Oh my. Imagining Crossing!Grumps fighting each other for the last fruit tree is some angsty shit. And sad. Dan just watched in horror once he leaves the front door to see Suzy and Arin beating each other up for a seashell. ;( At least Nook is a bit civil to give basic needs, or else his slaves would die, meaning no bells.
That’s probably the thing that makes Danny realize “okay this is not cool, someone needs to do something about this.” Because it’s one thing if he’s not having a grand time, but his friends are literally beating each other up over a seashell. It’s ridiculous.
And Nook definitely isn’t a dumb guy. Evil, yes, but not dumb. He knows that underfed workers don’t get the results you want. So he feeds them enough. And probably convinces them that this is a privilege that they have and that he’s being so nice doing this for him. Because, like I said, evil.