Early the next morning, Trecia arrived at the harbor with his entire crew.
Because of the chaos that had erupted the night before, the harbor was now packed with pirates.
The moment Trecia stepped forward, he made a public declaration.
From this day onward, the Kingdom of Trecia had been restored.
Pirates on the island were forbidden from harming the native residents at will. Slave traders and slave owners were required to release every islander they held captive.
Naturally, the pirates, traffickers, and slavers had no intention of obeying.
They had been living just fine, doing whatever they wanted. And now, all of a sudden, someone was telling them to follow rules?
That was impossible.
So large numbers of pirates, traffickers, and slavers immediately grabbed their weapons and prepared to rise up against Trecia.
But the moment Teresa cut a pirate ship nearly a hundred meters long clean in half with a single swing, every voice of opposition in the harbor vanished.
Everyone instantly agreed that they would absolutely obey the new rules.
Their change of attitude was faster than flipping a page.
"How are the islanders doing?" Trecia asked.
"After the news of the kingdom's restoration spread, the people were overjoyed," one of his men reported. "We started distributing food this morning, and everything has been going smoothly so far. But with our current reserves, we can only hold out for three days at most. After that, our food supply will be exhausted."
"Don't worry," Trecia said. "I already sent ships out last night to buy food from other islands."
"But even from the nearest island, transporting enough food will still take five or six days. And we need to feed more than two hundred thousand people."
At that moment, Trecia was discussing the situation with Charlotte.
Now that the Kingdom of Trecia had been restored, he had to shoulder the burden of supporting its people.
And the most important issue, without question, was food.
Before this, most of the island's stored food had been concentrated in the pirate districts. But there were only around ten thousand pirates on the island. That meant the total food available could only sustain the entire population for three days at best, even under strict rationing.
At that moment, Kurogane Ren's voice drifted over.
"We might be able to help with the food problem."
Trecia turned at once toward Ren and the others, then bowed deeply.
"Thank you, Lady Teresa, for what you did at the harbor this morning. Your display crushed any thoughts of resistance."
Teresa simply smiled faintly.
Then Trecia looked at Ren. "You just said you could help solve our food shortage. Was that true?"
"It is," Ren replied. "Find me a large, open place. I'll need it to store food."
Trecia's face lit up with excitement.
"Thank you, Ren! You've solved our most urgent problem."
Ren waved a hand. "You don't need to thank me. I can't create food out of thin air. If you're going to thank anyone, thank Martha in a moment."
Ren planned to have Martha use her ability to multiply food and help Trecia overcome the shortage.
Then Ren looked at him and asked, "Have you thought about what comes next?"
Trecia fell silent.
He understood all too clearly that the restoration of the Kingdom of Trecia had only been possible because the Myriad Worlds Pirates happened to be here. More specifically, because Teresa had single-handedly crushed every opposing force on the island.
But the Myriad Worlds Pirates could not remain here forever.
Once they left, would he truly have the power to protect this country?
His own strength wasn't weak, but there were always stronger people out there.
What if another force as strong as the Myriad Worlds Pirates appeared in the future?
Could he count on them being as kind as Ren and the others?
Of course not.
After twenty years as a pirate, Trecia understood one thing better than anyone.
People like Ren and his crew were one in ten thousand.
Most were monsters.
Seeing Trecia's silence, Ren slapped a hand onto his shoulder.
In that instant, Trecia felt as if something had been added to him.
Ren said, "That's called Haki. It's what allows ordinary people to fight Devil Fruit users. With it, your strength should rise to another level."
"I'll be staying on the island for a few more days. During that time, gather people who are strong, loyal, and trustworthy. I'll let them gain Haki as well. The stronger you are, the better you'll be able to protect this place."
Trecia didn't understand how Ren had only patted him once and somehow given him Haki, but he had no intention of asking.
Instead, he bowed again with the utmost respect.
Still, Ren added, "Even if all of you grow stronger, I don't think that's the best solution."
"In my opinion, the best way to resolve your crisis is to become a member of the World Government again."
"What?" Trecia looked at him in disbelief. "We ended up like this because of the World Government. And now you're telling us to rejoin them? That's impossible."
Ren raised a hand to stop him.
"I know you hate the World Government. But becoming one of their member nations is the most effective solution right now."
"If you don't join them, you won't receive the protection or trade benefits their member states get. Even buying food will cost you more than it should. We can leave you a large amount of food, but supplies will eventually run out."
Trecia knew Ren was right.
Non-member states always paid far more for essential goods than World Government members did.
"Because pirates have ravaged this island for decades, all the farmland has been abandoned," Ren continued. "Reclaiming and cultivating it will take time. But if things continue like this, pirates and traffickers will harass you endlessly. You'll never get the peace you need to rebuild."
"But once you become a World Government member state again, the Marines will be obligated to protect you. And only then will you have the time to restore your country."
After hearing that, Trecia, no matter how unwilling he felt inside, had to admit that Ren's proposal was the best solution available.
The only problem was that he couldn't get past the knot in his heart.
Ren naturally understood that.
He patted Trecia's shoulder again and said quietly, "You're no longer the captain of the Trecia Pirates. You're the king of the Kingdom of Trecia now."
"The burden on your shoulders is no longer a few hundred men. It's the lives of hundreds of thousands of people."
"If you want them to survive, then you'll have to endure things ordinary people never could."
"Thank you for your guidance, Ren," Trecia said. "But there's still one problem. Over the years, I've accumulated quite a bit of treasure. I also seized a fair amount from the other pirate crews."
"But if I have to use that money to rebuild the country and also pay the Heavenly Tribute, then at most I can sustain it for three years. After three years, I won't be able to pay what the Celestial Dragons demand. What happens then?"
The old Kingdom of Trecia had once had more people and a stronger economy than it did now, and even it had failed to keep up with the Heavenly Tribute.
The current Trecia, ruined and half-dead, had even less hope.
Ren smiled at that.
"Don't worry. In three years, I'll make sure your country is safe."
His plan was simple.
Judging by his current rate of growth, within three years he would have enough strength to stand on equal footing with the Four Emperors.
And once he reached that point, simply protecting Trecia under his name would no longer be difficult.
...
Trecia stood before the mountains of grain stacked high in storage, his face full of joy.
There was enough food here to feed the entire country for at least two years.
This was the result of five straight days of work by Martha, who had burned through forty percent of her total power reserve to multiply the island's food stocks into a mountain of supplies.
Over those same few days, Martha hadn't been the only one helping.
Teresa and Xu Nian had contributed in their own way as well.
The two of them had repeatedly gone out to sea in small boats to hunt Sea Kings and drag back enough meat to help feed the island.
As for Trecia, he had already sent people to the nearest Marine base on the very day Ren first proposed rejoining the World Government.
By now, the Marines should already have received his request.
And with that, it was finally time for Ren and the others to set sail once more.
"Take care!"
"Please stay safe!"
...
When Ren and his crew departed, the harbor was filled with crowds of people seeing them off.
Every single person held a flower in their hands.
The island had no specialty goods left, so the people could only gather fresh flowers from the fields to offer as farewell gifts.
At a glance, it was a dazzling sea of color.
And among that crowd, one reporter carrying a camera captured the beautiful scene forever.
He was muttering excitedly to himself the whole time.
"This is huge... absolutely huge. I'm going to make a name for myself. I'm definitely going to make a name for myself."