5 days later.
Carter Island.
Carter Shipbuilding Company, Dock No. 2.
Gazing at the colossal structure before them, everyone's eyes were filled with excitement.
No one disliked new things.
Especially new things they had personally participated in designing and decorating.
This magnificent ship before them would, from now on, be their home, their home for sailing on this boundless sea.
Kong Tai withdrew his gaze and turned to Doto, who stood bare-chested with two large dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep. Kong Tai smiled and said, "Thank you, Mr. Doto, and all the shipwrights, for your hard work."
"It's not hard, not hard at all."
Doto looked up at the ship before him, the result of five days of sleepless work by their shipyard, and a sense of immense satisfaction welled up within him.
To be able to build such a ship.
To witness such a ship cutting through waves on the sea and making a name for themselves across the world with the Silver-Haired crew was an honor for him and for all the employees of Carter Shipbuilding Company.
Doto waved his hand and turned to Kong Tai, bowing.
"Mr. Doto, what is this..."
Kong Tai was slightly taken aback by Doto's demeanor.
"Hahaha!!"
Doto straightened up and said to Kong Tai, "Thank you, Mr. Kong Tai, for giving me, and our shipyard, this opportunity to build what we consider the most satisfying creation of our lives."
He then turned back to the ship and continued, "Although it may not be the best ship ever built by Carter Shipbuilding Company, it is the best ship I have ever built. Therefore!"
"Thank you!"
He turned back again and bowed to Kong Tai.
Honestly, Kong Tai didn't quite understand the shipwrights' sentiments, but it didn't prevent him from admiring such people.
They pursued the creation of the best ships.
For the past few days, their entire crew had been involved in the construction of the new ship. The most excited and diligent among them was the ship's chief designer and builder, "Carter Doto."
It was as if he had poured all the skills he had learned in his life into this ship.
Kong Tai helped Doto up, placed a hand on his shoulder, and smiled, "Thank you, Mr. Doto. I am incredibly satisfied with this ship. I will definitely take it to travel all over the world."
As he spoke, he turned and looked at the ship, exclaiming loudly, "I will sail on it to any place I wish to go, and I believe it will surely accompany me in making our name known throughout the world."
"Yes! I believe you."
Doto straightened up, pulled a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, took a deep puff, and smiled, "This new ship doesn't have a name yet. What do you want to call it?"
Kong Tai took down the gourd of wine from his waist, opened the stopper, and took a long drink. He then turned his gaze towards the small boat docked behind the large ship.
This small boat was the Going Merry.
Now that the new ship was built, the crew had all gone to the Going Merry to move their belongings.
This small boat had not been with them for long, yet it had witnessed the transformation of Hua and the other two from zero to one, witnessed Gion's rise from swordsman to great swordsman, and witnessed Kong Tai's ascension from world-class to peak world-class.
So, to say they had no feelings for it would be a lie.
Their crew, one way or another, had a special affection for the Going Merry, after all, it was their first ship when they set sail, and their first home.
People, are unexpectedly attached to their first experiences!
"Let's call it 'Going Merry'!"
"'Going Merry'?"
Doto followed Kong Tai's gaze to the small boat behind the large ship, his lips curving upwards into a gentle smile.
"Inheriting the name of your first ship?"
"That's fine too, after all, it's a ship that will carry your dreams."
Behind Doto, Kali, dressed in her uniform and standing ramrod straight, cradling a notebook in her left hand, looked at the new Going Merry with a hint of an unreadable emotion in her eyes.
She had been busy with Doto these past few days. If Kong Tai hadn't given her such a transparent look the first time they met, she would have believed Kong Tai knew nothing of her identity.
During their interactions these past few days, she had even dined with Kong Tai and his crew, and had gone shopping with their second-in-command, blue-haired Gion.
Five days ago, after reporting the Silver-Haired crew's activities to her superior, she had not received any further orders.
She wondered how the World Government intended to deal with the Silver-Haired crew.
She couldn't imagine it, nor did she want to.
These were not things she should concern herself with.
Now that the ship was finally built, the Silver-Haired crew would soon be leaving.
This finally allowed her to breathe a sigh of relief.
No one wanted to stay with a formidable adversary, especially when that adversary knew their true identity, which made it even more agonizing.
Kong Tai watched his companions bustling about, moving things from the Going Merry's cabin into the new Going Merry, shouting with excitement, and a gentle smile bloomed on his face.
He shifted his gaze to the new Going Merry, and a sense of genuine satisfaction surged within him.
His crew liked the new ship, and he liked it too.
The New Going Merry.
The ship was 40 meters long, 12 meters wide, and 25 meters high.
It was a two-masted, medium-sized sailing ship.
Its design was similar to the Thousand Sunny, but the details were certainly different.
The bow was a giant windmill head.
It was a magnified version of their crew's flag.
From the deck to the hull, it was 8 meters high. The deck had a front cabin, mainly for the steering wheel's rigging and some miscellaneous storage.
The aft deck had a three-story structure. The first floor housed the kitchen, the second floor was a lounge area with a television, and the third floor was the helm.
Of course, on top of the aft cabin, there was a separate room for training.
Much like Zoro's training room on the Thousand Sunny.
This was designed and built by Gion herself.
However, there was a slight difference: on the Thousand Sunny, the training room was above the mast, whereas their training room was located where the small room behind the aft cabin was on the Thousand Sunny.
This made their training room larger and more convenient for training.
They, on the other hand, placed the observation room on top of the mast.
Placing it there was convenient for Allo, and it also allowed them to see the scenery more clearly and further when they went up.
The shipwrights had installed an elevator on the surface of the mast, which could take them directly from the lowest level to the observation deck at the very top.
Naturally, there was a similar elevator on the rear mast.
And on top of the aft cabin, their lemon tree brought from the East Blue was, of course, indispensable.
With Robin's addition, Robin had also planted many flowers on it, making it look like a small garden.
The middle deck of the ship, like the Thousand Sunny, was covered with turf, serving as the area for resting and holding banquets.
Below the deck were two levels. The first level was their main sleeping quarters.
With an area of 400 square meters, it was divided into many rooms of various sizes. Each person's bedroom was decorated according to their individual needs in conjunction with the shipwrights, thus each room had its own unique characteristics.
Further down were the ship's power systems, a laboratory and medical room specifically established for Doctor Indigo, and a small electric-powered cruise ship for shallow-water excursions.
Their new ship was not only powered by wind.
The lowest level of the ship was equipped with an extra-large generator.
This generator not only met the daily needs of the entire ship.
Under special circumstances, it could also use stored electricity as the ship's power source, driving the propellers installed at the stern, allowing the ship to sail even in the absence of wind.
It had to be said, the technological advancement in the world of One Piece was truly remarkable at times.
He wasn't entirely sure how this ship could generate electricity from water flow, but as long as it worked, that was all that mattered.
After all, there were even those who used cola as fuel.
That was true black technology.