Kaido froze when he heard that.
After thinking it over carefully, he realized—Kurosaki Rei actually had a point.
Yeah… why did I hand the country over to that useless trash Kurozumi Orochi?
Orochi wasn't a legitimate heir of the Kozuki clan and had zero support from Wano's people. Nor was he a capable administrator. So why, back then, had Kaido entrusted the country to such an idiot?
The more Kaido thought about it, the dizzier he felt. He even started questioning his own life choices, wondering how he'd failed to see something so simple before.
Sure, he didn't care about the lives of ordinary people—but living people were the ones who worked in his factories. He needed Wano's craftsmen to process seastone and forge weapons. If everyone died and the skills were lost, what factories would he even have left?
By that logic, Kurozumi Orochi was nothing but a stumbling block on the path to his grand ambitions.
With that realization, Kaido's gaze turned dangerous. At the same time, the way he looked at Kurosaki Rei carried a bit more weight.
"What you're saying makes some sense," Kaido said. "Then if Wano had a better direct administrator, would the situation improve?"
Kurosaki Rei hadn't expected "Teacher Kaido" to be this easy to talk to, but thinking about it, Kaido really wasn't that hard to deal with. Fundamentally, he was just as straightforward as Yamato. If he accepted your reasoning, he'd accept it outright—no beating around the bush.
Facing Kaido's question, Kurosaki Rei shook his head.
"It's not that simple. Kurozumi Orochi is a cancer on this country, but a nation's corruption and decline aren't the fault of one person alone. They're the result of historical accumulation."
Sitting beside Kaido, Black Maria now looked at Kurosaki Rei with a far more serious gaze. She realized she'd misjudged him—this man really did have something to him, practically a "national talent."
How had they never thought about the Orochi issue before?
If Kurosaki Rei knew what Maria was thinking, he'd probably be ashamed beyond words. With his level of knowledge, being called a "national talent" was far too generous—he was just rambling based on a bit of history he'd read.
He continued,
"Kurozumi Orochi must be removed, and all of his subordinates replaced as well. Wano's existing system also needs reform. Only then can corruption be curbed in the short term, the people's basic livelihood secured, and a stable supply of skilled labor guaranteed."
Kurosaki Rei was very clear that talking to someone like Kaido about the happiness and well-being of the people was pointless. Kaido didn't care about that at all—what he cared about was whether his labor force would shrink and whether his factories and profits would be affected.
"Reforming the system? Sounds like a hassle. Killing Orochi would be much simpler," Kaido muttered.
"As you say, Governor, systemic reform is complicated," Kurosaki Rei agreed.
"In the short term, it's enough to first remove Kurozumi Orochi and his confidants—kill them all, use it to intimidate the lower-level administrators. For a while, they'll behave themselves."
He added,
"But as I said earlier, Wano ended up like this for multiple reasons. Now that we've talked about Orochi's corruption, let's turn back to the Beasts Pirates themselves."
"What problems do we have?" Kaido said unhappily. "There's no corruption within the Beasts Pirates."
Kaido had absolute confidence in his crew. Most of his subordinates were straightforward people, so he didn't believe they'd become like Orochi's faction. At the very least, no one in his crew went hungry.
"You misunderstand, Governor. I'm not saying there's a problem within the Beasts Pirates themselves. I'm talking about the factories under your banner."
Kurosaki Rei shook his head. He didn't know about other pirate crews, but the Beasts Pirates' layered structure was clearly designed with intent. It had real managerial thought behind it.
The Calamities, the Flying Six, the Shinuchi, the Gifters, the Pleasures—this was basically a large, well-organized corporation with nested levels of management.
Logically, such a structure could easily breed corruption, but this was a pirate crew. People joined either to chase dreams, admire Kaido, or pursue freedom. They were bound together as "companions."
On top of that, food and clothing were guaranteed, and there wasn't even a real salary system. Corruption wasn't nonexistent—but it was rare.
"The factories?"
Kaido's expression darkened.
This was his forbidden territory. No matter what Kurosaki Rei said next, Kaido had no intention of reforming his factories. Facts had already proven that they brought in massive income and strengthened his crew. They were perfect.
"Yes," Kurosaki Rei said, carefully observing Kaido's expression.
"I asked Yamato. The Beasts Pirates' factories include weapon factories, seastone processing plants, and SMILE factories. Both the weapon factories and SMILE factories produce large amounts of waste. That waste is highly polluting, and it's discharged directly into the rivers without treatment."
He continued,
"The damage this pollution does to farmland—and the resulting reduction in grain output—can be offset by imports, as you said. But what about drinking water?"
Kaido was about to interrupt, to tell Kurosaki Rei to stop talking about the factories, but that last sentence made him pause and think.
Seeing Kaido fall silent, Kurosaki Rei added,
"People can survive a long time without food, but not without water. The people living along the rivers have no choice but to drink it. As a result, aside from starvation, disease will cause large numbers of deaths—and that means losing a great deal of labor."
At this point, Black Maria spoke up.
