Lara's POV;
Well, today is the day. Noa has told us yesterday's dinner that they have finished the ship for the Straw Hats. He thanked me again for allowing him to help them. He claims that this helped his skills enormously and that he will now be easily able to take care of our own ship. Whereas he wasn't a hundred per cent sure he could before helping with the Sunny.
All in all, it took Franky, Noa and the Galley-La a month to finish the Sunny. We took the spare time to train some more, especially Jonny and Yosaku, who both started to fight Zoro regularly. In raw skill, neither of them could win on their own, but as a tag team, they were able to beat Zoro.
Add Haki and the Marine skills and both could fight Zoro in a normal training fight without too much trouble. Zoro was immensely surprised with their strength and the two boys were immensely proud of their success in showing Zoro that they grew strong.
Jo and Chopper have had many conversations about medicine, but the most of Jo's time was spent with building Fiara a new eye.
That's right, Fiara has two eyes again. The new one is fully functional, mechanic and has a few pretty nice gimmicks. Such as night vision, a scope, heat view and infrared. It looked like a small gear, at her own request, and was normally hidden behind one of her silvery bangs.
Nojiko has further increased her skills in the Marine skills and is now proficient in all of them, to at least use them. She is currently working on the king pistol.
Lia has taken a liking to the fans of the weasel woman and is trying to integrate one of them into her fighting style.
While I have relearned most of my dagger skills. They were a little rusty during the Enies Lobby fight, but now I'm as good as I was as Dexter.
But the ship is finished and that means that there is nothing that keeps us here and that tomorrow, at the same time as the Straw Hats, we will set sail and start our trip to the New World. It's funny that we started our adventure the same way.
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We have finished Lia's breakfast and packed our things, most of it was already on board the ship. Noa and Fiara, the only ones who fully know how the ships looks like, have already transferred our stuff from the Shadow to our new ship.
The Straw Hats were doing their thing to get Franky on their crew, while we stood in front of our own ship. And oh boy what a ship it was. I have had gleaned some of the things it could do when I forged them the parts they requested but seeing the whole thing was freaking badass.
First, it was a catamaran by design, coloured in black. The two pontoons, one on each side, had a sea stone coating on their underside, making it possible for us to traverse the Calm Belt, as well as giving us a pretty sturdy keel.
The middle part, where we will live on, is large. The Shadow was big enough to hold a crew of around thirty people, we never had any problems with room, but this ship easily dwarfed our old ship.
It's twice as long, almost equal in height and a half wider than the Shadow. This made it as long as a warship, not as wide or tall, only long. The galleons figure was in the design of an eagle head. Not something I would have taken, I prefer foxes, an animal I quite like from my time with the summons I have had.
But eagles are also okay. This one was glaring at the front, the two pontoons were even kinda looking like its talons.
Anyway, there was more. The ship has two masts with the larger one, the one in the back, having a small platform on the top. Our new crows nest has a house build on it with a large balcony. Yosaku will have a field day. He was bemoaning the lack of room on our old crows nest. He liked the height and loved to paint there, but there was simply not enough room for large canvases.
The rear of the ship looked a little strange. There were gates inside the pontoons. And the middle part had a really big window.
“Come I'll give you a tour”, announced Noa eagerly. He and Fiara were almost jumping in excitement. The later doing literal jumps on his shoulder from anticipation.
Each of us nodded dumbly, not having expected such a large ship, and followed them on board. We had a grass field like the Sunny does, just that the tangerine trees from Nojiko were also on the green field and not on the rear end, as it was the case with the Sunny.
Then came a training area on the front with a multitude of training stations and a small arena for spars.
Nojiko was eyeing the bench between her tangerines the moment we stepped on board. A shady place for her to chill and enjoy the smell of her fruit trees. There was also a large sand bath bowl for Mrs Chicken Wing. She clucked in appreciation and ruffled her feathers, clearly already thinking about taking a bath.
“The ship is fully made out of Adam Tree with the exception of its metal parts. This makes it one of the sturdiest ships in the world, easily able to take the strain of Lia's growing Devil Fruit power,” began Noa to explain a proud smile was plastered on his face.
