The fact that the Straw Hats are in such a difficult situation now is largely due to the fact that he stole the other party's opportunity in advance without the other party's knowledge.
For example, in the previous "Drum Island", although the original work did not explain how much reward the Straw Hats received after defeating "Valpo", Luo Jie was able to discover 10 billion beli's worth of property from the palace and just sat on the throne of the king.
"Buffalo Dalton" has to pay tens of millions of beli to express his gratitude no matter what.
Without this money, Luo Jie could not imagine how the Straw Hats managed to reach the "Desert Country of Alabasta" - you know, even in the original work where the plot was not interfered with, they were about to reach "Alabasta"
Before, "Luffy" was so hungry that he started eating fish and insects.
"Sky Island" is an important gold point for the Straw Hats.
In the original work, "Nami" used the gold she brought back from the sky island to exchange for a total of 300 million beli. Although 100 million beli was spent by a fool captain who treated the whole city to dinner with a wave of his hand, at least the rest was
200 million beli did a very important thing - built their second ship [Thousand Miles of Sunshine].
And now that the gold in "Sky Island" has been cut off by him, no matter how much the will of the world takes care of "Luffy", it may not be that easy to make up for a gap as big as 200 million beli.
The key is that "Nicole Robin" is on board, which means that the "Judiciary Island Chapter" is coming, and the Straw Hats may not have any extra time to hunt for treasure.
As I have said many times before, Boss Luo is a shameless person.
Having robbed the Straw Hats of so many opportunities, it would be unjustifiable not to give them some compensation.
How to give compensation is a science - it does not mean just throwing out a sum of money. Without a logical and self-consistent reason, it will only increase the other party's suspicion and even create resentment.
"Luffy, you seem to be short of money. I have a private commission here. I wonder if you are willing to accept it?" Luo Jie accepted the iced drink sent by "Sanji", thanked him and said casually.
"We are all friends, why talk about money..."
Before "Luffy" could finish speaking, "Nami" strangled his neck and covered his mouth, and "Usopp" who came to help tied "Luffy" into a rice dumpling.
"Mr. Nightmare, our captain hasn't woken up just yet. Don't listen to his nonsense... What is the commission? How much is the reward?"
Since boarding this broken ship, "Nami", who has always loved money as much as her life, has been subjected to inhuman torture. Now when she sees seagulls landing on the side of the ship, she wants to go up and pluck a handful of hair. It is rare that the God of Wealth comes to her door today to bring money.
How could he possibly let that idiot captain get into trouble?
Luo Jie smiled: "This task is not difficult. It mainly depends on luck. I think your luck has always been good..."
"Nami" and "Usopp" are almost in tears. Living with an unreliable captain has led to such a miserable life. Your eyes can see that we are lucky...
“Ever heard of ‘pure gold’?”
"Is it very pure gold?"
"No, 'pure gold' is a special metal that looks like gold. It is said that it can give the holder a long life, but no one knows where it exists specifically."
"Pure Gold" is a treasure from the original animated plot "Heart of Gold", and Luo Jie naturally knows where it is hidden.
But there is actually no difference between knowing and not knowing, because this thing is inside a lantern fish that is larger than the island. If you want to lure out this lantern fish, you must first have a small amount of "pure gold", and the only "pure gold" in existence
It was in a little girl who lived for 200 years.
The original book did not directly mention where this little girl was. Anyway, she was on the warship of CP0, the world government's secret service agency, right at the beginning.
It doesn't really matter whether you can get "pure gold". What's important is that the value of this thing is high enough, which can provide Luo Jie with a good excuse to send money to the Straw Hats.
"Is there such a treasure? It's not just a lie made up by boring people, right?" "Usopp" spread his hands in disbelief.
"Then do you believe in the existence of "empty islands"?" Luo Jie asked with a smile.
"Are you talking about the story in Rolando, the Great Storyteller, in which the protagonist deceives the king and tells him that the Golden Land is in heaven?"
Although few people in the world know the existence of "Empty Island", its prototype story "Rolando" is well-known as a children's book that educates children not to lie.
"I just came back from Sky Island, and I also found the legendary golden land "Shandora"." Luo Jie took out a dozen Sky Island shells from the storage space and threw them to the stunned "Usopp".
Said: "This is a souvenir I brought back from Kongdao. It can be regarded as a souvenir for you."
Unlike the rest of the Straw Hats who were confused, "Nicole Robin" still had some knowledge. He picked up a [Lamp Shell] from "Usopp", turned it on and off repeatedly, nodded and said: "I'm in the book."
I have seen these shells on the Internet. No one knows where these magical shells with only shells and no meat come from. The shells currently on the market are all fished out accidentally by fishermen. It turns out that these things actually grow in the sky. No wonder there are no
People can find living bodies..."
