Chapter 476: Reiju's Suggestion
Robin and the others understood that Ian's deductions were based on the many pieces of information he had gathered, but the problem was that Enel didn't know that!
When a complete stranger can roughly explain your background in just a short while, you'd definitely find that person unfathomable and mysterious.
Ian had already left a psychological shadow on Enel after thoroughly thrashing him, and now, whenever Enel was in Ian's presence, he always felt as if he had been diminished somehow.
Ian's words weren't just for Enel's ears; they were also meant for Gan Fall. This could help the Skypieans and the Shandians recognize their shared origins, thereby encouraging their integration.
Ian didn't want this Angel Island to remain in chaos any longer. He also planned to engage in trade with this Sky Island in the future, since the Dial technology and Seastone here were both things he wanted.
"Hahaha! Ian, look what we found!"
Just then, Ian suddenly heard Luffy and Nami shouting excitedly from up ahead. Turning his head, he saw each of them running back carrying a large bundle.
With a clatter, Luffy dropped his bundle in front of Ian. The bundle burst open under the force, and with a crash, a pile of gleaming gold spilled out.
Gold! All of it was gold!
A golden crown studded with gems, a lifelike golden statue, a small and delicate golden bell, a large golden water pitcher, a golden cross engraved with inscriptions, and a sword made entirely of gold—these items tumbled out, dazzling everyone's eyes.
"There's more! There's more!" Nami and Usopp shouted as they also dropped their bundles, adding another large pile with a crash.
It was really impressive for Nami; the weight of this gold was no joke, and Ian hadn't expected her to have the strength to carry back a bundle as big as Luffy's.
Chopper, who had fallen behind, had transformed into his human form and was laboriously dragging a large sack back. It looked like it was also full of gold.
"So much!?" Ian was also taken aback when he saw it.
"That's not all!" Nami said excitedly. "This isn't everything. There's more further in. We couldn't carry it all, so we came back first."
Ian couldn't help rubbing his hands together and said, "Alright, let's go. We'll follow you there again."
So, over the next period of time, Ian and everyone else followed Nami and the others deeper into the giant snake's belly, looting all the gold inside.
This giant snake was so enormous that its body rivaled the giant vines. You could imagine how much it could hold in its stomach. And this time, unlike in the original story where Luffy and his crew just stole a few bundles and quickly left, Ian and his group thoroughly cleaned it out.
In the end, the amount of gold Ian and his crew collected was truly unexpected.
The piled-up gold was like a small mountain, as tall as two or three people.
No other gold was found in the ruins of the Golden City Shandora, so it could be said that the gold in the snake's belly represented most of Shandora's wealth.
"This... this gold must be over ten tons, right!?"
Zoro wiped the sweat from his forehead and stared at the gold piled together, speaking in disbelief.
They had been busy for over two hours collecting all this gold, and by now, many of them were exhausted. Nami, Usopp, and Chopper were lying on the gold pile, panting heavily. But despite the fatigue, their eyes were full of excitement.
Especially Nami, looking at so much gold piled together, her whole face was glowing with radiance...
Ian was also a bit stunned. He hadn't expected to collect so much gold in the end. It felt like they had completely plundered Shandora's wealth.
Gold has a high density, and just as Zoro estimated, Ian guessed that this gold was probably no less than several dozen tons.
Most of the gold was still in its original form, but a small portion had been melted into gold balls. In theory, stomach acid couldn't achieve this, but Ian figured it was due to prolonged exposure. The snake had swallowed this gold a long time ago, and some items that weren't pure gold had been dissolved over time.
"How are we going to take this gold away?" Robin looked at the mountain of gold, resting her chin on her hand, looking a bit troubled.
Yeah, they couldn't just sell this gold to the Skypieans for local currency, and since the currency used on this Sky Island wasn't Berry, Ian and his crew would have to bring it back to the Blue Sea to deal with it. But a weight of over ten tons was no small matter. If they put it on the Going Merry, it might sink the waterline significantly. They had to consider whether this much weight would affect the ship's return journey.
Ian crouched down, picked up a golden cross at random, and asked Nami, "Nami, how much do you think this gold is worth?"
"I don't know!" Nami said, lying on the gold with an adorable expression. "But it's definitely no less than a hundred billion Berry! Oh my god, a hundred billion Berry! How am I going to spend all that money?"
Ian smiled wryly at Nami's dreamy expression and said, "Your estimate probably includes the artifact value of these gold items. But don't forget, selling this much gold all at once might cause it to depreciate!"
Nami suddenly became nervous and asked, "Then what do you suggest?"
"Maybe we can only sell it in batches," Ian said, stroking his chin. "But that would take more time."
Just then, Reiju suddenly spoke up, "Maybe I can introduce you to a big buyer. They might be able to buy all this gold at once."
Ian turned to look at Reiju, a bit puzzled, and asked, "Who? You're not telling me to sell it to the World Government, are you? Besides them, not many people can come up with that much money at once."
Ian estimated the gold to be worth between a hundred billion and a hundred and fifty billion Berry. That was no joke. Back when Ian extorted a hundred billion from the Celestial Dragons, the Musgard family, who was responsible for paying, had to take some time to gather the funds.
"This buyer is named Tesoro. Have you heard of him?" Reiju said.
"Tesoro? Golden Tesoro!?" Ian was surprised when he heard the name.
Reiju smiled and nodded, saying, "It seems you've heard of him too. Since you know, I don't need to explain further. I'm sure he can handle this gold."
"Who's that?" Luffy and the others asked, puzzled. "We don't know. Tell us about him!"
But Ian cut in and explained on Reiju's behalf, "That guy is probably the world's richest man, right?"
To be honest, Ian hadn't expected to suddenly hear that name from Reiju's mouth, so he asked her, "How do you know him?"
"It's simple!" Reiju chuckled. "Someone hired our Germa Group to attack Tesoro's Gran Tesoro."
Hearing the term Germa Group again, Sanji was startled, and the cigarette in his mouth fell out.
As the third son of the Vinsmoke Family, Sanji knew very well what the Germa Group was all about—a war group, mercenaries of evil—these were all terms used to describe them.
"Did you accept the job?" Ian pressed.
"No!" Reiju shook her head. "Father didn't take the job because he knew Tesoro's influence was huge and didn't want to make enemies with him. But thanks to that incident, Tesoro somehow found out the inside story. To thank Father, he invited the Vinsmoke Family to visit his ship once, so I have a rough idea of his ship's route."
"I see!" Ian nodded, indicating he understood.
Golden Tesoro—Ian had heard a lot about him in the New World. Especially Old K, who, due to his skill in gambling, always dreamed of visiting Gran Tesoro and often bragged about it to the crew.
But Ian also knew that getting to Gran Tesoro wasn't easy.
Simply put, his so-called Golden City was actually a giant ship floating on the sea, not an island. On the Grand Line, people relied on Log Poses to navigate. Since the ship wasn't an island, it had no magnetic field, so it couldn't be found using a Log Pose.
For ordinary people to reach Gran Tesoro, they'd have to be lucky enough to be on the same route as the ship and encounter it by chance. In other words, it was a matter of luck.
Other than that, the only way was through Gran Tesoro's active invitations. They would send invitations to dignitaries and nobles, then pick them up along the route.
The route wasn't fixed, but there were some regular paths. Since Reiju had been on the ship once, it was normal for her to know the general route.
However, if it was Tesoro, then he could easily handle this batch of gold.
"Alright, then you'll set the route when the time comes," Ian said to Reiju.
Reiju nodded and said nothing more.
Then Ian turned to Nami and said, "Okay, now it's time for the profit sharing!"