“The sails are interwoven with steel threads and can hold out a lot more strain than normal sails. The grass field was an idea of Franky, he has done the same on the Straw Hat's ship.”
Nojiko nodded and patted one of her trees fondly. “I like it, I can imagine that it's easy to relax in between the bushes or on the grass.”
Fiara nodded happily and pointed to the front of the ship. “There is our training field. We've got everything from bench pressing to a treadmill and an arena for sparring. On that side is not much else, only that galleons figure can be used as a sitting place.
The next interesting thing would be the crows nest. It's a gallery for Yosaku's paintings.”
“Sweet, thanks guys”, thanked Yosaku.
“Next would be the inside. Noa and I want to show you the oar last, as there are a few gimmicks and surprises installed into it.” Announced Fiara. She nudged Noa and he dutifully acted as her steed and led us through the entrance door into the bowls of our new ship.
We were greeted by a large living room. On the left side was a stairwell that led further down into the ship. The backside was one big window to the outside, it was the one I have seen from the land.
In front of the window stood a large table, easily big enough for a dozen people to mingle and sit. A few armchairs and a couch were on the right side, right in front of a large bookcase and a small fireplace.
“This is the living room, we can eat here or read one of the books.” Explained Noa.
“The table is large, I can already see the nights passed with playing pen and paper,” gushed Jonny. That's right, we were playing pen and paper. I have created a self-made rule book and was the game master during our play nights. Once a week Lia would make pizza, chips and other snacks for us and we would gather to play.
Lia's character was a fox-human. She really liked the inside joke and was saving up her character points to learn the giant transformation. She is dead set on being able to create tsunamis with a swish of her tail, even if it was only inside a game.
“Yup, I also have made some dices out of spare Adam Tree, those are the sturdiest wooden dices in the world.” Laughed Noa. He was gesturing for us to follow him down the stairs.
They led us into a wide corridor with a row of doors on each side. “The first door to our left is the kitchen. I asked Sanji to give me pointers for things Lia will need in a five-star kitchen. He was really eager to help. “ Started Noa once we were all down. He opened the kitchen door and showed us the spacious kitchen. There were at least two ovens, eight cooking dial-run hotplates, a massive fridge and almost everything you could wish for inside a kitchen. Lia nodded in appreciation and gave both Fiara and Noa a thankful smile.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
We got out again and Noa opened the door opposite the kitchen. “Next is the medical bay. It has enough room for ten people and is equipped with everything Josef wants to have. We even have a computer for his research. We thought that having the kitchen and the medical bay as close to the living room and the outside as possible would be the best.”
“The second door to the left is Fiara's room. She has her workbench and stuff inside,” he continued and then opened the second right door. “While on the other side we have the forge. I have put everything Lara wants inside. The forge itself is heated by a flame dial, but the tools are all designed in such a way to endure Lara's Devil Fruit.”
I opened the door and whooped at the sight of the high-quality anvil. The hammers, thongs and other tools were all of the highest quality, they are calling out to me. Begging me to use them and craft some tools for death and destruction.
I was just about to rush to the furnace when I got yanked back. Lia has grabbed my collar and kept me away from my new baby. I turned around and gave her the strongest puppy eyes I could use. “Well, we could pros pone the tour...,” started Noa, who has, unfortunately for him, looked at me.
“No, Lara you can play later. I want to finish the tour and get on our way.” Shot Lia down. She hasn't faltered and was strong enough to endure me.
I pouted some more but got pulled back out into the corridor. “Please continue Noa and Fiara.” Now Lia was standing in my way and I could only nod in silent resignation. At least I will be able to play later.
Fiara happily took over for Noa. “Then the next room. On the left, we have the armoury. Every weapon Lara forges can be stored there, it's also where we store the ammunition and our raiding clothes. The room itself is sea stone enforced. Normal cannonballs are having a hard time destroying Adam Tree, to begin with, but this room will be able to withstand the most damage.
