Chapter 401: Yield Rate Issues
Ian and his crew stayed on Dressrosa for over a week.
During this time, the support that Marine Headquarters sent to Aokiji also arrived, and the entire island of Dressrosa was placed under Marine control.
However, the people of Dressrosa were not impressed by the Marines' presence.
In their eyes, the Marines were just showing up after the fact. They had been completely unaware of the crimes Doflamingo committed on Dressrosa, and only now that it had been exposed did the Marines come to assert their presence. This made the people of Dressrosa deeply dissatisfied.
On the other hand, the people of Dressrosa had great trust in the Dragon Hunter Pirates. Sometimes, when trouble arose, even Marine soldiers couldn't resolve it, but a passing member of the Dragon Hunter Pirates could calm things down with just a few casual words.
This was naturally due to Ian's continuous use of Orihime Inoue's card ability to heal the island's residents...
Aokiji found this situation frustrating, but there was nothing he could do about it.
The Tontatta tribe's princess, Mansherry, had been rescued by Leo and the others. She voluntarily came to help Ian treat the people, and her adorable appearance completely melted the hearts of Konenai and the other girls. When the people of Dressrosa saw the Tontatta tribe, they finally realized that the legends about fairies on their island were actually true.
In fact, the legend of these fairies had originally been created by the Riku royal family back in the day, as a way to help and compensate the Tontatta tribe.
King Riku and Kyros were also brought in by Fujitora, and Ian had a face-to-face meeting with King Riku.
Years ago, King Riku had been overthrown by his own people because of Doflamingo's schemes. Over the years, he had always wanted to stop Doflamingo, but unfortunately, he simply didn't have the power to oppose him.
His resistance wasn't about reclaiming his throne. In fact, King Riku was a genuinely good king. Back then, deceived by Doflamingo, he tried to buy back his country with ten billion Berries by borrowing money from his citizens. Doflamingo seized the opportunity, used his Parasite strings to control the royal army, turning the borrowing into a robbery. When the helpless citizens of Dressrosa faced the maddened royal army, Doflamingo's Donquixote Pirates made a grand entrance, defeated the royal army, and became the country's heroes. Since the Donquixote family had ruled Dressrosa many years ago, Doflamingo seized the chance to reclaim the throne, taking the country back from King Riku.
Although it was a conspiracy, King Riku blamed himself deeply. He felt that trusting Doflamingo had brought disaster to his people. So after Ian drove Doflamingo away, King Riku had no intention of returning to the throne. He was old now, and after reuniting with his son-in-law and granddaughter, he only wanted to enjoy his remaining years in peace.
However, Dressrosa's current situation urgently needed a leader to govern the country. The Marines couldn't handle this task, and although Ian was the hero who liberated Dressrosa, he couldn't become king either.
So, after a long discussion with Ian, King Riku was finally persuaded. He agreed to return as king and lead the people out of their pain.
But before leaving, King Riku made a request to Ian: he wanted to borrow the flag of the Dragon Hunter Pirates to protect the country.
With such a major incident on Dressrosa, the people were in turmoil and fear. Without Doflamingo's deterrence, King Riku worried that the restless pirates in the New World might attack the country. A nation in chaos was the easiest target for pirates to exploit, so he planned to use Ian's reputation.
Ian had no objection to this. In the pirate-infested New World, a Marine flag was far less effective than a great pirate's flag. Ian had known this for a long time, so without much thought, he agreed to King Riku's request.
From then on, there were two islands flying the Dragon Hunter Pirates' flag: one was Travira, and the other was Dressrosa.
The effect was immediate. When the Dragon Hunter Pirates' flag began to be hoisted around the island, the people of Dressrosa felt reassured. The pirates who had been turned into toys by Sugar also dared not cause trouble during the chaos.
Aokiji watched all this with mixed feelings. He was gradually beginning to understand Fleet Admiral Sengoku's mood. This situation, where pirates were more intimidating than the Marines, wasn't unique in the New World. Unless the Marines could completely suppress the Four Emperors, this would continue.
The Four Emperors' influence had always been the Marine Headquarters' biggest headache...
Ian didn't bother with what Aokiji was thinking. He knew that Aokiji had already reported his proposal to trade Germa's technological data for the Marine Science Unit's Pacifista. Now, the Marine Headquarters and the World Government were probably fiercely debating the matter, and Aokiji was likely troubled by it, so Ian decided not to disturb him.
Because Waldo had sent word that his research on the Artificial Devil Fruits had yielded a preliminary conclusion.
Yes, the Artificial Devil Fruits. When Leo and the others rescued Princess Mansherry, the underground Artificial Devil Fruit factory was also discovered. However, Ian temporarily kept this information from Aokiji and the Marines. Following Sabo's advice, he had the Dragon Hunter Pirates guard the area.
Sabo said that until the conclusions about the Artificial Devil Fruits were clear, it was best not to let the Marines know. No one could predict what stance the Marines would take on Artificial Devil Fruits. If they were wary of them, that would be fine—they might just destroy them. But the worst-case scenario was that the Marines and the World Government might also take an interest in Artificial Devil Fruits. If that happened, the Tontatta tribe on Dressrosa could face a catastrophic disaster.
Because the Tontatta tribe were experts at cultivating plants, and their talent was needed to grow Artificial Devil Fruits...
Considering this, Ian cautiously brought in Waldo first to analyze these Artificial Devil Fruits.
Waldo, the scientist, was now completely loyal. Following Ian, he had not only witnessed ancient technology at the Sky Island Gray Terminal but also obtained Germa's research data, and now he was studying Artificial Devil Fruits. For a scholar obsessed with science, this was like heaven.
He felt that following Ian meant good things, so he had fully embraced himself as a member of the Dragon Hunter Pirates.
After Ian assigned him the task, Waldo used the limited facilities on the island to conduct a rough analysis of the Artificial Devil Fruits.
"These Artificial Devil Fruits have an extremely low yield rate!" Waldo explained when he met Ian. "Because they are not naturally formed Devil Fruits, only about 10% of these cultivated fruits become complete products."
"Complete products?" Ian asked curiously. "Does that mean they become real Devil Fruits?"
Waldo shook his head and said, "No, that's not it. Although Doflamingo's people destroyed some facilities when they fled, I found their cultivation and experiment records. These cultivated Artificial Devil Fruits do have effects similar to real Devil Fruits, but there are significant differences. With a real Devil Fruit, taking the first bite grants you the ability. But with these Artificial Devil Fruits, you need to eat many of them!"
"What... what do you mean?" Ian didn't understand. "What do you mean by eating many? Can you eat multiple Devil Fruits?"
"That's the biggest difference!" Waldo pointed to the vast plantation ahead and explained to Ian, "Look at these fields. They're all planted with Artificial Devil Fruits. Even with only a 10% yield rate, how many Devil Fruits do you think they could harvest in a year from such a large area?"