"What the hell is… an Industrial Revolution?"
Roger's voice wasn't loud, but in the deathly silent banquet hall, it echoed like a cannonball hitting the ground.
Ankokuji Ekei, the Mōri Clan's chief diplomatic monk, showed a hint of an uncontrollable crack on his usually placid face.
Industrial Revolution?
What kind of spell was that?
Kikkawa Motoharu and the other samurai behind him were utterly bewildered.
But from those four words, they could feel an unprecedented domineering power.
Ankokuji Ekei took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the stormy waves in his heart, trying to bring the conversation back to a rhythm he was familiar with.
"I admit, your power exceeds our understanding."
"But with the slightest carelessness, you will be corrupted by that immense power, stray further and further down the wrong path, and inevitably suffer a ruthless backlash."
"Are you not afraid that one day you will fail?"
His words were full of warning.
Any other overlord of this era, hearing such words, would likely weigh their options carefully.
Unfortunately, he was facing Roger.
A transmigrator from an era of information explosion.
Roger immediately laughed.
This little Japanese man actually knew about 'the wrong path'?
How ironic.
"Alright, stop with the useless talk."
Roger lost his patience.
He felt that discussing anything else with a native of a feudal era was like casting pearls before swine.
"I'll say this one last time."
"Three days."
Roger held up three fingers.
"Tell your Mōri Motonari to wash his neck… ah no, to prepare the equity transfer agreement and the company seal, and come to my ship to sign the contract."
"And while you're at it, settle our travel expenses, lost wages, emotional distress compensation, and the psychological trauma relief fund for my company's employees."
He pointed to Jack Sparrow, who was still cosplaying as a pendant at his feet.
"He was extremely frightened and now needs a hundred beautiful women to recover."
Jack Sparrow, hearing this, sprang up from his near-death state, about to exclaim, "Captain is brilliant!" but Roger kicked him back down.
"In three days, if I don't see the money, and I don't see the contract."
Roger paused, a smile so bright it sent shivers down one's spine appearing on his face.
"Then I can only assume you've chosen a more challenging cooperation plan."
"Hector!"
"Aye, Captain!"
"Point our Armstrong cannon at their whatever-it-is keep."
"Yes!"
"No, wait."
Roger shook his head, correcting himself.
"Change the target. Just aim at the main gate of their manor. It looks quite expensive; don't break it."
Ankokuji Ekei and Kikkawa Motoharu were both stunned.
Not the keep, but the main gate?
What kind of tactic was this?
The next second, they understood.
On the distant sea, from the steel hull of the explorer, the muzzle of a breech-loading cannon flashed in the night.
Immediately after, a piercing shriek tore through the night sky!
Everyone in the banquet hall instinctively looked towards the direction of the manor's main gate.
"Whoosh—bang!"
There was no earth-shattering explosion.
Only a dull, penetrating sound.
In the very center of the tall, heavy main gate of the manor, crafted from fine wood, a perfectly round hole, the size of a washbasin and with incredibly smooth edges, appeared out of thin air.
On the other side of the hole, about ten meters behind the gate, was a rock garden, which had also been pierced by an identical hole.
Through that hole, one could even see the stars in the distant night sky.
Silence.
In the banquet hall, a deathly silence.
All the Japanese people stared, mouths agape, at the hole, feeling as if their brains had been blasted through by that shot.
What kind of sorcery was this?
What terrifying precision and power!
If that shot hadn't hit the gate, but a person's body… cold sweat instantly poured down Kikkawa Motoharu's forehead.
Ankokuji Ekei's hand, clutching his staff, also trembled uncontrollably.
He finally understood what the other party's phrase "Industrial Revolution" truly meant.
It was a crushing force that they could neither comprehend nor resist.
"Did you see that?"
"Next time, it might not be a gate that gets shot through."
He turned around, grabbed Jack Sparrow by the collar, and lifted him off the ground.
"Let's go, home."
"Wait! Captain! My position as Chief Administrator! My castle! My hundred maids!"
Jack was still making his last struggles.
"Oh, that."
Roger kindly patted his face.
"The company has decided to promote you."
"When you get back, you'll be our explorer's Chief Toilet Janitor and Deep-Sea Monster Feeder Specialist. Do well, and you'll get a commendation banner at the end of the year."
With that, Roger dragged Jack and swaggered towards the exit.
Buck, Billy, and the group of Black Iron Skeletons followed closely, walking with an air of utter disregard.
Wherever they passed, the samurai scattered like they had seen ghosts, making way in a panic, not even daring to look at them.
As Roger reached the doorway, he stopped, looked back at Ankokuji Ekei, who was still frozen in place.
"By the way, Master."
"Go back and tell your boss that our company is currently having a promotional event."
"Surrender voluntarily within three days and enjoy VIP service of 'unchanged treatment after acquisition'."
"If you insist on us taking action…"
Roger grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.
"Then you can only enjoy the luxurious package of 'we'll scatter your ashes'."
With that, he disappeared into the night without looking back.
Leaving behind a room full of disoriented Japanese nobles, questioning their lives, and the manor's main gate, precisely shot through with a hole, letting in the cold night air… On the explorer.
Roger kicked Jack Sparrow to the center of the deck.
"Speak."
Roger pulled over a chair, crossed his legs, and scrutinized him from above.
"Your last words."
Jack Sparrow fell to his knees with a "thud," his movements so practiced it was heartbreaking.
"Captain! I was wrong! I was truly wrong!"
"I shouldn't have been corrupted by the sugar-coated bullets of capitalism!"
"I shouldn't have forgotten our pirates' excellent tradition of hard work and simplicity!"
"I repent! I am guilty!"
As he spoke, he slapped himself repeatedly, left and right.
"But! Captain! Even if I have no merit, I have put in effort, so please spare me this time!"
"I got intelligence! I even turned their Commander-in-Chief! I'm saving the country through indirect means!"
Roger said nothing, just quietly watched his performance.
On the deck, all the pirates gathered around.
Buck and Billy were even rubbing their fists, just waiting for the Captain's order to dismantle this traitor's bones and play with them like building blocks.
"Captain, don't kill me!"
Seeing Roger unmoved, Jack panicked and started to pull out his big guns.
"I'm still useful! I know a huge secret!"
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