1,637Hey friends and fans! Kairomaru is bringing you another chapter of The Logia Brothers! Now that the gold has been exchanged for cash (or shipped to Alabasta in the case of Vivi's share), it's time to talk to the shipwrights of Galley-La Company! With 800,000,000 Beri on hand, surely no repair or improvement is out of the question for the Straw Hats, right? But the loud exclamation of the Straw Hat's windfall was heard by others, and word can spread fast. Not to mention, others in the large city will have their own agendas as well. Are the Straw Hats about to run afoul of others, or are they going to be targeted directly?
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Chapter 65 – Shipwrights, Franky Family, Dark Trouble
There was a large crowd around Dock One at Water Seven when Luffy, Nami, and Usopp stopped by after exchanging their vast amounts of gold for a whopping 800,000,000 Beri in cash, each of them carrying a very large briefcase holding stacks and stacks of banded bills. The people gathered around the huge gate were cheering and calling out to the working shipwrights as if all of the Galley-La workers were celebrities.
"See, look! It's Lucci! He's so cool!" One person in the crowd pointed out a shipwright with long black hair, a neatly styled goatee, and wearing a top hat.
Another citizen called out to a different shipwright. "And Lulu too… So gallant! A man's man, that's what he is!"
Lulu, one of the Galley-La Company foremen, was a rather tall man with short, neatly shaved, black hair, glasses over his eyes, a well-trimmed mustache, and intricate tattoos on his bare chest that was shown off as he worked. Despite the people calling out to him, his eyes never left his work at all.
"If you're talking about a real man, it's gotta be Tilestone!" A different civilian said while pointing at the largest of the Galley-La foremen.
Tilestone was a large man with huge muscles, a white beard in a fan-like shape, with dark brown hair on his head. His upper left arm and his left pectoral both sported a tattoo of two kanji characters that, when put together, spelled 'shipwright'. Currently the imposing foreman was using his well-known loud voice to direct a large group of workers that were working on the hull of a galleon.
"Where's Paulie?" A woman among the crowd asked, looking for the blonde foreman.
"They really love these shipwrights, huh?" Usopp commented on the adoration and cheers that were being heaped on the Galley-La workers.
Luffy, not one to wait around, approached an older looking man at the edge of the crowd. "Hey, mister, what happened here?"
The man turned to look at Luffy and gave the younger man a smile. "Ah, nothing big, pirates were causing trouble at Dock One again. In the end the shipwrights dealt with them, as usual." The older man shrugged, his blue Hawaiian print shirt coming open slightly from the motion. "These pirates are so stupid."
"The shipwrights beat up the pirates?" Luffy blinked at the new information.
"I take it you're a tourist?" The old man chuckled at Luffy's expression. "This is just the crowd of onlookers that're almost always hanging around Dock One." He pointed his thumb over his shoulder at the gathered people. "The residents here adore the shipwrights of the Galley-La Company. They're strong, they're skilled… They're the pride of Water Seven!"
"Can't wait to meet them!" Luffy had a bright grin on his face. These shipwrights sounded awesome!
-Going Merry-
The caravel gently bobbed on the small waves in the cove. Vivi and Mikita were still out handling their errand. Robin and Chopper had left to look around Water Seven and check out any bookstores that they could find. Luffy, Nami, and Usopp were still out exchanging gold and going to talk to some shipwrights. Sanji had left to buy groceries and restock the Merry…not before telling Zoro to guard the ship, as the swordsman was the last one onboard.
Zoro had done just that…by leaning up against the railing of the forward deck and taking a nap.
Unbeknownst to the napping Zoro, a group of people were approaching the Going Merry. The group of men quietly boarded the ship with their weapons drawn and ready. All of them were as quiet as possible, not wanting to wake Zoro up, as they approached. With a wide grin the lead man swung his sword at Zoro's head, looking to kill in a single strike.
Ching
Only to find his sword stopped cold by Wado as Zoro had felt their presence and grabbed his most treasured sword from beside him to defend. The blade of Wado was partially unsheathed as it easily held back the nameless sword that the attacker was using.
"I thought you were asleep…" The attacker had a large grin on his face.
"Who are you?" Zoro demanded with a cold glare. "Identify yourselves!"
The eight men made some distance from Zoro as he easily pushed the first attacker backwards and stood up. With a simple grab, Zoro had Sandai Kitetsu in his left hand, now prepared to use Nitōryū against the eight attackers.
"Identify ourselves?" The obvious leader mocked Zoro. "Hmph. Santōryū Roronoa Zoro, eh? We're bounty hunters!" All eight men posed as a group out of nowhere, making Zoro deadpan at them. "We can silence even crying children! We're the Franky Family! And we're going to take that 80,000,000 Beri bounty on your head!"
Zoro didn't look impressed at all by the eight men.
"Then we'll hide out on board and round up the rest of the crew!" The leader laughed boastfully. "We're going to be rolling in dough! Lucky us!"
"Get him!" The other seven men charged with that war cry.
Ching
The leader's sword once more clashed with Zoro's, though this time he'd been stopped dead by Sandai Kitetsu. "Lucky you?"
"H-Huh?!" The leader struggled as much as he could, but even as his entire body shook from the force that he was pushing against Zoro's blade with, it wasn't budging in the slightest.
