The Flower Capital is severely damaged, its tallest structure, the keep, has turned into ruins. Ghost Island is in pieces, the ground littered with rubble, from fist-sized stones to larger boulders.
But none of this went to waste, as Jean Bart integrated the entire ground of the Flower Capital, merging the rubble together, filling it into the deep pits made during the battle, gradually transforming them into flat ground.
And as the keep became ruins, it revealed an underground armory and a deeply hidden basement.
Inside the armory, Sage glanced at the neatly arranged weapons and couldn't help but smile, "Yoho, quite a number of them."
Those weapons were mostly swords and blades, along with other cold weapons, and a large amount of gunpowder and cannonballs. Moreover, at one side, several boxes were placed.
Renedia reached out, touching the weapons, picked up a blade and flicked it, nodding thoughtfully, "I see."
"You know about this?" Sage asked.
"No, I don't."
"..."
Sage rolled his eyes, "Then what are you pondering about?"
Renedia giggled, "But I know someone who knows… Jean! It's your time to shine!"
From the crowd that came along, a man with a moon-shaped hairdo slowly stepped forward.
He bowed respectfully, "Princess Renedia, I am Shintaro."
"Alright, Jean, come over and have a look." Renedia beckoned.
Shintaro, who wanted to exact revenge on Wano Country and thoroughly crush Oden's spirit, followed Sage here as well.
He stepped forward, took the tachi, flicked the blade with his fingers, producing a crisp sound, then examined it carefully, gripping the hilt, he slashed it against his arm.
Blood flowed from the wound on his forearm, he closed his eyes to ponder for a while, and then turned around and bowed to Sage:
"Governor, this is Wine Iron Ore, being hit by it feels numbing."
Saying this, he set down the sword, looked at one of the boxes filled with bullets, picked one up, and licked it with his tongue, shaking his head, "Ordinary lead bullet, not made from Wine Iron Ore."
That was inevitable.
Most of the seas use lead bullets, besides the convenience and abundance of lead, nearly all guns can use bullets without needing extra calibration, and Haki is another reason.
Those truly proficient in Haki find lead bullets sufficient.
Some use specially crafted metal tips, but those are for individuals without Haki or with insufficient Haki to enhance power.
For example, Renedia, though she's already proficient in Armament, her level is pitifully small; considering her age, it's normal, enhancing her combat strength couldn't rely mainly on Haki but rather her techniques.
She isn't a gunner or sniper, but inclined more towards ability and technological bombardment.
And Wine Iron Ore, in such cases, is too wasteful to use for bullets and can't be recycled. Instead, it suits cold weapons better since the numbing effect of Wine Iron Ore is perpetual.
"This is quite a promising business."
Sage mused while stroking his chin, "Prioritize supplying to our side, only export 30%, the remainder for domestic demand I'll pay for, let's do a grand armory upgrade."
Battles on the high seas, relying on ordinary swords and blades, even of good quality, it's difficult to kill someone.
The people here, even civilians, inherently have high health levels, under the same conditions, it's preferable to incapacitate than to kill, weapons infused with Wine Iron Ore are coveted items without a doubt.
"Seastone!"
Renedia cried out in excitement, withdrawing her hand from a box, "Sage, these are weapons made of Seastone!"
"Oh… This is the real treasure."
Sage walked over, looking at those few boxes.
The quantity of these boxes wasn't much, but the contents were astonishing; Sage picked up a bullet from one box, spun it between his fingers, and chuckled, "Seastone bullet."
His demeanor suggested he was entirely unaffected by the Seastone.
He tossed the bullet back, looking at the other boxes.
Bullets made from Seastone, nails of Seastone, and polished fine Seastone seemingly used for a Seastone net.
Sage also picked up an iron rod, feeling along its length to the top, flicking the tip, "Here's Seastone… Indeed, only the craftsmen of Wano Country have the capability to refine Seastone like this."
The sea is truly mysterious.
Rich in the Four Seas, the most formidable entity, the World Government, not only requires Wano Country's Seastone production to deal with Ability Users but also Wano Country's craftsmanship.
But now, this domain belonged to Sage.
"Weapons aren't meant to be sold like this, such a factory isn't scalable. Kaido, that fool, can't tell which priorities he should have; this is all there is here, the quantity remains pitifully small, obviously even Wano Country's craftsmen couldn't achieve mass production."
"It's a population issue."
Sage said, "Move a batch of people to live in Wano Country, learn crafting skills, ideally learn how to forge this kind of technology, achieving industrialization. Until then, the primary focus should be Wine Iron Ore, this kind of weapon factory is widespread, just use it… Queen."
"Boss."
Queen stepped out.
"What's the model of your weapon factory? Is it craftsman-oriented or production-line-based? When I came, I saw black smoke all over the tall rock pillars, I suppose it's a production line?" Sage asked with some expectancy.
"Uh…"
Queen scratched his head, "Boss, what's a production line?"
"It's where everyone plays their role, working with machines, maximizing weapon output, everything crafted uniformly, unified standards, unified operations."