"It turns out that the Golden Land really exists..."
"Nami" felt her heart bleed. They are both beautiful girls with both beauty and intelligence. Why is it that "Karina", a little fox, can follow a reliable captain to enjoy life, but she is followed by a weirdo?
The captain has been so miserable that he is about to eat fish and insects?
The more she looked at the squirming straw hat fool on the deck, the angrier she became. She stomped on the elastic head as if to vent her anger, turned around and blinked her cute big eyes, rubbed her hands together and said with a smile: "I don't know about this mission.
What’s the reward?”
Luo Jie smiled and opened his hands.
"Nami"'s eyes lit up: "Does this...do two 50 million dollars mean?"
"It's 1 billion." Luo Jie corrected, "As long as you agree to accept the commission, I can pay half of the deposit in advance."
"Nami" almost fainted from Boss Luo's "golden domineering spirit". If she hadn't worried about her beauty and intelligence as a beautiful girl, she would have almost jumped on him and hugged her thigh.
"Um...is 1 billion too much? In fact, Mr. Nightmare, you don't need to pay that much down payment at all, you just need to pay a token amount."
"If 'pure gold' does exist somewhere along the Grand Line, a definite clue alone is actually worth 1 billion. I am trying to make a big difference with a small amount, so a 500 million deposit is not too much."
"Luffy" was quickly untied, and under the threat of "Nami", he reluctantly signed a commission contract with Luo Jie.
"As the captain, I have a few words for you, don't take money so seriously..."
"Shut up! Who do you think we are because of being so poor?"
Luo Jie smiled, picked up the dog and shook it head down. Countless gold coins fell out of the dog's mouth and piled up into a small mountain on the deck.
These golds were originally parts of the [Ark·Proverbs]. Luo Jie thought they were too big and bulky, so he asked Gouzi to use the "Tuntun Factory" to recast them into standard gold coins circulating in the market.
"This is 500 million deposits. You can count them."
"Tuntun Factory" has an extremely accurate weighing function, and Luo Jie has no worries about the quantity of these gold coins.
"No, no need, we completely trust you, Mr. Nightmare."
"Nami" threw herself on the pile of gold coins with an intoxicated look on her face, and loudly ordered "Zoro" and "Sanji" to come over and do the hard work of packing the boxes, as if changing her face.
500 million! The Pirates, who are so poor that they eat fish and insects, actually have a huge sum of 500 million...
"Nami" was walking with all her might, and she carried two large wooden boxes filled with gold into her room with one hand without anyone's help.
The black-skinned royal sister "Robin" glanced at Luo Jie meaningfully, seeming to have noticed something, but she just smiled and said nothing more.
…
The whole journey was silent.
After docking at the "Water City" pier, the Straw Hats waved goodbye to Luo Jie and others, and couldn't wait to start their shopping trip after getting rich.
"I want to eat meat!"
"I want to buy a high-end whetstone."
"I think what the ship needs most is a large refrigerator with a lock."
"Toolbox! I want a complete set of repair tools!"
"Nami, can I buy some potions and a new set of test tubes? If possible, another marshmallow."
"I'll go to the bookstore and check it out, um... I'll pay for it myself."
Seeing the Straw Hats happily leaving the dock, Luo Jie also took "Boya Hancock" and other members to the "Carrera Shipyard" again.
After all, he is a VIP customer who has built a ship worth more than 100 million. As soon as he arrived at the No. 1 dock, Luo Jie was warmly received by his old acquaintance "Bipley Lulu".
"Mr. Nightmare, we meet again. How do you feel about using the boat?"
"I can trust the quality of Carrera Company." After Luo Jie made some commercial touts, he went directly to the topic, "Mr. Bipley, I came here this time to do some small work on the "Beiming Youyu".
Transformation.”
With that said, he took out a [Wind Breathing Shell] from the storage space and handed it to the other party.
"Squirt shell?"
Luo Jie didn't expect that "Bipley Lulu" would actually recognize this kind of shellfish that had been extinct on the "Sky Island" for many years. He asked unexpectedly: "Mr. Bipley, have you seen the [Spewing Wind Shell] before?"
"Bipley Lulu" said calmly: "Well, there was a pirate captain who entrusted us to install two [Wind Spray Shells] on his ship as auxiliary power before. That man was dressed as a monk, and there was a man behind him.
To those white wings that I don’t know are true or false…”
"The Broken Monk Pirates? "Monk Urgi"?"
"Yes, that's the name."
Luo Jie nodded, "Weird Monk Urki" is one of the 11 supernovas in Shampoo Land in the original work. He was born on a certain sky island in the White Sea. It is not unusual to be able to get such rare things as "Spewing Shell".
