Deep into the midnight hours.
The Storm Petrel had furled its sails and dropped anchor, remaining stationary on the ocean's surface.
The Diving System emitted both heat and slight noise during operation.
Thus, the crew chose to spend the night floating on the water.
Dier took the night watch.
His experiment to impose limitations on abilities to reduce their acquisition difficulty had succeeded.
He was currently inverted, bestowing the Storm Petrel with self-repair capabilities.
The core of this ability lay in the Energy Chamber Furnace.
The ship would absorb the scattered heat generated during normal operations, undergoing a series of incredible Energy Conversion processes to transform it into materials for hull repairs.
Since it utilized wasted heat that would otherwise dissipate, this didn't interfere with the ship's regular functions.
However, the ability remained weak at this stage, with an alarmingly low Energy Conversion ratio.
It would require his daily reinforcement over time.
When the clock passed 1 AM, he ended his inversion, breathing heavily as he collapsed onto the deck.
Granting abilities to the ship also drained his stamina.
"Automatic Repair, Automatic Upgrade, Automatic Piloting."
Dier gazed at the bright moon, excitement flashing in his eyes.
Once these three abilities reached maturity, the Storm Petrel would become a Fully Automatic Warship.
But that goal remained distant. For now, their priority was recruiting more hands to alleviate the crew's workload.
...
Fortune favored them.
The following afternoon, they encountered a Pirate vessel.
"They're running without even seeing our faces?"
Dier complained as he watched the retreating ship.
Robin found this perfectly reasonable.
"Even disregarding the diving capability, our all-metal Storm Petrel would scare them off. Their reaction is normal."
The pirate world had its share of fools, but not that many.
Ordinary Pirates followed no code of honor, with inter-crew conflicts being commonplace.
When pirate met pirate, and wooden ship faced metal vessel, the wisest choice for the weaker party was immediate retreat.
Unfortunately for them, it was already too late.
Dier waved enthusiastically:
"Close the distance!"
Their much-needed laborers had arrived.
Without a navigator to adjust the sails for optimal wind, the Storm Petrel couldn't chase effectively under sail power alone.
But they still had the Propulsion System.
Upon receiving the order, Hina immediately stepped on the pedal. Six underwater thrusters engaged, churning out countless bubbles from the stern that propelled the yellow-hulled ship forward at startling speed.
The gap between the bright yellow Storm Petrel and the brown wooden vessel rapidly narrowed.
The black sail grew larger in their vision, its Pocket watch skull emblem seemingly counting down Deno's remaining lifespan.
Gritting his teeth with a savage expression, he barked:
"Fire the damn cannons!"
A friendly chat with pursuers?
No Pirate would entertain such naive thoughts.
Facing clear hostility, they wouldn't go down without a fight.
BOOM!!
The cannonball struck true, hitting the pursuing yellow vessel and erupting in a burst of Flame Power upon impact.
Direct hit!
The gunner's face lit up with joy, eyes sparkling with triumph.
In typical pirate naval engagements, hit rates were abysmally low - both sides would fire wildly with only occasional hits.
Scoring on the first shot like this was exceptionally rare.
But when the flames and smoke dissipated, the sailor's smile froze on his face.
The strange ship's hull remained completely unscathed, not even slowing down in the slightest.
The Petrel was entirely constructed from sturdy metal—ordinary cannonballs couldn't harm it at all.
"Anti-aircraft guns! Anti-aircraft guns! Aim for its sails, you idiots!"
Captain Deno roared frantically on the deck as the sailors adjusted their cannon angles to fire.
Yet no matter how they tried to obstruct it, the distance between the two ships continued to close relentlessly.
Until finally, a figure wreathed in flames descended from above, hovering over them with an imperious gaze.
The figure raised its right hand, conjuring a two-meter-tall fireball in its palm before casually tossing it downward.
BOOM!!
The fireball struck the deck and exploded violently, sending shockwaves and wooden splinters whizzing past Deno's ears.
Clatter~
His flintlock gun dropped to the ground as Deno swallowed hard, forcing out the words:
"Just... who the hell are you?"
"Kali Dier. Just a passing hypnotist."
Seeing Dier summon another fireball, Deno swiftly raised his hands in surrender:
"I yield!"
He knew of Devil Fruits and understood that Ability Users were beyond ordinary men to contend with.
They couldn't escape, nor could they fight.
Surrendering early was the only sensible choice.
Following their captain's lead, the surrounding pirates all raised their hands in surrender.
Dier clicked his tongue in annoyance. He'd been on night watch the previous evening and slept through the morning, having just woken up after lunch.
He'd hoped to stretch his legs and test his abilities.
Flight, Hypnosis, and Flame Power.
These were his strongest skills at present.
Flight was inspired by comics, Hypnosis was his most frequently used ability.
And Flame Power was doubly enhanced by the Flame Devourer and his own powers.
Who knew these guys would surrender so quickly.
"Perona, send the Phantoms over for a round."
...
The pirate ship held forty-seven men in total.
Three among them were literate—with a bit of training, they could handle ship operations.
Additionally, there was a navigator, two cooks, and four laborers.
These ten would serve as Dier's workforce.
The remaining thirty-seven were brought aboard the Petrel, bound and locked in the storage hold.
These thirty-seven would be his kidnapping crew.
To abduct Law's entire family in Flevance.
The voyage to Flevance would take seventeen days, passing several islands along the way.
Dier planned to dock at those islands to resupply and offload the thirty-seven men.
As for the nameless pirate ship—well, it was a shame, but the flames had been too fierce.
Late at night, one of the controlled pirates was on watch.
But Dier was also on deck.
He'd soaked up enough sunlight, and now there was moonlight—no sense wasting it.
He stood upside down on the deck, silently imbuing the Petrel with self-repair functions.
His Empowerment ability also grew more efficient as the number of believers increased.
Right now, it took a hundred points of stamina to raise the Petrel's self-repair by one point.
But once enough people believed in him, just one point of stamina would suffice.
Though now, he was feeling some regret.
"Shouldn't have added that damn upside-down restriction. Standing on my head in the middle of the night—hope no one saw that."
"Call again tomorrow to notify them, and make sure to acquire the Automatic Upgrade and Automatic Piloting capabilities as well."
"This time, absolutely no restrictions on handstands."
"Ahem~"
Suddenly, an upside-down Robin appeared in his field of vision.
Dier's expression froze.
"How long have you been here?"
"Hmm... I heard you leaving and followed to check;
So I've been here since you started doing handstands;
I just didn't want to interrupt since you were so focused."
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