Once Luffy saw Marcus and Alvida, the entire group set out in high spirits toward the shore.
The Going Merry was already waiting for them at the dock.
Merry smiled proudly as he began giving them a tour of the ship he'd prepared.
"The Going Merry is ten meters long and eleven meters high, a single-masted square-rigged sloop," he explained. "She's not the biggest ship you'll ever see, but she's sturdy and reliable."
The interior layout was practical, if compact. On the main deck, there were three rooms: a cannon room at the bow, a storage room opposite it, and above the storage room was a combined kitchen and meeting area.
Below deck, there were three more rooms arranged in a line: the men's quarters near the bow, a bathroom in the middle, and the women's quarters at the stern.
Six rooms total, not huge, but adequate. If five or six people were living aboard, it would be manageable.
But now their crew had grown to seven members.
The male crew consisted of Luffy, Zoro, Usopp, and Marcus. The female members were Nami, Alvida, and Kira.
Obviously, this arrangement was still workable, but if they picked up any more crew members, things would get seriously cramped.
Naturally, at this moment, all eyes of the Straw Hat crew turned toward Marcus.
"I could modify it to give us more space," Marcus said thoughtfully, looking the ship over. "But would that be okay with you, Merry?"
"Of course!" Merry replied without any hesitation. "This is your ship now, do whatever you think is best."
After all, how extensive could a modification really be? It wasn't like Marcus was planning to tear the whole thing apart and rebuild it from scratch, right?
Then he watched in silence as Marcus proceeded to dismantle the Going Merry almost completely...
Using the original frame as a foundation, he carried out a massive overhaul that transformed the entire vessel. When he was finished, although it still resembled the Going Merry in basic design, the proportions and scale were different.
The original ten-meter-long ship had been expanded to an impressive twenty meters in length.
If they'd had bigger sails available, he probably would have kept expanding it even further.
"How's that look?" he asked, stepping back to admire his ship.
Although he wasn't exactly a master shipbuilder, he felt pretty satisfied with what he'd accomplished.
Merry stared at the new and improved Going Merry.
"Are you... are you sure this thing can actually move?" he asked hesitantly.
"Yeah," Marcus replied confidently. "Even though the ship looks much bigger, the blocks I used aren't as heavy as they appear. Look at how the hull sits in the water, it's barely any lower than it was before."
"If that's the case," Merry said, still trying to wrap his head around what he'd witnessed, "then why bother modifying an existing ship at all? Couldn't you just build a completely new vessel from scratch?"
After all, with Marcus' abilities, as long as he had proper blueprints, he could potentially construct a ship larger than a Marine warship without being limited by materials.
"That wouldn't work," Marcus explained. "Let me give you a simple demonstration."
He stacked two wooden planks on top of each other, then removed the bottom one.
The result was a wooden plank floating in mid-air, defying all laws of physics.
Merry touched it, then carefully climbed onto the floating platform. Even though there was nothing supporting it underneath, no matter how much he jumped or shifted his weight, the plank remained perfectly stable in the air.
"If I built a ship completely from scratch using my abilities, the result would be a vessel that couldn't move from its original position," Marcus explained. "It would have to be carried aboard another ship like cargo. The only drawback of scaling up an existing vessel proportionally is that some of the decorative details might not align perfectly."
By the time he finished his explanation, Luffy and the others had already climbed aboard to explore their newly expanded ship.
"Oh, right, I also need to make some glass for the windows," he said, heading toward the beach.
He started digging up sand to create glass blocks using his furnace.
Meanwhile, Merry stared at the angular, blocky new version of his beloved Going Merry. He chuckled and shook his head, but there was no anger in his expression.
How could he be upset? The ship was bigger, stronger, and more spacious than ever before.
After a moment, he began planning the next phase of work. Since the ship had been enlarged, all the furnishings and interior details he'd designed would need to be scaled up accordingly.
"Wait here for a moment," he called to Marcus. "I'll go gather some workers to help with the finishing touches."
As for how non-Minecraft materials could be integrated with the blocks, as long as Marcus installed them himself, there was no need for nails or other fasteners.
