One Piece: Building the Roxas Empire

Ah Shen listened and accepted the order: "Yes, do we need to recruit soldiers again before the war?"

Darius asked, "How many more people can be recruited at most?"

Ah Shen said seriously: "With the current weapons and manpower, it should be no problem to recruit another 20,000 people."

Today, the Noxian Empire has a population of more than three million, but only 40,000 troops. In fact, if conscription is relaxed, the Noxian Empire's military strength can reach 200,000 or even 300,000. However, in that case, the development of the empire will be very unbalanced.

Although A Shen came from the underworld, he was really capable. He cleared out all the nobles and samurai class of the original Wano Country, who were just sitting in their positions and sucking blood from the country, and released all the wealth within Wano Country. Not only did he retain the handicrafts and agriculture of the original Wano Country, he also introduced overseas custom industries, casinos and other things into Wano Country. At the same time, he opened factories, mines, and pharmaceutical factories, and began to import food from overseas, allowing the formerly closed citizens of Wano Country to see many overseas items, adding many jobs to the Noxus Empire, and making the formerly closed citizens of Wano Country become more open.

Darius also agreed and said, "Then I'll leave this matter to you. Recruit some troops, and then we will start the expedition."

Overseas, after leaving Wano Country, the Beasts Pirates began to look for territory again. A few months ago, during the Battle of Et-Wall between the Sky Pirates and the Roger Pirates, the Sky Pirates encountered an epic storm, which led to the Sky Pirates' disastrous defeat and the loss of dozens of pirate warships. The originally huge Sky Pirates lost more than half of their troops, and Kaido took this opportunity to seize a piece of territory from the Sky Pirates.

It took several more months before they finally contacted Whitebeard and invited him to meet at the Beasts Pirates' territory, Coral Island.

On the Coral Island, Kurozumi Orochi personally went to welcome the Whitebeard Pirates. However, it would be more accurate to say that he went to welcome Kozuki Oden rather than the Whitebeard Pirates. This was a script that he had discussed with Kaido early on.

"Are you Kurozumi Orochi? Why are you here?" Kozuki Oden was a little surprised when he saw Kurozumi Orochi, the guy who used to come to him to borrow money.

Inuarashi and Cat Viper were very upset with Kurozumi Orochi, who kept asking Kozuki Oden for money. As soon as Kurozumi Orochi saw Kozuki Oden, he was possessed by the spirit of drama. He immediately knelt in front of Kozuki Oden, hugged Kozuki Oden's thighs and cried, "Oden-sama, I'm so sorry! Wuuuuu, I, failed to protect Wano Country. I'm sorry to you, to Lord Yasuie, and to Lord Sukiyaki, wuuuuu..."

Seeing Kurozumi Orochi crying as soon as they met, Kozuki Oden was a little annoyed. He was least good at dealing with this kind of thing. At this time, Kozuki Toki, who was already a veteran of Kozuki Oden, asked: "Oden, what's going on!"

"I don't know either!" Kozuki Oden was also a little helpless. He helped Kurozumi Orochi up and asked, "Orochi, what happened?"

Kurozumi Orochi's tears suddenly fell like raindrops, and he said in grief: "Wuwuwuwu, Lord Oden, Wano Country is gone, Sukiyaki-sama, Yasuie-sama, they are all dead. I am too useless. I failed to protect them and Wano Country. Lord Oden, please kill me! Wuwuwuwu..."

Upon hearing this, Kozuki Oden's face suddenly turned pale, and the Whitebeard Pirates and Kozuki Oden's three retainers behind him were also shocked. It had only been three years since they left Wano Country. Had such a big change happened in Wano Country?

Kozuki Oden said angrily: "Orochi, what happened? What happened to my father? Don't joke with me. My father was fine when I left. How could he suddenly pass away?"

Kurozumi Orochi was also instantly intimidated by Kozuki Oden's momentum, and he stammered and couldn't speak for a while. At this time, Kaido also came over and grinned, "Oh Lolo, long time no see! Newgate."

When Whitebeard saw Kaido's appearance, his face was slightly gloomy. He and Kaido had not seen each other for more than ten years. Now he could also feel the strong aura of Kaido, but this aura was not as strong as his. He said coldly: "Humph, Kaido, you told me that there was a catastrophe in Wano Country, what is going on!"

