One Piece: I am Imu-Chapter 299: The Bureaucratic Behemoth and the Floating Kingdom
Chapter 299 - 299: The Bureaucratic Behemoth and the Floating Kingdom
The World Government had always been a colossal bureaucratic entity.
However, with the appearance of the Dimensional Gates, its size had expanded to a point where it could already be considered enormous, and even clumsy in its operation.
The main reason was the overwhelming number of people tasked with tedious tasks such as information gathering, data organization and calculation.
The work required by five worlds had pushed the World Government to the absolute limits of its operational capacity.
For this reason, the union of the Teigu World and the Demon Slayer World as affiliated nations was accepted. In this way, the World Government only needed to interact with one main entity, which in turn indirectly controlled the major nations of its respective world.
Currently, the Ubuyashiki family, with Kibutsuji Muzan at the head, was in the process of uniting the most powerful nations in the Demon Slayer World.
It was only a matter of time before the World Government added a third world as part of the system of affiliated nations.
Because the second world to join was the Kabane World, with Hinomoto as its representative. The accession was particularly rapid due to its small size: the only organized government left in that world was that of Hinomoto.
While there were still some groups of people scattered in other regions, with knowledge advanced enough to invent the McRucky Engine, their largest communities did not exceed thousands of people.
They could not be considered nations at all.
The World Government had already relocated these survivors to Hinomoto.
...
World of the Titans, Noah's Ark.
Imu arrived at the living room outside his bedroom.
As he entered, the first thing he saw was a giant Den-Den Mushi, perched on a purple wooden table. The Den-Den Mushi was over a meter tall, with a blue-green shell and a dark green body.
It was a special Den-Den Mushi that served as a terminal, designed to connect with the Super Den-Den Mushi.
Next to the special Den-Den Mushi was a white headset with a ten-centimeter antenna and a pale yellow screen.
Imu sat on a luxurious red and gold velvet sofa.
Updat𝓮d from freewēbnoveℓ.com.
He had already read the specifications of the device, so he directly took the brainwave connection device and put it on his right ear.
A second later he felt a series of tentacles gently clinging around his ear.
Simultaneously, on the dim yellow screen in front of his right eye, the following lines appeared one by one:
Initializing system...
Brainwave connection successful
Brainwave frequency recorded
Iris registration completed
Authorization level 10: Confirmed
Finally, the process stopped at the question:
Do you want to activate the special Den-Den Mushi?
Imu mentally gave the activation command.
Shortly afterward, on the coffee table, the special Den-Den Mushi projected a wide holographic screen along with a virtual keyboard.
"Such a familiar scene... and yet so strange." Imu sighed nostalgically as he took in the scene before him.
All this was the result of the designs he had sent to the Council of State.
Imu stared at the top left corner of the holographic screen. There, a black cross symbol with five circles decorated the icon marked World Government Administrative System.
With a single thought from him, the icon opened automatically, revealing an interface with a wide range of functions for government management.
Similarly, he could express his thoughts in text and static or moving images.
It was, in essence, a brain-machine connection.
And since this special Den-Den Mushi had been cultivated with the lineage factors of the Super Den-Den Mushi, its intelligence was superior to that of ordinary Den-Den Mushi.
It could practically be compared to the advanced artificial intelligences found in science fiction novels.
"Well, that's not bad. With a few minor adjustments, we can start mass production and test it within the World Government first. This will greatly reduce the need for administrative staff at lower levels."
Imu understood well how artificial intelligence, brain-machine connectivity and the Internet could improve the efficiency of a civilization.
...
In the world of the Fifth Dimensional Gate.
From the day Biba and his group rescued Prince Wales, the three of them integrated seamlessly into the royalist faction of Albion.
Meanwhile, Louise and her party carried with them Prince Wales's reply to Princess Henrietta.
They were traveling back to the Kingdom of Tristain aboard a flying ship.
The letter contained a farewell.
Henrietta, as princess of Tristain, was to marry the king of Germania to ensure an alliance between the two kingdoms.
Under other circumstances, Prince Wales would have been able to protect her with his title and position.
However, his own survival was at risk, and his priority now was to confront the rebels.
He had no choice but to accept this harsh reality.
Meanwhile Chelsea followed Louise in order to protect her.