"Bipley Lulu" pushed up the sunglasses on the bridge of her nose and said: "Mr. Night Dire, do you also want to install a [Wind Spray Shell]? With all due respect, a [Wind Spray Shell] cannot push the [North Wind Shell] quickly."
For a ship as big as the Mingyouyu, the most it can do is avoid completely losing power when it accidentally enters a windless zone."
"Ah, no...this is just a sample. I actually want to install 50 of them on the boat."
"Fifty...are you going to let the boat fly?"
"Yes, if necessary."
"..."
Although "Bipley Lulu" was shocked by Luo Jie's generosity, it was ultimately the customer's decision how to modify the ship. The only thing their shipwrights had to do was to satisfy the customers' requirements to the greatest extent possible.
"By the way, Mr. Nightmare, I see that [Beiming Youyu] has no external armor yet. I happen to have a new metal that has not yet been mass-produced. I wonder if you are willing to try it."
As he spoke, he rummaged through the tool box and found a palm-sized metal plate and handed it to Luo Jie.
【Begabank Alloy】
Type: Material
Quality: B(blue)
Introduction: A high-performance alloy invented by "Vegabank", the world's number one scientist in "One Piece", has excellent properties such as light weight, hardness, and corrosion resistance. Apart from being expensive, it has almost no shortcomings.
Luo Jie couldn't help being surprised, wasn't this thing [Valpo Alloy]? Sure enough, after he killed "Valpo", the will of the world created a replacement version through the hands of "Vegabank".
"How much?" Luo Jie put down the sample and asked calmly.
"Bipley Lulu" took out a pen and paper and calculated it carefully, and came up with a staggering number.
"It costs 50 million Baileys to install the [Spewing Shell], 100 million Baileys to add armor to key parts, and 200 million Baileys to add armor to the whole ship."
This cost has already caught up with the [Thousand Miles of Sunshine] made with "Baoshu·Adam".
Of course, the 200 million cost of the Thousand Miles of Sunshine is pure material cost, and the largest labor cost is not spent at all. The Carrera Company provided the work for free in gratitude for the Straw Hats' kindness.
Since this is a purely commercial transaction, it is natural that the price is high.
"Then let's add more to the whole ship. Counting the [Spewing Shell], the total is 250 million Baileys, right?"
Luo Jie, who has tens of billions of assets, was too lazy to negotiate the price. He just picked up the dog and was about to pay on the spot, but "Bipley Lulu" hurriedly stopped him.
"It's like this, Mr. Nightmare, our boss Mr. Aspagu improved the company's system five years ago. Now, large orders like this, which exceed 100 million beli, must be approved by the boss himself before signing.
Review.”
Luo Jie nodded and said, "Is the president of "Aspagu" coming, or should we go over to see him?"
"The boss also serves as the mayor of the "Water City". It is difficult to see him in person. Currently, all matters in the company are handled by the secretary. I have already asked someone to contact him through the "phone bug".
She'll be here in a moment."
Ten minutes later, an intellectual beauty wearing orange professional attire appeared in the office of Dock No. 1.
"Let me introduce, this is "Kalifa", the president's secretary. This is the VIP customer of this company, Mr. Nightmare."
After introducing both parties, "Bipley Lulu" walked out and closed the door behind her, leaving the office to the two of them.
"Ms. Khalifa..."
Because of the acceleration of the timeline caused by "Hajian Village", Luo Jie did not expect to see the only female agent of the secret service agency CP9 again so soon.
According to the timeline of the original work, CP9 should have been working undercover at "Carrera Company" five years ago in order to obtain the design of the ancient weapon [Pluto] in the hands of the president "Aspagu".
Among them, "Kalifa", as the president's secretary, is the most important part of this hidden mission.
I remember the last time I saw "Kalifa" was when she was rescuing the three Boya sisters in "Holy Land Marie Joa". At that time, she was just a CP agency trainee who looked like a little loli. Fast forward more than ten years,
She has finally grown into the long-legged lady in my impression.
Because she was hypnotized, "Kalifa" no longer remembers Luo Jie's appearance, and still plays the role of her secretary as usual.
"Mr. Nightmare, please keep your eyes serious, otherwise I will regard you as harassing me."
Seeing "Kalifa" acting seriously, Luo Jie curled his lips in vain, turned his hand behind his back and made a crisp snap of his fingers.
The unsmiling blonde beauty's eyes suddenly widened, and she sat on the ground with her slender legs in a big split. Tears overflowed from her eyes uncontrollably.
Luo Jie suppressed the smile in his heart, his eyes were firm, and he said sternly: "Miss Khalifa, please behave in a more serious manner, otherwise I will regard you as harassing me."