65: Chapter 65 The Spirit of the Ship

Rice turned around, his black eyes sweeping over the lifeless sloop.

The wooden fibers inside were thoroughly eroded by seawater. The load-bearing structure was completely destroyed.

"This ship's lifespan has come to an end."

Rice bluntly issued its physical death certificate.

"The keel is broken. If you encounter a wave over ten meters, the hull will disintegrate instantly."

Luffy gritted his teeth, his rubber fists clenching with a cracking sound.

He walked up to Rice, his voice hoarse.

"Rice. I know Merry is badly hurt. The shipyards in Water 7 have already reached a conclusion. But, it is our ship. We cannot abandon it."

Rice looked at this stubborn boy.

"The shipwrights of Water 7 can only handle wood and ordinary pig iron. Just because they can't fix it doesn't mean no one on this sea can."

Rice pointed at the massive dark gold hull of ship.

"See that outer shell? That is wapol metal. Its hardness is several times that of refined steel, and it possesses molecular-level restructuring ductility. I have a living weapon under my command that can consume this metal and spit out a reshaping liquid."

Luffy's pupils dilated instantly, his breathing stalled.

"I can provide wapol metal to perform a molecular-level metal replacement of your broken ship's wooden keel. Let it turn into an armored ship from the inside out."

Rice crossed his arms over his chest.

"The premise is that you can find a lead shipwright capable of handling this top-tier metal."

No sooner had he finished speaking, than a noisy clamor came from behind the piles of trash on Scrap Island.

"Extreme—!!!"

Accompanied by a strange roar, dozens of thugs dressed in bizarre clothes, holding chainsaws, large hammers, and disassembly wrenches, swarmed out from behind the rusty mountains of scrap iron.

The Dismantlers, the Franky Family.

The man leading them was huge. He sported a blue pompadour, and wore only black briefs on his lower body. His upper body was clad in an open floral shirt. His two arms were so thick that they completely defied human proportions, their surfaces covered in heavy riveted steel plates. The cyborg, Franky.

"Boys! Tear this ragged sloop into firewood for me! Sell it to the shipyard as fuel!"

Franky waved his thick steel right arm, loudly issuing the dismantling order.

"As for that massive dark gold warship next to it... wait..."

Franky's gaze had just swept over the massive hull of ship when he instantly froze in place.

The steps his legs were taking stalled in mid-air.

Inside his mechanically modified eyeballs, micro-scanning lenses began to spin crazily.

Optical sensors transmitted the metal reflectivity, density parameters, and physical texture of ship's surface into his visual processing center in the form of data.

Beep. Beep. Beep. A red warning light flashed in Franky's mechanical eyes.

The massive data stream directly caused his processor to crash briefly.

"This... this density... this luster..."

Franky trembled all over, as if electrocuted.

He threw away the megaphone in his hand, strode out on his two thick, hairy legs, and like a bull in heat, charged madly toward the shallows where ship was docked.

Along the way, he knocked over a few subordinates and jumped into the waist-deep seawater with a splash.

He waded over to the underside of ship's dark gold shipboard.

He reached out those thick, calloused palms and tremblingly pressed them against the surface of the wapol metal.

A cold touch. An indestructible atomic arrangement structure. Without any welding seams, the entire outer shell seemed like a natural whole.

"Extreme—!!! Shocking!!!"

Franky tilted his head back and let out a deafening roar. Tears streamed out from behind his goggles.

"The ultimate memory alloy that can only be smelted in legends! To actually use it to wrap the shell of an entire warship! What extravagant, what violent shipbuilding aesthetics this is!"

Like a fanatical believer, he stroked the metal armor madly with both hands. He pressed his cheek against the cold hull and rubbed it incessantly.

"This displacement... this pressure-resistant structure... it's perfect! But..."

Franky's gaze passed through several open portholes, looking inside the warship. His mechanical eyes scanned again.

"The internal keel and load-bearing pillars are actually still ordinary refined steel material? This kind of internal frame simply cannot withstand the physical contraction of the wapol shell under deep-sea high pressure! The frame will break!"

Franky turned his head abruptly, looking at Rice standing on the deck of the Merry.

"Hey! Black-haired man over there! Are you the Captain of this giant ship!"

Franky slammed his fists together, producing a loud clang of steel colliding.

He completely abandoned the hostility he had originally come with to dismantle the ship, his face filled with a fanaticism belonging to a shipwright.

"The internal frame of this ship needs to be completely recast! Let me fix it! I don't want money! Just let me handle this legendary metal with my own hands, I'll even throw in all the tools from the Dismantlers! Leave it to me!"

Rice looked at this cyborg who had fallen into a state of fanaticism, a satisfied cold smile appearing on the corner of his mouth.

A lead shipwright had delivered himself to the door.

"You can fix my ship."

Rice responded loudly. His voice drowned out the sound of the crashing waves.

Rice pointed at the Merry under his feet.

"An additional condition. Use the wapol metal to replace the keel of this broken wooden ship for me. Make it come alive again."

Franky glanced at the Merry. His mechanical eyes scanned the hull's fracture data. His brows furrowed.

"Performing a molecular-level substitution and Fusion of wood fibers with memory alloy... this is a surgery that is almost impossible to complete in physics... however..."

