Seizing territory was not something Ren was particularly passionate about.
Other pirates needed to conquer territory because they required vast lands and populations to rule over — and to extract wealth from those people.
Islands governed by pirates didn't necessarily offer their people any security. But the tribute due each month was absolutely non-negotiable. In this regard, the rules of the New World were no different from Arlong Park in the East Blue.
Even the islands under the Whitebeard Pirates' protection would eventually need to pay a certain amount of tribute. Pirates had no obligation to provide protection for free.
But Inazuma's revenue did not come from taxing the people on its islands. It came from the massive export of weaponry. This income far exceeded what could be squeezed from impoverished citizens.
In fact, the annual taxes paid by civilians on the five islands they currently controlled were practically negligible. Instead, the arrival of Ren and his people had created jobs, dramatically improving the locals' lives.
Even so, while territory wasn't strictly necessary for Ren, he still deployed considerable forces for this operation.
Shuten-doji in particular had not a moment's rest. As the strongest fighter in Inazuma after Ren, he had practically become one of the nation's icons.
The other notable figures included Yukiko, Yayoi, and Nanami.
Over the years, other factions had been working hard to gauge Inazuma's true military strength.
Thus, the reputation of the Fatui's third-ranked Harbinger — "The Captain," Shuten-doji — had spread far and wide. Likewise, intelligence about the sixth-ranked Harbinger, "Snow Woman" Yukiko, was essentially an open secret.
No one knew exactly how many Harbingers there were, but everyone assumed at least six.
What they didn't know was that aside from Shuten-doji and Yukiko, every other Harbinger seat was empty. Ren had considered appointing Nanami or Yayoi as Harbingers — both were marginally qualified in terms of strength.
But after further thought, he decided against it.
He already had candidates in mind for most of the eleven Harbinger positions. The problem was that those people either hadn't been born yet, or their current whereabouts were completely unknown.
Mari, on the other hand, Ren felt was capable of taking a Harbinger seat.
"Mari, would you like to become a Harbinger?"
"A Harbinger? Like Yukiko-nee?" Mari's eyes lit up.
She knew exactly what the Harbinger rank meant — right now, Inazuma only had two.
Nanami had been constantly bragging about her bounty crossing the hundred-million mark, and it really grated on Mari. If she became a Harbinger, she'd have something to hold over her head!
And the Harbinger she admired most, Yukiko, was already one herself. That made the position even more alluring.
"But I don't even have a bounty yet. Is that okay?" she hesitated, worried she'd drag down the Harbingers' average.
Over the years, Shuten-doji's bounty had climbed past a billion, and Yukiko's was rising steadily each year. By comparison, Mari felt she was still a bit green.
"It's not a problem. Your strength is already on par with mine," Yukiko reassured her.
Mari had always been diligent. Her power had grown rapidly, and she was now Yukiko's equal.
And so it was decided. Mari was assigned the codename "The Servant," though her seat ranking was left undetermined for now.
In truth, even Shuten-doji and Yukiko's rankings were provisional. Ren had no intention of assigning seats in numerical order. The final ranking would only be set once every Harbinger position was filled.
The seat rankings would consider many factors — raw strength was only one of them. Elements beyond combat prowess mattered just as much.
Speaking of which, becoming a Harbinger wasn't just about gaining a title. To emphasize the rank's prestige and authority, each Harbinger was issued a distinctive white coat.
The design matched the ones from the Winter Night Masquerade — a white cape with black raven feathers at the collar, looking both mysterious and opulent. The only downside was that it got rather hot in summer...
Mari was utterly besotted with the coat. The very first thing she did upon receiving it was use a Visual Den Den Mushi to call back to Kuri and flaunt it in front of Nanami and the others.
"Alright, Mari, settle down."
Once Ren had calmed her, he turned to Yukiko and asked about the situation on Shuten-doji's end. Typically, Shuten-doji would relay his frontline conditions to Yukiko, and if she deemed it necessary, she would report to Ren.
"The fighting over there is incredibly fierce," Yukiko said, wearing a complicated expression. "Because of the war, our orders have actually gone up recently."
"But after buying our weapons, they end up using them against us."
Hearing this, Ren couldn't help but chuckle.
Using Ruin Guards against Shuten-doji — that took some creativity. Never mind that Ren had left a backdoor program in every Ruin Guard, allowing him to seize control of those machines at any time.
Even setting that aside, they were the ones who understood the Ruin Guards' weaknesses better than anyone.
"If that's the case, we should have Shuten-doji smash those machines even more thoroughly. Then our orders will go up even more!" Mari said gleefully.
"No, tell Shuten-doji to hold back a bit when facing the Ruin Guards. If they're destroyed too easily, people might start questioning the quality of our weapons," Ren said, shaking his head.
"Territory grabs don't earn us that much to begin with. Maintaining the brand and reputation of our weapons is what matters most." Part of the reason Ren had sent Shuten-doji into this conflict was to escalate the fighting.
Only then would his weapons sell better. Classic arms dealer logic.
Of course, if they actually ended up claiming some territory at the end, that wouldn't be a bad thing either. There were still plenty of raw materials and labor he needed.
As for the distance issue — that wasn't a concern. In the New World of today, any island that flew Inazuma's flag was essentially off-limits to ordinary pirates.
For a Great Pirate, a flag meant power.
Before raiding a target, those pirates would first consider whether provoking Inazuma was a wise decision.
"By the way, while we're at it, it's about time we rolled out the new products," Ren mused, deciding he shouldn't let this opportunity slip by.
"The Autonomous Constructs — Ruin Defender, Ruin Destroyer, Ruin Grader, and Ruin Scout can now be mass-produced for the market."
In reality, these four types of Autonomous Constructs had been developed several years ago. But initially they hadn't been equipped with weapon systems — their primary use had been tilling fields in Kuri.
Now that they were being fully launched into the overseas market, their greatest function would actually be as patrol sentries.
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