CHAPTER 46: CHAPTER 46: PAY-TO-WIN AND LONG RING LONG LAND

After writing down the Marine Rokushiki training regimen, the crew split their days between waiting for the new ship to launch and working out in the hotel gym.

In this world, there are prodigies and monsters born with special bodies and talents.

Likewise, there’s no shortage of ordinary people who, through training, become "prodigies" and "monsters."

The meat of giant sea beasts and Sea Kings is loaded with staggering calories and nutrients that help ordinary folk grow rapidly stronger—gradually beyond human.

Beyond that, this world has supplements Karl never saw in his previous life—medicinal herbs and tonics that can massively boost the body.

Those require reputable apothecaries—or the black market—to buy, and the prices are sky-high.

Some of these special items only shine when used with special methods.

And those formulas cost extra...

Buying all this runs into astronomical sums.

Conveniently, Water 7—one of the Grand Line’s famed islands—had what Karl needed.

To help Carina master Rokushiki faster, Karl went with a two-pronged approach and "whaled," using money to boost Carina’s physique.

If Carina had Life Return, none of this would be necessary.

But she didn’t, so it had to be the pay-to-win path.

Thus, the cash they’d just "refilled" at the Sabaody Archipelago began vanishing at high speed.

As for the Golden City in the sky, Karl was more determined than ever.

If he seized Skypiea’s Golden City and sold it off, they wouldn’t have to worry about money for at least ten years.

Days slipped by.

One day, at Galley-La Company’s Dock One, the crew witnessed the birth of their new ship.

"A large three-masted sailing ship: one mainmast, two mizzenmasts, three mainsails, nine auxiliary sails. Overall length, one hundred fifteen meters. Mainmast height, one hundred eighteen meters. Displacement, nine thousand eight hundred fifty tons. Six decks total—three above, three below. The three lower decks each run a hundred meters in length; every level has a large dormitory. Altogether the cabins can house roughly a thousand people."

The Galley-La designer stood before them, offering a reminder. "Bringing a vessel this size online is a major operation. I suggest you recruit more crew to share the load."

If he didn’t have to consider their faces, he would have said outright: "A ship this big is out of your league!"

"Thanks for the advice."

Karl couldn’t be bothered to explain. "Did you add the bow modification I asked for"

"Yes."

The designer nodded. "As requested, I reworked the bow. Besides the white-dragon figurehead, a helm control can split the bow away."

"The bow interior is forged of fine steel and anchored to three giant chains that can extend a hundred meters. If there’s an external force capable of towing the hull, the chains can bear both masses."

"Good. Pay up," Karl said with a satisfied grin, looking to Carina.

Once the balance was settled, they boarded the new three-master.

Just as the designer had said, it took a full ten minutes to complete startup procedures.

They finally eased the ship out of Dock One and moored her by their sloop. Then they split up.

Rather than losing more time on startup drills, Karl had Nami take the new ship out of Water 7, with Perona aboard to watch over her.

Karl and Carina returned to the sloop with Little White, had the chibi dragon swell into the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and hauled their valuables onto the new ship.

After everything precious was transferred, Karl scooped Carina up and vaulted onto the Blue-Eyes’ back. Under the stunned gazes of passersby on the quay, he ordered the dragon to fire a Gale Burst Shot, ending the little sloop’s months-long service.

They couldn’t keep the sloop, and they wouldn’t sell it—so this was how its voyage ended.

This also meant none of their future ships would ever give birth to a ship spirit.

Karl didn’t care.

Whether the old sloop or the new three-master, they were just tools of travel and gym equipment to him. What mattered most was a mobile island-ship.

"Once a Log Pose is fully set on an island, you can choose to proceed or backtrack. Either way, once you travel a certain distance from the recorded island, the pointer will be drawn to the next—or the previous—island."

At the helm of a large ship for the first time, Nami dared not step away. She studied the new wheel as she lectured Karl. "If we’re already on a route and return to the last island, we won’t need to re-record; we can continue back to the prior stop. Same when returning."

"The island before Water 7 is another very distinctive place."

Carina pulled out a geography book, intrigued. "It’s called Long Ring Long Land—just like the name says, a ring-shaped island. Most of the time the sea splits it into ten smaller islands, so it isn’t really an archipelago, because every year Water 7 is hit by ’Aqua Laguna,’ and Long Ring Long Land is affected as well. There’s one day each year when the water recedes drastically."

"When the tide falls, Long Ring Long Land restores its original shape for a few hours. The islanders seize that window—every three years they move to the next sector, cycling continuously. That’s the origin of Long Ring Long Land."

"Also, the animals there are all elongated. The locals say even their accents get drawn out, which drives people who stay long absolutely mad."

Nami couldn’t help but sigh. "The Grand Line really is full of wonders."

So far, aside from the first island that belonged to a member nation, every place they’d landed was bizarre and distinctive.

Like the Boin Archipelago, like Water 7, and like the Sabaody Archipelago...

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