contained in that destruction from those above.

A major threat—if there was truly a chance, those above really wouldn’t mind sinking some more land to ensure the world’s continued peace and stability.

Even raising the sea level two hundred meters didn’t matter; raising it by a few dozen more meters was nothing to them.

But this was something Sengoku could not tolerate.

He had been Navy Fleet Admiral; he knew very clearly what the World Government was, so he had issued many orders that looked heartless, but that didn’t mean he understood nothing.

Those who died because of orders were nothing compared to the possible great war.

If necessary, he had to ensure... that Sage lived.

...

Inside the hall, a few familiar faces were sitting on the sofas.

Warcury’s elbows were propped on his knees, fingers interlaced. When he saw the newcomer, he lifted his head slightly. Beside him, Mars, tall and lanky with his hands in his pockets, looked up at Sage.

Red-skinned Peter had one leg crossed over the other, his expression dark.

Nusjuro sat on another sofa, sword in his arms. Seeing the newcomer, he clicked his tongue.

Other than them, a little farther away sat a man in a white suit with a Navy cloak draped over his shoulders, a cigar at his lips. He lifted his head too, revealing the iron-blooded eyes under his cap.

"A bunch of familiar faces. Even the current Navy Fleet Admiral is here..."

Sage chuckled, then looked at the elder sitting cross-legged on a chair in front, with a crescent-shaped hairstyle and beard. "But there’s one I don’t know. Where’s Saturn? Oh, right, I remember—dead."

He walked forward without the slightest courtesy and sat down on an empty sofa, eyeing the black tea on the table. "For a negotiation, shouldn’t you serve something your guest actually likes? I’m not that interested in this kind of tea."

"How rude."

The crescent-headed elder took off his sunglasses, revealing a face that struck Sage as somewhat familiar. "My name is Figarland·Garling. I’m the new member of the Five Elders. We’ll likely be dealing with each other often from now on, Calamity."

"Oh... that face of yours is really familiar. Reminds me of a certain con man wandering the sea."

Sage looked Garling up and down. "When you were young, did you happen to have red hair?"

"Whether I did or not isn’t important to you. Or is a Four Emperors also the sort who likes prying into other people’s secrets?" Garling said coolly.

"Hahahahaha! That’s fucking hilarious!"

Sage laughed as if he’d just seen the funniest thing in the world.

"So it really is like that? Doffy, that idiot, I can understand—that was a cast-out. But what about Red Hair? What is he, the biggest undercover agent among Pirates—and he’s a Four Emperors?!"

Confirmed.

Red Hair was a Heavenly Celestial Dragon!

A crew member of the Pirate King was actually a Heavenly Celestial Dragon.

Hard to say whether that meant being broad-minded, or just terrible at judging people.

Now it made sense why the man closest to reaching One Piece was still wandering the sea.

Destiny?

Or was there some other hidden story behind this?

Had he been deliberately waiting for something?

"Enough."

Warcury said in a low voice, "Sage, we didn’t bring you here to watch you laugh. You’re here so we can state our demands. What conditions will make you give up Pluton?"

"That’s right—anything."

Peter said, "We can even help you completely take control of the New World, or make you a legitimate member Kingdom, exempt from paying the Heavenly Tribute. We are showing sincerity, Sage. You can do business across this entire sea as you please. As long as you give up that dangerous weapon, we’re willing to accept you."

"Such sincerity is rare, because we have to admit you’re the first existence on this sea today that can stand on equal footing with us."

Nusjuro said, "You could even join us as a Heavenly Celestial Dragon, letting the Norton Clan become World Nobles from now on. It’s not impossible."

"Exactly. And following Dressrosa’s example, the Bindeta Clan would become the Royal Family of O’hara, answering directly to you, and be with us from now on." Mars added.

"Hahahaha, what wonderfully arrogant and prejudiced terms."

Sage burst out laughing again, then paused. "Just hand over the Ancient Weapon that destroyed the Lulucia Kingdom—that’s enough of an exchange."

His laughter stopped, his body leaning forward, eyes full of aggression as he stared at those present. "You must be out of your damn minds—why would I hand over something equal in power to my enemies? All that stuff you mentioned is worthless to me.

"Heavenly Celestial Dragon is just a title you people recognize. I’m a Pirate. What would I want with that? Become a Heavenly Celestial Dragon just to be trapped here and not even have enough to eat?"

"We already said it—he’s never going to accept that kind of deal."

Garling spoke up now. "Let’s talk something practical. What kind of negotiation will keep you from using Pluton?"

"Now we’re talking. At least this new old man knows what’s what. If you couldn’t get it on the battlefield, you think you’ll get it at the negotiating table?"

Sage leaned back into the sofa. "A negotiation needs some real chips on the table. Empty talk is useless. My condition is simple: carve a passage through the Red Earth Continent so my people can go in to do business."

"Anyone sailing under my flag, the Navy is not allowed to hunt them. It’s not like you haven’t done this before—the Seven Warlords of the Sea were created the same way. Anyway, they were formed to check the Four Emperors. Now a Four Emperors is voluntarily stepping up and promising not to cause trouble, so I expect to get the treatment that comes with that."

"My business is special. No Kingdom is allowed to levy taxes on me. Of course, I will levy my own taxes on those Kingdoms. After all, I’ve got a lot of goods. Selling to them improves their quality of life, lets them enjoy O’hara’s advanced lifestyle."

"All that is built up bit by bit by my people. Letting others enjoy it for free isn’t right, so they’ll have to pay extra."

Sage said, "That’s it. If you agree to these, we can talk about anything. As long as you don’t threaten me, I won’t use Pluton."

"You want to become a second World Government?!"

Warcury roared, "How could we possibly agree to those terms?! In that case, who would be in charge—you or us?"

"Doesn’t matter. I just want the business."

Sage waved a hand. "This is a good game of chess. I’m pretty adaptable to rules. You can stand high above and point fingers; I’ll be down below doing the real work. We complement each other."

You go hungry up there, I’ll eat my fill down here. You get your rule, I get my profits. Everyone has a bright future—what’s wrong with that?

They don’t really care what happens below anyway. If they’re that bad at using it, they might as well hand it over to him.