Chapter 14

The first thing the building crew did after their arrival was putting a makeshift dock in place to unload the Mad Mura and later other ships that would be ferrying the materials.

After completing this first task they started on the pirate mansion which was placed halfway to the top of the mountain. It would look over the port below and the high placement would warn them sufficiently early from uninvited guests on the horizon.
Thanks to the sporadic help of the pirate crew that visited ever so often the building was finished in three months, a record time even for an experienced New World building crew like Takeru-san had.

For the first time the Red Hair Pirates had permanent headquarters since they started out nearly twelve years ago. Each pirate had a personal room in what one of the younger members had jokingly called the family wing. Shanks knew his men well enough that he was relatively sure that nobody would steal from his shipmates. The camaraderie between his crew members was similar to Whitebeards crew. Ben had once compared them to a bunch of half and step brothers with Shanks as their dorky older or younger brother that called the shots.

Even Shanks had a room in the so called family wing. It was furnished with a double bed, a work table, some books that had been flooding his captain cabin and a leopard rug. The room overlooked the bay that one day would be the port of Kouken island.

The port whose construction had started at the same time as the pirate mansion took an extra two months to be completed because of the difficulty of building it partially in the sea water and making it strong enough to withstand the storms of the New World.

Kouken, the guardian island.

Shanks couldn't even remember who had initially blurted the name out, oh well it didn't really matter. The crew had decided to call the island Kouken because it would serve as the safe haven for Shanks family and a steady base for the rest of the crew. Until now none of his subordinates had said anything about bringing his or her family to the New World.

During the time the building crew had been working the Red Hair Pirates hadn't been idle and had started to step up their looting a bit. Until now Shanks had been more or less passive concerning looting merchant ships and had kept primarily to the enemy pirate crews but with the headquarters in construction they started to target more ships that sailed through his territory. The crew stored the looted furniture and fabrics in the already completed cellar of the pirate building, primarily to prevent damage and so that it could be used at a later date. Furthermore Shanks had taken extra care to not attack ships that belonged to his territories or that of another Yonko. It wouldn't do to cause a revolt on his isles as implausible as it sounded or instigate a war with another Yonko now that Hisana and Hisoka would soon come to the New World.

During the time the crew spent on Kouken they also systematically hunted down the big predators like tigers and leopards and some of the more bizarre animal variants. The furs were cleaned and some were kept back as trophies while the majority was sold to the merchants in Shanks territory for a pretty penny. The vast storage rooms under the pirate mansion now also contained the tributes of the various islands in his territories. Especially the kitchen crew was happy about this occurrence, they now had a place to store basic ingredients like flour, rice, salt, dried meat and preservatives in the mansion without having to think about what they had to get rid of at first to keep the stock on the ship balanced.

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With the port and pirate mansion completed Shanks took Takeru aside and told him that he additionally wanted five or six houses on the other side of the island, towards the coral reeve for pirate families.

The old builder had looked intensely at the red haired pirate captain before chuckling and saying, "You mean your family."

Shanks had stiffened at that reply and suddenly looked very serious at the old man. A few dozen scenarios ran through his head how this information could change the business deal.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." the old builder continued with an earnest voice and put a stop to Shanks' silent panic attack.

Only slowly did Shanks shoulders relax and he listed off what he wanted in the house and how big it should be.

For Shanks family home, they agreed on a five bedroom house, four rooms on the second floor and one on the first that would serve as a guest room. Shanks wasn't sure for whom, but what did he know about Hisana's hospitality? The kitchen would be equipped with the newest appliances and was something called open concept, Shanks had shrugged his shoulders and left the details to the old man who had the experience. He had only given him a few guidelines like practical, down to earth and homey. For most of the house Shanks simply took Hisana's home at the small Fisher Island as model.
The only exception to it was the cellar. Concerning this room Shanks had some very specific instructions. It had to be at least three times the size of the house above it so that he could leave a part of his personal alcohol stash within the house.

Concerning the other houses Shanks let Takeru a free hand, it didn't really matter to him how they looked as long as they weren't too hideous and fell somebody on the head. In the end they all were either four or three bedroom houses with normal sized cellars.

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The houses were nearly finished when Takeru approached Shanks about the water and electricity supply all of the buildings would need. After all he hadn't anticipated the additional houses, the pirate mansion had a built in generator that got the energy from a tidal plant they had incorporated into the port. Of course he could simply add them to the generator but if the island would grow in the near future the tidal plant wouldn't be enough and the island would have the same problem again. The builder stated plainly that it would be a lot cheaper and far more efficient to solve the problem now then in a few years. Takeru then suggested building a water reservoir to supply the households as well as the possibility of using hydro power created through the water system to win electricity for the households. While Shanks had next to no knowledge about anything concerning construction he understood the concept of solving both problems with one machine. To help Takeru-san speed up the construction of said water reservoir Shanks left Maruko, one of his underlings, with the builders while the rest of the crew was off again to loot merchant and pirate ships.

Maruko, was a twenty nine year old logia user that could control the earth to a certain extend as well as certain types of stone. With his help the dam on the top of the mountain that would supply the island with water was built within a week. And the houses were connected to the water and electricity supply only twenty days after Takeru had brought his idea to Shanks.

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Shanks was content with what Takeru's crew had built. Anywhere else in the world it would have been impossible to complete the infrastructure this fast on an until then uninhabited island.

The house that would be the home for his family was close to the shore line, only a five minute walk from the small side dock the workers had built for Hisana' Finn Dinghy. The house itself was partially hidden in the woods and hopefully in a few more years it wouldn't be visible from the shore line. That would prevent them from being an instant target should somebody attack the island from the coral reeve side.

The other homes where scattered throughout the island; some even halfway up the mountain while the closest one was a ten minute walk away. The wood used for the houses was taken from a relatively flat piece of land at the foot of the mountain. This place would later probably serve as orchards, though that would be up to Hisana and the other inhabitants of Kouken. During their short time together Hisana had mentioned in passing that she had always wanted some, but it had been impossible on the small property she had bought on Fuusa. So the pirates had moved the banana trees as well as mango, coconut, pineapple and even some coffee and cocoa plants that they had found during their sweeps through the island down to the cleared area. The half grown fruit trees had been planted as enclosure for the uprooted field, the rest they would leave to Hisana and nature in general.

This was the first physical labor the pirates had done since joining Shanks crew that didn't include fighting, looting or sailing the ship and they were all glad when it was over and that they didn't have to do this honest work thing every day.

Content with the finished buildings, Shanks paid Takeru and his crew the final amount, which was less then estimated because of all the looted building materials. The building crew was sent back to Wano country with the Sea Lions, after Shanks' crew said goodbye to them and the pirate captain promised the old builder that he would take all of their possible future dealings to him.