Chapter 58: Searching for Distributors! The Aunties' Tea Party

"What?"

Kaido was taken aback by Roa's sudden declaration. "You brat, you're leaving?"

"Yeah."

Roa took a deep breath of the dark energy. Over the past three months, the concentration of dark energy in Wano had risen significantly. Although still far behind the Germa Kingdom, it was now sufficient to meet Roa's daily needs.

"There's nothing left for me to do here, right? Why should I stay?"

The factories had all been built, and weapon production was proceeding in an orderly fashion. Roa trusted that his big brother wouldn't stoop low enough to embezzle the weapons produced by his factories.

"Huh?"

Kaido seemed even more baffled by Roa's response, his brows knitting tightly together, his features almost bunching up in a scowl. "The real question is, do you brat even have any proper business left to attend to?"

Wasn't this kid's sole purpose in life to make the world feel pain? Wasn't Wano enough for him to wreck?

"What kind of talk is that, Big Brother Kaido!"

Roa was indignant, his handsome face flushing red. "I have my own career, you know!"

"The materials and production are all sorted out, so next up, I need to secure product distribution!"

Without a distributor, did they expect Roa to go knocking on doors from country to country to pitch his products? How exhausting would that be!

"You brat is always up to some incomprehensible nonsense."

Kaido let out a cold snort.

Of course he knew that Roa, that punk, wasn't selling weapons for money at all. He simply wanted to use those weapons to fan the flames of the world's chaos even higher.

Still, not bad!

A world that spoke through weapons—wasn't that a marvelous thing?

"So, what's your plan, brat?" Kaido asked with a hint of curiosity.

"Trade secret."

Roa adopted an inscrutable expression, pressing his index finger to his lips in a gesture of absolute confidentiality.

"Don't worry though, Big Brother Kaido. We won't be going too far from Wano. Our offensive and defensive alliance still stands. In fact, if you ever get captured again, I'll still come rescue you."

"Hmph!"

Kaido let out a deeply disgruntled scoff. "There won't be a next time."

The experience of his last capture was a humiliation he could never erase for as long as he lived.

"Is that so?"

Roa chuckled.

To have been captured a total of eighteen times by the Marines and the Four Emperors—what a grand slam of pirate failures—and yet he still dared to talk big.

Suddenly, Roa remembered something very important and said with a deeply earnest expression, "Big Brother Kaido, now that you've settled down, it's about time you considered starting a family."

"Even if you don't need an heir, when we're out waging wars in the future, someone needs to hold down the fort back home."

Kaido's initially impatient look instantly turned contemplative.

Just as Roa had said, his grand enterprise didn't need anyone to inherit it. But he did, in fact, need someone reliable to manage his rear guard so he could fight without distractions.

Kaido's eyes narrowed.

There was potential here!

He just wondered if the child born down the line would turn out to be his future niece.

Regardless, Roa and his Calamity Corporation were preparing to leave this country.

On one hand, it truly was to find distributors. On the other hand, Roa was slightly worried about the World Government eventually tracking them down.

Neither he nor Kaido had reached the point where the World Government would hold them in absolute dread. What if word leaked out? That would spell trouble.

Soon enough, a piece of tremendous news swept wildly among the anti-establishment loyalists hiding in Wano.

Roa the Ferocious Tiger, along with his Calamity Corporation, had boarded the rumbling giant snails and departed the country.

Although Kaido, left behind in Wano, remained a terrifying monster, the enemy's strength had genuinely been cut almost in half!

The loyalists rejoiced, feeling that victory was finally within their grasp.

Consequently, the riots grew even more frequent.

Meanwhile, Roa had already set sail, leading the mighty procession of giant snails away from Wano.

Inside a factory on the back of a snail, Roa twirled a bullet between his fingers.

Quite unlike the lead bullets currently prevalent across the seas, this was a "future" bullet composed of a bullet head, a cartridge case, a propellant charge, and a primer.

However, what caught Roa's attention wasn't the technology represented by the bullet itself, but rather the material used to craft the bullet head.

