With a gentle touch against the pile of wreckage beneath his feet, the entire mountain of shipwrecks began to shake, twist and merge together within a massive wooden tornado.
The violent whirlwind eventually stopped, leaving behind a restored pirate ship alongside a useless pile of scrap wreckage. Leo sat down on the ground, observing his draft handiwork.
"Hm… navigating a ship feels like such a drag when we have Laboon with us," Leo muttered out loud.
"But you can't just ride on Laboon all the time," Crocus said while standing beside him. "He can't stay above the surface forever and the hot regions don't suit him very well, he will need to keep diving underwater frequently."
"Yeah, and riding on Laboon would probably be too bumpy anyway," Nojiko added while gently touching Laboon's smooth blue skin. "We could build a ship from this wreckage and just sail alongside him. He'd even protect us from Marines, and other Sea Kings probably wouldn't dare approach either, right?"
"Bwahhhhhh!" Laboon enthusiastically agreed.
"Yeah… but it still doesn't feel right. Something's missing," Leo muttered again.
The earth in front of him shifted once more.
Soon, countless miniature ship designs rose from the ground in front of them like human sized figurines, each one shaped from red soil below their feet. The group carefully examined them one after another, only to reject most of the ideas almost immediately.
A convertible ship capable of mounting onto Laboon's back while also functioning independently at sea—rejected by Crocus, who called it outright animal abuse.
A massive submarine designed to dive alongside Laboon—rejected by Nojiko because she hated the idea of being trapped in a cramped metal space and wanted something more open.
A circular floating platform meant to stay attached to Laboon's back while he carried it around like a lighter deck—rejected by Laboon himself, who apparently thought dragging something on his back or behind him wasn't "cool." The whale clearly had his own preferences.
In the end, they all settled on a far simpler design: a giant pirate-hat-shaped structure resting atop Laboon's head. In reality, it would function as an enormous deck, and surprisingly, Laboon approved of the idea almost instantly because he thought it looked cool wearing a 'Pirate Hat'.
The structure would remain attached to Laboon's head but could separate whenever necessary. A massive reinforced glass dome could also rise around the deck railings within seconds whenever Laboon decided to dive underwater and the crew could accompany him.
Once detached completely, the structure itself could even function as an independent ship nearly a hundred meters long.
Since Laboon already had an entrance leading directly into his stomach from his head, Leo planned to eventually transform Laboon's entire stomach into a livable space filled with multiple amenities while connecting the outer deck to the internal structure through a giant glass tube.
The deck above would serve as both their lookout point over the sea and when submerged, a fully functional submarine alongside the giant whale.
One thing Leo had come to understand was that many of the world's greatest wonders and history lay hidden beneath the surface of the sea, and he had found the perfect companion to help him uncover them.
He also planned to install a giant glass tube so traveling between the outer deck and Laboon's internal living space wouldn't take long. After hearing about the nearby Holiday Islands from Crocus, Leo already had several ideas for future upgrades and where he could gather the materials needed for them.
Soon, the prototype was complete, though it still took Leo nearly half a day to create the actual finished structure in detail. The final result looked like a gigantic pirate hat resting atop Laboon's head, though in reality it functioned as a massive ship-deck nearly a hundred meters long.
"We'll need a cabin too," Nojiko suggested.
Leo nodded since that was hardly difficult for him to add.
He salvaged engines and mechanical parts from several wrecked ships, few of which strangely carried the symbol of Germa 66 and Marines.
Since Leo had no intention of relying on sails for the deck ship, he planned to make most of its systems semi-automatic if they separate from Laboon while Laboon himself would handle the long-distance travel.
As for the protective glass shield, Leo pressed his hand against the red earth below. The ground twisted violently before spiraling into a massive vortex of sand mixed with crushed minerals and metal.
The friction and compression generated extreme heat, turning the entire vortex into what looked like a gigantic tornado of fire erupting from the Red Line itself. In reality, it was simply Leo applying the scientific knowledge he still remembered from his previous life.
Red Line's crimson color came from the massive amount of metallic minerals within it, and since glass was formed by heating sand to extreme temperatures, mixing the two created an incredibly durable reinforced glass.
The molten mixture was repeatedly compressed, purified, and cooled layer by layer while the metal present in the red soil reinforced the transparent glass, creating a thick armored glass far stronger than ordinary glass.
By the end of the afternoon, the final product resembled layers of reinforced glass capable of enduring the crushing pressure of the Grand Line's underwater depths, but Leo still believed it could be improved further in the future.
Now that their ship was complete, Leo pushed the massive structure with all his strength, throwing it into the sea. The giant pirate-hat-shaped vessel floated perfectly across the water.
Several lanterns lined the railings across the deck, while a manually operated glass dome could be activated by Nojiko through a wheel-like control system by inserting a pentagram shaped key.
Leo himself could deploy the entire dome with a single touch using his devil fruit ability, allowing it to fully seal the deck within five seconds whenever Laboon warned them before diving underwater.
Nojiko planned to plant tangerine trees across parts of the deck to remind her of home, while Leo had already created a small bonfire area surrounded by comfortable lounge seating.
And according to Leo, this was only the beginning of the upgrades they would eventually add.
***
Author Note: Next Chapter preview... Adventure Begins