Werther looked at Iceburg, who had already given in. It seemed the man wasn't entirely useless. Did this count as knowing when to bend?
"Then I'll leave the ship to you. Use whatever supplies are aboard. Wrap the bottom in Seastone, and use Adam Wood for the main structure. If there isn't enough, buy more. There's plenty of money on board. As for payment, you may take any one thing from the ship.
"But if I find out you've made any nasty changes to my ship, you'd better hope they're guaranteed to kill me at sea. Otherwise, I'll show you what hell looks like. A real hell."
Werther left the grim-faced Iceburg alone. He took some money from the ship and set off to find Tuski on the island.
As Werther walked through Water 7, he noticed that the seawater had washed away many temporary structures. The tall buildings, though, still stood. He couldn't help marveling at human ingenuity.
Werther had always thought buildings erected atop ruins would be unstable. Yet somehow, the island's craftsmen had made them sturdy enough to withstand a tsunami on the scale of Aqua Laguna.
Before he had gone far, Werther caught a strange, enticing aroma and followed it to its source.
He found a barbecue stall, where a middle-aged woman was grilling meat with intense concentration. She called out to customers only now and then.
She hardly needed to. A crowd had already gathered around her, everyone clutching money and watching expectantly as she carefully turned the large cuts of meat.
Werther loved food, so naturally he joined them, money in hand and eyes fixed on the grill.
Unfortunately, the woman could grill only a dozen or so skewers at a time, not enough for everyone. Werther missed out on the first batch, but