Frost Island, White Frost Harbor.
Spandine's fleet had finally dropped anchor.
For the first time in a long while, a red carpet had been laid across the harbor. An honor guard was waiting there to receive them, and looking out, there were fifteen giant luxurious carriages lined up in a row.
Clearly, all of this had been prepared to welcome the dozens upon dozens of beauties arranged by Saint Saturn, head of the Jaygarcia family.
Under Spandine's command, beautiful women soon began walking down from the ship one after another. They all wore veils that covered their faces. Their figures varied, and each had a different kind of grace. Silently, they entered the carriages.
Toki stood beside Spandine at this moment, watching the scene curiously.
"You said before that you were escorting candidates chosen by the Jaygarcia family's head for the Young Master. I thought there would only be three or five of them. I did not expect this many. Can his body endure that?"
Spandine thought to himself that he absolutely could not damage the Young Master's reputation. So he immediately said with a serious face, "You misunderstand. In truth, the Young Master is not that kind of man… He does not indulge in women. You must understand, as the young master of a Five Elders family, his status is beyond noble. Yet to this day, the Young Master has only one wife and only one child. From this, you can imagine how disciplined the Young Master is."
"Ah? Is that so? I thought he liked beautiful women very much…" Toki covered her mouth, somewhat surprised.
On the way here, she and Spandine had spoken many times. She had also been "taught" by Spandine and gained a certain understanding of the world in this era.
For example, the World Government was extremely powerful. It was the organization that ruled the entire world. The descendants of the Twenty Kings, apart from the Nefertari family, had all given up their worldly thrones and chosen to ascend to Mary Geoise, becoming Celestial Dragons and enjoying the respect of the world.
Another example was the Reverie held once every four years. The World Government would summon the royal families of fifty member nations to Mary Geoise for the World Council. There, they would vote on various proposals, approving or rejecting them, showing that the World Government had never intended to become a dictatorship and instead upheld the idea of governing together with the world's royal families.
There was also the fact that under the World Government was an enormous Marine force stationed across every sea, with bases spread throughout the world to help maintain justice and order.
The Heavenly Tribute and taxes paid by the various nations every year were used to keep the World Government running, pay the Marines' massive military expenses, and provide a small portion for supporting the Celestial Dragons.
All of this was close to what Toki had imagined.
Back then, the Twenty Kings had raised the banner against the rule of the tyrant king and formed their alliance. Now that they had succeeded, it was only natural that major world affairs should be decided by summoning the royal families to hold a World Council like this.
As for the descendants of the Twenty Kings—the World Nobles, the Celestial Dragons—Toki did not feel there was anything wrong with their existence.
Their ancestors had fought a bloody war, defeated the Davy clan that had tried to rule the world alone and oppress everyone, and created such a vast World Government.
Their descendants had given up their worldly thrones and now enjoyed extremely high status and support.
There was no problem with that at all.
This fit the mainstream values of the world.
In short, because she had learned all of this, Toki now understood just how respected Saint Valthior's status was.
Even if he truly wanted to marry dozens upon dozens of beautiful women, Toki would not think there was anything wrong with it. She would only wonder whether his body could endure it.
Now, after hearing Spandine's explanation, she was stunned.
With such a noble status, he had only one wife and one child after all these years. He truly did not indulge in beauty at all.
More than that, he was practically a model of discipline.
After all, even Toki's own family could be considered minor nobles from Wano, and even so, her father had seven wives.
In short, after hearing Spandine's explanation, Toki's opinion of Saint Valthior rose even higher.
A top noble of such exalted status had shouldered heavy responsibilities just after reaching adulthood, left the land of power and privilege, sailed across the seas, hidden his noble identity as a Celestial Dragon, mingled among pirates, and arrived in the turbulent New World. There, he became a Pirate Emperor—all to cooperate with the World Government and bring this rebellious sea back under the glory of the Twenty Kings.
What kind of legendary story was that?
Right now, in Toki's eyes, Saint Valthior had become a shining figure who combined strength, discipline, outstanding ability, noble birth, and a complete lack of arrogance.
And all of this was naturally thanks to the mouth of Valthior's number one lackey—Spandine.
Toki herself was innocent and straightforward, while Spandine was a crafty old fox. When he spoke with Toki, he never said things too directly. Instead, he subtly guided her thoughts in the direction he had prepared, quietly planting the image of his Young Master's greatness in her mind.
Very soon, the carriage team began moving. Spandine and Toki also boarded an ordinary small carriage and followed the convoy toward the Heaven's Captial.
Along the way, several towns soon entered their view.
"Is it winter right now?" Toki lifted the carriage curtain, looked out at the snowstorm outside, and asked.
