Ideas, Deals, & Time Part 1

With my newly aquired fleet of random, mismatched ships, I decided to finally go back to Forwilth Shipyard and sell all of them, hopefully for a lot of money. After finding Taki had been training a second moon the same size as the first, being around 30 feet in diameter. I think the first one was a bit bigger than 30 feet. 'Well, seems she's learned to multitask and split train, like, train multiple things at the same time. Man, you can do a lot in a month.'

I then told Taki "If Mariga needs anything, can you help her with it?"

Yes, Mariga knew Taki, not as attached to her as to me, but she trusted Taki enough to interact. 'Being a slave, especially to pirates, must have been hard on her just to trust in general. I guess accidentally saving people sometimes would cause them to be attached to you if they don't have anyone or anything at such a young age.'

"I can help her if she does need any help. Just go get more money."

Taki was fully on board with my idea of having money constantly coming in to fund all the trips needed, especially if it got her to Zou and quicker.

I then left, leaving Taki to train, and on my way to the Forwilth Shipyard, I had some time to think.

'If I can sell them for enough, I could potentially work out a deal to buy the Shipyard itself. I already have like 50 or 60 million to go towards owning the place. A deal that would benefit all of us would be best. Which, also reminds me that I could go with Rosalina, who I REALLY have to keep an eye on just in case, and basically become a.. business partner to both of them. Maybe then I can buy their shares to fully own the business. I know what to do though. If I know right, then I could become one of the owners of the place by doing what Rosalina does, increasing the actual profit, and then have a plan to move the Shipyard to the Grand Line, where more people will be wanting ships. Or, just.. expand the business so much that people around the world would want to get a ship from there. But I'd have to take ship builders and carpenters from Galley-la to help out. Oh! That almost slipped my mind, maybe I can take one of the ship building companies for myself and merge it with the Shipyard to basically compete with Water 7 altogether!'

I smirked while walking. 'Planning ahead was possibly the best approach I could have ever taken in the One Piece world. Which means Phase 2 is going to move faster than I thought. I should change it from "Get 200 million berri" to "Go on several business ventures to gain passive income". Yeah, that would be better to do.'

I arrived at the Shipyard during my thoughts, and walked straight in this time without any hesitation. Walking in, everything looked.. exactly the same. There was no difference. It was an empty room with a desk, a sitting area, and ship related decorations. This time, I went straight to the desk and leaned on it while waiting, still a little awkwardly, but not even close to as much as before. 'Anxiety shall apparently be a part of me, forever.. I guess.'

And I stood there, in my own thoughts, while waiting for someone to come out from the back room.

'Wait. How have I not gotten bored when I'm not doing anything? I just realized.. I really only have a notebook, talking to.. anyone, and money to mull me over while I don't have a single thing to do. Do I just.. go into a relaxation mode or something and I don't even realize? Do I just subconsciously, like, pass the time when I'm not actually doing anything by laying there or sitting there with a blank mind? Do I fall asleep at all during that time? Man, I already have too many questions. I'm just gonna call it 'Chillax Mode' and leave it at that for now.'

And then, a familiar figure came from the back.

"Ah! Branson! How's it going?"

Branson walked behind the desk and said "Well, if it isn't 'The Joker'!" And laughed a little.

I cringed a little when he said that. 'Do I not like people besides the Marines calling me that? Did I already set my mind on having that as the name on my Bounty poster? Is that why I didn't like when someone who's just.. a guy, calling me that?'

"D-did the name really spread that fast?" I sweat dropped, still leaning on the desk.

"Yeah! People just started callin you tha Joker, never really looked into why, but tha nose makes tha most sense ta me."

"Ah. Uh huh.. huh. A-anyways.. you.. prooobably know why I'm here.. but.. well.. I got some ships to get rid of."

"Oooh. Ships? More than one dis time? Guess ya kept good on dat promise of yers to come back with more ships this time?"

I perked up a little. "Yes. They aren't at the harbor this time thanks to the sheer number. I won't need to tell you how many there are, but they are basically all docked on the beach, cause that's the only place I could put them. So, I think I remember the procedure, I just bring you to them.... Right?"

"Yeah Buggy. Dats exactly what ta do. Now, lead tha way!"

And so, I lead the way. It took what felt like 20 minutes because I had to completely avoid exposing the Hideout, and hope that Taki was not within sight from where we were walking. But the good thing is.. we didn't see any part of the Hideout or Taki from the beach, where we walked around the border of the island until we reached the fleet of ships I had.

I think Branson was surprised, because his massive eyebrows that covered his eyes went up and showed off his eyes when he saw just how many ships were there.

He exclaimed "My gosh! Did ya seriously get ALL these ships here? Ya doin better than Rosa has done before! It's only been a month!"

What he was looking at was the beach full of ships. The number of ships there? Seventeen.

"Yep. Seventeen whole ships. Some are in.... Better shape than others. I think some have been in fights before and repaired the best they could, so.. take that with a grain of salt."

He turned to me "Now I know why ya are called 'Tha Joker', it's cause ah things like this that made people think 'Jus how did that kid get so many ships? How many bounties did he gather?' No wonder why."

I stood there for a second. 'Hm. That makes sense.'

I got slightly peeved. "Well, we didn't come out here for you to just come up with stuff. I brought you here just to look at them and then give me money in return. That's all. So, if you would please.." I motioned him to go towards them to start his work.

Once his surprise disappeared, he said "Kid, ya are crazy."

I thought for a second. Before opening my eyes a little wider than normal, and pointed a finger gun at him. "Well, that's another reason to be called 'The Joker'."

And then, Branson started to work on checking out the ships. To which, he did do the thing again. I watched him for a little bit. 'Okay, this guy has some immense strength to be able to both hold on, without a grip or anything mind you, and not break the ship at all. He's seriously talented.'

After he got off the first ship, he pulled out some paper and a pen, and started to write. 'Oh! That makes so much sense to have on hand. I guess on singular ships, you don't need much other than.. well.. Branson. But on multiple, you should probably have something to write stuff down. I guess he's prepared for whatever.'

After the first ship, I watched him crawl all over the next ship before becoming bored. I layed down on the beach because of the boredom. I didn't realize time had passed until Branson nudged me and I realized it was closer to dark than before I got bored. 'Okay, I seriously have to learn more about myself and.. well.. just everything about myself.'

"Ya awake? Ya seemed ta be out cold. Didn't know if ya were alive or not. I'm done though, so we can go back ta tha shipyard and I can give ya an estimate."

I just nodded, and got up, realizing my body was partially asleep. I just stood up and stood there for a second before waking the rest of my body up. And after that, we just went back to the store, and I just went straight to the seating area while Branson left to the back.

It felt like it took less time this time thanks to 'Chillax Mode', and no interruption from another person. So I just went up to the counter and read the report, kind of blocking out what Branson was saying, and still listening at the same time.

"Well, I looked over tha ships, an' some were more damaged than tha others, so, after some deduction, I can give ya the best price of 72 million, right here."