About thirty nautical miles from the fortress lay a region designated as the 16th Branch's private target range. Its geography, dominated by jagged reefs, made it an ideal location for Marines to practice naval gunnery.
However, today's visit wasn't for routine training; it was for the testing of a new type of naval cannon. After more than half a month of work, Retes and the research team had finally completed the preliminary tests and deployed the twin 130mm mount.
"I think I understand, but how do we solve the power issue? Are we relying on manual labor?" Barry asked.
Sean nodded. Barry was the foreman of the Galley-La Company for a reason; he could grasp complex concepts quickly if given a slight nudge.
"Of course not manual labor. That's where Franky comes in. I believe he can handle it, right?"
Standing nearby, Franky's eyes widened. He had been stunned by the entirely new style of ship design, but as Barry and Sean discussed it, a realization hit him.
If he used Cola power, the speed and propulsion issues would be solved instantly.
"Franky, do you actually have a way to solve the power problem?" Barry asked, skeptical.
"You bet! Who do you think I am? I'm Franky... SUPER!!"
Seeing Barry's disbelief, Franky immediately got fired up and struck a flamboyant pose.
'Can he please stop with the poses?' Sean thought. 'It's an absolute eyesore...'
"Barry, leave the power issues to Franky. Anything else?" Sean asked.
"Yes. I've been wondering... a warship this large, not just plated in iron but constructed entirely of steel... can a ship like that actually float?"
"That's a fair question. Let me tell you something interesting: the buoyant force acting on an object in water is equal to the weight of the water it displaces. To put it simply, if a ship displaces ten thousand tons of water, as long as the ship itself weighs less than ten thousand tons, it will float."
Barry gasped. This theory was something he had never heard before. But if what Sean said was true, then an all-steel warship was actually feasible!
"I know you still have doubts, but you'll see for yourself once you run the experiments," Sean continued. "Regardless, I have four requirements for the next generation of warships."
"First: eliminate the sails!"
"Second: a completely new power source and propulsion system!"
"Third: a hull constructed entirely of steel!"
"Fourth: a cruising speed of at least 20 knots!"
"As for the weaponry, you can coordinate with Retes from the weapons development department. Any other questions?"
Barry was stunned. Achieving any one of those four goals would be revolutionary. To achieve all four... it was madness. He couldn't even imagine the result.
Of course, this depended on whether Franky could truly solve the power issue and if Sean's theory on buoyancy was correct. Regardless, Barry was now buzzing with excitement. As a top-tier shipwright, who wouldn't want a revolutionary vessel to be born from their own hands?
A few minutes later, Sean summoned a messenger to lead the two of them to the conference room to meet with Mansour. The construction of the shipyard and the finalization of the blueprints required their direct input.
'''
One week later.
The 16th Branch's month-long "Operation Thunder" officially came to an end. Lucci and the others gradually returned to the base.
Throughout the return journey, Jabra had a long face. Since wiping out those twenty-odd pirate crews at the start, he hadn't encountered a single pirate for the next twenty days. As a result, his ranking in terms of crews eliminated had plummeted from first place to dead last.
"Lucci eliminated a total of 32 pirate crews. The best performance of the three!" Sean announced in the office, holding the report.
"Kaku also did well, eliminating 27 crews. Second place!"
"Jabra eliminated 26. While that's not bad, do you remember what I told you before we departed?" Sean looked at Jabra.
"Commodore, you can't blame me for this! I didn't run into a single pirate crew for twenty whole days! It's totally unfair!" Jabra protested.
"Unfair? The intelligence department gave you the exact locations of three confirmed pirate crews in your area. What did you do?"
"Uh, well, I didn't want to miss the 'big fish,' so I..."
"So, from day one, you went to that spot and camped out for ten days, right?"
"Yes, exactly! After I finished off those other crews, I went to the locations provided by intel to find those three, but the intel was wrong! It's not my fault!" Jabra looked genuinely aggrieved.
Sean glared at him. "What's so unfair about it?"
"You wiped out 26 pirate crews. Do you think the other groups wouldn't notice and run away? And you want to blame the intelligence department?" Sean sighed. "Let me tell you, two of the crews Kaku eliminated were the ones that fled from your sector!"
"Furthermore, the intelligence department gave you the exact time and place of their meeting. Was it really necessary to camp out for ten days?"
Jabra froze.
That meant if he had dealt with those three crews first and then handled the 26 meeting together, his total would have been 29. Meanwhile, Kaku's score would have dropped from 27 down to 25.
Jabra wanted to cry, but he had no tears.
In the end, as punishment for the worst performance of the group, Sean ordered Jabra and his entire company to clean every single toilet in the 16th Branch for ten days.