A few days later, to the north of the Royal Palace in Storm City, just outside a massive courtyard, lay a large farm field, where a young man with white hair was tilling the soil.
Sunlight spilled down, shining on the golden hoe in his hands...
As Sage himself has always said, even if he farms, he must do it with a golden hoe!
So, he really did take a golden hoe to farm.
His Royal Palace was not originally in the center of Storm City. During the renovation, they simply dismantled the excess part, connecting the palace to the city's northern edge, leading directly to the countryside after the courtyard.
Later, since Sage thought it was a waste to leave the place empty, and it probably couldn't be developed, he simply took it for farming.
The seeds were special grains sent from various islands, with each patch of land growing one type.
Of course, he wasn't the only one farming; there were servants to help manage it. He only chose to work the land when he was feeling frustrated.
For example...
"Damn, how come there's not one bite! They promised a bite!"
Sage dug up a piece of land with a hoe, his face extraordinarily disgruntled.
How many days of fishing?
No, he's been fishing for a total of two years!
From when he started out in the East Sea, it's been about two and a half years!
Clearly, he's been a pirate for two and a half years and has become one of the Four Emperors, yet he hasn't caught a single fish!
He's practically traversed O'hara, both the main island and the Vice Island, even scoured the small puddles, just shy of trying to fish out tadpoles after a drunken pee.
What's more frustrating, wherever he went, locals would frequently come to 'pay homage', because as soon as he left, others could catch fish right away.
Even if he deliberately left, intending to use speed to forcibly throw the line, it was the same, like Schrödinger's fish; as long as he held any shred of hopeful thinking, no fish would ever bite.
Only when he really stopped wanting to fish there, would fish bite on someone else's hook.
"Darn it, I just don't believe it!"
Sage dug the hoe into the ground fiercely, and after planting the golden hoe in the soil, he exhaled hard, stubbornly saying, "I'll just prepare more bait next time, there has to be a bite!"
"Sage, what is a bite?"
Lily's figure came out from the courtyard, accompanied by Kalifa.
"A bite, huh..."
Without looking back, Sage looked up at the sky and said quietly, "It's like fishing; you see if there's one or not. If there isn't, it's all in vain."
"?"
Lily tilted her head, puzzled.
Isn't he just talking about fishing?
"Sage, the bill for the last three-day feast came in, covering the entire territory... the total is 42,456,740,000 Belly, what should we do about this money?" Lily said.
After inviting the new Big Mom Pirates and celebrating their victory, Sage held a feast covering the entire territory for three consecutive days.
Production halted, all-night revelry, it was lively, but the cost was exorbitantly high.
A several billion Belly bill...
Kalifa, who was responsible for the accounting, got goosebumps as soon as she saw the result, but quickly felt somewhat relieved; the territory was his, what money did he owe?
Even if he had to pay, he couldn't afford it, and though Sage was wealthy, for such a large amount, he would probably have to spend all he had, right?
Originally, she was going to briefly inform Sage, as it was assumed no payment would be made, just handling it as usual, but Lily had a different opinion, so she brought the bill to ask in person.
"What do you mean what to do? Of course, we pay." Sage said naturally.
"Pay?" Kalifa was visibly stunned at the answer, "Pay what money?"
"Holding a feast requires money, it's a matter of principle, how can we not pay? I remember saying it clearly at the time, all the expenses are on me, Sage, I announced it nationwide, and now you want me not to pay? To slap my own face?"
Sage glanced back at Kalifa, waved his hand invitingly, and Lily naturally went to the rest area in the field and handed him a cigar.
Sage took the cigar, bit it in his mouth, stretched out his index finger, and a small flame spontaneously ignited on his fingertip, lighting the cigar before he exhaled smoke.
"Four hundred billion and more, let's just pay."
"Boss, I remember your assets don't quite cover that amount..."
Kalifa adjusted her glasses, saying, "Is this going to be on credit? Also, I don't quite understand why we need to pay this money."
"Why should we use my assets... Use the bank's money to cover it, reimburse all those who provided food, ingredients, and services across the country."
Sage laughed, "I may not have enough money, but the bank's money is my money..."
This puzzled not only Kalifa but even Lily a bit.
It's not that they couldn't understand the statement; Sage had done the same when doing infrastructure work, but this action was suddenly inexplicable.
Everyone knew that although the bank's money came from the people, it was also Sage's. Likewise, all the products within the territory were also his, using his own money to pay his subjects for reimbursing the resources meant for him...
It's redundant, isn't it?
It's like dropping your pants to fart...
"You don't get it?"
Sage chuckled, "It seems like using my money to buy my own things, but this in-and-out process isn't the same."
"If it's free, they can surely accept it, since I own this land and hold the sole power. But in that case, no value is generated; they supply for free, I accept for free, it seems like enjoyment, but in fact, it's nothing."
"Because of the free supply, the people below expend energy, the merchants spend their capital, but receive nothing, and even though you in the middle have executed orders, if truly for free, you'd surely be uncomfortable... Because I'm not happy."
"The reason for my discomfort at the top is precisely because of this 'free'!"
Sage stated, "Without circulation, money is like waste paper. Even if bank money can be used freely, it must be used. It's all the people's money, returned to them, but in their eyes, their savings remain untouched, while the payout is their earnings, rewards from hard labor and business dealings."
"With wages, there will be spending, leading to continued production. The produced items will be purchased, and back and forth, leading to greater prosperity, allowing me to collect more taxes."
Sage grinned widely, "Such a good thing, why give it away for free? It's not like I'm committing robbery..."
In his territory, the idea is to enhance prosperity, whereas, for outside territories... robbery is more straightforward.
"Hmm..."
Lily nodded thoughtfully, "What you say makes sense, but... Sage, the bank is also running low on money."
"Hmm?"
Sage raised an eyebrow, "How can it run out of money? Isn't there a lot of money?"
"There's a lot... about 300 billion Belly in deposits, but you used a large portion for infrastructure, and it will take some time for that money to circulate back. There is also a portion that's safety funds, which cannot be touched."
Lily said, "If we spend another 400 billion all at once, our overall operations will run into issues... we are indeed out of money."
They're not printing money, and given that there's only one universal currency on the sea, devaluation of paper bills doesn't even exist, the value is the value, magically becoming hard currency.
So for Sage to make money, it would have to be through trade, or...
"No money, huh..."
He rubbed his chin, contemplating for a while, then smiled, "Then let's go rob some money!"