As Kuro approached the castle gate from the inner city wall, the gate opened, and two servants bowed to him, leading him forward. They continued until they reached the end of the corridor, where the servants turned a corner and stopped at the middle door of another corridor. They opened the door, knelt down on one knee, and closed their eyes.

"Really, there are so many etiquettes."

Kuro, cigar in mouth, walked straight in and entered a rather luxurious banquet hall. The surroundings were adorned with exquisite murals, and the floor was covered with luxurious carpets. In the center was a long table, and at the far end of the table sat the young man he had met earlier. His rare golden eyes stared directly at him as he smiled and said, "General Jinni, I have long admired your name. I am the King of the Dominican Republic, Dovizi Edmund."

"Oh, I know. Anyway, there are a hundred million now."

Kuro sat down opposite him without any hesitation and said, "I hope you'll speak more slowly from now on. It's fifteen million a minute, so you'd better talk for ten or eight hours. I can manage. By the way, waiter, bring me some food. Bring out all your best dishes, and the wine has to be the best. If it's not good, I'm going to cause trouble."

Upon hearing this, the attendant standing to the side looked at Edmund. Edmund smiled and nodded, then waved his hand, signaling the attendant to go out and prepare. He then said, "It's quite a coincidence that you just happened to come to my territory and helped me resolve an urgent matter for a Celestial Dragon. Of course, I have to thank you. Even if you double this amount, it will still be a token of my gratitude, General Jinni."

“You said it, then let’s double it again.” Kuro leaned back, puffing on his cigar and said nonchalantly, “Thank you for your sponsorship. The Navy will not forget your contribution. I’ll award you an honorary medal for a man of the sea later, is that alright? Even if you are a king, in the entire ocean, you are a man. As the organization representing men of the sea, the Navy will not have any problem awarding you one.”

Edmund's expression remained unchanged as he smiled and said, "If you're happy, of course you can. It was all for your sake that we lifted the siege of Comoros and protected our Dominican Republic."

"So what the hell do you want from me?!"

Kuro was a little confused. "When you called me before, you were so eager to sever ties, so why are you bringing this up again now? If you really have money, improve the lives of the common people in your capital. Their living conditions are so bad that even pirates would cry!"

Edmund's smile deepened upon hearing this, and he slowly said, "Speaking of which, I haven't had a chance to introduce myself to you in detail yet. I am Dovizio Edmund, the youngest king in the short history of the Dominican Republic. I ascended the throne at the age of eight, and I was not a puppet, but a king with his own opinions who governed..."

"Your policies have turned your people into rats?" Kuro joked.

"Yes, they lived like rats. Through my series of policies, they went from living in luxury to being destitute. This is my policy, my choice..."

Edmund laughed and said, “Because I am the king, I can do whatever I want. The people of the Dominican Republic have an agreement with the king. The king gives them the right to live on this land, and in return, they give everything to the king.”

Truly standard aristocratic sayings.

But this is also common sense in this world.

There's nothing surprising about that.

Kuro exhaled a puff of smoke without saying a word.

Edmund continued, "I'll give you half of the country's wealth and power, if you'll do me a favor."

"Is that really true?" Kuro was taken aback. "Tell me, what kind of help is it?"

He can't control what happens to this country; that's its internal affair. But to give him half of its power and wealth? Of course he'd agree; he's not stupid.

"So, you agree?" A golden glint flashed in Edmund's eyes.

"when..."

Kuro was about to speak when his pupils suddenly contracted. He sensed something was amiss and immediately changed his words, saying, "But... but you have to tell me what this is about, otherwise, I can't not know what it is."

"Oh, it's just a small favor, nothing to worry about, just a physical one at most," Edmund chuckled.

"What exactly is it?" Kuro felt that something was increasingly wrong.

Edmund sighed. "A dignified Golden Lion General, so cowardly? I'm offering you half the wealth and power of a nation, just to ask you for some physical assistance. And you're asking so many questions? Don't worry, it's not about killing Celestial Dragons. I'm the king of a constituent country, and I have no objections to Celestial Dragons."

"Then you fucking tell me, what is it?!" A vein bulged on Kuro's forehead. "You know I'm a general, huh? If you keep playing hide-and-seek with me, I'm leaving!"

Edmund stared at Kuro for a moment, then suddenly his eyes narrowed as he saw a waiter pushing a food cart in.

"Let's eat first," Edmund said with a smile. "We'll talk about it later."

The waiter placed the food in front of Kuro one by one, then opened the wine bottle and poured Kuro a glass.

Kuro stared at the wine in his glass and asked, "Are you sober now?"

The waiter was taken aback for a moment, then nodded and said, "Don't worry, General, I drank it the night before last and I'm already sober."

"I wasn't asking you!" Kuro smirked. "I was asking about the wine. Has it sobered up yet?"

"I'm awake, I'm sorry..."

The waiter quickly bowed and then hurriedly left.

Kuro glared at the waiter, picked up his glass, and looked at Edmund. "You treat your subordinates well, don't you? Drinking the other night? You would allow something like that? I thought you were a dignified monarch."

Edmund chuckled, "I'm very generous to my own people, of course, only to my own people..."

"That's really interesting."

Kuro chuckled and slowly brought the glass of wine to his mouth.

Edmund's smile widened as he said, "Speaking of which, there's a legend about drinking. It's said that a hundred years ago, the Dominican Republic wasn't the complete Dominican Republic. There was another country on this main island. At that time, the king of the country was a devil. He made a pact with people that whoever drank the wine he offered would become the devil's servant."

"That's utter nonsense. There are no devils in the world," Kuro said without looking up.

The wine glass was getting closer and closer to his lips.

“Yes, but this agreement is quite interesting, General Jinni. If you were the devil, you wouldn’t make such a childish rumor, would you? But if this rumor is true, how will you deal with it? When you drink this cup of wine, bound by the devil’s rules, you will have to abide by them, and you will become the devil’s servant. If you were in that situation, what would you do?” Edmund asked with a smile.