The room on the right is Nojiko's navigation room. We purchased every available map and book on navigation, as well as got some copies of Nami's work.” Jo opened the door for us and we stepped into a well-equipped map room. There was a rough world map spanned over the whole back wall. A large table with maps in the middle and a bookcase on the left wall. The right wall had barrels with paper and shelves with tools for navigation and mapping.
Noa took over again and tapped the next door on the right. “Further down we have another living room on the right side. A pool table, a table for card games and other stuff for relaxing and playing.
The left side is a shared workroom for Noa's smaller projects and Jonny's carving. We also have bought a few new things for Jonny to test out. The tools and materials for metal, stone, wood and bone carving, as well as books about how to do them correctly.” Now it was Jonny who looked eager to start right away with his hobby and Yosaku was needed to keep him off of it for the moment.
After that, we have the crew quarters. Each of us has his own room. Mine is the first on the left, then comes Josef, followed by Nojiko's. The next two are empty for possible future crew members. On the right, we have first a large bath for groups. Each room has its own small bath, but that one is for us to relax in a large tub. Then comes Jonny's and Yosaku's room, also followed by free rooms for possible members. For now, we use them as storage rooms.
At the end of the corridor, we have Lia, Lara's room. Mrs Chicken Wing mostly sleeps in your room, so I placed her cushion there as well. I also took the liberty to coat your room with sea stone. I'm not exactly certain, but I hope this will prevent your aura from leaking whenever you are using your angel fruit.” He finished his explanation with a slightly red face.
We have reached the end of the corridor, where mine and Lia's room was located. “There's another stairwell, where does it lead to?” Noticed Yosaku.
“It leads to the engine and the machinery I have installed into the ship. With Lara's help, Josef and I were able to build a fully automatic fire mechanism. This ship has ten three-barrelled cannons on each pontoon, each has a group of three robotic arms that autonomously aim, shoot and reload their cannon. There are four more on the front and two on the back.
We also got a few more weapons installed. Two of them is a larger version of my lasers and a flamethrower. We also built a steam engine.
A combination of Lia and Lara's Devil Fruit power should, theoretically, be able to make this ship fly. The pontoons can partially change into wings, in combination with the steam engine and a little help of Lia we should be able to lift the ship off of the sea.
However, we need both Lia and Lara for a continued fly. Without either of them, the ship can only lift off for a short amount of time and then glide a few dozen kilometres before landing again. And then we will need a lot of time to recharge the engines, as they need a lot of heat to produce the needed steam pressure.” Everyone was in awed shock at Fiara's proud explanation.
“You want to tell me that we have enough firepower to level an island on our own and are able to fly with this ship?” Asked Nojiko, too stunned to close her mouth after asking.
Fiara nodded happily and smiled brightly at us. “Yup, now we can eradicate every evil person that tries to harm us. I even made my napalm balls capable to be shot by our three-barrelled cannons. Those Marine ships will burn to ashes while its soldiers will cook in the heat of a furnace.”
Ah, I smiled brightly and gave Fiara a pat on the head. Our small Tontatta became such a good deadly and brutal little girl. They grow up into brutal pyromaniacs too quickly, just three months ago she was too scared to fight at all.
The rest of our crew wasn't as enthusiastically as Lia and I and only nodded with a slightly pale expression.
We took a quick look, but none of us could do much with all the machines or mechanical parts that were puffing and working there. Still, Lia and I got informed about the water tanks and where we have to do what to help with the steam.
Lia will have to increase the steam pressure, reduce the pressure on the pipes and lower the weight of the ship while pushing it forward. Quite a lot for her to do and neither of us is sure how long she can do. At least it's the ideal endurance training.
While I have to lower the strain on the machine by decreasing the vibrations that go through it and simultaneously heat the water tanks up. There are four big water tanks, each is empty if not used, but can get filled quickly by storage dials. These bigger than normal dials have a lot, and I mean a lot, of water, stored and will give me the needed water for the steam.
The water we use is plain sea water and Fiara explained that we have to clean the tanks after each use. There will be burned leftover minerals. That's also something that I can do. They get burned by my heating and the crust can then be broken off by another frequency of vibrations.
