"Hammer, are you sure it's okay to take this much stuff?"
Without even turning his head, Hammer replied:
"What's there to be afraid of? I've got special permission. I can choose any forging material I want, that's authority granted by Admiral Sengoku!"
"What are you standing there for? Load it up! Take more of the refined iron and black iron ore and stuff."
Lance watched as Hammer cleared out several mountain-sized piles of materials, twitching uncontrollably at the corner of his mouth.
In the end, Hammer took ninety percent of all the rare materials in one go, leaving only a tiny bit of each item behind.
When the two of them pushed their mountain of materials out of the warehouse, Vice Admiral Andre, the Logistics Chief, fainted on the spot from shock and rage.
"Nice! With these materials, I'm confident I can build a warship that will dominate even the New World!"
Hammer was visibly excited as he returned to the dock. He told Lance to pile the materials to one side, then turned and went to the armory to grab his tools.
Renovating a Ship is Way Harder than Forging a Weapon
First of all, the steel behemoth already had excellent quality. Upgrading it required extremely high-grade materials, which is exactly why Hammer gathered so many rare ones.
He planned to perfect it even further, modifying the existing steel giant to an entirely new level.
Time to get to work.
Duang!
The hammering sound left the armory and echoed in the dockyard.
Since safety was paramount, the ship's collision resistance was a top priority.
Hammer began by reforging the steel. He combined refined iron, black iron ore, and diamond dust to create a composite with extreme hardness.
Although this hybrid steel was incredibly durable and hard to work with, to Hammer, who had mastered flame and hammer techniques, it was just a tougher toy.
The steel plates were processed again and cut into uniform long strips, ideal for layering over the original hull.
As for wood like the deck, Hammer used high-quality Yarukiman Mangrove, reinforced with tin-iron alloy. Every board was lined with iron trim, creating a beautiful finish.
Speaking of Yarukiman Mangrove, Hammer found it deep in the warehouse, a massive tree root, probably brought from Sabaody Archipelago by some predecessors. Now it all belonged to him.
While Hammer was refining materials, Shirley completed the recruitment.
With support from Fleet Admiral Kong and others, they quickly gathered 400 marines, all admirers of Hammer's fame.
"Brother, the soldiers have been recruited. What now?"
Hammer had already planned for this. A massive steel ship like this was impossible to finish alone, manpower was essential.
"Shirley, have all the soldiers come help with the reconstruction."
"Start disassembling everything but the ship's skeleton. I'm slimming the whole thing down."
Following Hammer's orders, the 502 soldiers swarmed the ship and stripped it down to its bare frame.
Then Hammer personally went to work, flames bursting from his heavy hammer. The ship's frame glowed red as he pounded it down to reduce weight and reinforced it for even greater durability.
"Now what, Brother?"
At this point, there was no going back.
"See all that steel? Divide the soldiers into five teams. Three will carry it up to the deck and mount it on the hull."
"Just install it, I'll handle the finishing touches."
"The other two teams will remove the old wood panels and replace them with my new ones."
Shirley nodded and started organizing the soldiers.
For over ten days, Hammer and the troops worked tirelessly to overhaul the warship.
Rare materials were transformed into reinforced components.
From bow to stern, everything was upgraded and reinforced.
On the 17th day, the reconstruction was finally complete.
"This is exactly the ship I imagined!"
Covered in soot but grinning ear to ear, Hammer flashed his white teeth with joy.
Though dirty and tired, the soldiers were clearly thrilled and full of anticipation.
The steel behemoth before them looked completely different now.
Once a green-and-blue ship, it had been reborn in shimmering silver-white, shining under the sun, all from rare ores steel.
After mounting all the steel plates, Hammer began hammering nonstop.
Three days and nights later, a familiar and exhilarating sound echoed:
[Ding! Critical Crafting Triggered.]
[Modified Warship (Steel Behemoth): +50% Defense, -50% Weight, +50% Engine Power.]
With this bonus, the silver-white behemoth was completely reborn. Despite looking heavy, it now moved with incredible speed and force.
"Hammer, isn't the color a bit too flashy?"
Lance's tired eyes sparkled with excitement, but he was still worried.
"Flashy? Don't be ridiculous. With all this armor, those small fries wouldn't dare get close!"
"And I've even picked out a badass name!"
Lance grew curious.
"What name?"
"The Majestic and Unrivaled Warhammer!"
"I'll get some black paint and write it across the side later."
Hammer beamed with pride.
Lance: "..."
'What kind of ridiculous name is Majestic and Unrivaled Warhammer...?'
"Let's just skip that. The silver-white looks good. Black paint will ruin it."
"What about weapons?"
Trying to steer Hammer away from more crazy ideas, Lance quickly changed the topic.
Hammer's face darkened.
Most of the weapons had been destroyed with the previous smaller warship.
"We'll work on weapons slowly. If it comes to it, we'll go to the North Sea and find Judge. With our relationship, getting support shouldn't be a problem!"
Hammer didn't know Judge had regained his memories, but Germa's weaponry was definitely advanced.
"Besides, there's still Punk Hazard, Vegapunk's tech should be pretty amazing too, right?"
"Alright then, Lance. Have the soldiers board the ship! Let's move it to the harbor and prepare to head to Punk Hazard!"
And so, a silver-white warship slowly entered Marineford Harbor.
Countless soldiers were instantly drawn to the dazzling vessel.
"Whoa! That silver color is so luxurious!"
"Blinding in the sunlight!"
"Whose ship is that?! So over-the-top!"
Whispers buzzed among the marine troops.
The commotion reached the higher-ups.
"Alright, break it up. Get back to work!"
Sengoku came to inspect the port and began dispersing the crowd.
Then his eyes landed on the silver-white steel behemoth.
Right at that moment, Hammer walked up, arms full of blacksmithing tools, freshly brought over from the dock to be loaded onto the ship.
"Yo! Admiral Sengoku, nice-looking ship, huh?"
Sengoku instinctively stepped back from the soot-covered Hammer.
"This is your ship? What happened to it?"
"I was worried about encountering dangerous enemies next time I set sail, so I reforged the steel behemoth."
"Well? Looks good, right?"
Sengoku nodded. He had to admit, the craftsmanship was impressive. Every steel plate was meticulously installed, it looked majestic indeed.
But soon, his expression turned suspicious.
"Modifying a whole ship like that must've taken a lot of materials."
"Just the steel plates alone, you'd need tons of iron ore. Where'd you get it all?"
Hammer flashed a big grin, his teeth gleaming white.
"Took it from the warehouse! Not much, just, you know, 90% of everything."
Sengoku froze. A second later, he coughed up a mouthful of tomato-red juice(Blood).
A furious roar echoed through the entire port:
"YOU BASTARD, Hammer!!!"
"THAT WAS THE ENTIRE MATERIAL STOCKPILE FOR MARINEFORD!!!"
"YOU DAMNED MONEY WASTER!!"
....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 15 chapters ahead.
[email protected]/DaoistJinzu