"Just something I threw together while I was working," Marcus replied with a smile.
The village chief thought for a moment, weighing his options, then nodded in agreement. After all, a project of this magnitude would normally take several months to complete. He was confident he could find new livestock within that timeframe, especially if this young man could actually deliver on his promises.
However, reality quickly left him speechless.
He watched as Marcus approached the ruins left behind by Buggy's artillery bombardment.
A pickaxe appeared in his hand.
He started hammering away at the rubble pile, and then, BOOM, all the debris simply vanished.
"What the hell?!"
The village chief was completely dumbfounded, rubbing his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.
But the truly unbelievable part was yet to come.
Marcus began constructing houses, buildings rose from the ground as if they were being assembled from massive building blocks.
At first, he worried whether structures built so quickly could possibly be sturdy or safe. But no matter how hard he pushed, kicked, or tested them, the walls wouldn't budge an inch. They felt more solid than anything he'd ever encountered.
In less than an hour, over a dozen neat, orderly buildings had been erected. Complete with balconies, chimneys, proper foundations, and even second floors.
Although there were no windows, doors, or interior furnishings yet, this alone had saved them months of backbreaking labor.
"So... what do you think?" Marcus asked, dusting off his hands.
"It's... it's amazing. I've never seen anything like it."
"Too bad I couldn't find any sand, otherwise I could've made glass for the windows too."
"This is more than enough! This is already far more than we ever expected," the village chief quickly responded, almost afraid that Marcus might casually decide to build an entire city just to be thorough.
Not only had Marcus cleared all the debris and rubble, but he'd already constructed proper housing for the displaced families.
This had saved them a lot of time and resources. Now all they needed to do was install basic furniture and fittings, and the homeless villagers could be resettled immediately.
What Marcus had accomplished in one hour would have taken an ordinary construction crew three to four months of hard labor.
"Alright, follow me. Let me show you the refuge I mentioned."
"Wait, you already finished that too?"
"Like I said, just something I did while I was working."
---
When the village chief saw the massive underground complex, he was completely stunned.
The scale was beyond anything he could have imagined, vast chambers supported by perfectly placed stone pillars, with torches providing warm, even lighting throughout the space.
"This... this is enormous! There was nothing like this beneath our town before! But wait... won't the whole thing collapse? No, no, this won't do!" The village chief immediately started shaking his head in panic, visions of the entire town sinking into the earth.
Marcus scratched his head.
"Don't worry about it. Watch this."
Stone support pillars began rising from the floor one by one. Within minutes, the entire space was reinforced with solid, evenly spaced columns.
He hadn't bothered with complex engineering calculations, but the math was simple enough. He placed torches every 12 blocks for optimal lighting coverage. The space measured roughly 40 rows by 131 columns.
Total area: 40 × 131 = approximately 5,240 square blocks.
That was equivalent to the floor space of about 3,000 basketball courts.
The village chief fell to his knees.
This underground sanctuary could comfortably accommodate three to four thousand people during emergencies, more than enough for their entire town population of under a thousand, with room for neighboring communities as well.
Marcus hadn't just solved their immediate housing crisis; he'd created a long-term disaster shelter that could protect them from future threats.
This was beyond anything they could have hoped for.
"How... how much do you want for all of this work?"
"Didn't we already agree on the price? Two cows, two sheep, and two chickens."
"Are you sure that's all you want?" The village chief felt like he was trapped in some kind of wonderful dream.
Just six animals for a construction project that would normally cost millions of berries and take months to complete?
Marcus found the old man's expression amusing. After all, he'd extracted a massive fortune in iron ore from the underground excavation anyway.
If his ship's storage capacity hadn't reached its limits, he might have continued mining for days.
But after considering the situation, he smiled and added: "If you feel guilty about the deal, just throw in some of your local specialty products as a bonus."
"Of course! Absolutely!"
The village chief agreed immediately, still hardly able to believe his good fortune.
Before leaving, Marcus also created several additional escape routes connecting the underground shelter to the surface, ensuring that people wouldn't be trapped if the main entrance was ever blocked.
---
The next morning arrived with clear skies and gentle sea breezes.
