The Five Elders were busy, Cipher Pol was busy, the Army was busy, the Navy was busy, the Academy of Science was busy, and even Mihawk and Gion were busy honing their swordsmanship.
Meanwhile, Imu in the Chamber of the Moon had also been occupied these days.
Occupied with what?
Certainly not playing tennis, watching dance and music performances, or indulging in delicacies—these were part of his daily leisure activities. He was occupied with serious matters!
What were these serious matters?
Reviewing various reports submitted by the Five Elders, ranging from matters in the Kabane world to those on the Sea Star's home turf. Although trivial matters didn't reach him, the World Government's recent major actions were significant, and progress reports on these important matters were unavoidable.
For instance, the Heavenly Tribute Collection Management Committee under the Government Affairs Office's Ministry of Finance had begun to operate smoothly as economists from various nations gathered. They had dispatched professional economic advisors, accompanied by administrative officials, to the poorer and smaller affiliated nations.
The Sorbet Kingdom, where Bartholomew Kuma resided in the South Blue, and the Dressrosa Kingdom in the New World were among the key nations receiving support.
It's worth noting that economists and economic advisors are different.
Economists are experts who study economic theories and their applications, while economic advisors are more practical, focusing on enterprises, industries, and markets. They provide reasonable suggestions for an organization's operations and production to enhance economic efficiency and benefits.
In simple terms, after arriving in various nations, the economic advisors would first assess the country's overall situation—such as climate, population, resources, environment, and neighboring islands—and then formulate a feasible development plan.
Meanwhile, the economists remained in Mary Geoise, researching the reformulation of the Heavenly Tribute ratio. This was an extremely complex task.
They had to ensure that the World Government's annual income wouldn't be significantly affected while also making sure that nearly two hundred affiliated nations could accept and adapt to the changes.
There were also engineering reports from the Construction Division of the Administrative Department, focusing on four main areas: the construction of the new World Government headquarters, the new Army headquarters, the Drum Kingdom Medical School and World Hospital, and the laying of the sea tracks in Water 7.
Although Mr. Tom hadn't yet resolved the issue of integrating the train with the floating tracks, the dimensions and materials for the tracks had already been finalized.
Thus, the Construction Division decided to proceed with laying the tracks from Water 7 to Enies Lobby.
Finally, there was the issue of the "Nation of Bridges," Tequila Wolf, or rather, its problem, which arose due to the impact of the previous four major projects.
The demand for labor was simply too high. Despite the assistance of various engineering machinery, workers were the main force behind construction. But where could the Construction Division find so many workers in such a short time?
Therefore, Director Maxwell of the Construction Division submitted a request to transfer personnel from Tequila Wolf.
The problem was that the matter of the "Nation of Bridges" had been decided by the previous Imu shortly after the World Government's founding. The Five Elders, who were aware of this history, dared not make any decisions on their own and could only send the report to him.
"Hmph, I was actually looking for an opportunity to release them," Imu muttered.
Imu looked at the report and smiled helplessly. In his opinion, it was a bit excessive to arrest an entire nation, from top to bottom, just because they couldn't pay the Celestial Tribute, and then sentence them to life imprisonment with hard labor until death!
However, his idea of releasing people only applied to the common folk; the royal family and nobility were out of the question. He planned to have the World Government select a suitable candidate to become the new king.
"But if so many people are released, the construction of Tequila Wolf will have to halt, and that's unacceptable. The bridge in the East Blue must continue, and the progress needs to be accelerated!"
This was something even the current Imu insisted on.
Not for any other reason, but for the great prophecy of the Mermaid Princess from eight hundred years ago in his memory.
She had once said that a massive tsunami would sweep across all the kingdoms and islands of the East Blue, far more terrifying than the 'Aqua Laguna' of Water 7.
For this reason, the previous Imu had decided to connect most of the islands in the East Blue with a bridge, allowing the people to be quickly evacuated when the tsunami came.
According to his memory, it wasn't out of pity for the lower-class citizens but purely from the perspective of a ruler's interests. If everyone in the East Blue died, the losses to the World Government would be incalculable.
But regardless of his reasoning, the current Imu believed this was a benevolent project that might very well save the lives of all the people in the East Blue in the future!
To avoid causing panic among the nations of the East Blue, this great prophecy had always been the World Government's highest secret. At the same time, the forced labor of the entire Nation of Disobedience had led to the project being seen by the outside world as a terrifying example of the Celestial Dragons' "making an example of someone."
Although the future would undoubtedly bring irreversible and massive changes because of him, who knew whether this apocalyptic tsunami was man-made or naturally caused?
As for questioning the authenticity of this great prophecy, don't be ridiculous. Imu himself possessed the ability to see into the future for a period of time, so what was there to doubt?
The power to foresee the future was a real and existing force in this world!
"But if most of the innocent people are released, where will the labor for the bridge come from, as well as for these major projects of the Construction Division?"
In the quiet tree house, Imu fell into deep thought, even the wine glass in his hand stopped swirling. He was using his advantage of "knowing the plot" to recall what resources in the world could serve as labor.
"The track laying in Water 7, since it's work on the sea, the Fish-men and Mermen should be able to help a lot, right? They'd surely be more efficient than human workers."
His eyes lit up.
Now that the World Government had such good relations with Fish-Man Island, wouldn't it be possible to hire a group of Fish-man craftsmen to help lay the sea train tracks?
With Sabaody Archipelago becoming a safe zone for the Fish-men, if they wanted to travel freely to more places, they would also need the sea train tracks to connect.
Imu noted this idea in his mind, planning to order the Five Elders to act on it later.
"As for the labor shortage in other projects, perhaps mechanized animals could be considered. I remember the Future Kingdom had modified mechanical gorillas and robots, right?"
But after some thought, it still felt unreliable. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him. What had he thought of earlier?
Life imprisonment, hard labor until death?
Ah, right, the convicts!
"Impel Down has hundreds of thousands of prisoners, locked up and tortured in the underground prison all day, yet they're still provided with food and drink. It's a complete waste of resources!"
Imu stood up and began pacing back and forth excitedly.
"We can't touch the prisoners with bounties over a hundred million, but how many of those are there? The majority are still the prisoners with bounties below fifty million from the first four levels. Plus, with the ability of Taklama, the Pet-Pet Fruit user, to control them, as long as we keep an eye on this 'Slave King,' we'll have hundreds of thousands of 'absolutely obedient' convicts!"
In his view, the prisoners of Impel Down and the citizens of the Nation of Bridges were completely different matters.
For the latter, as a transmigrator, he was willing to grant some mercy. But for the former, he wouldn't even blink an eye no matter how harshly they were used!
Since they dared to become pirates and do things that opposed the World Government, they must have been prepared for the consequences. If they weren't, they should be treated as if they were.
"In this way, liberating the Nation of Bridges can also be used to win the hearts of the world's people. And the new kingdom formed by the liberated citizens can be smoothly controlled by the World Government."
At this moment, Imu suddenly remembered someone.
"Speaking of construction, I remember Doflamingo has someone who's quite specialized in that area."
He now truly felt that Doflamingo was incredibly useful. Not only could he provide tennis strings, supply the World Government with intelligence from the underworld, manage and build the arms factories in the North Sea, but he could also provide talent!