"Yeah, it's been a week already."
Marco tore off a small piece of bread and handed it to Fitz, who was perched on his head, then took a big bite himself.
"What exactly is Mr. Barn doing?"
Vista took the rest of the bread from Marco as he spoke.
"No idea. He's used up almost all the volcanic stone we brought back last time. Oh, he calls it terrabreeze coal."
Marco brushed the crumbs off his hands and stroked Fitz on his head.
"Oh, right. Mr. Barn came to borrow my swords a few days ago."
Vista stuffed the remaining half of the bread into his mouth as he spoke.
"What? Did you give them to him, Vista?"
Marco immediately perked up and asked eagerly.
"Of course not. You think I don't know how many of our brothers lent him their weapons, only to get scraps back? Why would I be that stupid? Hmph."
Vista scoffed at Marco's eager question. He had long since seen through Marco's fondness for other people's misfortune.
"What a shame..."
Marco looked disappointed.
Vista's mustache twitched.
"What did you just say? What's a shame?"
"Nothing, nothing. Hehe."
"Hmph!"
"Seriously, what went wrong?"
Barn sighed as he looked at the enormous contraption in the subclass tab of his personal information interface.
Yes, it was enormous. Barn had to admit that he wasn't a good mechanic. The Reinforcement Machine he had built from the blueprints in his memory was more than ten times the size of the original. From a distance, it looked like a huge furnace, and its size and construction had changed the requirements for reinforcement.
Barn's version of the Reinforcement Machine still required one piece of terrabreeze coal for the first reinforcement, just like in the original DNF. After that, each attempt up to +8 required ten pieces of terrabreeze coal and could fail, though fortunately the weapon wouldn't be destroyed. Each attempt from +9 to +11 required a hundred pieces, while anything above +11 required the terrifying total of a thousand. The higher the level, the greater the chance of failure, along with the risk of destruction.
Barn decisively stopped worrying about it. The reinforcement requirements had become more restrictive, but he had no intention of making changes. He felt that building the Reinforcement Machine over the past few days had exhausted his entire lifetime's talent in that field, so he left the storeroom...
"Look! Mr. Barn's out!"
"Mr. Barn, what have you been doing in there these past few days?"
"Mr. Barn, are you going fishing?"
Barn ignored everyone and headed straight for the Captain's Quarters.
"What's wrong with Mr. Barn?"
Curiel scratched his head and asked Marco.
"How should I know? He shut himself in the storeroom for a whole week. Maybe he needs to blow off some steam."
Marco shrugged off Curiel's question. He was busy coaxing Fitz, who was perched on his head.
Barn entered the Captain's Quarters, and a powerful smell of alcohol hit him.
He waved a hand in front of his nose in disgust.
"Newgate, every time I come here, it reeks of booze. I'm afraid I'll get alcohol poisoning if this keeps up."
When Whitebeard saw Barn arrive, he didn't put down his cup. Instead, he took out another cup, one size smaller than his own, filled it, and handed it to Barn.
"Gurararara! Our great inventor Barn has finally emerged? What did you invent? Have you come to show it off?"
Barn took the drink Whitebeard offered and downed it.
"Ha! That's the stuff!"
"Gurararara! Now that's a real man!"
Whitebeard admired Barn's straightforward nature, especially when it came to drinking.
After finishing his drink, Barn set the cup on the floor and addressed Whitebeard.
"Newgate, do you trust me?"
Whitebeard gave Barn a curious look, then laughed.
"Gurararara! Of course, Barn. You may not be my son, but I'm still happy to put my trust in you."
Barn's face darkened at Whitebeard's answer, but he was pleased nonetheless. After all, this man had been one of his idols in his previous life. Naturally, earning his trust made Barn happy.
"Give me your blade, Newgate."
"It's over there. Go get it yourself."
Whitebeard tipped his chin toward his great blade as he spoke.
Barn walked over, hoisted the blade onto his shoulder, and left the Captain's Quarters.
Barn had barely left when Vista and Marco entered the Captain's Quarters. Vista kept glancing back at Barn as he walked away.
