One Piece: I am the Fleet Admiral?

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"Akira, what are you doing?"

The meeting that had all the officers buzzing with excitement had just wrapped up.

He couldn't wait to rush to the Fleet Admiral's office, leaning over the table with both hands, and asked in shock.

"Oh? Aunt Tsuru, what are you asking?"

Akira paused his work, looked up, and met her gaze directly.

"You just said that the benefits are distributed every year based on profits," Tsuru said in a deep voice.

In fact, she wanted to ask right away during the meeting.

As a senior staff officer, she was completely in the dark about Akira's actions.

Not only was she caught off guard, but more importantly, after seeing the benefits, she felt a sense of unease.

Even if the Marine truly appreciated the benefits, as a senior staff officer, she could receive berries from the fund every year.

But she also felt an urge to persuade him to withdraw that order.

Or at least to get an answer from Akira, understanding his true intentions behind offering such benefits.

Akira folded his hands, rested his chin on them, and said quietly, "As you can see, it's just to give benefits to the officers."

"I don't think so!"

"Oh? Then why do you think I'm doing this?"

Akira raised an eyebrow, asking with a curious expression, "It's okay, Aunt Tsuru, speak freely. What do you think I want to do with this?"

He really wanted to know if Tsuru, a sharp-minded officer, could guess his true intentions.

If even she couldn't figure it out, then the chances of others guessing were even slimmer.

Tsuru pursed her lips and fell silent.

It was precisely because she couldn't figure it out, and felt something was off, that she reacted this way.

Seeing this, Akira understood, and a slight smirk appeared on his face.

"Why are you offering these benefits for no reason? This is unprecedented."

Tsuru let out a breath and asked, perplexed.

"Oh, there's no deep reason! Remember our discussion a few days ago about the Marine Bank being targeted by the World Government Bank?"

Since Tsuru couldn't understand, Akira didn't mind, as he wasn't about to spell it out for her.

Before she could respond, he continued with the excuse he had prepared:

"Actually, I felt something was wrong back then."

"You should know that the Marine Bank is an essential asset for us in this era of great pirates.

"Without it, we can't progress, but when something so important is threatened, the officers didn't seem to care."

"I went back and thought about it for days and nights before I figured out why."

"They have no ambition for the bank or for making money! Since they don't, I'll give them a reason to care."

"By tying everyone's interests to the Marine Bank, the officers will no longer have the lazy mentality of just following orders when it comes to earning money for the Marine."

"Because when it's related to their own year-end dividends, they'll..."

As time went on, Akira explained further.

Tsuru gradually began to understand.

In short, the reason for giving berries as benefits to the officers was to motivate them.

In the future, when orders come from headquarters about earning money, they'll be more driven, giving their usual five points of effort a full ten.

Or even when they're out on missions, if there's no specific directive from headquarters, they'll take the initiative to think about how to make money.

He had no doubts about the effectiveness of such a strategy.

After all, they're fighting for their own dividends, and they've received their rightful share.

Just now, he had seen Garp's child-like smile as he dragged Sengoku to buy donuts with his dividends from guarding the ancient city of real gold.

If only time could be turned back.

Back then, if Garp had known about the dividends, he would've worked even harder.

"So, is there a problem now?"

Akira narrowed his eyes slightly, asking with a light smile.

Tsuru took a deep breath, shook his head, and said, "I don't have any questions about the benefits, but I want to ask, besides continuing to maintain the business line, where will the money come from?"

"We need to remember that we're lacking in many areas right now, like warships, weapons, guns, and bullets, and how to deal with pirates who dive underwater to sink our ships."

"For warships, that technology is exclusive to the World Government, and it's not publicly available. The only way to get it is through them."

"Weapons, guns, and bullets are generally produced by the World Government, or we can find them at sea..."

She hesitated for a moment, but considering that Fleet Admiral Akira was an unconventional thinker, she decided to continue without holding back: "They might outsource weapons that can be mass-produced quickly and cheaply to pirates, who then pass them on to us."

Akira frowned, understanding why Tsuru had been hesitant earlier.

The Marine stands for justice.

If it ever got out that they were buying weapons from pirates, it would undermine their values and morale.

So, this kind of thing could only be known by the higher-ups or kept under wraps.

Akira lit a cigar, took a deep puff, and said, "Warships are very expensive, and we don't have enough funds at the moment."

"Exactly, and that's one of the downsides of making our own money. The downside is that these warships have to be purchased from the World Government," she sighed.

In the past, when the Marine didn't have financial autonomy, warships were produced by the World Government and provided for free.

But in this era, where everyone is struggling, and the Marine uses force to earn money for itself, the department in charge of Science Defense won't continue providing weapons for free.

Either we buy them with berries or give up financial autonomy and rely on the World Government to survive.

The Marine Bank isn't an endless source of money, nor can it print berries indefinitely.

It's fine to withdraw hundreds or even thousands of berries from it occasionally.

But you can't just take whatever you want.

Otherwise, no matter how much there is, it won't be enough and could lead to disaster.

So, we must save where we can and earn what we need.

Akira exhaled a puff of smoke, thought for a while, and asked, "We need all these warships mainly to allow the veterans to take people out to catch pirates, right?"

"If that's the case, do we really need warships?"

"Can't we use sailing ships? Or captured pirate ships?"

"After all, the main fighting force isn't the ships but the clones."

Warships are undeniably powerful.

Ordinary pirate ships are like toys compared to them.

But times have changed, and the main force for fighting pirates at sea isn't the warships themselves anymore, but the soldiers on board.

From this perspective, the warship has become more of a transportation tool.

Since it's just for transport, does it matter if we use a Ferrari or an electric car?

After capturing pirate ships, we can simply replace their flags with the Marine's, and they become vessels of justice.

If we still need more ships, we could find a shipwright and mass-produce small sailboats like the Going Merry!

Akira explained his thoughts to Tsuru in detail.

After thinking for a few minutes, she agreed.

"And what about the bullets and guns?" He asked again.

"Obviously, if the World Government is outsourcing to the pirates, they're making a profit by giving them to us. If that's the case..."

Akira's eyes narrowed as he thought for a moment before saying, "I'll deal with that problem later."

"Okay, but how do we handle the pirates' tactics of diving underwater to destroy our ships?"

"I have an idea about that, but I'll need to consult with someone after I return."

Tsuru nodded, understanding that Akira had a plan in mind. It wasn't her place to press further.

As a subordinate, it's her duty to raise concerns about what might be overlooked, but solving the issues is the boss's responsibility.

"One last thing, Fleet Admiral Akira, have you figured out how to generate more income?"

"We can't rely on tricks anymore. Last time, you and the Marine sold the 'Complete Book of Deceit' to clear your name."

"Plus, the global mafia has disappeared, and it's getting harder to deceive big-time pirates."

"The only money-making organization we have is the bank we established."

"So, what's the next step?"

When it came to making money, Tsuru felt a headache coming on.

Ever since the start of the Great Pirate Era, the Marines have always had to worry about finances.

The challenge is that, as a dominant sea power, we're not just trying to make a few tens or hundreds of billions of berries.

We're talking about trillions. Just thinking about those numbers makes your head spin.

But after she finished speaking, Akira remained silent for a long time.

Only the smoke from his cigar filled the air.

Just when Tsuru thought Akira was out of ideas, he suddenly spoke.

He said something completely unfamiliar to her.

"How about we develop real estate?"

"I've already thought of a name for it... Akatsuki."