"More like unlucky." Zoro swung Sandai Kitetsu and the leader was airborne in an instant, his sword flying out of his hand, before he splashed down into the ocean dozens of meters away from the Going Merry.
The other seven men charged at Zoro all at once. "Raaagh! Don't flinch!"
Zoro adjusted his stance, changing his grip on both swords and for just a brief instant, the Franky Family would swear they saw the silhouette of a rhino around Zoro. "Nitōryū: Sai…" Zoro stepped forward and turned his body, both of his blades vanishing from the sight of the seven remaining Franky Family men. "Kuru!"
Snap
Crack
Clang
Shing
The weapons of the Franky Family shattered under the force of Zoro's technique and the quality of his swords. Cuts opened up on the men and blood flew through the air as all seven were thrown high above the Going Merry, as if tossed by the powerful horns of a rhino. The Franky Family all splashed down into the ocean around the caravel, though each was at least a dozen meters from the ship itself. That was simply the power of Zoro's attack and their inability to guard against it.
"Useless jerks." Zoro yawned as he sheathed his swords and leaned up against the railing once more, his eyes already closed. He was asleep not even a minute later.
-Water Seven -Backstreet Shopping Area-
Robin and Chopper admired the city as they walked along a sidewalk amongst the crowd. The canal was bustling with small boats and Yagara Bulls, merchants and peddlers selling their wares and calling out to potential customers. It was a picturesque view of a bustling city.
"The water is so clear and the city so pretty." Robin remarked as her experienced eyes took in the clear water of the canal and the architecture of Water Seven. A small smile was on her lips as she walked with Chopper.
"There are a lot more pedestrian areas than I thought given that there are way more canals than streets." Chopper, currently in his normal reindeer form, said as he walked beside Robin, his head turning this way and that to take in all of the sights. "Oh! Robin there's a shop selling masks!" Chopper's head whipped around to see all of the different types lined up in rows at the stall on the side of the wide sidewalk.
Robin grinned at Chopper's enthusiasm. "A mask maker. I'm sure there are plenty in this city, given how many people we've seen wearing masks already."
"Why're they all wearing masks?" Chopper wondered, given that it wasn't something he'd ever seen on Drum Island.
"At San Faldo, another island on the Sea Train route, there's a large costume party being held." Robin told Chopper easily. "The people in the crowd have been talking about it."
Chopper tilted his head and looked up at Robin in surprise. "You can hear that with all this noise?" To him, all of the various chatter and conversations had faded into background noise after a short time.
Robin grinned at Chopper. "Oh, it's just a habit of mine. Ever since I was little, I've observed people's moods and listened to them talk."
"You're amazing Robin!" Chopper nearly gaped at Robin's ability to pick out individual conversations among all of the people around them.
Robin laughed softly at Chopper's amazement. A moment later, Robin saw another woman walking past her in a Hawaiian floral print short dress that only went down to mid-thigh and left the woman's long legs on display in her black heels. A simple white hat sat atop the other woman's semi-short light brunette hair and if it wasn't for the glance at Robin's cleavage that her shirt and black jacket gave a peek at, then Robin probably wouldn't have noticed the woman at all.
"Doctor, look there, a bookstore." Robin pointed to the sign hanging over the storefront as she put the other woman that had checked her out from her mind.
"Really?!" Chopper was instantly excited and zoomed over to the shop so fast that he startled several of the other pedestrians. "Mind if I stop in?!"
"Not at all… Let's go in." Robin couldn't help but be amused by how excited Chopper was to check out a semi-large bookstore for the first time. She took another couple of steps towards the bookstore before one of the costumed pedestrians (a man judging by his build and stride, even if his face was hidden by a mask and his body wrapped up in the flowing costume) spoke as he passed her.
"I'm with CP9." The costumed man uttered just loud enough for Robin to hear as they passed each other on the wide sidewalk.
Robin's body locked up instantly.
"Robin! I'm heading in!" Chopper called out to Robin excitedly before he shifted into his Heavy Point form and entered the shop.
Sweat formed on Robin's face as the sound of the costumed man's footsteps suddenly seemed louder than everything else in her ears. She turned to look over her shoulder and saw the costumed man turn the corner. Robin took a deep breath and focused on her Observation Haki, spreading it out as far as she was able to. She 'heard' the man's 'voice' for a bit longer before they suddenly vanished from her range in an instant. Robin was slightly familiar with a Marine technique that allowed for such movement after being on the run for twenty years.
Unnoticed by Robin was the woman that had passed by in the Hawaiian dress who had stopped at a shop not too far away. 'Well, that's a double 'nope' now.' The woman thought to herself after hearing what the costumed man had said to Robin. 'I didn't think Nanashi was lying or anything about the Captain… But I had to check out the other crew members with Devil Fruits just to be sure. If CP9 is involved though…that's not worth the money.' She walked away from the shop that she'd stopped at and went the opposite direction from the CP9 agent, crossing a bridge over the canal to do so. 'Fumei of the Kuro Kari hasn't lived this long without knowing when to let a potential target go.' The woman blended into the crowd easily, becoming just another passerby that wouldn't be remembered.