In order for Chelsea's mission to protect Louise to go smoothly, Biba asked Prince Wales to write a letter of recommendation so that she could enter the Tristain Magic Academy, the same one where Louise and her companions studied.
In addition, this would help Chelsea gain insight into the magic of this world.
Meanwhile, Biba and Tucker, although they accompanied Prince Wales, remained aloof from the war between the royalist faction and the rebels.
Furthermore, Prince Wales was convinced that, after the death of their leader Cromwell and the loss of his most powerful warrior, Wardes, the rebel nobles would be no match for him.
He also believed that the common soldiers, seeing that the royal family still had power, would choose to surrender without further fighting. Therefore, he did not insist on asking them to intervene in the war.
Besides, Biba didn't think about intervening unless the time and situation was right.
If Prince Wales managed to defeat the rebels and recover the capital, becoming king, that would only bring benefits.
He could access the history and current situation of the world through the Kingdom of Albion.
And, in addition, thanks to the debt of gratitude for having saved his life, the new king would surely support them in the future.
"I would never have imagined it... The entire Kingdom of Albion is a floating island. Its size seems similar to London in the Demon Slayer World." Biba commented to Tucker, while he looked at a map of the kingdom spread out on the table in his room.
Tucker, standing across the room, crossed his arms and mused, "Yes, but what puzzles me most is the principle that keeps it afloat."
When Tucker wanted to find out the principle behind this, not even Prince Wales knew why Albion was floating in the sky.
"Maybe it's the magic they mentioned?"
Biba smiled slightly. He was not interested in how this place floated.
What really mattered to him was the simple fact that it floated, because that meant it had incalculable strategic value.
The World Government could transform the entire Kingdom of Albion into a gigantic airbase and floating military fortress.
"Captain, do you remember that ship Chelsea and the others were on?" Tucker suddenly asked, as if something had occurred to him.
Biba nodded and recalled the scene. "Of course. They called it a magical flying ship and even built an airport out of huge tree trunks for its docking, along with a port city to service it."
"These details indicate that the use of magic ships in this world has been established for a long time," Tucker continued. "We haven't seen them in combat yet, but it's safe to assume that the various nations must have military versions, something like flying magic warships."
"However, this world's naval technology is still in the era of wooden sailing ships." Tucker commented, without elaborating. Then, he continued with his idea, "A while ago, I asked that girl named Tabitha about magic ships."
"He explained to me that what allows them to float is a material called wind stone, and that the direction and movement of the boat is controlled by magic."
Tucker paused before adding thoughtfully, "But there is something very strange... Tabitha claimed that the windstone is mainly mined from a desert in the south which is the territory of the elves."
Biba raised an eyebrow. He didn't expect Tucker to have obtained so much information just through casual conversation.
"Elves... It seems that they are the figures that the head of the Ubuyashiki family saw through his gift of premonition. However, in most tales of various worlds, elves usually inhabit forests, don't they?" he said with a light laugh. But as soon as he finished speaking, his expression turned serious.
"Wind Stones... It seems like they're an extremely valuable resource. From the beginning, I've always found it too risky to rely solely on a single person's Devil Fruit to sustain the World Government's entire airship system. The risks and vulnerabilities are simply unacceptable."
"It's clear that the higher-ups of the World Government have also thought about this, but until now there was no resource that could replace the Fuwa-Fuwa no Mi's ability, so their dependence on it was understandable."
At that moment, Biba hesitated for a moment before asking, "Tell me, does that oddity you mentioned... refer to...?"
Tucker nodded gravely. "Yes. I suspect that right beneath our feet are an unimaginable number of windstones. Their presence is what keeps this gigantic island floating in the sky. And yet they insist that the main deposit of this mineral is in that desert to the south. Don't you find that strange?"
Looking out the window at the lush forest and the blue sky, Tucker frowned in confusion. "How come no one has come up with this hypothesis for so many years?"
"Or has someone already considered it and even investigated it, but discovered that the real cause of this island floating is not the wind stones, but some other unknown force?"
"There is also the possibility that their methods and technology are insufficient to detect wind stones in the deep layers of the ground. Or perhaps... someone is deliberately hiding this information."
After listening to Tucker's analysis, Biba had already decided what his next step would be.
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