"Remarkable!"

Dylan, accompanying him, couldn't keep from expressing his admiration. "To actually process Seastone to this degree... the techniques mastered by Wano's craftsmen are truly extraordinary."

"That's precisely why this factory was built," Roa replied, turning around.

This factory could hardly be called modern; it was entirely a manual workshop.

Stone artisans brought from Wano were hard at work here, endlessly processing Seastone.

Over the past three months, Wano had opened up a large number of new mines, causing the output of various minerals to skyrocket—and Seastone was no exception.

Yet, no matter how much the output increased, Seastone remained a precious mineral, and Roa hadn't taken an exorbitant amount with him on this trip. Still, the output of the manual workshop was sufficient for now.

That said, Roa wasn't overly obsessed with Seastone weaponry either. After all, there were simply too many non-user powerhouses in this era's seas. More importantly, for truly top-tier powerhouses, future-sight Observation Haki was practically standard equipment.

Better to reserve it for the army.

The Germa Kingdom's expansion focused heavily on weapon factories—yes, not just in Wano, but also on the backs of these giant snails, where new manufacturing plants had been set up.

After all, the first batch of artificial humans numbered over ten thousand. Once they became soldiers, the original army's personnel would be phased out, and those people would become the labor force for the new factories.

"However, Boss," Dylan spoke up again, "where exactly are we heading next?"

They talked about finding a distributor, but the question was: who should they look for?

"As for that, I'll need to consult someone first."

With that, Roa pulled out a Den Den Mushi and casually dialed a number.

Click.

The call connected on the other end.

"Is that Brother Roa? It's been so long since we last kept in touch, I thought you'd forgotten all about me."

A heavily affected, sweet voice came through the receiver, the tone of delighted surprise practically overflowing. "I heard about that battle with the hero Garp, too. It was truly magnificent! As expected of Brother Roa!"

Stussy? Dylan thought.

Right, she was a government agent with vast intelligence networks.

"It wasn't that big a deal, just heavily damaging the hero Garp while incidentally rescuing Big Brother Kaido," Roa replied nonchalantly. "However, Sister Stussy, I didn't call this time to listen to your flattery; I have another favor to ask."

"How cruel of you. I actually thought Brother Roa missed me and was overjoyed about it," Stussy purred on the other end. "So, Brother Roa, what is it you want to ask about this time?"

Roa cut straight to the point. "I've produced a fair number of weapons and am planning to sell them abroad. I need a distributor with deep connections."

"I see," Stussy murmured with understanding. "It seems your talks with Mr. Judge went quite well. As for distributors—"

There was a silence of a few seconds on the line. "Brother Roa, have you ever heard the name Umit?"

"Umit?" Roa raised an eyebrow.

He had indeed heard of him—though from his past life's manga.

A New World underground magnate on par with Stussy, widely known as the Shipping King and a titan of the transportation industry.

What, had that guy already made his fortune? This was thirty-two years before his original appearance in the timeline.

"Their family has spent generations rooted in the transportation industry, making them a renowned shipping giant in the underworld with countless hidden sea routes and clients spanning the Grand Line and the Four Blues," Stussy continued. "Umit is the family's newest head. Although he just recently came to power, if you're looking for a distributor, I'd say he's the most suitable candidate."

A family business, so that was it!

"Sounds quite promising," Roa smiled, pressing further. "So, where can I find him?"

"What a coincidence, Brother Roa," Stussy's voice suddenly took on a strange, teasing amusement. "Our dear old friend, in order to expand her influence, is currently inviting all the prominent New World underground magnates to a tea party to foster friendly relations."

"I'll be attending, and barring any accidents, Umit should be there as well."

Such a thing was happening?

Roa's lips twitched. "That dear old friend wouldn't happen to be my dearest Auntie Linlin, would she?"

"As expected of Brother Roa, you guessed it in one go."

"In that case," Roa laughed easily, "it seems I'll have to go pay a visit to an old friend."