Robin took a step away from the bookstore that Chopper had entered. Her ingrained response to such a threat was to flee, leaving whatever necessary behind in order to ensure her escape and survival. She stopped herself on the second step, knowing what the CP9 truly wanted and the lengths that they'd go to in pursuit of their target. Images and memories of her time with the Straw Hats passed through her mind and she felt her heart clench in her chest. For the first time, she'd found a group that wasn't out to use her, that welcomed her in wholeheartedly, one that…an image of Luffy smiling at her with love and affection filled her mind…Robin felt her heart unclench as the tiniest of smiles returned to her lips. 'A place where I can belong.' She turned back around and headed for the bookstore. "Luffy can fight Aokiji to a draw, what do I have to fear from CP9?" She questioned in a quiet whisper. As she felt a little lighter from recalling what had eventually led her to becoming Luffy's lover, Robin's heart relaxed and her sharp mind began to make some plans.
"What kind of costume is that?" The elderly woman shopkeeper asked Chopper as the Zoan doctor was looking through a book that he'd taken off the shelf.
"O-Oh… A human reindeer." Chopper smiled at the old woman.
The kind old woman laughed softly at Chopper's answer. "Well as long as you're having fun."
Robin couldn't help but smile as she saw the scene, walking over to Chopper to see what book he was looking at.
"Robin!" Chopper smiled brightly. "Look at this book I found!" He happily showed her what he'd pulled off the shelf.
-Dock One-
"So, we need to find this guy…uh…" Luffy didn't remember the name of the person that they were supposed to meet.
"Mr. Iceberg." Nami reminded him with a playful roll of her eyes.
Usopp looked at the closed gate and the lingering crowd of people. "I wonder who he is? Can we even go inside?"
"Hi there!" Luffy already had one foot on top of the low fence surrounding Dock One, his right hand raised in a wave while his left was at his side, still carrying the large briefcase like it weighed nothing.
"Luffy!" Nami and Usopp both called after him for trying to go over the fence.
A man appeared in a blur, his hand in front of Luffy's face. "Whoa, hold on there!" The man cautioned as he looked at Luffy quickly. "You're not from around here, are you?"
"Huh?" Luffy wondered what that had to do with anything.
The man pushed up the bill of his hat a little. "Let's talk outside." He gently pushed Luffy a step back and hopped the fence himself. He smiled at the three and they all got a good look at his face for the first time. Round eyes with a long nose reminiscent of Usopp's, but square. "Only authorized people are allowed in the factory, you see." He brushed off his long-sleeved jacket with the high collar that partially obscured his mouth from view, and then wiped his hands with a towel that he had around his neck. "Ahem… What is your business at the dock?" The man affected a professional tone with them.
Usopp stared in shock at seeing the man with the same distinct nose, even if it was slightly different. A brief thought passed through his mind wondering if his old man had been chasing skirts around Water Seven before meeting his mother, only for Usopp to shake that thought off since he'd gotten his long nose FROM his mother.
"Are you two related?" Luffy looked at Usopp while pointing at the shipyard worker.
"I don't think so." Usopp deadpanned at Luffy, not admitting to the stray thought that had gone through his head.
Nami pushed the oddness of meeting someone that looked like they could be Usopp's cousin, or something, aside. "Yes, we'd like to see Mr. Iceberg." She pulled the letter that Kokoro had given them from the breast pocket of her shirt and handed it to the man.
The man opened the envelope and quickly read the letter inside. "Oh, it's an introduction letter from Ms. Kokoro at Shift Station."
"You talk like an old man." Luffy noted the other man's polite and enunciated speech.
"Haha…I've been told that a lot." The man chuckled.
Nami refocused the conversation lest Luffy get sidetracked. "Do you know him? Mr. Iceberg?"
The workman blinked. "Know him? Why certainly. Mr. Iceberg is the mayor of Water Seven."
"Wow, he's that important?!" Luffy asked in surprise, not thinking that the station lady would know the mayor of the whole city.
"On top of that, he's the president of our firm, the Galley-La Company." The man pointed at his cap that had the word 'Galley' on it. "And he's in charge of the Sea Train."
Usopp's eyes nearly bugged out at that. "Is he superhuman?!" Just one of those jobs sounded like it would take up all of a person's time, but this Iceberg guy was doing all three!
"There's not a soul that doesn't know of him in Water Seven." The workman said before looking a little troubled. "But he's a very busy man. You're here to discuss ship repairs, aren't you?" That's what the letter had said at any rate. The man took off his tool belt and set it on the low fence before he dropped down into leg stretches. "Where did you dock?"
"Over at the rocky cape." Nami answered, wondering why the man was suddenly stretching his legs.
"One, two… Three, four…" The man stretched both of his legs out to limber them up. "Okay then. I'll jot over there and assess the condition of your ship. That way, things will go faster when you speak to Mr. Iceberg. And you can discuss the cost properly."
Usopp looked at the other long-nosed man suspiciously. "When you say 'jot over', you mean on the Yagara…?"
"Hahaha… If I did that you'd have to wait forever." The workman laughed. "Just stay here for ten minutes."
Nami clearly wasn't convinced by the time assessment. "Ten minutes?"
"Ten minutes." The man confirmed as he took a runner's stance and then bolted away in a sprint.
"He's fast!" Usopp cried out as the workman was already nearing the end of the street.
Luffy followed the man easily with both his eyes and his passive Observation.
"Wait! In that direction is…!" Nami called out to the man that was barreling towards the edge of the upper level of Water Seven.
"Go!" The man leapt straight over the edge without a care.
Usopp's eyes bugged out and he yelled in panic. "HE FELL!"
