Hearing Luffy say he still had a question, Iceburg looked at Luffy in confusion.
Then, Luffy told him about the adam treasure tree timber.
However, Iceburg shook his head after listening and said.
"That kind of special timber is not traded on the normal market."
"I also can't find any resources!"
Luffy had already prepared himself for this answer.
So he wasn't too disappointed.
Now, he just had to wait for Franky Family to come knocking.
After thanking Iceburg, Luffy turned to Nami behind him and said.
"Nami, use your ability to separate some gold from the ship! We'll go exchange the gold for Berries!"
"Modifying Merry requires 5 million Berries, and we don't have enough money left."
Although modifying Merry wasn't difficult, designing and perfectly installing the Wind Dials still required a certain level of skill.
So it was a bit more expensive than ordinary shipbuilding.
Nami heard Luffy's words and asked.
"Then how much gold should we exchange?"
Luffy thought for a moment and said.
"Just exchange a little!"
"Let's exchange 1 billion for now!"
Clang!
The moment Luffy spoke, the sound of jaws dropping filled the air.
Everyone stared at Luffy and the others with dazed, envious eyes.
One billion Berries? That's just a 'little bit'?
But on second thought, compared to their gold, which was worth over 5 trillion Berries, 1 billion Berries truly was just a little bit.
However, it still made these people envious, jealous, and hateful!
As Nami returned to the ship to separate the gold, Iceburg spoke up.
"Straw Hat!"
"While it's your freedom to fly this ship wherever you wish, a ship laden with gold appearing in the city's sky will cause a commotion."
"To reduce unnecessary trouble, and for the safety of the citizens, please leave this ship here for now!"
As Iceburg spoke, he glanced at the dense crowd of citizens surrounding the shipyard, feeling a headache.
If such a situation were to occur within the city, it would likely be difficult for the city to function normally.
Luffy also saw the worry and anxiety in Iceburg's eyes, and readily agreed with a nod.
His goal had already been achieved anyway; this news would surely reach Franky, and continuing to cruise around the city in this ship was inconvenient, so leaving it here was a good choice.
Afterward, they moored Enel's Ark Maxim in a new area arranged by Iceburg.
Then the group discussed their plans.
Zoro would stay behind to guard the ship and the gold on board.
The rest would go together to a nearby place to convert the gold Nami had separated into cash.
Since the shipyard was right in the city center, not far from where they could exchange money, they quickly arrived at an exchange office and successfully exchanged 1 billion Berries.
Outside the exchange office, the Straw Hat gathered together.
Nami distributed 10 million Berries to each person, saying.
"This 10 million Berries is your individual pocket money. The remaining 900 million Berries, we'll keep for now and use it for the new ship when the opportunity arises."
Hearing that each person would receive 10 million Berries in pocket money, everyone was incredibly excited.
Chopper excitedly said.
"sugei! In the past, we only got 100,000 Berries in pocket money every time we came to a town, but this time it's 10 million Berries."
"This is great! I'm going to buy so many medical books and medicines."
Sanji lit a cigarette and said.
"Although we haven't found a new ship yet, essential food is still necessary. I'll go see if there are any fresh ingredients here!"
Usopp said with an excited expression.
"Now that we have so much money, I can finally start researching that!"
"I'm going to buy so much gunpowder!"
Seeing Usopp's excitement, the others couldn't help but wonder.
"That?! What is it?"
Usopp maintained a mysterious demeanor and said.
"You'll know when I've researched it."
"It's something incredibly powerful."
Usopp's eyes were filled with anticipation and excitement, which piqued everyone else's curiosity, making them look forward to it as well.
Only Luffy instantly knew what Usopp was talking about.
When he asked Usopp to research Buggy Bomb, Usopp had once comprehended three types of Buggy Bomb.
And now, only the most powerful one, the Super Buggy Ball, had yet to be researched and manufactured.
There was no other way; the pirate crew had never had enough money to buy him that much gunpowder before.
Even though he had eaten the Explosion Fruit, he couldn't produce that much gunpowder on his own before awakening.
Now that they finally had money, Usopp was so excited.
After hearing the plans of the others, Nami excitedly said to Uta and the other girls.
"Uta, Nojiko, Robin, Vivi, let's go shopping!"
"Now that we have so much money, we can buy so many beautiful new clothes!"
Soon, everyone else went off to do their own things.
Ultimately, only Luffy and Karu, one person and one duck, were left without a purpose.
With them was the 900 million Berries that Nami had entrusted to him for safekeeping.
