NOVEL NEXT New Haven Population Increases, Looking to the Future 194
It was a testament to the Science Division Marines on New Haven that in this ‘hands on deck’ situation, nearly 20,000 new arrivals could appear without notice and still be handled effectively.
Of course it wasn’t easy for a population of roughly 40,000 to supply half their number without prior notice, but with the machines and factories on New Havens main island and the basic ingenuity from both Marines and civilians in surprisingly short order the basic needs of the former debt slaves were met and they began breaking down the new population to smaller groups.
These groups ranged as few as 500 to as many as 4,000 and were organized based on what the people had done, and where they have lived, before getting caught up with Gild Tesoro.
Due the fact that they had gone to Gran Tesoro in the first place, naturally, there weren’t many ‘farmers’ among the 20,000 new inhabitants – but there were many middle-class workers like carpenters, masons, shipwrights, storekeepers, nurses and some who had experience in higher level occupations like architects, surgeons, pharmacists, or lawyers.
In total numbers though, sailors made up the largest number of the former debt slaves. Whether the person had worked as a simple fisherman or the captain of a merchantman, Gran Tesoro had attracted the attention of many people who lived on the sea.
With such a wide range of occupations, New Haven itself couldn’t house them.
Bill remembered when he first came across New Haven, then called ‘Little Eat Blue Island’, and suspected that the island could support around 1,500 people in total.
Of course, with the knowledge and technology he had gotten from the Science Division, that number ballooned to 15,000 when he decided to make New Haven house his laboratory, and that number ballooned even further when Shiki dropped dozens of islands just a couple miles offshore.
Now, consisting of 5 major islands in total, New Haven had become the main island in an archipelago which roughly had the same landmass as the state of Oklahoma in Bill’s last life.
With the addition of those islands, which could easily support millions of people, New Haven itself no longer had to factor in population, but that didn’t mean the land wasn’t highly valuable and needed to be carefully allocated.
Because for now and for the foreseeable future, New Haven was a futuristic island, and naturally, only people skilled in running highly technical jobs would make a living there.
This wasn’t to say that those people living on the other islands couldn’t come and go from New Haven, nor that the other islands weren’t going to be developed in time, but instead of having tens of thousands of ill-equipped people come and live on the main island, it was decided to make a dozen smaller communities on East Island.
Making up New Haven Archipelago were five major islands: New Haven, Martial Monkey Island, INFERNO Island, West Island, and East Island.
East Island had on it the home of the Merveillian people – those humans who had developed wings after long exposure to the IQ plant – and was the first target of settlement.
The reasons for this were manifold but came down to the fact that the islands brought by Shiki had not totally been rid of EvoBeasts, and while covering the ground on both of the largest islands was impossible, protecting a central population zone was seen as feasible.
And in time, those human populations would grow.
Explorers and adventurers would venture into the interiors searching for treasures belonging to the many lost civilizations that existed on those previously separated islands.
And bit by bit, the mutated and cruel EvoBeasts would face extinction.
But for now, it only took four days after making it back home and Bill had the 18,000 or so new residents had begun to work on building their new homes, and the 1,600 or so new recruits get filtered into training regiments.
To aid this, besides the bubble technology, anti-gravity lifts, and heavy machinery, the robot engineers – headed by Henzo – began to design robots especially made for the task of construction.
That project would take time, but with the experienced workers of New Haven, new town layouts started to pop up one after the other along the coast of East Island.
With everything changing by the day, for some, the arrangement wasn’t quite satisfactory.
After experiencing the grandeur of Gran Tesoro and the high technology of New Haven, some could not help themselves but feel indignant at the idea of going to live in a seaside town that didn’t even have electricity or running water yet.
Nonetheless for the majority of former debt slaves and nearly all of the merchants, what Bill offered them was enough to make them stunned.
Because for these people, Bill didn’t just give them places to live. He had given them homes and land that was legally signed into their names.
Certainly, after a three-year period, they would have to start paying taxes on the land at a standard rate.
But the land was theirs to do what they wanted with it. They were not renters, they were not serfs, they were not tenant farmers or dependents. Overnight, they became landowners on a Marine-protected Island and all of the Rights and protections that went along with that.
The dream of many people in this archipelago world had been realized with that alone, but it didn’t stop there.
With an island of great riches behind them, and a wharf attached to every town, many of the former debt slaves saw their chance to be somebody and the merchants saw their opportunity to make it rich.
Some even saw this as their chance to establish a powerful family whose power would develop along with the development of the island.
All of these things would have kept even the most competent person busy, but in addition to dealing with the new residents of New Haven, over the last four days Bill had to deal with the prisoners.
By now Sabo the Revolutionary had long ago woken up and had been held isolated from others, yet for those others, they were given chances depending on their crimes.
For those gambling cheats, Bill didn’t keep them detained but did not allow them land in the same manner that he allowed land to the former debt slaves.
They could buy land, but they would not be provided for, nor would they receive the three-year reprieve from taxation. Despite their few numbers, this was Bill’s way to make as many of them leave as he could.
For the bullies and gangsters, he weighed their crimes, and judged them by the laws of the World Government.
Some were executed, and others were given the chance to be pressed into service on merchant ships for a period of two years.
Then finally, there were the pirates.
Some of these men and women were likewise put to death – including the Pirate Alliances leader, [Silver Bill] who they had found in some rubble.
Others, people who were pirates but had no records – and were smart enough to act regretful – were given the chance to sign service contracts with the Marines for a period of eight years.
As a whole there weren’t many criminals in total, but one standout who signed the Marine contract was the female pirate captain, and ‘wanna-be’ yakuza, [Desire].
Stronger than any of the others by a wide margin – perhaps as strong as a 50m Beli pirate – the woman had drawn attention shouting that she would never follow anyone without a dream. And when Bill told her his dream, vaguely telling her about a dream to change the world, she was touched and shouted that she would only Bill himself if he could beat her…
Mercifully, Bill didn’t turn her passionate plea into a comedy skit and allowed the young woman to get some swings in before taking her down.
So, by the fifth day back on New Haven all of these measures had only left Sabo unaccounted for.
As person who Bill could not get rid of easily, but one who he also did not want to kill, Bill decided that he would smuggle Sabo off New Haven when he could, but that had to wait.
Despite his distaste for the Revolutionary Army, it was undeniable that Sabo had taken the heat for assassinating the Celestial Dragon and Bill would not return gratitude with ingratitude.
So, hiding Sabo in his personal laboratory until they could prepare a boat for him, Bill was finally able to breathe for the first time in a month.
Of course, he knew that Yoko had gotten into some mess in Sabaody Archipelago… and he knew that Sasha had taken a significant force to go get the girl…
Of course, he did not know that Gran Tesoro was already identified and that Marineford not only knew that he was in possession of it but was sending the only active Marine Admiral alongside a significant Marine force to investigate what had happened.
But whether it was Marineford, Cipher Pol, Yoko and Sasha, or the World Economy News Paper, all of that would have to wait.
Because for now, for the first time since Bill had started doing repairs to Gran Tesoro a month before, he properly went to bed.
For some reason I couldn't seem to fit it in this chapter but over the years and with the tinkering of Henzo/Bill/etc the Iron Wardens now have different types... there's not many of them yet because New Haven has only been completely rebuilt for less than a year, but they'll play a moderate role in the future.
New Haven Archipelago - it's important to remember that each island that Shiki stole had its own climate/uniqueness.
Desire
