Shipbuilding Days

Outside Tom's Shipyard, the sun shone brightly.

Convincing the customers queued ahead of him was simple.

Lin Nuo used neither force nor threats. He simply relied on the power of money.

And his own "reputation."

Through the contact information Kokoro provided, he first found the three customers at the very front of Tom's shipbuilding order queue.

Facing those three customers, Lin Nuo named a price they could not refuse.

With generous compensation and the "reputation" of a pirate carrying a bounty of 2.09 billion Beli, naturally, the three had no reason to refuse.

They followed Lin Nuo to Tom's Shipyard and, right in front of Tom, agreed with beaming smiles to adjust the order of their commissions.

One of them even joked, "Sir, I want to see the finished ship of yours as soon as possible too!"

"To have Mr. Tom personally take charge and painstakingly build it, it must be something extraordinary!"

"...Y-you people."

Things had come to this.

In the end, Tom could only sigh, shake his head, and smile in resignation.

Fine, fine, he would do it.

He touched the horn on his head, his voice growing booming and bright.

"Then without further delay, let's settle the blueprints first!"

He walked over to the pile of Treasure Tree Adam and ran a hand across the smooth lumber.

"If the beginning isn't done right, no amount of effort afterward will matter."

Building a ship—especially a top-class ship—took time.

The keel, framework, structural design... Tom handled every part personally.

He repeatedly adjusted the plans according to Lin Nuo's requirements, striving for perfection.

Sometimes, he even tore down parts that had already been completed just to pursue better performance.

Lin Nuo wanted a "medium-sized ship"—not too large, but not too small either, one that could accommodate potentially huge companions