The village chief appeared at their ship bright and early, accompanied by several enthusiastic villagers who were still talking excitedly about the previous day's miraculous construction project.
He brought exactly what they'd agreed upon: two cows, two sheep, and two chickens, all healthy and well-fed.
But they'd also brought along generous baskets of their local specialty crop: fresh, perfectly ripe oranges.
"By the way, what's the official name of your town?" Marcus asked as they supervised the transfer of livestock onto the ship.
"It's called Orange Town," the village chief said proudly.
Marcus was momentarily stunned. Orange Town? He scratched his head, trying to remember the details from the original story.
"You folks grow a lot of oranges around here?"
"Oh yes, this soil and climate are perfect for citrus cultivation. Over the generations, oranges became our signature crop and main export. We're quite famous for them throughout the East Blue."
"Do you know if there are other places that grow oranges too?"
"Hmm... I'm not sure about that. But I have heard from traveling merchants that there might be another orange-growing region somewhere..."
"And?"
"From what I understand, that area is heavily controlled by pirates. Most merchants are too afraid to do business there because of the danger."
"I see. That's good to know."
Marcus filed that information away for future reference. It might be worth investigating later, especially if they were heading in that direction anyway.
Alvida supervised as the baskets of oranges were carried into their ship's expanded storage areas, though she didn't pay much attention to the fruit itself.
Soon after completing the livestock transfer and final farewells, their small crew departed Orange Town to resume their journey toward Loguetown.
As they sailed away from the harbor, Alvida's curiosity finally got the better of her.
"So what's your plan with all these animals?" she asked, watching Marcus secure the livestock in a specially constructed area of the ship.
"You're not seriously planning to raise them on board, are you?"
"That's exactly what I'm planning," Marcus replied.
"Really? I mean, chickens are fine, they don't need much space and they'll eat pretty much anything. But cows and sheep? They need grass, and lots of it. Have you thought about how you're going to feed them out here?"
Alvida had seen plenty of ships that carried livestock during her pirating days, but it was usually a short-term arrangement before slaughtering them for meat.
Sheep were somewhat manageable since they were omnivores who could survive on scraps when necessary. Some eccentric pirates even kept specialized breeds for both labor and eventual consumption.
But cows were a completely different challenge. Cattle needed lots of grass and grain to stay healthy.
"Let me show you something cool," Marcus said with a grin, approaching the two cows.
The animals remained calm and relaxed, completely unaware of what was about to happen.
"Moo~"
One of the cows even let out a cheerful sound when it spotted something in Marcus' hands.
Because what it saw was wheat. Fresh, golden wheat that looked absolutely perfect.
Previously, Marcus hadn't prioritized wheat cultivation because he'd lacked sufficient bone meal for rapid crop growth cycles. He'd needed that bone meal for speeding up tree growth and wood harvesting. But now, with his massive iron ore reserves, that problem was completely solved.
Worried about running out of bone meal? He had iron now, which meant he could craft shears.
With shears, he could harvest leaves efficiently, compost them into bone meal, and create a completely sustainable farming loop.
Now, with unlimited wheat production capability, he could easily feed both cattle and sheep.
He could even get them to reproduce and build up a proper herd.
Though of course, he'd need to test whether Minecraft breeding mechanics worked the same way in this reality.
Both cows immediately gathered in front of Marcus, staring at the wheat in his hands with hunger and interest. The two sheep noticed the commotion as well, but unfortunately they were secured in a nearby pen and could only watch enviously.
He nodded with satisfaction, apparently pleased that Minecraft wheat worked on real animals just as he'd hoped.
He then offered one piece of wheat to each cow.
The animals chewed thoughtfully, and their expressions suggested they'd just tasted something absolutely heavenly.
Both cows showed clear signs of blissful enjoyment, and then, heart-shaped particles began floating around their bodies in a distinctly game-like animation.
What happened next was pure magic.
The two cows moved closer to each other, and then, with a sudden pop sound and a brief flash of light, a healthy black-and-white calf popped out between them.
Alvida was completely stunned, her mouth hanging open.
She looked from the calf to the parent animals, then back to the calf, trying to process what she'd just witnessed.
"Wait... that's how reproduction works? No way! Those two cattle are both bulls!"