Building Totto Land-but Entirely Out of Steel

The steel battleship crushed the reefs on the beach.

The heavy black keel plowed a deep trench through the shallows. Seawater poured into the groove, churning up vast swaths of white foam.

A black reef more than a dozen meters high shattered beneath the bow. The rocks rained down on the breakwater like hail, leaving its surface pocked with white marks.

The engine's plasma exhaust slowly died down. The acrid smell of motor oil filled the air.

Charlotte Linlin came over, her huge belly thrust forward.

She clutched half a roasted Sea King rib rack in one hand. The bones were thicker than an adult's thigh. She tore into the meat in great bites, chewing with loud crunches.

Grease dripped down her thick lips. It splattered onto her pink-and-white polka-dot dress, spreading into a large stain.

Her huge feet stamped across the beach, leaving half-meter-deep pits in the sand.

"Mamamamama!" Linlin spat out a chunk of chewed bone.

The bone fragment smashed into the sand and killed a scuttling hermit crab.

She wiped her mouth with the back of her grease-covered hand. Then she pointed at the enormous metal sphere that had just been unloaded onto the open ground by the harbor. Greedy red light gleamed in her eyes.

"So much money! We emptied the Celestial Dragons' treasury!"

Linlin casually tossed aside the bone remaining in her hand.

"I'm going to build three giant layer-cake castles in the center of the island! And chocolate fountains! Fill the moats with grape juice!"

She lost herself in fantasies of endless sweets. A long strand of drool stretched from her mouth and dripped onto the sand.

Rektol stopped walking.

His military boot stepped onto a half-melted candy brick.

It was trash left behind in the ruins. After a heavy rain, the syrup had turned sticky, pulling out long strands that clung tightly to the grooves of his sole.

Rektol lowered his head and stared at the disgusting puddle of pink syrup beneath his foot.

His right leg suddenly exerted force. He ground the sole of his boot viciously into the sand.

"Crack."

The candy brick gave a brittle snap. The brute force brought by two hundred million volts crushed it into powder, mixing it into the coarse sand until its original shape was impossible to make out.

Rektol rubbed the sole of his boot against a nearby rock.

"Totto Land doesn't need candy," Rektol said coldly.

He raised his head, his gaze stabbing straight into Linlin's bloodshot eyes.

"That soft, flimsy stuff would turn to mush after one cannon blast. It couldn't block an admiral's sword aura, let alone the Marines' Buster Call."

The smile froze on Linlin's face.

The fat on her cheeks jiggled twice. She stepped forward, and her enormous shadow fell over Rektol.

"What else would we use if not candy? This is my territory, and I make the decisions!" she roared hoarsely.

Rektol did not argue with her.

He turned around and walked toward the enormous metal composite sphere with his short legs.

He raised his right hand and lightly swiped his five fingers through the air.

He released part of the restrictions on the Float-Float Fruit's power.

The dozens of rusty iron safe boxes wrapped around the outermost layer burst apart with a crash. Their locks snapped, and the metal casings disintegrated in midair.

Their contents poured out like a waterfall.

Piles of Pure Gold bars and coins tumbled out, mixed with Wapometal plates excavated from the foundation of God Valley's treasury and Seastone scraps.

The golden light flashed so brightly that the pirates along the shore could barely keep their eyes open.

Thousands of tons of heavy material crashed onto the beach. The ground shook violently several times, as if a small earthquake had struck.

The air was instantly filled with a strong metallic tang. Dust and sand billowed up, making several pirates in the front row cough repeatedly.

"Pick out all the Wapometal and Seastone scraps."

Rektol pointed at the gleaming metal mountain.

"I'm going to turn this place into a pure-steel fortress that even a Buster Call can't chew through."

The pirates exchanged glances.

Faced with that mountain of special metals, no one dared to move.

A bald captain rubbed his hands and nervously stepped forward. He threw the curved saber at his waist onto the ground and rolled up his sleeves.

He bent down and wrapped both arms around a long, rectangular Wapometal steel beam.

"Hey!"

A muffled grunt came from the bald captain's throat. His face flushed as he strained, and the veins on his neck bulged as if they were about to burst.

The steel beam dragged half an inch across the sand with a dull scraping sound.

His palms were drenched in sweat, and his fingers slipped.

The steel beam slammed heavily into the sand. Its edge scraped across his boot and cleanly shaved off a piece of the leather toe.

The bald captain clutched his foot and hopped around in pain, tears welling in his eyes.

He turned around and looked at Rektol. He stammered out,

"Young, young master..."

He pointed at the metal pile that rose like a mountain and swallowed hard.

"These things are too dense. Moving them by hand alone, then refining and smelting them... Building a fortress around the entire island..."

His voice grew softer and softer, and he lowered his head, not daring to look Rektol in the eye.

"It would take at least several years."

The pirates around them nodded one after another. No one thought he was lying. Wapometal was so hard that even cannon fire could not blast through it. Relying on hammers alone, they might not be able to build a single wall even after several years.

Rektol looked at the bald captain.

The bald man shrank his neck in fright, and his legs began to tremble. He thought he was about to be reduced to ash by lightning.

Rektol did not attack.

He knew the man was telling the truth.

The sea would not give him several years to slowly develop. Sengoku's wanted notice had already been issued, and the Marines' fleet could descend on the edge of Totto Land's waters at any moment.

Thousands of tons of supplies were piled up like a mountain. Gold bars and scrap metal were locked tightly together, forming one enormous mess.

Using manpower would be nothing but a waste of time.

Rektol turned his head.

His gaze passed over the busy crowd of pirates and landed on a pile of wooden crates in the corner of the breakwater.

Cracker was sitting on a crate of ammunition filled with gunpowder.

He held a hardened black bread roll and was struggling to tear it apart with his teeth. Every bite sent half a mouthful of crumbs falling away.

His chubby face was still smeared with black mud brought out of the tunnels of God Valley. He looked filthy and disheveled.

"Cough, cough."

The bread was too dry, and Cracker choked.

He hurriedly picked up the wooden water flask beside him, tilted his head back, and gulped down a mouthful of cold water. It ran down his chin and into his neck, soaking his collar.

He patted his chest and let out a loud belch.

Rektol walked over with his short legs.

His military boots stepped onto the iron plates of the breakwater, making a rhythmic clanging sound.

Cracker heard the footsteps and stopped chewing.

He raised his head, his mouth still stuffed with bread. His cheeks bulged like a hamster hoarding food.

He stared blankly at his pink-haired big brother approaching.

Rektol stopped in front of him, blocking the glaring sunlight.

He raised his right hand and brought his thumb and middle finger together.

"Snap."

He flicked his fingers with a crisp sound.

Rektol turned his head toward his chubby little brother, who was sitting on the wooden crate and gnawing on bread.

"Cracker, it's your turn to get to work."