"Oh my… Don't worry about it. He runs around town freely." Iceberg said as he approached the trio of pirates while petting the small mouse that rested in the breast pocket of his shirt.
His secretary, Kalifa, stood behind him, her eyes noting the three pirates while she wrote on her clipboard.
"Huh? Who are you?" Nami asked the blue-haired man.
"They call him 'Mountain Wind'." Iceberg continued without answering Nami's question. "He's the Dock One Carpentry foreman…Kaku!"
Kaku fell through the air from the upper level of Water Seven, feeling the wind rush past him as the canals and building below got closer and closer. A child looking up saw him and waved happily. Kaku smiled back, gave a quick wave and then landed on the roof of one building, before instantly leaping away to not lose his momentum.
-Sanji-
"My, my… This 'City of Water' is quite the place." Sanji smiled as he rode a Yagara Bull through the canals in the market. He stopped by a stall selling fresh produce and began looking the selection over. "I'd love to go on a date with the ladies in a town like this." He imagined being with Nami, Robin, Vivi, and Mikita. "An entire bouquet of lovely flowers…" Sanji chuckled lightly to himself as he was immersed in his daydream.
"Hey, mister, enough with the goofy expression. Which water-water cabbage do you want to buy?" The older lady running the produce stall asked, breaking Sanji out of his fantasy.
"Huh? Oh…both of them!" Sanji shook his head once and smiled at the lady. "By the way, Miss, what do you have that's in-season around these parts?" Finding local seasonal ingredients at their peak of freshness and flavor would let Sanji make the best dishes for the ladies of their crew…and the other guys too, he supposed.
As the merchant woman explained the various produce that was local, a shadow passed over the stall for a second. Sanji and the Lady looked up and saw a man leaping from rooftop to rooftop. A combination of his trained eyes and the bit of Observation that he could use in the short time that the man was visible gave Sanji a good view of the man before he disappeared
"Usopp?!" Sanji focused in on the long nose the man had, something that he'd only seen on his nakama before.
"Who?" The lady looked at Sanji like he was dim. "That was Mr. Kaku from Galley-La Company's Dock One. You must not be from around here, huh?"
"Ah, no, my crew got here by following the Log Pose." Sanji said with a smile. He put the man out of his mind for now, still having more shopping to do.
-Rocky Cove-
Kaku landed on the last rooftop at the edge of the city and flipped off of it, making multiple revolutions through the air before landing on the stone beach at the edge of Water Seven. "Whew!" He grinned at how fast he'd managed to get here and quickly looked around. Seeing only a single ship docked, Kaku headed towards it. "That must be the ship." He hopped up onto the going Merry easily. "Excuse me." He said it to the ship, though he did notice the man sleeping against the railing of the forward deck.
"Hm?" Zoro opened one eye, seeing what looked to be Usopp, he closed his eyes again. A half-second later he 'listened' with his Observation and immediately noticed that it wasn't Usopp's 'voice' he was hearing. He had Yubashiri in his hands and the first few inches of the blade unsheathed as he stared down the intruder. "Who the hell are you?"
"Oh. I'm sorry. Did I wake you?" Kaku apologized before giving a short bow. "My name's Kaku, I'm a shipwright from the Galley-La Company that's here to inspect the condition of your ship for repairs."
Zoro kept his eyes on Kaku, watching the other man like a hawk, while the shipwright began to move around and inspect the Going Merry.
"I see. The wear and tear has been building up." Kaku said to himself as he took in the condition of the caravel. He touched the mast and looked at the wood with a critical eye. "The mast is starting to weaken and the wood is showing signs of splintering… This ship definitely wasn't made to handle the weather of the Grand Line."
"The hell are you doing?" Zoro asked as Kaku tossed off his hat, took off his shirt, and then kicked off his shoes.
Kaku looked at Zoro. "I've finished inspecting the ship above the water's surface. Now I need to see the hull and keel." With that he leapt overboard and dove into the water below.
-Dock One-
"Geez, that was a shock." Usopp patted his chest after Kaku's sudden leap from the upper level of Water Seven.
Nami shook her head once. "I can't believe he just jumped from way up here."
"Well, I can't let you underestimate my workforce." Iceberg said with a small smile. "In order to build a ship quickly and efficiently, one cannot just be of average body and mind." Iceberg looked over at his secretary. "By the way, Kalifa…"
Kalifa pushed her glasses up a little and flipped open the book that she carried beneath her clipboard. "Yes, I've completed the background check." She looked at Luffy first. "Straw Hat Monkey D. Luffy, Santōryū Roronoa Zoro, Devil Child Nico Robin, Black Leg Sanji, Crushing Fists Mikita, Cat Burglar Nami, Quadruple Guns Usopp, Beast Doctor Tony Tony Chopper, all of them have bounties and they total up to 517,000,000 Beri. The 'Straw Hat Pirates' got their start in the East Blue, and there are currently nine crew members."
"Th-They know all about us." Usopp looked slightly freaked out by Kalifa's accuracy.
"Welcome. I'm the boss of this town. Iceberg." Iceberg introduced himself while petting the mouse in his breast pocket again. "This mouse is Tyrannosaurus."
"I've already prepared a cage and food for your new pet, sir." Kalifa said with her glasses almost sparkling once.
Iceberg looked at Kalifa with surprise. "Oh, my! I must commend you, Kalifa!"
