The ten extra laborers aboard freed Dier and his three companions from their exhausting workload.
Dier continued his routine—sprawling lifelessly by day, standing upside-down on deck by night.
On the third day, he gained the ability to bestow ships with Automatic Upgrade and Automatic Piloting.
The Automatic Upgrade targeted the entire vessel.
It reinforced the sails for greater resilience, strengthened the hull against pressure, and improved the efficiency of water purifiers, among other enhancements.
However, it only upgraded existing facilities—no sudden flight capabilities would emerge mid-process.
As for the energy source, it remained thermal—the coal-burning Energy Chamber had truly proven its worth.
The Automatic Piloting ability, however, took Dier by surprise.
When he granted the Storm Petrel this capability, he sensed an incredibly faint, almost imperceptible consciousness emanating from the ship.
"This feeling... is it a Ship Spirit?"
He stared thoughtfully at the deck.
For Automatic Piloting to work, an intelligent AI of sorts would indeed be needed to control the various systems.
The only Ship Spirit he knew of was the future Merry.
After surviving a massive tsunami, the Merry was patched up by an iceberg and barely remained seaworthy.
Riding the waves, this unmanned vessel automatically raised its sails, adjusted its course, and charged into Enies Lobby to rescue the Straw Hat crew from certain doom.
It perfectly matched Dier's vision of Automatic Piloting.
"But at this rate, it'll take ages to develop."
He could sense the Ship Spirit's presence, but it was far too weak.
So he decided to add another ability.
"Kali Dier can grant Ship Spirits the ability for Autonomous Growth."
The next day, he successfully obtained a heavily restricted, watered-down version and bestowed this ability upon the Ship Spirit.
The Ship Spirit would absorb... the dissipated heat from the Energy Chamber to strengthen itself.
From then on, Dier had four daily tasks:
Enhancing the ship's Automatic Repair ability;
Enhancing the ship's Automatic Upgrade ability;
Enhancing the ship's Automatic Piloting ability—which meant nourishing the Ship Spirit to strengthen its consciousness;
And enhancing the Ship Spirit's Autonomous Growth ability.
Aside from him, the hardest-working part of the ship was likely the Energy Chamber.
Its dissipated heat was now used to repair the hull, upgrade the vessel, and fuel the Ship Spirit's development.
Previously, standing inside the Energy Chamber would feel stifling—after all, the furnace entrance was right there on the wall.
But now, it felt no different from any other part of the ship. Every bit of wasted heat was being repurposed.
Fortunately, only the dissipated heat was absorbed, leaving the ship's normal operations unaffected.
As part of the Storm Petrel, the Energy Chamber was also included in the ship's Automatic Upgrade.
But as the core of these three abilities, Dier decided to grant it a separate Autonomous Upgrade ability.
As for the energy source for this upgrade... once again, the Energy Chamber's own dissipated heat.
In a way, it was upgrading itself.
"Come to think of it, could I make the ship's abilities upgrade autonomously too?"
Dier chewed absently on a spoon, his gaze distant.
The process of adding restrictions to gain abilities had opened a new world of possibilities.
Right now, a bold matryoshka scheme was forming in his mind:
"Ability [A] allows Ability [B] to level up by 1 each day;
Once leveled up, Ability [B] allows Ability [C] to level up by 2 each day..."
After leveling up [C] by 2 levels, it allows [D] to gain 4 levels daily;
After leveling up [D] by 4 levels, it allows [E] to gain 8 levels daily..."
This cycle continues endlessly, resulting in exponential growth.
As for the energy source... the Energy Chamber would just have to endure a bit more hardship.
"Dier, Dier, Dier!!"
Robin's voice snapped Dier out of his daze. He blinked in confusion.
"What's wrong?"
Robin pointed expressionlessly at what he was holding.
"The plate! This is already the thirtieth plate you've eaten. What's going on with you? You're distracted even while eating?"
She stepped forward and touched his forehead, frowning with concern.
"No fever... Could it be seasickness from the submarine? Maybe we should dock at an island and find a doctor..."
As her voice reached his ears, Dier suddenly had another idea.
"If I can grant abilities to ships, can I grant abilities to Robin too? Then have Robin continue the cycle..."
"Put the plate down!!"
"Oh, right—sorry about that."
...
Unfortunately, the cycle idea ultimately didn't work out.
Abilities couldn't enhance other abilities.
Dier had tried similar experiments before, back when he was hypnotizing Guerrero.
"Kali Dier's ability proficiency automatically increases."
"Kali Dier's ability can grow infinitely without any upper limit."
Neither of these abilities had shown even a trace of success.
However, the experiment of granting abilities to others did work.
Robin and the other two girls successfully gained the "physical stats continuously improve" buff.
But unlike him, they couldn't raise their ability limits through "belief"—only Dier could enhance them further.
The Ship Spirit, which had developed an extremely faint, hazy consciousness, was judged as a "person,"
which was why Dier could grant it the ability to grow autonomously.
Ten days later, the Storm Petrel docked near a relatively bustling island for resupply.
Four laborers and three operators were left aboard to keep watch.
Thirty-seven hostages disembarked, changing into decent clothes to disguise themselves as travelers heading to Flevance.
Two chefs and a navigator took Belly to restock on ingredients.
Dier, who had been swamped with work, was forcibly dragged off the ship by the three women for some rest.
These days, he had to fulfill various restrictions, hypnotize and control the laborers and captives, and enhance the Storm Petrel's abilities before sleeping.
With his time split like this, he barely had any moments to rest.
Robin couldn't stand it anymore, so she teamed up with Hina and Perona to drag this workaholic off the ship.
Since it wasn't yet time to fully reveal themselves, the three with bounties still wore masks.
With this rare chance to go ashore, shopping was a must.
Perona bought a pile of plush bears and a gothic-style parasol—including several oversized teddy bears.
Robin, as usual, browsed bookstores to expand the ship's library.
Hina didn't have any particular preferences, only picking up some sunglasses and custom-tailored suits.
Over the past nine months, Robin and Dier's appearances and heights had barely changed.
In contrast, Hina had shot up in height, already showing hints of a mature, elegant demeanor.
Robin couldn't help but feel a little envious.
This world's growth patterns seemed to work this way—appearances remained unchanged for long periods before rapidly developing in short bursts.
Just like Koby in the future, who transformed in less than half a year.
He transformed directly from a pudgy, short boy who looked about eleven or twelve into a robust sixteen-year-old youth.
The issue of being overweight could be corrected through exercise, but the sudden growth in height was truly inexplicable.
After everyone had bought what they wanted, along with a large number of plates, the Storm Petrel set sail once more.
Dier returned to his busy work.
Seven days later, the Storm Petrel approached the waters of Flevance but did not linger for long.
Three more days after that, the Storm Petrel arrived at Brrr Brrr Island.
They planned to purchase a batch of Den Den Mushi here.