Dragon also understood that without explaining clearly, Finn wouldn't help without reason. And without sufficient benefits, he couldn't convince him either.
Therefore, for the next ten minutes or so, Dragon laid out his thoughts and plans from this period, intending to get Finn involved and accomplish something together.
Little did he know that Finn was completely bewildered by his explanation.
Haven't you been taking the civilian route from the very beginning? The grassroots approach? Rebelling from the bottom up?
How did it suddenly become like this?
As for Outlook Sabo, Finn was even more surprised.
In the original timeline, Sabo had been shot by a Celestial Dragon and lost his memory. By chance, he'd joined Dragon's organization.
But now, Finn had already claimed Ace and Luffy. Those two kept shouting about wanting to become Marine Admirals or "King of Marines."
Finn hadn't really worried about Sabo. After all, the boy had a noble background, and it wasn't convenient for Finn to interfere too directly.
But in the end, Sabo had still followed Dragon.
And this time he'd been even more ferocious. Directly killing a Celestial Dragon as his pledge of loyalty...
As expected, these people who would become great in the future had been extraordinary since childhood.
But this was nothing. At most, barely back on track with destiny.
Dragon's subsequent actions shocked Finn far more.
He actually planned to support the Outlook family in becoming Goa Kingdom's royal family. Through Sabo's act of killing the Celestial Dragon, he'd secretly control the Outlook family and transform Goa Kingdom into a covert base for his organization in the East Blue.
Simultaneously, taking advantage of Goa Kingdom's legitimate member nation status, they'd begin going public through shell companies. Conduct businesses they'd originally been unable to pursue but had the capability for. Use this method to provide resources to the organization.
Finn had to admit, he was impressed by Dragon's flexible thinking.
The man had seized the opportunity presented by Sabo, broadened his horizons, and begun pursuing a two-pronged approach.
Obviously, this was all the result of Finn the butterfly's subtle influence over the years. The storm had just erupted at this moment.
If Dragon truly tasted success in Goa Kingdom and found a mature operational model, this guy might genuinely soar to new heights.
Finn was secretly shocked. Sure enough, this bastard wasn't easy to deal with.
But then he reconsidered. Was it necessary to deal with him? Was it necessary to disrupt Dragon's plans?
It seemed not. During the period when the Marines couldn't separate from Mary Geoise, they were naturally bound together. It had been impossible to allow Dragon to overthrow the system.
Because if Mary Geoise collapsed, the Marines would also be greatly affected. After Dragon took over Mary Geoise's legacy, he might even "acquire" the penniless Marines in one move and become their new boss.
This had been unacceptable to Finn, so before now, Finn and the Marines had only cooperated with Dragon in secret. They would never help Dragon on critical matters.
But now it seemed there was no need to worry about whether Dragon could successfully overthrow the system.
Because no matter how fast he moved, he couldn't accomplish it within five years. After five years, whether Mary Geoise and the Five Elders were dead or alive would have nothing to do with the Marines.
Because the Marines would no longer need to rely on them.
No matter how capable Dragon was, all he could do was form a new international alliance. What else?
The power of the Marines, the world's largest military organization, would still be Marine Headquarters. And Marine Headquarters would be self-managed, requiring no external investment. That would be the true supreme power!
From this perspective, there was no longer any fundamental opposition between Dragon and Marine Headquarters. They could cooperate more deeply now.
Suddenly, Finn thought of Commander-in-Chief Kong and Fleet Admiral Sengoku. The cooperation between the Marines and Dragon had always been arranged by these two. Finn didn't know much about it, and he'd never been interested in asking for details.
Most of his cooperation with Dragon was this kind of private "sharing of spoils."
For instance, this time, Dragon's reason for contacting him was simply wanting to use Finn's identity as a Marine Admiral to provide cover for Goa Kingdom's operations. Second, he wanted to use Finn's connections to smooth things over with Queen Stussy. See if he could directly connect Goa Kingdom to Amway Group's sales channels through her. Once accomplished, Dragon only needed to arrange for full production in Goa Kingdom, then sell to Amway Group. Making money without lifting a finger.
So, what Finn had just realized... had Commander-in-Chief Kong and Fleet Admiral Sengoku already thought of it and arranged it secretly?
In Finn's own thinking, at the point when the Marines truly had the confidence to flip the table and say no, he wouldn't care about appearances. He'd turn hostile directly.
But Fleet Admiral Sengoku and Commander-in-Chief Kong tended toward caution and maturity. Or rather, cunning.
It was very likely that Dragon was the knife they were preparing to wield.
For what purpose? To help the Marines stab Mary Geoise!
After all, Marine Headquarters and Mary Geoise had maintained an integrated relationship for over eight hundred years. If they simply gained power and kicked out their old employer, that would certainly impact the Marines' reputation.
But what if the old boss was stabbed to death by Dragon?
Wouldn't that preserve the Marines' reputation perfectly?
"Damn, that's dirty!" Finn exclaimed.
Compared to them, I'm still too pure!
"What's dirty?" Dragon sounded confused.
"I'm not talking about you. I just thought about some things and figured them out. I'm not the only smart person in this world," Finn said softly, emotion in his tone.
"Are you calling me smart?" Dragon laughed.
"You are indeed smart," Finn said seriously.