"Thank you, sir!" Kalifa nodded once. "Also, in ten minutes you have a meeting at the hotel in Chiza with a glass factory executive. After that, you have an appearance at Riguria Square, and after that you'll be meeting with mayor Bimine of Pucci, the Gourmet Island. While you're there, the newspaper will interview you. When you return to the office, there are several documents that you'll need to go over." She took a breath after listing off the rest of Iceberg's responsibilities for the day.
"I DON'T WANT TO!" Iceberg shouted at the packed schedule.
Kalifa quickly put a line through every item on the schedule. "I'll cancel everything, sir."
"Hey, are you sure that's okay?!" Usopp asked in shock that the mayor would just blow off his entire schedule because he 'didn't want to'.
"I'm powerful enough to be able to do what I like. I really am." Iceberg said with his arms crossed.
Usopp deadpanned. "You're a total failure as a mayor."
Luffy pointed at Iceberg. "He's pretty spoiled. But he's the guy we wanted to meet, right?" He looked at Nami for confirmation.
"That seems to be the case." Nami said with a grin.
"How dare you speak about the world's foremost ship engineer in that manner?!" Kalifa lashed out with a flurry of powerful kicks.
Usopp threw himself into a limbo position, barely missing having one of Kalifa's heels hit him right in the face.
Nami backed up one large step, putting her out of range of the other woman's kicks.
Luffy simply dodged every kick that Kalifa launched at him, which were the majority of her attacks, by the barest distance without even moving his feet. "What the heck are you doing?" He asked the secretary once, still easily dodging every kick as if he didn't even have to think about it.
Kalifa stopped, her leg still in the air for a second, before she lowered it and bowed her head once. "Ahem! Pardon me, I got carried away." She fixed her glasses back on her face to hide the fact that she'd broken out in a small sweat at Luffy casually dodging her kicks without moving from his position, especially when it was clear that he wasn't trying. "However, Mr. Iceberg is well loved around here. Please do not be rude to him."
"Right…" Nami narrowed her eyes at Kalifa for a moment before turning to face Iceberg. "But if you're Mr. Iceberg, then we have a letter of introduction for you." She handed the letter from Kokoro to Iceberg with a polite smile.
Iceberg took the letter and unfolded it. It was simply 'Check out their ship for them.' With Kokoro's name at the bottom and a kiss mark on the paper. "Old lady, Kokoro, eh?" He grinned at the letter for a second before his face went flat and he tore it up and then tossed the small scraps into the canal.
"Hey!" Nami cried out at the seeming dismissal of the letter. "Please, fix our ship! We can pay you!" She held up the large briefcase that she was holding onto.
"The Going Merry has suffered from our long voyage! Please, Mister?" Luffy asked Iceberg.
Iceberg nodded once. "Sure."
"Wait…if you're gonna do it then why'd you rip up the letter?!" Usopp demanded of the nonchalant mayor.
"The kiss mark was creepy." Iceberg said flatly, his expression deadpan. "Old Lady Kokoro and I have known each other for a long time and been drinking buddies for years…but still." Usopp nearly face-faulted at the ridiculous reaction to a kiss mark on a letter. "Well, in any case, Kaku has already gone to assess your ship. The process is already underway."
A rope with a claw hook on it snagged the briefcase in Usopp's hand. With a strong pull it was yanked from the gunman's grip and pulled into the hands of a group of men in odd black clothing that all had a star somewhere on it. The group of men were separated between two Yagara Bulls, four men per Bull.
"Thanks for the money, suckers!" The men all jeered as they got the Yagara Bulls swimming away.
"HEY!" Usopp had his slingshot out from his satchel in a blur and the first pellet was launched in the same motion. "Lead Star!"
Smack
The sound of lead ball hitting the side of one of the thieves' heads was both loud, and yet dull. The man let out a squawk as he was knocked off the back of the Yagara and into the canal with a splash.
"You're not getting away!" Usopp pulled back and fired three more pellets at the same time.
Smack
Smack
Smack
Every single shot was dead accurate, knocking another man off the first Yagara Bull and two men off the second at the same time.
"Ah! What the hell?!"
"How's he doing that!"
"Faster! We need to go faster!"
Luffy was suddenly above the two Yagara Bulls as the men scrambled to try and pull their friends back into the boats. With a punch that hit the water between the two Bulls, devastation was unleashed.
BOOM
The force that hit the water almost sounded like an explosion. The water cativated, forming a massive empty crater in the canal water. The missing water was thrown high into the air, along with the two Bulls and the eight men.
"AAAGGGHHHH!"
"HELP ME!"
"GUUUAAAHHH!"
"SHIIIITTTT!"
The thieves screamed in fear and panic as they experienced the weightlessness of free fall for a second.
Luffy snatched the large briefcase full of money from the air and vanished in a spark, leaving the men and the Bulls to crash down into the canal water as it slammed together to fill the void left by his punch.
"AAAIIIIEEE!"
"GUURRRGGGLLEE!"
"GYAAAHHH!"
"MOOOOOO!"
The rough waters splashed and buffeted the men and two Bulls, even being thrown out of the canal in a wave for a moment before the rough patch was pushed further down the canal. The two Yagara Bulls swam away in the opposite direction, leaving their previous riders to fend for themselves.
"Got it!" Luffy grinned as he returned the case to Usopp's hands. "Nice shooting, Usopp!"