The person and the duck looked at each other.
"Quack!"
Karu quacked.
It seemed to be saying to Luffy, "I'm counting on you!"
Luffy smiled slightly and said.
"Alright! I'll take you with me today!"
With that, Luffy planned to take Karu back to the shipyard first, put the 900 million Berries on Enel's Ark Maxim, and then take Karu to explore the city.
However, when they returned to the shipyard with the money, they found a large crowd gathered at the entrance, everyone looking extremely terrified, the scene utterly chaotic, with gasps of alarm constantly breaking out.
"Oh no! That Franky actually came here!"
"What is that scoundrel doing here?"
"The Franky Family makes a living by robbing pirates and dismantling ships in this city; they must be here for the Straw Hat's gold."
"This is really bad! If Franky enrages the Straw Hat, will they destroy our city?"
"Someone quickly stop him!"
"I heard that inside the shipyard, several foremen are confronting Franky right now!"
After roughly hearing what was happening, Luffy quickly led Karu into the shipyard.
As soon as he entered the main gate, he saw Franky and Rob Lucci, along with several foremen, standing opposite each other, looking as if they were about to clash.
Then he heard Franky say.
"I told you, get out of my way! I want to go in and see the Straw Hat's flying ship!"
Rob Lucci's expression was serious, and the pigeon on his shoulder spoke for him.
"Mr. Iceburg said to prevent anyone from approaching the Straw Hat's ship, to stop anyone from coveting their gold!"
"If they get angry, this city will be destroyed."
"So we definitely won't let you in."
This was what Iceburg had specifically instructed these foremen before leaving.
He was very afraid that someone in the city would be jealous of the Straw Hat's gold and attack them.
At that time, it might threaten the safety of the entire city.
That's why Iceburg had the shipwrights here prevent anyone from approaching the ship.
Franky said impatiently.
"So didn't I say I just want to see the structure of this flying ship?"
"I want to know how their flying ship was built and why it can fly?"
Franky was stunned when his subordinate reported that the Straw Hat had appeared in the city with gold worth over 5 trillion Berries.
But thinking of the Straw Hat's strength, he was still a little hesitant.
However, when his subordinate continued to report that the Straw Hat was sailing a flying ship, he couldn't sit still.
He considered himself well-versed in shipbuilding, having followed his master Tom.
But he had never heard of a ship that could fly.
So he was full of curiosity about this flying ship.
He decided to come and see it.
But apparently, his reputation in this city was too bad; no one believed him.
Then Kaku continued his words.
"That excuse is too foolish, Franky."
"In this city, who doesn't know the ways of your Franky Family?"
"Do you think we would believe such a statement from you?"
Franky completely lost his patience, gritting his teeth and angrily said in a deep voice.
"Damn it! You bastards!"
"How dare you not believe me!"
"It seems I'll have to use force."
As Franky spoke, he clenched both fists.
This scene made all the surrounding onlookers look nervous.
Franky was the biggest scoundrel in this city; every citizen had witnessed his terrifying nature.
So even though it was these powerful foremen on the other side, it still made ordinary people like them worried.
Just then, a voice suddenly came from behind Franky.
"You want to see our flying ship?"
Hearing this voice, all the shipwrights in the shipyard looked towards the speaker, and Franky also turned around in confusion.
And when they clearly saw who was speaking, the crowd instantly became incredibly frightened.
"That... that's Straw Hat!"
"How could this be? Why did Straw Hat suddenly come back?"
"Oh no! We have to stop Franky quickly! If Straw Hat finds out Franky wants to steal their gold, he will definitely get angry."
The shipwrights quickly discussed and immediately prepared to attack Franky.
Just then, Luffy raised his hand to signal, stopping them.
"It's alright! If he wants to see it, I'll take him to see it!"
As Luffy spoke, he looked at Franky, a slight smile on his lips.
This scene left Franky utterly confused.
He hadn't expected Luffy to be so easy to talk to.
Wasn't Straw Hat rumored to be a super villain who committed all sorts of evil deeds?
Franky was puzzled.
However, he was more concerned about seeing Enel's Ark Maxim, so he didn't bother to think too much about it.
After receiving Luffy's permission, he followed Luffy towards where Enel's Ark Maxim was docked.
At this moment, a worried voice of a shipwright rang out nearby.
"Straw Hat, you don't understand Franky."
"He's a scoundrel; he'll definitely steal your gold. You can't take him to your ship!"
