"Welcome to Sleeping Island. On this island, violence is prohibited except in designated areas. Anyone who damages buildings will be required to compensate according to the extent of the damage."
"Anyone who causes injury to others will be arrested and sent to Confession Prison for education, and will also be required to provide compensation. These are the specific regulations of what is prohibited on our island. Please make sure to pay close attention."
At the dock, after the massive Brownbeard disembarked, a guide handed him a booklet. It was filled with various rules, but at its core, it simply prohibited fraud, kidnapping, rape, looting, and similar crimes.
There was nothing particularly unusual about the regulations—just the kind of rules any normal person could understand. It wasn't like certain countries where you had to kneel upon seeing the king.
Unless they were pirates who were naturally inclined toward destruction, most pirates could accept such perfectly reasonable rules.
"Captain, there's also a travel guide for Sleeping Island in here."
At the back of the booklet was a partial map of Sleeping Island, mainly covering Midnight Town.
"This is the tavern, this is the casino, and over here is the weapon shop."
For small-scale weapon transactions, there was no need to negotiate at the factory. Vane had directly opened a weapon shop in Midnight Town for retail sales. Most pirates who came to the island would stop by to spend some money.
There weren't many men who could resist blades and swords—especially not pirates.
"Why isn't there a red-light district?"
Drinking, dining, gambling—Midnight Town had it all. There were even more refined forms of entertainment, like singing and dance performances. Yet conspicuously absent was the red-light district that pirates tended to crave just as much.
Whether such business might arise privately in the future was none of Vane's concern, but he would never personally operate such an enterprise.
"All of you better keep your belts tight. This is the territory of a pirate with a bounty as high as 1.1 billion Belly!"
Brownbeard knew some of his crew were lust-driven by nature—men who felt uncomfortable all over if they went too long without women. If they caused trouble on Sleeping Island over something like that, it would be absurd.
The boss here carried a bounty of 1.1 billion Belly. Even excluding the boss, the second-highest bounty, Moria, was worth several times more than Brownbeard himself. They were absolutely not people to provoke.
The road from the dock to Midnight Town was vastly different from before. It had been reinforced and outfitted with additional installations. Along the way were two Den Den Mushi projectors continuously broadcasting information.
They were displaying details of missing persons. Searching in this way was like looking for a needle in the ocean—merely a supplementary measure.
Rocket Team's primary method of locating missing persons was cracking down on slave traders. The people rescued from slave traders might not necessarily be listed in their database, but they were guaranteed to be missing persons. That greatly increased the success rate of matching them with records.
After compiling the data on these missing children and contacting their families, their reputation grew at an astonishing rate.
This was also the main reason Sleeping Island could stand on equal footing with the Marines in the search-and-rescue effort.
The Marines relied on their nearly worldwide reach. Their method was casting a vast net across the sea—wide coverage with sheer manpower.
Sleeping Island, on the other hand, struck directly at the root of the problem. Capture a single slave-trading ship, and everyone onboard would be missing persons. The resource expenditure was minimal, nowhere near the scale required by the Marines.
"Sleeping Island is actually serious about this. I thought it was just for show."
"Then you're underestimating Nation-Slayer. A pirate who dared to charge into Mary Geoise would never do something fake."
Among Brownbeard's crew were members he had bought back from auctions—former slaves who had once lived in chains. They held deep admiration for Vane, the one who liberated slaves.
It was the kind of unconditional trust fans placed in their idol.
"Actually, I'm more interested in this part. The booklet mentions an arena that opens at specific times. If pirates have a conflict on the island, they can't fight anywhere else."
Even damaging flowers and plants elsewhere would result in the Rocket Team holding them accountable.
"You can apply for a battle slot at the arena. If both parties agree to a life-or-death duel, killing is permitted inside the arena."
"If you don't have a personal grudge, you can also apply to fight in the arena."
"In that case, your opponent would be a member of the Rocket Team. Defeating a Rocket Team member earns you material rewards."
The arena had originally been built to give the Rocket Team a fixed location for internal sparring.
Once construction was completed, Vane thought of many additional uses for it.
Allowing outsiders to challenge them might attract capable individuals to join the Rocket Team. At the very least, a Devil Fruit user might appear. That would practically be food delivered to their doorstep.
Midnight Town already hosted dance and music performances organized by Stella from the Ministry of Arts and Culture, but many people still preferred the visceral thrill of fist-to-fist combat.
At this stage, the arena had already begun selling tickets. The prices were reasonable, and with the decent income Vane provided to island residents, watching an occasional match was affordable entertainment.
Moreover, many ticket buyers were visitors. Sleeping Island now had over 8,000 permanent residents. Including the transient population, the number was approaching 10,000—and transient visitors often had some money. After all, without a bit of spare cash, it was hard to survive drifting at sea.
Even if no one stepped forward to challenge them in a given week, Vane would arrange for internal Rocket Team members to fight a couple of exhibition matches in the arena.
They didn't necessarily have to be brutal, but they would certainly be entertaining.
"Boss, how about we sign up too? It says if you win one match, you get a 20% discount on weapons. Two wins get you 30% off. Three wins get you 40% off."
The maximum discount was 40%. Even at retail prices with that reduction, Vane still turned a profit. No buyer could outsmart the seller.
"Seems like it's worth a try."
They wouldn't send out a top executive in the first match, right? Otherwise, who would dare step into the ring?
"But it says registration must be done at least two days in advance."
"That's fine. We can use the time to rest and resupply on Sleeping Island."
Extending the registration period would keep people on the island longer, encouraging them to spend more over a couple of extra days. Every rule had its strategy behind it.
Boom!!
Suddenly, a disturbance broke out in Midnight Town. A group of pirates had seized two carts of weapons that were about to be delivered into town.
"Out of the way! I lost every last coin at the casino, so I'll just take some supplies as compensation!"
They were pirates who had gambled away all their money due to terrible luck.
There was nothing strange about people filled with resentment acting recklessly.
Maybe they lacked the vision to understand just how powerful the strong truly were.
Or maybe it was a moment of impulsive stupidity—grab the goods, then run. The dock was close. If they could make it back to their ship and sail away from Sleeping Island, they might escape.
What if?
As long as they got far enough from Sleeping Island, maybe they'd be fine.
A lot of people believed in that "what if."
----------------
Pls Drop some Power Stones
+100 chapters and support me on Patreon(.)com/Jixo