"Kurosaki Rei, what you're saying doesn't match the facts. As far as I know, Wano's rivers are still relatively clear. There haven't been widespread disease problems like you describe."
Kurosaki Rei froze for a moment. She wasn't entirely wrong—he had been making assumptions based on Yamato's words and the manga. Thinking carefully, it had only been eight years since the pollution began. Kaido's rise wasn't that long ago, and the number of factories wasn't enormous yet. The rivers might indeed not be heavily polluted.
But he quickly recovered.
"Miss Maria, pollution isn't something that happens overnight. Long-term consumption of water containing chemical substances causes gradual damage to the body. It might not be obvious in adults yet, but children are far less able to endure it—and are much more likely to die young."
Kaido fell silent, leaving the discussion entirely to Maria, his "advisor."
Maria smiled faintly.
"Whether children live or die doesn't really matter, does it? They're not immediate labor anyway. As long as adults can work, that's enough."
Kurosaki Rei frowned when he heard that. He finally experienced just how ruthless this woman was. As expected of pirates—their way of thinking really is different.
"Miss Maria, there are two problems with what you just said," Kurosaki Rei replied calmly.
"First, adults grow up from children. You yourself noticed Wano's population declining, and you realized that labor might decrease in the future. So why don't you understand that without children growing up, the labor force will inevitably shrink?"
Maria remained unmoved.
"But in reality, our factories have always had enough workers. The population decline hasn't affected us."
"Then you still haven't grasped the key point," Kurosaki Rei said.
"The population is decreasing, yet the factories' immediate labor hasn't declined. That means most of those dying are children. Right now, the timeframe is too short to see the impact—but in a few years, the labor force will drop off a cliff, because there will be no grown children to replace it."
He continued,
"And population decline isn't just due to children dying. Adults who drink polluted water may also become infertile. What we're seeing now is only the beginning. Once it reaches a critical point, the population will collapse exponentially. That's why I said earlier—within fifteen years, this country won't be able to function at all."
This time, Maria said nothing. She began seriously thinking through Kurosaki Rei's words.
With a bit of calculation, she could already foresee a terrifying future.
Adults unable to have children—that was even more terrifying than famine.
Using eighteen years as a generation cycle, they were already nearly halfway through. In about ten more years, Wano's age structure would develop a gap. After that, population numbers would plunge, and not long after, the factories would be affected.
The Beasts Pirates' grand ambition required long-term financial support. At worst, this wasn't something Kaido's generation alone could complete. If the Wano they'd worked so hard to seize and develop collapsed in twenty years, it would be a massive blow to the Beasts Pirates.
"Maria… is what he said correct?"
Kaido asked bluntly.
In front of people close to him, Kaido never stood on ceremony.
Maria nodded solemnly.
"He's right. This was our oversight. We focused too much on short-term benefits and neglected the long term. This issue must be addressed."
Kaido didn't fully grasp just how severe the problem was, but since Kurosaki Rei said it, and Maria agreed, he figured some adjustment was needed.
"Fine. Solve it—but don't affect factory production."
What Kaido cared about most was his industrial chain. As long as his profits and expansion weren't affected, environmental治理 was acceptable.
"As long as you understand, Governor," Kurosaki Rei said with a smile.
"This problem is actually not difficult to solve. You only need to open a separate channel to divert wastewater to a designated treatment area."
In the real world, that would be extremely costly. But in this superhuman world, it was trivial. The Beasts Pirates had plenty of Ancient Zoan users and even giants. Digging a new channel would take only a day or two.
Heck, Kaido himself could split a river with a single strike. Kurosaki Rei figured that before this, they simply hadn't understood the dangers of wastewater pollution—otherwise, they'd have dealt with it already.
"That's too much trouble. Just dump it into the sea," Kaido waved his hand.
"Have the Numbers do it tomorrow."
He dismissed Kurosaki Rei's proposal outright—and even felt his own idea was quite clever.
Digging a channel was fine, but building a treatment facility? Wouldn't that increase production costs?
Kurosaki Rei was momentarily speechless. You really are saying something historically accurate here…
He wanted to persuade Kaido further, but no matter how he thought about it, he couldn't find a convincing angle to trick Kaido into building a treatment plant. After all, Kaido was a pirate. Talking about protecting the oceans or the global environment was something Kaido would never care about.
At the end of the day, Kaido only cared about factory profits. Anything that increased costs was unacceptable to him.
To push environmental protection further, Kurosaki Rei felt he'd need at least Calamity-level authority. Continuing to poke at Kaido's interests right now would just be suicidal.
Helpless, Kurosaki Rei temporarily gave up on the idea of wastewater treatment. He decided to tell Yamato later and let her work toward it in the future.
"This arrangement is indeed reasonable,"
Maria praised Kaido's decisiveness. Then her eyes shifted to Kurosaki Rei.
"Kaido, since we're replacing Kurozumi Orochi, Wano will naturally need a new administrator. Kurosaki Rei is clearly eloquent—why not let him try managing it together with Yamato?"
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