"I'm so sorry…" Usopp apologized as he held the briefcase tightly to his chest. "I almost lost us one-third of our money!" Left unsaid, but clearly seen by everyone, was the glare that Nami was giving him for the almost theft. Usopp shivered from the glare and the pain he knew would've come if the money had actually been stolen.
"Hah…" Nami stopped glaring and let out a breath. "It's fine. We didn't lose anything." Usopp exhaled heavily in relief.
Luffy looked at the thieves that had managed to pull themselves out of the canal and were quick to disappear into the alleyways near the edge of the upper level. "Who were those guys anyway?"
"The Franky Family." Iceberg answered.
A ruckus from the bridge further down the canal got everyone's attention.
"You're not getting away today, Paulie!" A man in a black suit bellowed as he chased after a blonde man with orange goggles and wearing blue jeans and a blue denim jacket.
"I'm asking you to wait just a bit longer!" Paulie yelled back at the multiple men in black suits chasing after him. "I don't have any money today!"
Another of the suited men closed it on the fleeing shipwright. "Hold it, Paulie!" He was almost close enough to grab the other man.
Paulie looked down and saw two empty Yagara Bulls swimming under the bridge. "Alright! Yagara Bulls!" He hopped over the edge of the bridge with a grin and easily landed in the boat of one of the Bulls. "So long, everyone! Let's play chase again soon!" He snarked at the debt collectors that were cursing at him from on top of the bridge. "I must say, you were in the right place at the right time for me." Paulie patted the Yagara Bull's head.
"That's…" Iceberg squinted to see.
"It's Paulie being chased by debt collectors again." Kalifa said factually with an unimpressed look on her face.
Nami looked at the man riding the Yagara Bull away and then back at Iceberg. "He's one of your shipwrights…isn't he?"
"Yes." Iceberg nodded.
"Then where's he going?" Usopp questioned as Paulie kept getting further away.
A few moments later, the Yagara Bull with Paulie on it came back around the corner, but now there were two men in the boat.
"Ow! Hey! Damn it, Lucci!" Paulie cursed at his fellow foreman. "I won't try and run away! Let go of me!" He tried to pry the other man's fingers off ear.
"You idiot! Don't just steal other people's Bulls." The pigeon on Lucci's shoulder spoke clearly.
Paulie glared at the bird on Lucci's shoulder. "Oh shut up! Both of those Yagara were free! I only took one too!"
The pigeon waved its wing, as if to brush away Paulie's excuses. "You know, if you hadn't racked up so much gambling debt, you wouldn't be embarrassing Galley-La Company by being chased around the city by debt collectors."
The Yagara stopped in front of Dock One's gate and Lucci stepped off, pulling Paulie along with him.
"Apologize to Mr. Iceberg, Paulie." The pigeon said, making Paulie glare at the bird and then at Lucci.
"What do I need to apologize for? This is just my own private situation!" Paulie growled at Lucci, only for the other foreman to wallop him in the back of the head with a hammer.
Paulie staggered forward with a pained grunt. "You ass… Lucci, I'll never forgive you!" A rope shot from Paulie's sleeve. "Rope Action…!" The rope wrapped around Lucci's wrist in a blink. "Bowline Knot!" Just as Paulie said, the rope had tied itself into a perfect bowline around Lucci's wrist. "Gotcha!" Paulie yanked on the rope as he pivoted his body, using the rope to perform a massively extended shoulder throw. "Hook, line, and sinker!" He slammed Lucci head first into the street.
Dust was kicked up as the Straw Hats watched on.
"Hey! They don't need to get that serious, do they?!" Nami looked at Iceberg in shock.
"Well, this always happens." Iceberg gave a nonchalant shrug.
Usopp's eyes bugged out as the dust cleared. "Whoa! Look at that!" He pointed to where Lucci had landed. The foreman was balanced on one arm, the elbow bent to absorb the impact, and not injured by the throw at all. "He stopped that throw with just one arm?! His fingers sank right into the concrete…"
Indeed, Lucci's fingers on the hand he'd stopped the fall with were buried in the solid concrete of the street.
"What kind of finger strength is that?" Nami nearly gape as she felt phantom pain in her own fingers just from looking.
"How is that pigeon talking?" Luffy had completely ignored the fight to focus on the pigeon that returned to Lucci's shoulder a second after the man stood back up.
Paulie squared up, both fists raised, and his legs bent a little for balance. "Hey, you wanna fight?!" He asked Lucci with a grunt. "Bring it on!"
"Stop that, Paulie." Iceberg ordered with a sigh. All of his shipwrights were so hot-blooded.
"Koo koo! Sorry for causing a fuss." The pigeon on Lucci's shoulder spoke to the Straw Hats. "I'm Rob Luc…! I mean, I'm Hattori the pigeon! This is Rob Lucci! We work here!" The pigeon pointed its wing first at itself and then at Lucci. "Pleased to meet you! Koo koo!"
Nami perked up as she figured out the trick from the slip up. "It's ventriloquism!"
Usopp and Luffy both stared in amazement at Lucci and his pigeon.
"Really?!" Luffy clapped for the show of skill.
"That's really good! I didn't even notice!" Usopp was also applauding.
