This is starting to become quite an inconvenience.
Such an inconvenience that the Marines were unable to track down pirates.
"Your World Government owes ten trillion beli?" Every time pirates asked this question, the Marines ground their teeth in frustration.
If the World Government claims that the Nefertari Family are Heavenly Dragons, then King Ezekiel is rightly demanding his share of the Heavenly Tribute!
No one knew how the World Government would respond. At the very least, giving the money was impossible. The most that could be expected was silence from the World Government. And that's exactly what happened.
Even after a week, the World Government had not responded, and people's interest in the matter gradually waned. However, this caused the credibility of the official World Government media to collapse almost overnight. Everyone began to realize that even in the World Government's newspapers, absurd news could appear.
"Is ten trillion beli a lot?"
As he observed the debate on the Heavenly Tribute among people on the Forum, Ezekiel gradually came to an idea…
The economy is the lifeblood of a country. The one hundred seventy member states of the World Government must annually pay a large amount of Heavenly Tribute, which could even lead to the bankruptcy of many countries. So, how much money could bankrupt a country?
Take Dress Rosa as an example. To bankrupt it, at least 10 billion beli would have to be taken, and the amount of Heavenly Tribute paid by such a country annually should be several billion. There are countries large and small, and they have to pay different amounts of Heavenly Tribute according to the conditions of various countries.
In fact, a billion beli is only one hundred thousand million new dollars.
Ezekiel has been in power for only two years, so how wealthy is Alabasta today?
The issues of water and climate have been resolved! The problem of food and clothing for more than 220 million inhabitants of Alabasta has also been completely solved. Even if the quality of the food isn't considered, at least people won't die from hunger or thirst.
For people in this world, this is unprecedented and unimaginable!
To achieve this level, the state's total income is approximately one trillion beli per month. In other words, Ezekiel can annually contribute at least ten trillion beli to the budget.
A staggering number, but if the country has more than a dozen people with the power of the Ishi Ishi no Mi, ten people with the power of the Mirror Fruit, and a strong person capable of managing lightning and metallurgy freely, then it is not difficult to achieve this.
The Ishi Ishi no Mi alone saves trillions of dollars annually in national construction.
The transportation capability of the Mirror Fruit is equivalent to the state not spending a single penny on logistics.
In the past, Alabasta earned only tens of billions of beli a year. How much could be spent on people in that case? How could the problems of food and clothing be solved?
That is why the people of Alabasta often refer to Ezekiel as the Holy King, considering him the only King like this in Alabasta in four thousand years.
But what was truly unexpected not only for the World Government but also for the people of Alabasta was the Sky Island plan. It caused quite a stir.
Unrest in Alabasta?!
The Five Elders and Sengoku had never before imagined that there could be internal unrest in this country. In the end, there is a powerful ruler, Ezekiel. How could this have happened?
But when the intelligence was laid out before them, they had to believe that unrest had indeed begun in Alabasta, affecting millions or even tens of millions of people.
All the chaos lies in the King's new plan...
Ezekiel stood on a massive platform in Alubarna, looking at the vast crowd of people. For a moment, he was at a loss for words. Beside him were Fujitora and Robin, pushing Kai's wheelchair. As for Nami, she was still on Heavenly Island.
Ezekiel had announced his plan to construct an artificial Sky Island. In less than three days, all of Alabasta erupted...
But it wasn't so much a rebellion as it was a misunderstanding.
Everyone went silent and kneeled on the huge square in Alubarna. People filled all the streets and alleys, and it was unknown how many residents of Alabasta had gathered throughout Alubarna. Millions of people!
This overwhelming surge of public sentiment caused Fujitora to break into a sweat.
We don't need a Sky Island!
Your Majesty! Why waste state funds!Your Majesty, enough with the innovations!Countless shouts echoed from the crowd. But still, everyone knelt down on the ground. They didn't want to show disrespect to the Royal family; their aim was to reason with the King...
Is this the cause of the chaos? Ezekiel's people don't want him to spend money needlessly? Such a low level of demand from the people of this world.
Ezekiel saw that the common folk, who asked for no other help simply because they had their food, were truly shocked.
Yet Ezekiel firmly declared the necessity of building the Heavenly Island.
These simple people stubbornly believe that survival is paramount, and they do not need a Heavenly Island with better living conditions or the additional income they would gain from purchases, water bills, and even mobile phone bills.
They just didn't want the King to waste his wealth on the whims of those wanting to live on Heavenly Island. How could these foolish people exploit their Holy King!
Therefore, his people should not sit idly by and watch as lazy people enjoy the wealth of His Majesty the King for free.
Ezekiel grasped the stone railing tightly, unable to utter a word for a while.
The Universe is so vast that there are such countries and such people.
The King has money to develop the country.
And the people say they don't need it, it's a waste of the Royal funds!
Of course, Ezekiel truly disagreed with this view. If he agreed, how could he have built such a country?
In the end, the gathering continued for an entire day, but by Ezekiel's decree, it was dispersed. The people's goal was to persuade, not to cause disorder.
Now that Ezekiel had spoken, the people would not refuse to obey, even if they did not want to.
This left the sea in shock and even instilled a terrible sense of fear, which finally reached every corner of the world through a live broadcast…