25. New crewmate.
The girls arrived back on the ship and looked curiously at the small dirty looking girl holding Wonder.
"Who might this be?" Shen Xiu asked with a smile.
"This is Perona, a devil fruit user who was living in an abandoned house. She can control ghosts. Perona this is Shen Xiu and Xiao Ning'er, she made the food you ate." I tell the little pink haired girl.
"Oh! Your food is so good! Can you teach me how to cook?" She asks Ning'er.
Ning'er just looks at me before smiling at the little girl. "Sure, how about we get you some new clothes and all cleaned up first?" Ning'er says.
"Ah speaking of that, we are near the ship building city, I was thinking about getting us a new ship. A bigger and better kitchen, a working bathroom, some more bedrooms, just a total upgrade. This one isn't bad but its lacking alot in some of the more luxurious areas. Plus they would more than likely have better furniture craftsmen there." I explain to the girls.
"A proper shower would be nice and the kitchen is kind of....not good." Ning'er says.
"We could always have this one refurbished too." I tell her. "But i kind of just want a bigger ship. That belongs to me ya know?"
The girls nod.
"Anyway did you get everything you needed?" I ask.
"Yeah we have food, I also bought some new pots and pans. Dunno why you insist on us buying fresh water when you can just make it." She grumbles.
"Its for the experience!" my soul realm had plenty of fresh water inside but I still wanted to experience the who sailing the seas like a pirate thing.
She just shakes her head before grabbing Perona by the hand. "Come on let's get you cleaned up and into some nice clothes." she says pulling the pink haired girl away.
I just shrug before opening up the new map I had bought and using the compass to get the proper direction. After that I pulled up the anchor and we started to set sail for Water 7.
Honestly It feels pretty relaxing just to cruise around in the ship.
A little while later Perona comes out looking clean, her hair has been trimmed and she is wearing a simple black sundress. However she is pale and scrawny with sunken cheeks most likely from being malnourished.
"Well dont you look pretty. Come here for a second I've got some medicine that will help you." I pull out a special nutrition food pill. Helps for hungry people who havent eaten in a long time suffering from malnutrition.
I pull out the brown pill and pass it over. "Eat this."
She eyes it for a second before popping it in her mouth with a smile.
"That's a food pill, you swallow it and it will help you grow. You are too skinny right now." I explain patting her head.
She just nods before looking around the boat before spotting Wonder and running off to play with him.
The next couple of days pass by quickly with Perona fitting in perfectly, she was just an excitable little girl. I hadn't noticed any kind of sneaky behaviors or any plotting from her. I could even sense her ghosts, for the most part she just chatted with them in her room.
She started to get some meat on her bones and looked more like an actual child than a skeleton with hair which was nice.
However we were closing in on Water 7. I was eager to get my new ship built. I had a few hundred million Berries so I wasn't worried about the cost.
The large island was known for having some of the best ship builders in the world so I was going to make sure I had one of the best ships.
I pulled the ship into one of the docks and let the girls off before dragging it into my soul realm. I can have that ship as a spare and work on it as a project later.
"We are probably going to be here for a while." I tell the girls as Perona looks around holding my hand happily. "At least 2 months. So I plan on getting us a nice hotel room. So you can go shopping and get Perona here some more clothes and anything you guys want. But first let's check in to the hotel."
After asking around for a bit we find a really nice hotel and get a couple of rooms.
I pass out some money to the girls, I'm not really concerned about thier safety, as thier cultivation would prove to be rather difficult to contend with. "Just meet back here before nightfall so we can head to dinner together." I request.
"Alright."
After that they rush off to go shopping, I'm not following them, that's a death trap.
I head towards the ship builders area to look for one of the best. I believe his name was Iceberg?
It takes me a while searching around however I find Iceberg, I also find that he isn't the one in charge, his teacher Tom is. So I guess I'm pretty early for the series.
I already have some plans for the new ship thought out so i make my way towards the shipwrights company to put in my order.
I'm actually met by the older man Tom himself.
"How can I help ya lad?" he asks leading me into an office.
"I just want to put in an order for a custom ship." I tell him sitting down on the chair across from him.
He pulls out a couple sheets of paper.
"Alright tell me what you want." he says.
"I need a medium-large or larger sized ship, plenty of personal bedrooms, showers, a large kitchen, with a place for extra food storage, I also need a work out area or gym, I need it to be highly resistant to damage, (I plan on taking it to sky island.) captain's quarters, a study for a navigator, just the whole shebang, I would rather it not look gaudy either." I explain.
"Simple enough, as for the materials, well. The more you pay the better the materials we van buy to build the ship." He says and pulls out a couple of design and material lists.
I look them over and pick the most durable and expensive, Treasure Tree Adam. "Can you do a sea stone coating on the bottom as well?" I request.
"We can." he nods.
"Alright how much is this going to cost?" i ask.
"350 million berries for a medium-large, 400 million for a large ship." He says looking at me. "It will also take 3 months to build."
I start pulling out wads of cash and passing them over. 1 million in each stack.
He inspects everything calmly before nodding.
"I'll put in the order for your materials and we can get started on it today." He says putting the money into a safe.