“Adam Tree is surprisingly soundproof, so none of us will lose any sleep from the noise from down there.” Explained Noa back on the stairwell. He has seen Nojiko holding her ears form the loud sound of the engines.
“The last part would be the oar, from there we can control everything.” He then said and walked back up the stairwell. We followed him back out of the ship and out to the deck. From there up a staircase that led us up to a large panel with an oar behind. There was also a protrusion that reached out and away from the ship, it strongly resembled the end of a plane. Like the two rudders that are used to move a plane.
Fiara led us over to the panel, which had a lot of buttons and levers, some were labelled others not. There were also four holes inside. “These holes are for my robotic arms, they can anchor themselves with the ship and allow me better control over the cannons and engines.” Explained Fiara by demonstrating. She put her four arms inside the holes and with a click connected to the ship.
She was just about to do something when an explosion erupted from the left side of our ship. We all turned to look at what has happened and saw a specialised Marine warship. Its galleons figure was the head of a dog with a bone in its mouth.
“Sorry guys, things happened. Please drown and die!” Apologised Garp through a megaphone. His not really serious sounding apology was followed by a row of cannonballs. Each aimed at our ship and that of the Straw Hats. Theirs was already starting to distance from the island.
A moment later a series of clacking noises come from the ship and something start to rattle on the back side of the ship. “I have just now activated the cannons and opened the gates for the engine.” She then pushed a button on the panel and the ship started to move slightly. With a look over the railing, I could see what she was doing.
The pontoons were moving into the middle of the ship while having opened up, out of them came a long wing-like protrusion. The pontoon's stopped when they were right under the ship and the wings clacked into position. A second later a low roar started to come from the engines below us and the ship started to vibrate in a low hum.
At the same time, a staccato of ten simultaneously firing cannons rung through the air. The whole port side shot its cannons at once. Ten of our cannonballs raced towards the closer coming ship of the Vice Admiral Garp.
Each was instantly shot down by a cannonball, thrown by Garp himself. “We won't be able to hit them and there is also an Admiral on board. Aokiji may be the weakest of them, but he can do a lot of damage.” Informed Lia us before a second volley could be fired.
That means we have to flee. I quickly reached out with my senses and located the origin of the vibration, it was the water tank. They started to fill with water and a row of heat dials began the process of heating it up. On its own it would need a lot of time to get heated, but with me overlooking everything I could give it a push.
The water was already starting to get agitated by the heat and increasing an already started process was easier than doing it from scratch. I added my power and the water vaporised. The steam got pressed into the ships many pipes, which that went through the ship. It increased the vibrations on the ship momentarily before I could suppress them again.
A loud roar and hissing sound shot out from our backside and the ship began to slowly creep forward. The sails quickly rolled together by a steam-powered motor and we further gained speed.
Then suddenly the ship made a lurch forward. Lia has closed her eyes and was starting to add her own power. The steam that shot through the pipes got compressed before it raced with increased speed through the pipes.
The steam that shot out of the backside now roared like an angry monster. It was too loud for me, so I stopped the sound waves from travelling over to us. We quickly began to overtake the Sunny. Then the Sunny started to glow on its own backside and a Coup De Burst catapulted it away from the island, out of reach of the Marines.
Meanwhile, we have gotten faster and faster, the waves under us were starting to bounce us upwards, each bounce was higher and longer until we stopped bouncing completely. The rudders behind us were catching the wind and giving us altitude, while the ailerons on each wing began to move us out of the still incoming cannonballs flight path.
“We are flying,” whispered Nojiko in awe.
“We are flying!” repeated Yosaku a lot louder and with a whoop of joy. Down below we could see how the sea shrunk and Water Seven became smaller and smaller. With this ship, we will be the fastest in the world.
“I think a fitting name would be Raptor. Fast and deadly, we can reach everywhere, have deadly weapons and can fly. A deadly hunter, a raptor. That's the name of our new ship, the Raptor,” I said with a wide smile.
Noa nodded with a proud grin, “Yeah, it fits. The Raptor, a ship made out of the best for the best.”