Franky grinned, revealing two rows of white teeth. His right arm armor popped open, revealing the complex gear transmission device inside.

"I am the cyborg Franky! As long as there are Materials, I can create physical miracles!"

Night fell. The temperature in Water 7 dropped sharply. A thick layer of white mist rose on the sea, shrouding Scrap Island. Discarded machinery contracted in the cold air, making tooth-aching creaking sounds.

The members of the Straw Hat Pirates, due to the emotional ups and downs of the day, were all sleeping exhaustedly on the deck of the Merry.

Luffy was snoring loudly. Only Usopp was alone, wrapped in a blanket, leaning against the base of the main mast, holding a wooden mallet, eyes closed, still maintaining a posture of guarding.

Two in the morning. In the thick fog. The massive dark gold bow of ship suddenly emitted a slight physical vibration.

Wisps of dark gold light points overflowed from the surface of the wapol metal. These light points quickly converged and compressed in mid-air.

A few seconds later. A two-meter-tall phantom formed at the bow. The Ship Spirit.

The Ship Spirit of ship was entirely deep dark gold. Its torso was outlined by high-density metal lines. It had no facial features, only two clusters of eerie blue light flickering where its face should be.

In its right hand, it held a heavy, long-handled hammer forged from pig iron. The surface of the hammer was covered in scratches left from battles. Its entire body radiated a cold, indestructible sense of oppression.

Click. The metal spirit took a step and jumped down from the high bow. Its feet landed on the surface of the sea. The surface tension of the seawater was forcibly altered, like a layer of hard crystal supporting its heavy metal body.

It carried the pig iron hammer, walked through the thick fog, and stepped toward the Merry nearby.

At the edge of the Merry's deck. Another faint ball of light was flickering. That was the Ship Spirit of the Merry.

It was only the size of a child, wearing a yellow raincoat. Its body appeared in a semi-transparent, weak state. It held a small wooden mallet in its hand, trying to tap the broken wooden railing. Each tap appeared weak and powerless. Illusory tears dripped onto the deck.

The metal spirit walked to the underside of the Merry's shipboard. Its eerie blue gaze looked down at the crying little spirit. No sympathy. No embrace. No sad comfort.

It raised the pig iron hammer in its hand. The heavy hammer head tore through the fog. Aiming at a piece of rusty iron on the outside of the Merry's hull, it smashed down heavily.

Clang—!!! A deafening sound of metal striking metal exploded in the quiet night sky. Sparks flew everywhere.

The powerful physical vibration, following the rusty iron, was instantly transmitted to the wooden frame of the entire Merry. The decaying wood let out a creaking wail in the vibration.

The little spirit of the Merry was stunned. It stopped crying and looked in terror at the dark gold giant below that radiated a terrifying sense of oppression.

The metal spirit retracted the hammer. It raised it again. Clang! The second hammer blow. It struck the edge of the broken main keel.

This blow did not destroy the structure, but instead, a pure, rigid, unyielding metal will was forcibly injected into the core of the Merry—which was about to collapse—along with the physical vibration.

"Stand up." A low-frequency resonant sound belonging to metal collisions echoed in the consciousness of the Merry's spirit.

"If the wood breaks, replace it with steel. The Captain is still sleeping, and the route has not been finished yet. Take your Captain. Continue sailing forward."

Clang! The third hammer blow fell. Sparks illuminated the fog of Scrap Island.

The little spirit of the Merry stared blankly at that pig iron hammer. It felt the heavy, hard metal will being transmitted into its body.

Its semi-transparent body, which was about to dissipate, solidified a bit under the stimulation of the physical vibration.

It wiped away its tears. It lowered its head and looked at the weak wooden mallet in its hand. Then, imitating the metal spirit, it raised the wooden mallet, aimed at the broken wooden board, and knocked down hard. Although the knocking sound was weak, it was full of unyielding physical resilience.

On the open-air balcony at the top of the main cabin of ship. Rice was shirtless, leaning against the dark gold wapol metal railing. He held a weed in his right hand. Hot smoke entered his lungs. He exhaled slowly.

"Weak wood, only after experiencing the beating of steel, can it transform into a Sharp Weapon that kills." Rice looked at the sleeping Straw Hat on the deck of the Merry and whispered to himself.

The main cabin door pushed open. Nami, draped in a thin coat, walked onto the balcony. The night wind blew her orange short hair.

She walked to Rice's side, her hands wrapping around his muscular, bronze-colored waist and abdomen. She pressed her cheek against his back, feeling the powerful body heat radiating from his body.

"Captain. For tomorrow morning's trade, what supplies should I prepare?" Nami asked softly.

Rice reached out his left hand and pressed it onto the back of Nami's hand.

"Tell that long-nosed sniper to spit out every windage calculation formula and ballistics knowledge in his brain, without missing a word. Raki's marksmanship needs theoretical support."

"In addition, tell that cyborg to use the equipment from Water 7 and Sky Island to make you a Clima-Tact."

Rice's gaze looked toward the towering mayor's mansion in the center of Water 7.

"We are not just repairing the ship. We also want to make this ship's firepower capable of directly shattering the World Government's teeth."

Waves lapped at the shore of Scrap Island. Two warships were docked in the mist. The recasting of metal was about to fully kick off a violent prologue on the physical level when dawn arrived.