Gathering Materials For The New Ship

Silence dominated the room as I stared deep into the eyes of the fishman in front of me.

I was still reeling over the fact that he wanted to entrust me with the blueprints to one of the most dangerous weapons known to man in this world; all because I didn't care enough about it.

"Are you sure about this? The idea that I'm trustworthy because of my indifference sounds illogical," I questioned Tom suspiciously.

"If I wasn't so sure, we wouldn't be having this conversation, now would we?" Tom asked back.

"Why don't you just destroy the blueprints then?" I asked.

Tom remained quiet for a while as he gently stroked the cover of the book with a sentimental expression on his face.

"This blueprint....is the only testament left of my master, and the predecessors before him," Tom explained, "I just couldn't bring myself to burn what they had risked and lost their lives to protect. It would be a clear sign of disrespect towards them."

He didn't even let me respond to his words, because he kept going.

"However, I can't just quietly continue the cycle like they did and just pass on this walking death flag to my own precious students."

"So the best way that you thought of was this?" I asked.

"Yes, unfortunately," Tom responded solemnly.

I remained quiet for a while as I laid out the possible pros and cons of this. 

"What if I destroyed it?" 

"Then that would truly be unfortunate for the world," Tom responded.

"How the hell does that make sense?" I countered.

"Well, think about it for a bit. There had to be a reason as to why they did this. Though my master never answered why they had this blueprint, I could only theorize that something had happened in the past that prompted them to create this blueprint as a precautionary measure," Tom explained, "If you were to destroy it, how sure are you that you would be able to find the original Pluton?"

"Fair point," I commented, "by the way, what else do you know about weapons like this?"

"Not much, really," Tom replied, "the only thing that I know was the fact that pluton was designed to counter a weapon by the name of Poseidon."

I nodded in response to the remark; I had to admit that it was beneficial to know exactly where the few people who knew about these devastating weapons were at. I planned to use it as levarage to determine the value of the blueprints for now.

"Fine, I'll accept your request, but you gotta make one hell of a ship to match it," I demanded aloofly.

"Hm? You're not going to say something edgy like 'What makes you think that I care about the World?'" Tom teased.

I promptly glared at him to shut up as I extended my hand for a handshake, and with that, the deal had been sealed. He promptly pulled out a piece of paper and immediately began to jot something down for a bit.

I was about to ask him what he was doing, but the look of concentration on his face made me keep my mouth sealed as I continued to patiently wait for him to finish. 

He soon handed over the piece of paper along with the blueprint, and he had a big smile on his face while he was at it.

"What's this?"

"Materials that I need to build your ship," Tom answered.

"I haven't even told you what kind of ship that I wanted," I protested.

"It was never your decision to begin with, did you think I built the Oro Jackson and the Moby Dick with Roger's and Newgate's tastes in mind? I treat all my customers the same, brat!" Tom scolded.

I slowly went through the list as I tried to figure out where I could find these materials. Most of them were kind of easy to find, like getting heavenly gold and seastone, but others were hard. For example:

"Devil's wood?"

"Yes! I've heard rumors about it, and I've only been able to confirm its existance recently. It's location, however, is somewhere thought to have been myth. Though I'm sure you can be able to find it, or a material that is very similar to it, close by if you look hard enough." Tom explained patiently.

"Okay, but what's so valuable about it?" I asked.

"According to legend, Devil's Wood originated from one of the first few trees that actively produced Devil Fruits. You could say that it is the birth mother to Devil Fruit abilities, but whether or not that's true is left to be confirmed," Tom narrated, "The last forest that contained a whole forest of this was known to be in Skypea, but that place isn't even confirmed to be real. Unless, you trust the words of Noland the Liar."

"That's all well and good, but how am I going to transport a whole forest of this wood here without alerting the World Government?" I countered.

"Well, find it first, then we can talk about how we're going to bring it over here. Any other questions?" Tom replied.

"Blessed copper?"

"Ah, the Blessed Copper! Brings back old memories!" Tom wiped away a fake tear, "You can find that if you raid one of the World Government's abandoned mines."

"Don't you mean occupied?" I asked.

"No, I mean abandoned. You see, the World Government and the Marines have a nasty habit of digging deep whenever they mine within the island," Tom explained, "they normally consider this copper as useless because the only thing it is mostly known to be used is to conduct electricity. However, there is one more thing that it can be used for."

"Care to elaborate on its potential?" I asked sarcastically, but Tom didn't get it.

"Why gladly! Because they are so deep within the mines, the salt of the sea and the heat of being close so close to the earth makes this copper more pure than average. Giving it a special ability to contain electricity for long periods of time. Now the electricity will dissapate eventually, but before it does that it'll last you a good six to fourteen months."

"What about Devil's wood?"

"Devil's wood is famous for it's ability for invulnerability. It doesn't decay like most wood that we use to build ships. Though they are long lasting, they don't last as long as Devil's Wood ever can," Tom elaborated, "moreover, they are extermely immune to cannon fire. Apparently normal cannon fire shouldn't be able to even break through the wood."

"It's okay if you can't, but I would be jovial to know that these rare materials exist somewhere within the world," Tom explained.

"What about the blueprints to the ship? I need to know how much of each material I'm going to need before I set off," 

"That's okay, just give me a call when you just find the materials, it'll be easier for you this way. I promise," Tom said sincerely.

"Whatever," I said as I slowly began to exit my seat.

I left the room without saying anything else to Tom and met back up with Stussy and Ken. They seemed anxious about what was happening since I had taken a bit of time to get back to them, but they remained rooted where I had left them with relentless patience.

"So, how'd it go?" Stussy asked curiously.

"Better or worse, but we gotta go sailing for a bit longer before they can start working on the ship," I responded.

"You mean that we're going to continue using those ships?" Ken asked as he gestured towards the two ships that we had used to get to Water 7.

"It's not like we have a choice, it's not like they'll readily loan us a ship to use for what we're about to do," I shrugged.

"What about the price for the commission?" Stussy asked.

"As expensive as it's ever going to get," I replied with a slight bit of tiredness in my voice.

I remember Tom explaining that he normally charges before making the ship, but my case was special because there were rare materials that were going to take time to get. So he was more than willing to wait a bit longer in order to ensure that he would charge us according to the materials that we had gotten.

I quickly grabbed my transponder snail and made a quick call to the 13th Division Commander, Atmos. He had been placed in charge with all the spoils of battle that we had gotten from raiding the World Government, and was currently on Latten island. The Heavenly Gold had also been transported there discreetly, under the eyes of Marco and Jozu themselves. 

"Hello? Who's this?" Atmos boomed through the snail.

"Atmos, it's been a while," I greeted him politely.

"Oh! Boris! What's going on? I heard you sailed to Water 7 to get a new ship!"