Marco nudged Pops and asked,
"Pops, did you lend Mr. Barn your blade?"
"Yes. Why?"
Whitebeard remained perfectly calm at Marco's question and drained another large cup of liquor.
"Mr. Barn borrowed weapons from a lot of our brothers a few days ago, Pops. They all ended up in pieces."
Vista spoke with an expression that said, "I'm very concerned about you."
Whitebeard raised an eyebrow and said,
"It's fine. If Barn came to borrow mine, he must be confident. He can't beat me in a fight, after all. Gurararara!"
Vista and Marco were speechless...
With Whitebeard's great blade on his shoulder, Barn headed toward the storeroom and spoke to Fitz, who had just flown back onto his head.
"Fitz, where have you been these past few days?"
"Chirp, chirp."
"I see. Marco's been treating you well?"
"Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp. (Of course! I've already picked him as my lackey!)"
Fitz patted his little chest with a wing as he spoke.
Barn was left speechless...
"Good thing Marco doesn't understand bird language..."
Barn and Fitz, one man and one bird, soon reached the storeroom. It was Fitz's first time seeing the enormous furnace-like contraption.
"Chirp, chirp!"
"Relax, relax. This is what your great master has been working on these past few days!"
"Chirp, chirp!"
Fitz chirped as he wiped nonexistent sweat from his head with a wing.
Barn stepped forward, grabbed a piece of terrabreeze coal from the other side of the storeroom, and tossed it into the feed opening of his version of the Reinforcement Machine. Then he put Whitebeard's great blade inside...
The enormous, furnace-like Reinforcement Machine throbbed continuously, and the temperature in the storeroom seemed to rise by several degrees.
Red light flooded the storeroom before gradually fading as the machine cooled...
When Barn took Whitebeard's blade out of the Reinforcement Machine again, it gave off a faint white glow, almost invisible to the naked eye.
"It worked!"
The sight of Whitebeard's transformed weapon told Barn he had succeeded. He had successfully built a Reinforcement Machine in the Pirate King world. Although it differed somewhat from Kiri's version, its functions were largely the same.
"Let's go, Fitz!"
"Chirp, chirp."
Once again, Barn shouldered Whitebeard's great blade and returned to the Captain's Quarters with Fitz.
Barn tossed the blade to Whitebeard, who caught it immediately, but something felt...
Whitebeard gripped his familiar weapon. It felt the same in his hand, yet somehow...
"A little different?"
Barn asked.
Whitebeard nodded without hesitation.
Barn casually pulled a suit of armor from behind his back and smiled at Whitebeard.
"Test its power."
Without giving it much thought, Whitebeard swung his blade down!
"That was easy!"
At Whitebeard's level, his control over his own strength and his weapon's power was absolute. He quickly realized that his blade was different from before, until finally he noticed the white glow on it, barely visible to the naked eye.
"What's this?"
Whitebeard looked at Barn in confusion.
Barn gave him a mysterious smile.
"Reinforcement! This is the result of over ten days of research! I can make it even stronger!"
Barn pointed at the great blade Whitebeard was holding as he spoke.
Naturally, Whitebeard was delighted to hear this. His blade wasn't the work of any famous smith, and in truth, it no longer suited him. But it had fought by his side for so long that he couldn't bear to part with it. Barn had done him an enormous favor. Without another word, he tossed the blade straight back to Barn and laughed.
"Gurararara! Thanks, Barn."
There was no need for flowery words between men. A simple thanks could say a great deal.
Barn left with the great blade on his shoulder, and Whitebeard walked back into the Captain's Quarters with a smile.
The other pirates were dumbfounded, especially Vista. If he had known Barn wanted to borrow his weapons to reinforce them, he would have agreed long ago. Now all he could do was look at Marco resentfully.
"Marco..."
"What are you looking at me for? I didn't tell you to refuse!"
"Sigh."
Marco laughed at Vista's dejected expression. In the end, he had still gotten his chance to enjoy someone else's misfortune.