Lucci raised his hands in front of him while Hattori 'spoke' again. "Stop. It's nothing special. Koo…"
"Ahahaha! That's right! This guy won't speak normally! He's just a weirdo!" Paulie laughed at Lucci's act. Now that the fight was over, Paulie got a look at the three pirates, though his eyes stopped on Nami and his face went red. "Hey, whoa! What's wrong with that woman?!"
Nami raised an eyebrow at Paulie's words. "Huh?"
"Your legs! You're showing too much of them!" Paulie accused, pointing at Nami's legs and the miniskirt that she was wearing. "This is a man's workplace! How can you dress like that?!" Lucci was holding Paulie back while Kalifa put herself between the foreman and the Straw Hats.
"Calm down, Paulie!" Kalifa practically ordered the overreacting man.
Paulie saw that she was also wearing a pencil skirt and that the first two buttons of Kalifa's shirt were undone and revealing some cleavage. "You too, Kalifa! You're wearing scandalous clothes again!"
"What the hell…?" Usopp just stared at Paulie's reaction to Nami and Kalifa's clothing.
Luffy grinned and gently took hold of the yellow tie that Nami paired with her navy blue button-up shirt. With a gentle pull he got Nami's attention.
"Luffy?" Nami looked at her lover curiously, before a second little tug pulled her closer to him, their chests almost flush against each other. "Oh…" She got a wicked little smirk on her lips as Luffy pulled her lips to his by her tie. "Mmm~"
Luffy kissed Nami for a short moment, both hearing Paulie going silent, and then they pulled away from each other's lips. Nami shot Paulie a mischievous grin while still pressed up to Luffy's chest.
"GAH! YOU SHAMELESS BRATS! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT IN PUBLIC?! IN BROAD DAYLIGHT!" Paulie pointed at the two pirates angrily.
"Well, this has certainly livened up the day a bit." Iceberg chuckled slightly. "I'll give you three a tour of the factory."
"For real?!" Luffy and Usopp exclaimed with bright smiles and sparkles in their eyes.
Iceberg nodded and Paulie, refusing to look at Nami and Luffy, pushed open one of the large gate doors with one hand, while Lucci pushed open the opposite giant steel door with one hand as well. It was a testament to the two shipwrights' strength that they could so easily open such large and heavy doors so easily.
"Try not to lose your money again. Though there shouldn't be any thieves inside." Iceberg said as they all entered Dock One.
"No problem." Luffy grinned widely. "They're not coming back. Shishishishi!" He laughed, able to 'hear' the thieves as they descended to the lower level with his massive Observation range.
"Mr. Iceberg! Good morning!"
"Hey, the president is here!"
"Mr. Iceberg, will you inspect the hull?"
"Sure. I'll come around later." Iceberg nodded to the shipwright that asked for his personal inspection.
Seeing all of the shipwrights and their clear respect and admiration for Iceberg was almost overwhelming for the Straw Hats.
"Wow… Ice guy is pretty popular." Luffy commented on the reception that Iceberg was getting just for showing up.
"Of course he is! Skill means everything on this island." Kalifa said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Long ago, when the shipbuilding industry was just starting out in Water Seven, there were seven companies all competing against each other. But Mr. Iceberg won over all of the craftsmen and shipwrights with his brilliant shipbuilding techniques. He combined the seven companies into one and that was how the Galley-La company came to be." The secretary had a little smirk on her lips as she explained. "Mr. Iceberg's passion for shipbuilding hasn't diminished in the slightest. All of the workmen have the utmost respect for him. The shipwrights have their pride as craftsmen, so they don't back down to pirates or even authority. That's the kind of place this is."
Luffy had barely heard everything before he was at Iceberg's side and patting him on the back. "Hey, old man! I heard that you're an amazing shipwright! Wanna be a pirate with me?"
"What the hell is he saying?!" Paulie barked, sharp fangs filling his mouth.
"How rude!" Kalifa snapped at Luffy and how carelessly he was treating Iceberg.
Iceberg raised an eyebrow. "You don't have a single shipwright on your crew?"
"That's right!" Luffy said with a smile. "We came to this island to get our ship repaired and to find a new nakama!"
"There are tons of shipwrights here." Iceberg grinned in amusement. "But would any of them want to sail on a pirate ship?" Not seeing Luffy's expression change from the doubtful statement, Iceberg continued. "If you can find anyone that wants to go, then you can take them."
"Really? Wow, you're generous!" Luffy lit up at Iceberg's words. "How about you, old man?"
Iceberg held in a snort of laughter from years of practice. "Well I can't. I'm the mayor."
"So what?" Luffy clearly didn't see how that mattered at all.
"By the way, Kalifa mentioned that you had someone called Nico Robin on your crew." Iceberg looked at Luffy curiously.
"Yep! She's really smart!" Luffy praised his newest nakama and newest lover.
Kaku landed from a leap and kicked up a small cloud of dust, interrupting the conversation before it could really begin.
"Huh? Kaku? Where were you?" Paulie asked, a cigar in his mouth as he sat down against a massive pile of timbers that were covered with a tarp.
"I was assessing a ship. Are the customers here?" Kaku asked before seeing Nami, Luffy, and Usopp. "Oh, Mr. Iceberg, you're here!" He greeted Iceberg with a polite bow.
Iceberg gave Kaku a nod. "I know the situation. How was it?"
"Hey, you're the guy from earlier." Nami looked at Kaku with a small smile. "Did you look at our ship?"
"Yeah, I took a look at it." Kaku confirmed.