Luffy looked over upon hearing this and saw that almost every shipwright's face was filled with worry and fear.
They were all afraid that Franky would anger the Straw Hat, leading to the destruction of the city.
However, to everyone's surprise, Luffy smiled slightly at them and said very kindly and politely,
"Thank you for the reminder!"
"I will keep that in mind."
With that, Luffy and Franky once again headed towards Enel's Ark Maxim.
The shipwrights, one by one, stood rooted to the spot, their eyes filled with surprise and disbelief.
"That Straw Hat just… thanked us?!"
"Didn't they say he was a super villain? Why does he seem so polite?"
"And he doesn't look like the extremely dangerous pirate the news reported him to be!"
"How strange! Could the news be false?"
The shipwrights also fell into confusion.
Meanwhile, when Luffy brought Franky to Enel's Ark Maxim, Zoro was training.
Seeing Luffy bring back a strange man, Zoro immediately asked curiously,
"Luffy, who is this guy?"
Enel's Ark Maxim was currently docked in the deepest part of the shipyard, so Zoro hadn't heard the commotion at the entrance earlier.
Luffy replied,
"His name is Franky, and he said he wanted to see our flying ship! So I brought him over."
"It looks like he knows a lot about ships! Maybe he's an excellent shipwright."
Zoro eyed Franky suspiciously from head to toe, his expression becoming more and more abstract the longer he looked, especially when he saw Franky only wearing underwear on his lower half, he couldn't help but say,
"This guy looks like a pervert no matter how you look at him!"
"How is he an excellent shipwright?"
Even Karu nodded continuously at this point, agreeing with Zoro's words.
Franky, however, didn't care about what was said; his attention was completely drawn to the ship.
He rushed into the cabin by himself, examining the entire structure of the ship.
Luffy and the others didn't bother with him anymore and stayed on the deck.
"Luffy, is it okay to let that pervert look at our ship by himself?"
Zoro was still a little worried; after all, there was so much gold on the ship. What if that pervert secretly stole some and ran away?
Luffy, however, smiled and said,
"I think he really just came to see this ship; no need to worry about the gold."
Luffy had believed Franky after hearing his words at the shipyard entrance earlier.
Although this person currently had a bad reputation in this city, Luffy knew that Franky's character meant he wouldn't lie.
So he had no guard against him at all at this moment.
Seeing this, Zoro said no more and went back to his training.
He trusted Luffy's judgment.
A long time later, Franky ran out of the cabin and immediately rushed to Luffy's side, asking excitedly,
"What is the power source for your ship?"
"I've checked the ship's structure; I haven't found a power source, and to make such a large ship fly, an ordinary power source simply wouldn't be able to do it."
"How exactly do you make it fly?"
Luffy saw Franky looking incredibly curious, so he told him about the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
Franky suddenly understood and exclaimed in admiration,
"So that's it!"
"You're using lightning as power?!"
"I knew there couldn't be a ship that could fly just like that?!"
"So that's how it is!"
Watching Franky gradually calm down, Luffy then asked,
"Are you very interested in our ship?"
Franky replied without thinking,
"Which excellent shipwright wouldn't be interested in encountering a ship that can fly?"
"Those guys didn't mention it because they were just afraid of you!"
In fact, just as Franky said, Iceburg, including the foremen like Barry, were all filled with curiosity about Enel's Ark Maxim and wanted to explore it.
However, given that the other party was the extremely evil Straw Hat crew reported in the news, they dared not easily offend them.
Only someone with Franky's fearless personality wouldn't care about these things.
Hearing Franky's words, Luffy couldn't help but smile and say,
"So, you really are an excellent shipwright?"
"Our pirate crew is currently looking for a shipwright; would you like to join us?"
Franky was startled by the words, looked at Luffy curiously, and said,
"Didn't you hear what those people outside said?"
"I'm a villain that everyone fears; do you want to invite a villain to be your shipwright?"
Luffy said calmly,
"We pirates sound even more terrifying than you, a villain!"
Hearing Luffy say this, Franky was momentarily stunned.
He suddenly realized that Luffy and his crew were pirates and immediately burst into laughter.
"Hahahahaha…"
"You don't look like a pirate at all, you made me forget that you're pirates!"
Luffy asked at the sight,
"How about it? Do you want to join us?"
At this moment, Franky suddenly stopped laughing, his expression becoming very serious, and he said,
"Thank you for your invitation."
"But I'm sorry, I have reasons to stay on this island."
"You should find other shipwrights!"