The gains, however, were quite good. As inhabited islands were transported one after another, the population of the Ohara gradually increased.
Those impoverished people who had been forcibly brought over were initially filled with fear and anxiety, but gradually they began to integrate into Ohara.
Just as Zephyr had said, these people were easier to assimilate and accept Ohara's rule.
At the same time, these poor people who had long lived in chaotic regions were also excellent sources of soldiers for the Umbrella Corporation.
As time passed quietly, the Ohara continent became increasingly prosperous.
Islands within the West Blue gradually decreased in number, and at the same time, the West Blue subtly began to change.
If someone were unfamiliar with the original routes and relied excessively on islands along the route to determine direction, they might truly get lost on the West Blue's sea routes.
In short, aside from secretly continuing to devour islands, the overall situation in the West Blue remained relatively peaceful.
As for the other seas… a major incident had occurred a few days earlier.
The man known as the Gild Tesoro, the Golden Emperor, who controlled the world's largest entertainment city and manipulated 20% of the world's wealth, was attacked by the Straw Hat Pirates, and a dark incident that shocked the seas was exposed.
According to reports from the news agency, Gild Tesoro had used his subordinates and various Devil Fruit abilities on the world's largest entertainment ship, Gran Tesoro, to cheat and set traps, swindling countless tourists who came to enjoy themselves there.
They also forced tourists to incur enormous debts. Under the excuse that they could not leave until the debts were repaid, the tourists' personal freedom was restricted.
In the end, many were forced to sell their property, and even sell themselves, their wives, daughters, and sons as slaves in order to repay the massive debts.
Once this incident was exposed, the entire sea erupted in outrage. For a time, it even overshadowed the World Military Draft in popularity.
Especially those tourists who had once boarded Gran Tesoro for entertainment and relaxation.
Compared with others, they had been lucky enough to leave the ship, but many of them had become penniless afterward. Some had even sold their daughters and wives just to leave.
Before, they thought they had simply been unlucky. Now they realized they had been deliberately trapped.
For a time, the former victims demanded that the Gild Tesoro, who had already been arrested by the Marines, provide an explanation, return their wealth, and compensate them for various losses.
Among the victims were even nobles and kings from affiliated countries, which caused the incident to escalate significantly and gave the Marine Headquarters a headache.
Finally, after an investigation by Marine Headquarters under the supervision of the World Government, it was discovered that all the wealth Gild Tesoro had accumulated over the years through illegal means had been looted by the Straw Hat Pirates, leaving not a single berry behind.
Therefore, although they were very sorry, the wealth that had been scammed away was not in the possession of the World Government or Marine Headquarters.
Of course, Marine Headquarters and the World Government had already increased the bounties on the Straw Hat Pirates overnight and intensified the manhunt. They also promised to help everyone recover their losses as soon as possible.
As for when the losses could be recovered, they were still uncertain. After all, the Straw Hat Pirates were a group of extremely vicious criminals and were not easy to capture.
At first, many people refused to accept this and demanded Gild Tesoro's execution.
But after a few days, all voices regarding Gild Tesoro suddenly disappeared.
Even the news agencies that had been continuously reporting on the largest cheating scandal in the seas suddenly fell silent and returned to covering the World Military Draft, shifting public attention back to it.
As for the incident, it was as if it had never happened. All information vanished without a trace.
Ian immediately knew that the World Government had manipulated the trending topics. He even suspected that the enormous wealth accumulated by Gild Tesoro over the years had not been looted by the Straw Hat Pirates at all, but had instead ended up in the pockets of the Celestial Dragons and the World Government.
Although it was a little regrettable that he had learned of this incident so late, otherwise he might have taken a bite as well, the matter was already over, and there was nothing to do but accept it.
Besides, compared to that, he was more curious about where the Straw Hat Pirates were currently adventuring.
Now that the Straw Hat Pirates had already cleared the Golden Emperor dungeon while the Punk Hazard dungeon, and the Kingdom of Dressrosa dungeon had also been completed by him earlier.
It was unclear what adventures the Straw Hat Pirates would encounter next.
But without a doubt… the Egghead Island incident and the Elbaph incident were getting closer and closer.
It made Ian sigh that time was truly passing quickly.
"Oh, that's right, there's still the Wano Country dungeon."
Just as Ian folded up the newspaper, he suddenly thought of something. His eyes narrowed slightly as he stroked his chin and muttered to himself, "Speaking of which, I wonder how things are going over in Wano Country?"
Previously, people from Wano had also called to purchase artificial Devil Fruits. However, because Ohara had just been attacked by the Five Elders at that time and had suffered heavy losses, the production of artificial Devil Fruits had to be temporarily halted for a period, so the deal could only be refused.
Now, Ohara had already been rebuilt, and everything had returned to normal operations. But it was unknown whether Wano was too isolated to have received the news, or whether Kurozumi Orochi and Kouzuki Sukiyaki had run out of money and simply could not afford it anymore.
Or perhaps the outcome had already been decided, and one side had been killed. In any case, no new orders had been received until now.
Of course, Ian did not place much importance on the business with Wano.
Of Kurozumi Orochi and Kouzuki Sukiyaki, one was extremely stingy, and the other was a poor fugitive hiding everywhere. The profit from doing business with those people was not significant.
It was not even comparable to a casual order from teacher Kaido.
Previously, it was mainly because a certain young master of the Kouzuki family and his retainers had spoken without restraint, so he added some fuel to the fire and made a few small arrangements before selling Artificial Devil Fruits to both sides.