-Going Merry-
Zoro sat on the railing near the figurehead, looking at the sheepshead with an almost wistful stare. He recalled what the shipwright had said.
"Is what you said true?" Zoro had asked after Kaku had come back up from below the Going Merry.
"I don't lie about my work." Kaku's prompt answer and the look in the man's eyes confirmed the validity of his words.
"Is it true, Merry?" Zoro asked the ship that had carried the crew so far. "Can you really never sail again?"
-Dock One-
"So, how much is it going to cost?" Luffy asked Kaku with a big grin. "We have plenty of money! We can pay whatever it takes!" He patted the three large briefcases that were sitting on the ground before him. "And if possible, we'd like to make it more durable, and add more cannons, and make it faster!"
Usopp nodded along with all of Luffy's suggestions with a big smile of his own.
"Also, could you add some wonderful decorations to the hull? And redecorate the rooms?" Nami wanted the Going Merry to look nice on top of all its upgrades.
Kaku held up one hand as he sat down near Lucci and Paulie. "Now, wait. In short the damage to your ship is far too great. You probably had a grand journey."
"Yep! We went over Reverse Mountain, got swallowed by a whale, made it through multiple storms, flew, and then came back down. A lot happened…that's why we want you to fix her!" Luffy laid out a simple summary of what the Going Merry had gone through.
"Is it going to take long?" Usopp questioned the shipwrights, curious about the look on Kaku's face.
"No…" Kaku let out a short sigh. "I'm going to give it to you straight. Your ship can't be fixed. Not even with our skills."
Luffy blinked at Kaku's words.
"Huh?" Nami looked stunned.
"Even if we were to repair it. The chance of it reaching the next island…is zero." Kaku gave them the bad news.
Usopp loudly argued against Kaku's assessment. "No way! But she's been sailing just like always!"
Paulie exhaled smoke after taking a drag from his cigar. "Was it the keel?" He asked his fellow shipwright, even though both already knew the answer.
"Yes. It's badly damaged." Kaku confirmed with a short nod. "It's cracked and has more than a few small chunks of the wood missing, like it was dragged over the ground, and rocky ground at that."
Usopp, Luffy, and Nami all felt their throats clench as they remembered getting the Going Merry off the sacrificial altar up in Skypiea, and the harsh return to the Blue Sea when they left the Sky Island. It wasn't hard to understand when the majority of the damage to the Going Merry's keel had happened.
"The keel is the core of the ship. Every single timber is built around it from the very beginning of construction." Paulie told the Straw Hats plainly. "Once it's damaged, the ship can't be repaired anymore. Right now, the only two things you can do for your ship are sink it or have it dismantled."
"You don't have to say it like that!" Usopp snapped at Paulie. He was angry, frustrated, and had a cold pit of sadness forming in his gut. The Going Merry was a gift from Kaya! The woman he loved more than anything in the world! How could he just let it sink?! How could he have it dismantled and the usable parts sold?!
Luffy spoke up with a wild idea. "Then build us the Going Merry! Make it exactly the same in every way!"
"We can't do that either. Koo koo…" Hattori 'spoke' while Lucci shook his head once.
"Why not?" Luffy demanded, narrowing his eyes at both Lucci and the pigeon.
"We can build a similar ship, but no one can make two of the exact same ship. In other words, no two identical ships exist." Lucci spoke through Hattori, the pigeon even moving its wings to imitate human hand gestures as it 'talked'. "Are there two trees in the world that grow exactly the same? Any sailing vessel is built almost entirely out of wood. The size of a ship, its curves, everything about it depends on the character of the wood. Even using the same blueprint, no two ships can ever be built identically." Hattori pointed its wing at the three pirates. "And even if we did build such a ship… The overwhelming sensation that it's a totally different vessel would be felt the most by the crew that knew the old ship…you!"
None of them could deny that. Even if they got a brand new 'Going Merry'…it would be the Going Merry.
"The ship has reached the end of its lifespan." Iceberg said with his eyes closed. He opened them a moment later. "This could be a good opportunity. If you can accept it, then you can buy a new ship. You have plenty of money, right? I understand your ship is a caravel? If you want to continue going forward, such a small ship was bound to cause you safety trouble." He looked at Kalifa for a second and the secretary nodded.
"Here." She held out a catalogue to Luffy. "This is every ship we can build and all of the ones that we currently have as secondhand. You can study the prices."
"When you've decided on a ship, come to me and I'll help you." Iceberg told the Straw Hats with a nod.
Luffy nearly crushed the catalogue in his hand from how tight his fists were clenched.
Nami spoke, her voice low and almost hollow. "Can we really never sail on the Going Merry again?"
The shipwrights didn't say anything, but their silence spoke volumes.
-End Chapter-
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Fuck…
The Going Merry's keel has been damaged. She can't keep going anymore.
Even with 800,000,000 Beri…there's nothing the Straw Hats can do. The shipwrights of Galley-La are honest with them and about their lack of being able to save the critically damaged ship.
Is this the end of the Going Merry's journey? Are the only options a sea burial or dismantling?
How will the rest of the crew take the news?
On a slightly positive note: Robin didn't go with the CP9 agent! She trusts in her nakama and in Luffy especially! What plans will she make for dealing with CP9?
Will a certain someone come along that can offer the Straw Hats a third option that no one else can?
Keep reading to find out!
Until I get your reviews, later!