"Zou, huh..."
Sage paused for a moment, picked up the wine glass and drank it down, curling his lips, "Doflamingo really did a good job."
From the moment he remembered there was a Red Poneglyph, or the 'Road', he was planning to go to Zou.
But the problem is, there was no direction.
For those who know its name, Zou is considered an island, a colossal island towering into the clouds.
Only those who know the truth understand it's not really an island, but a gigantic elephant with the 'Zou Country' living on its back.
This is a living thing, and one that keeps moving.
Not only are there no Log Pose or Eternal Pose records, but even if you know the location, the giant elephant may have moved by the time you get there.
The only way to reach Zou is through the elephant's Life Card, which can lock its position.
He actually wanted to ask Faust about it, but this lazy cat was abandoned in the North Sea since childhood, and not only doesn't know, but also doesn't believe his homeland is Zou.
Speaking of homeland, he now considers O'hara as his homeland, and Storm City's Treasure Vault as his home.
Sage had to ask someone else.
Doflamingo, who is influential in both the Underworld and above, was naturally the best target.
After such a long time, I finally found it!
"Quickly have him send it over."
"I've already told him, and also..."
Lily spread the newspaper on the table, Sage glanced down and clicked his tongue:
"Why is it still this photo? Can't they take more pictures of my majestic presence? Lily, you too, this photo looks dashing, but looking at it too long doesn't feel like you."
On the page, Sage's photo dominated most of it, followed by Lily's photo from her Wanted Order.
"It's not about looking at photos..."
After speaking, Lily saw Sage roll his eyes, and before he could say anything, she reacted.
If not looking at photos, what else is there to see?
He's an illiterate king...
Lily pursed her lips, pointing at a photo that previously occupied half a page but now was just a single photo, saying:
"It's still about the Country of Cyan. After that island was destroyed, coupled with you becoming a Four Emperor, the newspapers now say you're a demon of destruction, that wherever you go, you destroy the local kingdom. Whether it's the people or the king, they'll die under your disaster."
"Although it doesn't have much impact, do you want to track down these newspaper offices and warn them?"
Lily is most deeply influenced by Sage, and her thinking has gradually approached his.
She won't care about the public opinion of island destruction, because Pirates, no matter what, will always instill fear as long as they are powerful; nothing is insurmountable, even a demon can become a revered god.
The newspapers' exaggeration of Sage's fearfulness delighted her, but their attitude of reckless fabrication displeased her.
"Can you manage the land, the sky, and also how others spin tales?"
Sage glanced at Lily's pointed finger and that one photo of the mushroom cloud rising, sneered: "There's no need, leave them to it."
As for the Country of Cyan, Sage originally didn't intend to destroy it but instead conquer it as usual. However, it was already beyond saving.
Gin... no, Ryokugyu adheres to the concept of differentiation, and this thought also came from the Country of Cyan.
From top to bottom, the entire country, whether nobles or commoners, has a highly strict class hierarchy.
The king treats nobles as servants, nobles treat lower-class nobles as servants, and the whole social hierarchy treats common people as slaves.
This sort of thing, killing off the nobles would have solved it.
But the key problem lies in that common people also have further sub-divided slaves!
They discriminate against each other, within their circles, deciding who is a slave based on the hierarchy of honor and wealth.
Among the slaves, there is again another division based on status, one layer after another.
On this island of fewer than a hundred thousand people, almost everyone exists within a chain of discrimination, and the relationship of slavery and being enslaved.
When the old nobles were wiped out, those at the top of the common people suddenly become new nobles, and their lower slaves became common people, while the lowest slaves cheered and automatically subdivided into slaves and lower slaves, and...
Even lower slaves.
The whole country's people were like madmen; no matter how many people were killed, it was impossible to stop their desire to enslave others. Sage also didn't have the time to engage in freeing these few thousand people.
He's a pirate, indifferent about slaves, as long as there are no slaves within his sphere of influence.
These people would only contaminate the purity of his governed populace; Sage eliminated nobles not to create another batch, no one can share his ruling power—it belongs exclusively to him.
Since these people were beyond help, and since this island was 70% forest with other valuable resources available in the surroundings, it was straightforward: destroy it!
Hence the newspaper carried the photo of a mushroom cloud rising.
And the title of 'greatest disaster' attached to it.
"I also don't have time to bother with those small newspaper offices. Has Piekro's mouth been opened?" Sage asked.
"If you couldn't open it, we are even less likely to."
Lily shook her head and said, "He likely genuinely doesn't know."
'Big Hand Funeral Master' Dorag Piekro, leader of the assassins industry, one of the six key industries of the Underworld, was captured by Sage to obtain information on the other five industry leaders.