"Execution."
Amidst the cheers, Sage made a slight motion with his hand, issuing an order.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The Disaster Pirates' subordinates, who had long been prepared, all pulled their triggers, and the bullets shot out, knocking down a group at first. As the sound of gunfire continued, another group fell.
Like harvesting wheat, the crowd of people in this open ground fell down in droves, and blood quickly stained the ground red. The entire area shaped by Jean Bart was covered with blood like a river flowing on the ground.
Five thousand people, as a number, may not seem like much.
But appearing solidly before one's eyes, it was a sea of people.
The collective execution by firing squad was a shocking sight.
Leading the group, Orochi, Momonosuke, and Yamato, bound by seastone, were unable to move and were brought down by bullets, collapsing into a pool of blood.
For the onlookers, however, there were too many people to execute, and mixed together they all seemed the same. No matter how special they were, once they fell, they became mundane.
"Fire the cannon!"
After the gunfire ceased, Sage issued another order. The first group of subordinates who executed stepped back, revealing those pushing out cannons from behind.
Boom!
The cannons roared, and cannonballs fell like rain around those lying in the blood, churning up plumes of smoke.
Those who first appeared whole were blasted under the bombardment, either shattered into pieces or left with broken remains, mixing together into a pile of dismembered limbs and corpses.
There was no choice; execution means execution, ensuring death.
In this world where everyone has high vitality, a single bullet might not be fatal, especially for some strong ones.
Shooting one person is manageable, and if one shot doesn't guarantee death, you can just shoot more.
But with five thousand people mixed together, it's impossible to go through and shoot each one again; it would be too troublesome.
If not done this way, with so many people, there's likely to be someone who escapes.
So it's better to execute by shooting first, then bomb with the cannons.
After all, cannons are just larger-caliber guns, used in the same way, just with a wider range.
The cannon fire continued for quite some time until all the flesh and blood inside was mixed and piled together, and then it finally ceased.
Ordinary people could not see inside the smoke, while Sage carefully sensed it for a while, looked at the smoke, and waved his hand: "Jean Bart."
Jean Bart, merged with the ground, rose into a giant stone man, the stones he moved sweeping like a giant wave towards the smoke-filled square, burying all the bodies and forming a huge tombstone.
People may be dead, but they would not vanish without a trace.
A stone is left here for others to see what has happened in this country.
It also serves as a warning to those still dissatisfied. If five thousand people couldn't succeed, don't think about rebelling if you don't exceed that number.
And if more than that...
That issue doesn't exist.
"Done."
Sage stood up and spoke into the broadcasting Radio Snail: "From now on, you are part of my dominion! So, I'm going to announce..."
He spread his arms wide and laughed loudly: "Let's start with a banquet! Hohohohoho!"
Having won, naturally a banquet should be held.
This isn't just a simple conquest of a country; it's defeating Kaido and fulfilling his set plan.
A rare great victory that demands a banquet to proclaim his triumph!
"Lily, make calls to the others, let's have a grand celebration of my unification of the first half of the New World, representatives should be sent from the stationed subordinates on each island. Also, call Katakuri and have him send some representatives too. For all the corresponding banquets, all the expenses will be..."
Sage grinned: "On me, Master Sage! And another huge banquet for the entire domain!"
Lily showed a knowing look and said: "I'll go arrange it now."
A banquet was inevitable.
Besides, Sage held it confidently.
The last time a national banquet was held, even the gold banks went broke from the invitation, but Sage was indifferent, having already taken over Tesoro. With all that money there, definitely another grand banquet will be held.
It's also a disguised form of stimulating spending.
...
Other than the Tenshukaku, the Flower Capital had no suitable places to stay, but the Tenshukaku had been destroyed, and Sage was dissatisfied with other places. After considering, he decided to settle back on the ship.
On the way back, Renedia couldn't help but ask: "Sage, why not keep the Ability Users? Some of the fruits are from the Mythical type; we could give them to Teach."
Three Mythical characters and some other Ability Users, if all collected and distributed to our subordinates, it could considerably bolster combat power.
"Why?" Sage chuckled, "Lily, what do you think?"
"We are in a dangerous cooperative relationship, not a vassal master-servant bond; there are some things Teach would never do." Lily replied.
"Like last time with Link, there's already a hint of that issue."
"Exactly." Sage said: "Three Mythical types, no, it should be two. That Peach Dragon is a duplicate and a failed product. Although I don't know why it retained the exact same abilities as Kaido, there must be a problem, and whether we can extract it is another thing."
The Dark-Dark Fruit extracts the demons residing in it, extracting abilities and will.
But for something artificial...where to find will and demons?
"As for the other two Mythical types, those are really Mythical types, Teach has gone to great lengths hunting Ability Users but hasn't found good fruits. Last time, he wanted to snatch a Gol-Gol Fruit and would have likely turned against me if it were powerful in combat."