Sorry for taking a bit, hope you all enjoy the new chapter.
Ch: 4
Breakfast the next morning was quiet. The mood was tense and despite Sanji's great cooking, the food just didn't taste the same without Usopp there. Despite the promise of a duel the previous night, Luffy was uncharacteristically unexcited for the fight. Finally, Nami broke the silence. "Has anyone seen Robin? I haven't seen her since we went our separate ways in town."
"Alright," Luffy spoke up. "I know everyone is worried thinking about Usopp's challenge, but we have other important things to do today. We need to meet with Iceburg to talk about building our new ship and we need to find Robin."
"Luffy's right," Nami said glad that Luffy is taking their current situation seriously. "Since I'm the one handling the money and Annabeth and Percy are going to be helping with the ship we'll go to the shipyard and work on the new boat while the rest of you look for Robin. We'll worry about the Usopp situation tonight."
Everyone nodded their heads and agreed that they couldn't let their current situation stop them from doing what they need to do. Everyone finished their meals and went to get ready to leave. The Strawhats had work to do.
- Nami, Percy, and Annabeth -
The previous night had been a busy one for Percy and Annabeth. Despite just joining the crew, they both wanted to help their new friends as much as they could and stayed up late using Percy's knowledge of boats and sailing along with Annabeth's mind for design and architecture to come up with ideas for the new ship they would have made. They also had the benefit of knowing modern sailing techniques as well as Greek minds for battle to truly make a formidable pirate ship. They were excited to do what they can to help their friends on as both of them embarked on a new journey in their lives, and in the end came up with a design that they both know will help the Strawhats have one of the strongest ships on the Grand Line.
The next day, as they were making their way to the shipyard, Nami spoke up, "I know this probably isn't the best first impression, but I promise our adventures are usually a lot more fun and exciting than this. Anyway thanks for helping us with the boat I'm grateful we have two people who know a thing or two about ships on the crew to help with the designs. We are tight on money after getting robbed, but I think we can still make due with what we have."
Percy quickly responded trying to lift Nami's mood. "Don't worry about it. We're just glad to have made friends since we're in such an unfamiliar place. And despite us needing the help with actually building it, I can promise you with Annabeth's designs the new Strawhat ship will be the best on the sea!"
Annabeth chimed in, "Ya, and Percy don't sell yourself short here, you're expertise was instrumental in helping to design a ship that nothing can compare to!"
Nami couldn't help but smile at the positivity her new friends were showing in their bleak situation. With these attitudes she knew everything would workout.
They arrived at the shipyard shortly after and found Kaku. He saw Nami and approached her. "Hi Nami, back to talk about what you're going to do for a new ship? Oh and hi, my name's Kaku I'm a shipwright here at Gally-La. I assume your also members of Nami's crew, nice to meet you." Kaku introduced upon seeing Percy and Annabeth.
"Hi, I'm Annabeth, this is Percy and we just came to help Nami out with figuring out our design for our new ship."
Surprised, Kaku responded, "New ship? I thought you got robbed. I don't think your 100 million berries you have left is enough to buy a very big new ship. Are you sure you didn't like any of the boats from the catalog?"
Nami responded, "I know it's not much, but Annabeth and Percy here are already the design so you don't have to charge for that and Percy is going to help build it. Also, we're to sell the Going Merry for parts if we still don't have enough money to build it."
"Interesting, well let me take a look at your designs and I'll give you a price on how much it'll cost to build with the parts and labor." Kaku said. Annabeth handed over the plans and Kaku began reading them getting visibly more and more excited the more he read. "Wow! These designs…. They're amazing! These could revolutionize ship building. A lot of this stuff I don't even understand but the rest, I think we could build this."
Percy spoke up, "Don't worry, the stuff you don't understand how to build are the things I'll mainly be taking care of. So can you build it with how much money we have?"
"With how intricate these designs are I'm going to have to ask Lucci and we'll need approval from Iceburg, but I'm sure we can make it work." Kaku then called Lucci over to take see the ship design and told him the budget they were working with and that Percy would help them build it. Silently, he read over the designs. Then the bird on his shoulder spoke up. "Amazing. Amazing. 150 million berries."
Nami looked dejected upon hearing this. They only had 100 million berries. They couldn't afford it. Unless….. "What if after the ship is built, you can keep those designs and use them however you want. Will that cover the cost?"
"Hmm, We'll need to ask Iceburg first, but after seeing these designs I'm sure that would be more than enough compensation. We'd make so much more if we can use these on future ship. I'll go to his house after my shift here and ask him. Come back in the morning and we can finalize the details."
Hearing this, Percy, Nami, and Annabeth were thrilled. Finally things seemed to go their way after all the struggles they have had since arriving in Water 7. They decided to explore the town a bit together and celebrate before heading back to the ship happy after a successful day.
- Luffy, Sanji, Chopper, and Zoro. -
"Damn, we've been searching all day and there's no sign of her." Sanji said before yelling for probably the 100th time by now, "My beautiful Robin! Where are you!" just like every other time, there was no response.
Zoro commented, "We won't find her if we haven't already. Robin's sneaky and strong I doubt she's lost. Maybe she decided to leave the crew like Usopp."
Sanji was furious at hearing this, refusing to believe Robin would leave them. "Shut up moss head, She wouldn't just leave us like that. I bet we would've found her by now if you didn't get lost every street and make us look for you instead!"
Zoro was about to respond, but Luffy stepped in. "I agree with Sanji, she told us when we were leaving Alabasta that she didn't have anywhere else to go. Robin wouldn't just leave us, but I don't think she's lost either. I think she was taken and if that's the case we won't find her the way we've been looking. Either way we should go back to the Merry, it's getting late and Usopp will be back soon. I just hope the others had better luck with figuring out the new ship."
Sanji was about to protest, but realized Luffy was right. He was worried about his captain, Luffy had never been this serious for so long. The burden of the captain in difficult times for the crew is challenging, Sanji realized.
They all headed back to the Going Merry in silence.
Getting back to the ship, they found Nami, Percy, and Annabeth were already back and they looked to be in a significantly better mood then the rest of them.
"Did Gally-La agree to build Percy and Annabeth's new ship?" Luffy asked.
"Ya. We just need to get formalities out of the way and get Iceburg's official stamp of approval, but They are going to start construction on it tomorrow!" Nami responded.
Everyone smiled at the news, glad that they finally got a win.
"Well then, let's celebrate! Sanji cook us a delicious dinner!" Luffy said happily.
"Sounds good, I'll get right to it. I'll have it ready in 30 minutes" Sanji responded
30 minutes later, the strawhats sat around the boat eating and drinking and enjoying themselves. Despite missing two members of the crew and having apprehension for the dual to come between their friends, they enjoyed themselves and celebrated the fact that they were going to be getting a new ship.
Once everyone had finished eating, the sun had started to set and the Strawhat's good mood began to fade. As the crew prepeared themselves for what they knew was going to happen, the ship grew silent. Everyone seemed to be hoping for the same thing, for Usopp to stop being stubborn and apologize, but they all knew in their hearts he likely wouldn't.
With these hectic thoughts and feeling going through everyone's head, a lone figure appeared in the distance approaching the Going Merry with a slingshot in hand. Usopp had arrived.
Usopp vs Luffy is next chapter, stay tuned