One Piece: Marine to Chapter 142

Chapter 142: Chapter 142

With the Dock fully prepped, there was no need for further discussion... operations officially comnced.

Dante placed imnse value on this Dock, now the exclusive property of the Marine 16th Branch. From this point forward, the branch would no longer need to procure vessels from outside sources.

At the sa ti... they had secured a new stream of revenue.

One had to rember, this was the Great Pirate Era! How could shipbuilding not be a goldmine? So, without hesitation, he decided to overhaul the entire fleet of the Marine 16th Branch, replacing every ship that needed it.

Currently, the Marine 16th Branch’s fleet consisted of three main categories: regular Marine Headquarters warships requisitioned from the top brass, vessels captured from Pirate crews, and ships purchased from various other shipyards.

Among these, the quality of the captured Pirate ships varied wildly. Although most had been cherry-picked, the caliber of Pirate crews in the East Blue was... lackluster, to say the least. Consequently, high-quality Pirate ships were a rarity.

This portion of the fleet could now be entirely phased out and replaced with Warship models exclusive to the Marine 16th Branch.

Naturally, there were so stylistic deviations from the standard Marine Headquarters Warship. These were designs he had specifically commissioned Dr. Wolf and Franky to create.

After all, if they fielded a fleet composed entirely of Marine Headquarters Warship models... it would be a bit too eyecatching for a re branch base.

A single branch possessing over a hundred naval Warship vessels, who wouldn’t be suspicious upon seeing that? It was better to keep things moderate.

And speaking of which...

Even if they wanted to mass-produce that many Warships, they currently lacked the capacity.

Although their proprietary hull structures were no weaker than standard Marine issue, and they could even manufacture vessels comparable to a Large Warship, complete with their unique Propulsion Wheel, the problem was... they simply didn’t have that much Seastone!

Even if they wanted to build them, production would be severely limited by materials.

Currently, their Seastone was almost entirely sourced from the Black Market. It was not only exorbitantly expensive but also available in ager quantities.

After all, Seastone was hard currency in this world.

Even though Kaido had been vigorously expanding mining operations in Wano Country, the output wasn’t massive. Most of it was spoken for long before it left the ground, leaving very little to trickle down into the Black Market.

Of course, right now, Dante just wanted to stay quietly in the East Blue. What was the point of building so many identical Marine Warships anyway? Sturdy ships with a unified aesthetic were more than sufficient.

As for the phased-out vessels: if they were still seaworthy, they would be repurposed for civilian use. If not... he would see if the Dock could salvage them. Those that could be stripped for materials would be dismantled, those that couldn’t... would simply be chopped up, dried, and used as firewood.

In any case, nothing would go to waste.

As for selling ships...

Dante sighed with emotion, his heart bleeding a little as he looked at the Warship replacent expenditure table in his hand. He muttered to himself, "Better... start with the East Blue first!"

--**--**

East Blue, Goa Kingdom.

Foosha Village, inside the Party’s Bar.

"Luffy, on vacation again?" The patrons drinking at the tables looked with amusent at the lad in the straw hat. "Heard you beat soone up two days ago? Did you get fired?"

"I didn’t get fired!" Luffy widened his eyes, protesting with dissatisfaction. "Why do you have to ruin my good na out of nowhere..."

"What good na? Two days ago, soone from my Construction Site passed by your cafeteria and saw you thrashing people with their own eyes. It was a fierce brawl, you even smashed the rice bucket! You must have eaten too much again, cleaned out the cafeteria, and got the sack for it. You even got your Foreman hauled away too!"

"Eating until you’re full can’t be considered too much... it’s just eating!" Luffy stiffened his neck, arguing back. "...Can the rice eaten by a working man really be counted?"

What followed was a string phrases like, "I just wanted to be full!