This wasn't mockery. Finn had always believed Dragon was extremely capable. He'd thought he wasn't bad himself, but now, thinking about it, in some matters, he really couldn't compare with people like Sengoku and Kong, who were both intelligent and experienced.
"So do you want to cooperate?" Dragon asked seriously.
"Goa Kingdom is just the beginning?" Finn asked after hesitation.
"Yes, this is just the beginning. If it can truly be put into mature operation and bring huge benefits, I won't give up this method just for profit. In the future, I'll definitely secretly infiltrate other countries. If possible, I'm even prepared to create a new East Blue Alliance... Of course, that's just fantasy at this stage. As long as you can convince Miss Stussy to arrange for Amway Group to cooperate with me, I'll give you thirty percent of the profits. How about it?" Dragon said quickly.
"The leader of Amway Group is one of the Seven Warlords. White Hunter Smoker. Stussy..." Finn asked tentatively.
"You're still going to lie to me? Do you think it's fun to say such things?" Dragon interrupted without hesitation.
Finn was genuinely surprised. Wow, you've really done your homework. Have you discovered everything?
"It seems you know?" Finn's tone grew slightly serious.
"Of course I know. Or rather, I guessed long ago," Dragon said with a smile.
"In that case, there's no need to hide it from you. You guessed correctly. Smoker is just a front. Amway Group essentially belongs to..." Finn prepared to reveal his cards.
Since Dragon had already investigated everything clearly, there was no need to hide it anymore. Why bother?
But before he could finish, Dragon added, "Mary Geoise. The Five Elders. It's easy to see. Otherwise, Miss Stussy, as a senior CP executive, wouldn't need Smoker as an intermediary. She could run Amway Group's business herself..."
"Yes, you're absolutely right!" Finn responded quickly.
"I know you're worried that if I cooperate with Amway Group, it might be exposed to Mary Geoise or something. Don't worry, I've arranged some outsiders with absolutely clean backgrounds. I definitely won't bring you any trouble," Dragon said seriously.
Should he cooperate?
Were there benefits?
Of course there were. If Dragon's plan succeeded, if Goa Kingdom worked out and he tasted success, he'd definitely develop this model vigorously to expand.
By then, Amway Group could follow Dragon and gradually master sales channels in various countries. In other words, Amway Group would find a new breakthrough and potentially develop into a truly international, diversified super-conglomerate.
At this stage, Amway Group had actually reached a bottleneck. This was why Smoker wanted to build Golden City, join forces with Whitebeard, and elevate his pirate status.
Because he needed external force to break through the bottleneck.
The opportunity Dragon brought was one such force.
Perhaps many people of this era couldn't imagine what consequences would arise if Amway Group grew into a giant global conglomerate.
Or perhaps Dragon had already thought of it but didn't care. Maybe he felt confident he'd eventually be able to solve this problem, to take down Amway Group. But his information was flawed, because he didn't know that Amway Group was actually backed by Marine Headquarters.
If the world's most powerful military organization was in league with a super business group, did anyone else stand a chance?
Finn naturally didn't bother reminding Dragon of this. He just pretended to be reluctant and said, "Ah, I'm really impressed with you. You keep giving me work to do... Forty percent?"
"Thirty percent. No negotiation. You're just a lobbyist. Thirty percent is already giving you tremendous face, okay? And this is only from Goa Kingdom. Don't treat me like a fool. If it expands in the future, you won't get a share. Of course, you can ask Stussy for compensation and get a cut that way," Dragon said stingily.
Finn didn't care about any of this at all. These were tiny profits. As long as Dragon connected with Amway Group, Finn would be the biggest beneficiary. Why would he need kickbacks? How cheap would that be!
Therefore, Finn pretended to argue with Dragon for a while. Dragon finally used the "thirty percent" profit as leverage to persuade Finn to help contact Queen Stussy.
This was the importance of intelligence. Who knows, when Dragon discovered the truth, would he fight Finn to the death?
After disconnecting the call, Finn smiled, clenched his palms and said, "Holding the gun is real power..."
"Doesn't Dragon understand this?" Hina asked curiously.
"Doesn't understand? How could he not understand? If he didn't understand, how could he have formed a team?" Finn said with a smile.
However, how could the team he'd assembled over ten or twenty years possibly compare with the Marines that had stood on the seas for hundreds of years and were undergoing transformation?
Of course, it had been very reasonable for Dragon to make such a choice and abandon the Marines.
After all, apart from Finn, who else could truly free the Marines from Mary Geoise's constraints?
Dragon had given up when he'd seen the difficulty. He'd rather go out and start a new enterprise than fight to the death with this behemoth.
After all, he knew perfectly well that if the Marines couldn't break free from this constraint, they could never truly become a so-called "gun"!
So even though he clearly knew the Marines were a heavy machine gun with extremely powerful firepower.
He'd still gone out to work independently and made his own pistol.
Because he'd felt that no one except Mary Geoise could operate this heavy machine gun.
Then he'd turned around to find Finn firing it!
"Is it appropriate for you to trick Dragon like this?" Gion suddenly asked with amusement.
"What do you mean 'trick'? You all heard it. I clearly expressed disinterest and didn't want to play with him. I even hung up on him, and yet he kept crying and begging me to cooperate. Can you really blame me for that? I was just being kind and trying to help him out!" Finn said shamelessly.