"It is not about the season. Frost Island's climate has already changed into that of a winter island. From now on, there will only be winter here. There will be no other seasonal changes," Spandine quickly explained.
According to his explanation, the Kozuki rebels had been extremely powerful, and Saint Valthior had to use his full strength to defeat them. But Saint Valthior's power was too overwhelming. During the final battle, although he defeated the Kozuki rebels, he also completely changed Frost Island's climate, turning it into a land of eternal winter.
Normally, for an island to suddenly become a winter island through force instead of natural change would be a disaster. All life on the island should have withered away under the endless cold.
And for the World Government, such a ruined ending would have served perfectly as a warning to rebels. So at the time, the World Government had been prepared to abandon Wano completely.
But Saint Valthior was a soft-hearted god.
Using his own money, he purchased massive amounts of winter crops, plants, animals, and microbial cultures from winter islands around the world. He invested enormous funds into a complete ecological transformation of Frost Island.
He also mobilized the surviving people of Wano to work, giving them jobs in exchange for relief supplies. While they provided labor, he distributed food to them and quickly restored the destroyed order.
After that, he recruited large numbers of immigrants from all over the New World to increase Frost Island's population. He opened factories, quarries, arms plants, and many other industries, prospered trade, and created jobs—allowing anyone who came to Frost Island to survive as long as they were willing to work hard.
And just like that, Valthior, who should have been seen as the demon king who destroyed Wano, became a great savior of Wano in Toki's ears after Spandine analyzed everything from another angle.
After the convoy reached a town, they would rest briefly before continuing on toward the Heaven's Capital.
Although Valthior and his group had traveled quickly between White Frost Harbor and the Heaven's Capital, that was only because of their own speed and willingness to ignore less-than-ideal conditions.
For an ordinary convoy of this size, the journey from White Frost Harbor to the Heaven's Capital normally took three to five days.
That said, construction of the land railway across Frost Island had already begun. Once it was completed, the journey would be much faster.
"Can I get down and speak with the people?" Toki thought for a moment, then asked Spandine.
Along the way, she had only heard Spandine explain these things. Although she was innocent and straightforward, she was not truly foolish. Seeing the convoy stop in town, she wanted to speak with the living people here and see how they viewed Saint Valthior.
Spandine froze for a moment, but quickly smiled.
"Of course."
Seeing this, Toki smiled and got out of the carriage. Before long, she found a stall owner selling frozen goods by the street and began chatting with him.
"Saint Valthior? You mean the Shogun, right? The Shogun has treated us far too well. Our whole family was originally about to starve to death. Holding on to the last bit of hope, we boarded a ship heading to Frost Island. After we arrived, this place really did provide living supplies. As long as you were willing to work, you could survive here. Compared with other places in the New World, although this place is in winter all year round, it is definitely paradise!" the stall owner said excitedly.
Clearly, this man was an immigrant from outside, not a native of Wano.
In fact, among the original people of Wano, only a very small number who had offered loyalty to Valthior's group from the beginning were able to live in the towns. The rest had all been pushed down in status.
Some were sent to remote villages to clear land, grow winter crops, and transform the environment.
Some were seized as expendable labor and squeezed harshly.
Others hid deep in the mountains and forests as rebels.
But nearly three years had already passed since Frost Island entered eternal winter.
It could be said that, at present, no opposition forces remained inside Wano.
Those who could still live here were all supporters of Valthior and his people.
Toki continued asking many people about Saint Valthior's situation.
Whether street vendors, laborers, respectable merchants, or the newly risen nobles, they almost all referred to Saint Valthior as "the Shogun." And every one of them looked extremely grateful, as if they could never repay his kindness even with their entire lives.
As for the title "Shogun," it was something Frost Island's upper ranks had discussed many times before finally allowing it in silence.
At first, the Valthior Pirates had destroyed Wano's culture, keeping only certain "essences" like geisha.
Naturally, the position of "Shogun," which symbolized rule, had also been erased.
But later, the people of Frost Island were unwilling to use outside titles like "Pirate Emperor" or "Lord Valthior" to express their feelings.
They felt they were different.
They were Frost Island's own people, Saint Valthior's most loyal supporters. They had to naturally separate themselves from those stinking outsiders.
And so, the title "Shogun," used by Frost Islanders specifically to honor Saint Valthior, was revived among the people.
Considering that this came from the pure feelings and loyalty of Frost Island's people, Valthior and his group eventually accepted it by default.
And once people saw that saying it was not forbidden, the title quickly became popular across Frost Island. Locals used it to distinguish who was one of their own and who was a stinking outsider.
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