When Kozuki Oden saw Kaido, he was also shocked. Even he felt a little creepy from the powerful sense of oppression from Kaido. Kozuki Oden understood that the tall man in front of him was a strong man who was not inferior to him.

Kaido grinned and said, "Don't get me wrong, Newgate, it was Orochi who was looking for Kozuki Oden, and I just happened to know the whereabouts of Kozuki Oden."

Whitebeard stopped talking, and Kozuki Oden grabbed Kurozumi Orochi and asked, "Orochi, what did you just say? Who or what force attacked Wano Country?"

At this time, Kurozumi Orochi also swallowed his saliva and shouted, "Yes, it's Darius, a pirate named Darius."

After hearing this name, the Whitebeard Pirates were all shocked. Kozuki Oden also said solemnly: "Darius, is it the Noxus Pirates?"

"Yes, it's them." At this point, fear appeared in Kurozumi Orochi's eyes. He remembered the terrifying power displayed by Darius at that time and said in horror: "That guy is simply a monster. The samurai are no match for him. Even though our number is several times that of the enemy, we can't defeat that monster anyway. It only took one day for the main force of our Wano country to be defeated."

"What?" Kozuki Oden listened and continued to question: "How is my father? Has he been killed?"

Kurozumi Orochi also spoke out the lines he had prepared long ago with his superb acting skills: "No, Lord Sukiyaki was captured by them, but he is probably dead now, and Lord Kang and the other daimyo were killed on the spot by Darius. This happened more than half a year ago. I don't know what the current situation of Wano Country is like. Lord Oden, you are the only one who can save Wano Country now."

Kozuki Oden's face turned even darker, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Damn it, Darius, I will definitely kill you."

After saying that, Kozuki Oden turned around and looked at Whitebeard and said, "Little Whitebeard, please send me back to Wano Country! Although I really want to continue sailing with you, my country is in danger now, and my father is now in danger. I can't help but go back."

“Hey, hey, hey, Oden, don’t be so impulsive. Let’s take a long-term view on this matter!” “Yeah! Oden, Darius is not that easy to deal with. That guy is a monster that is not inferior to Dad.” The members of the Whitebeard Pirates also advised: “Dad, you should also come and persuade Oden! We can’t let Oden go back alone!”

Whitebeard also pondered for a moment, and said seriously, "Okay, Oden, I will accompany you for a trip!"

Kozuki Oden was stunned when he heard this, because he knew that Whitebeard's principle was not to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. However, Kozuki Oden had been a pirate for three years and was very clear about how high Darius' bounty of 50 billion berries was. Even his current bounty was only less than one-third of Darius's. He excitedly ran to hug Whitebeard and said, "Really? Little Whitebeard, I really love you to death."

"How disgusting! Get out of my way." Whitebeard pushed Kozuki Oden away and grinned, "You should just go hug your wife!"

Kozuki Oden smiled as he listened, and Whitebeard said in a serious tone, "However, Oden, even if we go to Wano Country, if we can resolve the issue through negotiation, it is best to do so. Using force is the worst option. Darius is very strong."

"Yeah, I get it." Kozuki Oden nodded and said, "But I didn't expect that he would actually attack Wano Country. Damn it!"

Whitebeard looked at Kozuki Oden with some seriousness and said, "Although it is a negotiation, we still have to prepare for the worst. Darius has always been a man of strength. If we want to have a good negotiation with him, I'm afraid we need to make him fear our power. To be honest, even I am not sure of facing Darius."

Kozuki Oden couldn't help but become solemn after listening to this. During the years in the Whitebeard Pirates, he was very clear about Whitebeard's strength. Although he had become much stronger after leaving Wano Country, Whitebeard's overwhelming strength also caused Kozuki Oden to be defeated time and time again.

If even Whitebeard can't defeat the opponent, then I'm afraid I have no chance of winning.

Whitebeard walked up, patted Kozuki Oden on the shoulder and said, "Okay, stop making such a bitter face. Although I said that I would not get involved in wars between countries, if the other party is a pirate, then as a pirate myself, I will not have any worries about taking action against them. After all, there are many cases of pirates fighting for territory with each other."

"Little Baiji..." At this time, Kozuki Oden was so moved by Whitebeard's words that he burst into tears.

"How disgusting! Don't make that expression." Whitebeard looked at Kozuki Oden's expression and rolled his eyes in anger.