"Heheh, You alright?" Leroy asked the man in front of him, amused by how our of breath he was.
"Yeah- Yeah…If she wanted the fucking metal. She could've just asked." Standing to his feet, the Man wore a thick sailors sweater, the neck of which deep enough that a tank top could be seen underneath, The man also wore a a pair of Denim trousers just as Malle did.
Tucked into the Tank top was the same brown colored handkerchief, a set of woodworking goggles, goggles that were entirely translucent but wrapped around the head, hung from his neck.
His skin was sun kissed, tanned from the sun, with small bits of freckles on his cheeks, with bits of stubble.
"Sir-" Malle began "These are uh, customers."
"I see…Welcome to The Nuff Wrights Company. I'm Winslow, The Director and Mayor of Water 9."
"Woah woah woah. Wait, what?!" Noir stammered out, Leroy picking up where the Chef left "The Mayor owns and Directs the Shipwright Company?"
"Wahaha! Indeed I do." He said, extending a hand running his other hand through extremely wavy brown hair, only for a single curl to fall onto his forehead.
Leroy took the hand and shook it vigorously with a smile "Awesome! Can you fix our ship?"
The shake caused Winslow to judder up and down from the force. "Wo-ah-oa- Okay."
Leroy pulled his hand back. Winslow had a look of bewilderment on his face. Malle commenting under his breath 'Strong grip'
"Don't worry, by the way." Winslow began again, running his hand through his hand only for the singular curl to persist "I own and run the Nuff Wrights company to make sure that everyone whos in, and comes to Water 9 has a guaranteed Shipwright to help them"
"And all money made goes back into Water 9 itself! I don't see a Berry." He gave a grin
"Pretty cool." Leroy said. Before asking the question again "Can you fix our ship?"
"Oh yes- Port Dock 4 shouuu-" He drew out the syllable looking around "Port Dock 4 is Open sir."
Malle Confirmed. In response, Winslow clapped his hands and turned back around. "Right! Uh- Names? I'll get some people onto Port Dock 4 and I'll look at it personally!"
The Horizons Palm had been moved into the canal of water, and pull up onto a ramp where a system of machines and cranes lifted it onto the air. It was impressive just how quickly the workers build the scaffolding and stairways to look around the ship
"Alright. Let's take a look." Winslow connected a long tube into the bottom of another metallic tube and flicked a switch, a light beam illuminating out like a torch!
"Woah…" Dezzi said with an awestruck look "What is that?"
Flicking the light off, Winslow gestured with it "Oh this? I guess some may not know about it. It's a Torch-Light. Or uh- Flashlight. Its like a lamp but instead of fire it uses electricity."
"Then that means that tube-" Jeanne pondered, pointing to the back end and traced it back
"Yep" He flicked it back on and beamed over parts of the ship. The crew following behind him "It's connect to the Morray Array. We've got a bunch of tools that are connected to the Array. Some even have Power Crystals."
"Looks good here. A bit beat up but nothing that can't be filled." He murmured under his breath
"Power Crystals?" Kále cocked a brow, his arms crossed. He wasn't interested really, but it did sound like something.
"Yeah, actually called Kineundum but many years ago some Scientist found these Crystals in the Grand Line that had some charge in them. Handling by hand actually killed one of the researchers! Waheheh. Eh…"
He gave a nervous chuckle. "But yeah, they could be used to power light bulbs, and even used to spark fires. Then Came along Dr. Tehertz and his invention of the Morray Array, could recharge these crystals. Since before they were just one and done."
"Thats why you only see power crystals used in places that have sufficient arrays to recharge them. That is-" He looked over his shoulder "If you've seen them"
Something that Winslow didn't mention was the fact that Kineundum is also very rare. About as rare as Sea Stone, it grows on only specific islands and in small amounts. Dr. Terhertz helped to revolutionize how they were found. And how they were used. But when things like coal, wood, and even oil from Suwhales and other sources, Power Crystals were only considered for places that could sustain them
The rest of the walk around seemed pretty normal. Winslow mentioned and pointed out how well taken care of the caravel was. Only to stop and point the light up to the section of the Keel
"Yep- Just as I thought. Keels busted, isn't it." Winslow looked to Leroy
"Yeah. Don't know when it happened." He Shrugged, Winslow suddenly perked up "Oh-! I can find that out for you. Mind if we take the metal off?"
"It happened about seven months ago." Winslow said, running his hands along the cracks and seeing how deep it went. "The initial fracture that is. But after that, it seems like it worsened…a Few weeks ago?"
Flicking off the light he tucked it tossed it to another worker at the bottom of the scaffolding.
"Seven Months ago?" Leroys brow pinched. "That means- It happened on Reverse Mountain."
"Woah wait- Uh?" Winslow stammered out "You took Reverse Mountain in this thing? And not only that, but you sailed it all the way here?!"
He was utterly bewildered
"Well- Yeah. It was the only ship that we had at the time. And it was a gift from Jeannes home town."
"Waha..Hahah. Kid-" Winslow began, chuckling under his breath "Most normal sized Carricks don't survive this long from all the way from Reverse Mountain. Let alone a Caravel! A Standard Sized one at that!"
"It's fuckin' miracle that you didn't fall apart just getting up to the first level. I don't mean to be harsh but- She's about dead."
Leroy frown deepened at that. Biting his bottom lip "Don't say that. Can you fix her or not. We've got plenty of gold to pay you in."
"As much as I'd like to try. Replacing an Entire keel is almost entirely unheard of. And I'm the Second Best Shipwright this City has to offer!"
"Then we'll just have to take her to the first!" Leroy was adamant. His eyes were firey.
"Leroy." Kále began. Hoping to settle him down
"What! I said that if we took her to the best, and she couldn't be fixed. Then we'll get a new one. He's only second best. We can't just give up on the Palm this easy! Especially after hearing that she carried us with a broken Keel!"
"I get that. But this isn't a fight. You don't gotta go tooth and nail over her." Kále attempted to talk a bit of sense into his captain. But- They were both right.
"Might as well, Kále. If it ain't gonna cost us a lot we should try then to spend more money on a brand new one!" Kirk began
"Yeah- But didn't you hear what he said? It's practical a miracle that it made it here this far in the first place. A carvel just won't do." Noir spoke up
"Ergh…" Leroy grimaced. "Fine. But we gotta see. I don't wanna leave her broken…"
"Then that's fine by me." Kále finished.