Even Luffy couldn't pry apart pieces that Marcus had placed, as if they had grown together naturally with the wood.
The wooden components could also be painted or covered with metal sheets for additional protection and decoration.
By the end of the day, the enlarged Going Merry had taken its final form. The only real weakness was that the hull remained relatively thin, after all, if Marcus completely enclosed the bottom with his blocks, the ship wouldn't be able to move through the water.
Time passed quickly as everyone worked together.
The next day, all the supplies from Marcus' old ship had been transferred to the new vessel, and his original boat had been completely dismantled for materials.
For the Straw Hat Pirates, the East Blue saga was now missing only one member, Sanji, their future cook.
At the shore, Kaya stood watching them prepare to depart. She smiled warmly as she looked at Usopp.
"Kaya! When I've sailed all the way around the world, I'll come back for you! Then I'll tell you my own adventure stories, ones that aren't just tall tales anymore!"
"Alright! I'll be waiting for you!" she called back.
Usopp's three young followers waved excitedly from the dock, shouting encouragement and promises to take care of Kaya while he was gone.
Luffy stood beside Usopp, looking reluctant to leave, but not for the reason you might expect. He wasn't sad about leaving Kaya; he was disappointed about leaving the iron golem behind.
It turned out Marcus had been absolutely right about the weight issue. The moment the golem had stepped aboard for a test, the entire ship had sunk lower in the water and immediately started tilting to one side.
As they sailed away, the port of Syrup Village grew smaller and smaller in the distance. Eventually, Kaya and the boys' figures disappeared completely from view.
---
"Since we're almost at full crew now, I think it's about time we officially raised our pirate flag!" Luffy announced, sharing his idea.
Right after speaking, he glanced at Alvida. After all, there was still another former pirate captain aboard their ship.
She brushed back her hair and gave them a charming smile. "I was defeated by you, so naturally I have to follow the victor's orders."
And so, the Straw Hat Pirates were officially formed.
When the flag bearing the distinctive skull-and-crossbones with a straw hat rose up the mast, Marcus looked around at his new crewmates, his gaze finally settling on Alvida.
In the original timeline, she should have encountered Buggy shortly after eating her Devil Fruit, both of them having been defeated by Luffy and sent flying. They would have joined forces, plotting revenge together.
But now, she had been recruited by Marcus ahead of schedule and had even become an official member of Luffy's crew.
So what would happen to Buggy? Would this change mean he ended up drowning at the bottom of the sea instead?
In the original story, it had been Alvida who saved him from that fate.
Still, Marcus quickly stopped worrying about it. With Buggy's absolutely ridiculous luck and tendency to survive impossible situations, he probably wouldn't just disappear that easily.
"What are you staring at me for?" Alvida teased, noticing his expression. "My captain now isn't you, you know~"
Marcus just shrugged. "I'm not cut out to be a captain anyway."
"Alright! Let's have a party to celebrate officially becoming pirates!" Luffy grinned, pumping his fist in the air.
Everyone agreed enthusiastically, cheering and getting ready to celebrate.
Then came an awkward realization that killed the mood somewhat.
Who was going to cook?
A proper party still needed good food, surely they couldn't just drink and eat raw fruit all night, right?
"Don't look at me," Marcus said, raising his hands defensively. "I can only provide some basic food items that come with my abilities."
Going around the group, everyone else also indicated they couldn't cook either, raising their hands or shaking their heads.
Then Nami smiled sweetly and said, "If you're willing to pay me, I could try cooking something~ I can't promise it'll be delicious."
"What?! You want money for that?!" Usopp exclaimed in shock.
Not just him, Alvida and Kira were equally surprised.
Nami, however, didn't seem bothered at all by their reactions.
"We really do need a dedicated cook," Zoro commented thoughtfully.
Ever since he'd started sailing with Luffy, they'd been surviving on bread, dried meat, and other basic rations. He'd hoped that once Marcus joined them, there would be proper meals available.
In the end, it was Marcus who saved the day by producing cooked beef, cooked chicken, cooked mutton, and an assortment of fresh fruit from his inventory.
As for cakes or pies, there was no sugar available, so those were out of the question for now.