Spending Like Water

The dazzling divine light completely enveloped the Tiga.

At the same time, it blocked everyone's vision.

For some reason, Kael suddenly felt that the distance between himself and his three crew members had changed.

Tashigi and the others, who had originally been less than half a meter away from him, were now at least a meter away.

Kael quickly realized...

This must have been the change in the ship's structure brought about by the dock system's upgrade!

Just like the first upgrade, radiant light flashed past.

In almost the blink of an eye, everything began to change.

Kael blinked and immediately looked around.

As far as the eye could see.

The hull, originally built from ordinary wood, had all been replaced with some unknown, expensive timber.

A faint, elegant fragrance wafted toward them, and the hull was as smooth as though it had been coated in wax.

Even more miraculous was...

The sails, masts, and lookout tower had all more than doubled in size!

Thud~

Coby dropped onto the deck, staring wide-eyed at everything before him.

"Th-this... what's going on!?" He was so excited that he could barely speak.

In the blink of an eye, the ship beneath their feet had completely changed its appearance!

Beside him, Tashigi and Morgan wore equally shocked expressions as they stared incredulously at the evolved Tiga.

Though this was not the first time they had witnessed Kael's miraculous methods.

Every time, Kael managed to leave them astonished anew!

Tashigi murmured softly, "This is... truly breathtaking!"

Morgan nodded again and again. "Me too!"

In the blink of an eye, the Tiga's upgrade was complete!

A new information panel appeared before Kael.

[Tiga]

[Level: 2]

[Experience: 0/300]

[Facilities: 2/6]

[Owned Facilities: Captain's Quarters (1), Training Room (1)]

"The number of facilities that can be loaded has become six?"

"Hmm... that means there are plenty of facility slots now."

"Only..."

Looking at the Tiga's latest panel, a glint flashed through Kael's eyes as he quietly calculated in his heart:

"The experience needed to upgrade to a level 3 pirate ship has also become 300, just like the captain's level!?"

"This isn't like captain experience, which can be earned just by spending money!!"

"At this rate of increase, does the system want me to rob the Celestial Dragons!?"

He gave a bitter smile at his own inner complaint.

While his companions were still immersed in their shock over the Tiga's upgrade, he quickly opened the facility interface and continued spending.

According to his plan, the first new facility he wanted to buy was a resting space for the crew—[Crew Dormitory].

[Facility: Crew Dormitory]

[Level: 1]

[Experience: 0/5]

[Description: A resting place for crew members that can accommodate multiple people at once.]

[Effect: While sleeping, restores 5% stamina and 5% mental energy per hour. Currently accommodates 4 people (the number of residents increases as the facility level rises).]

This was the panel for a level 1 Crew Dormitory.

Each room cost 5 million Beli!

Considering that men and women should be separated, Kael gritted his teeth and bought two Crew Dormitories.

One on the left and one on the right, each supporting half of the Captain's Quarters, on the deck level below.

However, a 5% recovery rate was simply too low.

After daily training, Tashigi and the others would need to sleep for at least ten hours to fully recover...

That was far too much of a waste of time!

So that the crew would not lack energy,

And thereby slow down his own pace of getting stronger...

Kael clenched his teeth and directly upgraded both level 1 Crew Dormitories to level 2!

In an instant!

The rooms, which had originally only been the size of college dormitories, immediately became two dorms for foreign students.

Not only did the recovery rate reach 10% per hour, but the number of people each dormitory could accommodate also doubled directly, becoming eight.

That alone cost 20 million Beli!

It made Kael's liver tremble!

"You'd better train properly!"

"If you don't train for a full eight hours every day, you'll be letting me down!"

Seeing his originally ample 80 million Beli suddenly reduced to just 10 million, Kael felt a pang of heartache.

Still, he found the Training Room without hesitation and directly upgraded the originally level 1 Training Room to level 2.

After spending 5 million Beli.

The Training Room's level in the system instantly changed.

At the same time, the Training Room's space expanded several times over.

A batch of even more sophisticated training equipment was also added.

Of course, the most important thing was...

The original setting of gaining 100 experience points per hour of training changed after the Training Room was upgraded to 150 experience points per hour.

Unfortunately...

The training duration Kael had been eagerly hoping for did not increase and remained at eight hours.

"Ugh... what would it hurt to raise it to twelve or fifteen hours!"

"With the dormitories, they won't train themselves sick. Just let the crew keep training!"

Kael sighed inwardly, completely unaware that his thinking was rather dangerous and that he was one step closer to being hung from a streetlamp.

However...

In the end, he still could not bear to use the remaining 5 million Beli to upgrade his Captain's Quarters.

Instead, he spent it on buying the final facility...

[Facility: Chart Room]

[Level: 1]

[Experience: 0/5]

[Description: A workspace that allows people to focus their minds.]

[Effect: With the pirate ship as the center, draws and records nautical charts of all areas the pirate ship has passed through (the recording range increases as the Chart Room level rises).]

Although the Chart Room was not a facility Kael desperately needed at the moment, it would surely come in handy one day when they entered the Calm Belt or the Grand Line.

Since that was the case, it was better to buy it early and install it on the pirate ship.

That way, it could draw more of the routes Kael and the others traveled in the East Blue.

Compared with his own comfort, Kael ultimately chose this practical, essential facility.

At this point.

The 80 million Beli he had looted from the Marine base had been spent down to the last coin!

Fortunately, their gains were quite substantial as well!

With a level 2 Training Room that could provide 1,200 experience points a day...

Kael believed that over the coming period, his combat strength would definitely improve by leaps and bounds!

Even though all of it would come from his companions' hard work!

Time slowly passed.

Two days later.

The Marine warship pursuing the Tiga slowly docked at the port of the G-153 Marine Branch.

At this time, the Marine port was already a scene of utter ruin.

The shattered defensive gates and the chaotic port base.

The gun emplacements that should have been heavily guarded were all reduced to broken walls and rubble, not one of them intact.

This place looked as though no human had set foot here in eight hundred years.

Yet in truth, the inside of the base was bustling with activity.

Although the Marine base was badly damaged, after learning that Colonel Morgan had left the Marine base and become a pirate...

The townspeople of Shells Town had been fired up, rushing over to voluntarily help the Marines rebuild the base.

Smoker stepped down from the warship in heavy leather boots.

Looking at the scene before him, he felt his scalp tingle.

He had already learned the general course of events from the earlier report.

Ordinarily, as the commander of Loguetown, he had no reason to meddle in the affairs of another branch base.

But he happened to be nearby.

Furthermore, his rank came from Marine Headquarters, which meant that, in a sense, he had authority over any Marine base in the East Blue.

So, the moment trouble broke out in the East Blue, his superior at Headquarters handed this mess over to him.

For now, he needed to serve as the acting commander of the G-153 Branch until a new commander was selected.

Most importantly...

During this period, he also had to rebuild the Marines' image of justice and make up for the harm Morgan had caused Shells Town.

"Damn pirates!"

Smoker cursed furiously in his heart.

Based on the descriptions from the G-153 Branch Marines, he was already completely certain...

The female swordswoman of the Dusk Pirates was Tashigi herself!

Though he did not know what method that guy called Kael had used to make Tashigi obey his orders...

The grudge between the two of them had now been completely forged!!!