"Merry, you really didn't disappoint me!"
After closing Merry's status panel, Red's gaze skipped over the excited companions and settled directly on Merry herself, who had already grown into the appearance of a young girl.
Setting aside the fact that at only Level 32 she already possessed a total stat value as high as 588—and even gained additional Psychic-type attributes in her ship-spirit form…
The Going Merry, which had successfully evolved from a light sailboat into a large battleship, had not only changed its typing from Normal to the utterly outrageous Steel + Flying combination—
Even her original AR System ability had transformed after the upgrade into something that made even Red feel unfamiliar: Ancient Activity.
Red could still understand Ancient Activity as stemming from the ancient-weapon-grade materials used in Merry's construction.
But for a ship-form Merry to actually possess the Flying type…
Even Red found this result astonishing.
He murmured softly to himself, "As long as there's a power source available, or under clear skies, her strength will receive a boost…"
"It looks like the ship form, which used to be relatively weak, has now completely turned into Merry's strongest form."
"Well, that makes sense too…"
"If even this couldn't make Merry stronger, then all the effort we put in these past few days would've been meaningless."
Countless thoughts drifted through Red's mind.
The blueprints of the ancient weapon Pluton, the branches of the Treasure Tree Adam…
In Red's eyes, all of these were nothing more than tools to make his partner Merry stronger!
And judging from the results, his plan had been an undeniable success.
"Hey! Are you guys planning to just stand around here like idiots forever?!"
As the Straw Hats bombarded the newly evolved little Merry with questions, Franky grabbed the ladder along the ship's side and climbed onto the deck.
He strode straight to the cabin entrance, flashing everyone a brilliant, toothy grin.
"Let's go!"
"Even though you've got a ship spirit—"
"For your first tour of this brand-new battleship, it's only proper that the designer himself does the explaining!"
Led by Franky, the Straw Hat crew soon began an orderly tour of the Going Merry's interior.
For them, the greatest impact of Merry's expansion was simple but profound: they finally no longer had to squeeze several people into one tiny room to sleep.
Thoughtful shipwright Franky had designed a private bedroom for each member of the Straw Hat crew, and even left plenty of extra rooms reserved for future companions.
Kitchen, dining hall, training room, helm chamber, cloakroom, pharmacy, cultivation room, aquarium…
The sheer variety of facilities left everyone dazzled—and overjoyed.
Half an hour later, Franky finally finished guiding the Straw Hats through the ship's active living areas.
Then, under his lead, they arrived at the very lowest level of the ship—
The Going Merry's power system!!!
The blueprints of the ancient weapon Pluton naturally didn't record mundane things like bedrooms or storage rooms.
From this point on lay the true core of the ship—and the area with the strongest sense of technology!
The moment the hatch opened, a wave of scorching heat rushed toward them.
What came into view were rows upon rows of pipelines filled with flowing golden liquid.
The instant she saw them, a tear slipped uncontrollably from Nami's eye.
Because the golden liquid in those pipes was nothing else—
High-purity gold they had scavenged from Sky Island!!!
Gold once worth at least hundreds of billions of Beli—nearly all of it was now stored here in the Going Merry's power compartment, serving as the raw energy source for the ship.
Nami simply couldn't understand why Pluton's power system required so much gold.
Much like how Red still couldn't figure out why three bottles of cola could give Franky such terrifying strength.
Fortunately, the gold was only used to keep the Pluton system running. While there would be wear and loss over time, it wasn't directly consumed.
As they walked, Franky explained,"This is the Going Merry's power compartment."
"Besides wind power, the ship can now use the energy stored here to greatly increase sailing speed—and even unleash its exclusive attacks!"
At this point, Franky suddenly paused, then said with a strange expression,"To be honest, I really didn't expect you guys to obtain Pluton's activation energy in this way."
"Even though it's a bit cruel, sometimes I can't help wondering…"
"Whether the Pluton from hundreds of years ago was also kept running like this."
"After all, the energy Pluton needs would be dozens of times greater than what the Going Merry requires!"
After several turns through the lower decks—
Franky led everyone to a massive containment tank.
Inside it floated a tall man, bare-chested.
It was none other than the former God of Sky Island—Enel, successfully hypnotized by Red and obediently serving as the Going Merry's living battery.
Yet when they saw Enel inside the tank, the Straw Hats showed little surprise.
After all, they already knew Red planned to use Enel—who possessed the Rumble-Rumble Fruit and could generate massive amounts of electricity—as the ship's power source.
Besides, it helped that Enel was no saint.
He had personally destroyed his homeland, wiped out countless lives, and oppressed the people of Sky Island for years…
Otherwise, with the kindhearted nature of people like Chopper, the crew might not have been able to accept turning someone into a battery.
And despite Enel's mediocre combat strength, the fact that he had maintained Observation Haki powerful enough to cover all of Sky Island for years meant his mental strength was abnormally high.
After hypnotizing Enel, Red's hypnosis capacity was instantly consumed by more than half.
Combined with the earlier hypnosis of several Cipher Pol agents…
Unless Red experienced a massive leap in strength, continuing to hypnotize others would leave him unable to fight at all.
Fortunately, the Straw Hat Pirates were now firmly on track, and Red's hypnosis ability was no longer urgently needed.
And with that, every area of the Going Merry had been fully toured.
...
...
Back on the deck of the Going Merry.
Franky leaned against the railing and spoke proudly,
"Well then… now that you've finished touring the ship, there's no need for me to stick around."
"I wish you all a pleasant journey ahead!"
"Don't disgrace this ship's reputation."
As his words fell, Franky prepared to jump off the ship.
But at that moment, Red suddenly called out,
"Hey! Franky!"
"Did you forget something?!"
"Huh?" Franky turned back, confusion written all over his face.
Red extended a finger and pointed at the deck beneath their feet."Did you really forget?"
"We agreed—we'd use the brand-new Merry together…"
"And blast Enies Lobby to pieces!"
"What, is your memory really that bad?!"
"Wha—!?"
Franky stared at them in disbelief.
"You're not serious, are you?!"
"Do we look like the kind of people who joke about this?"
"That's Enies Lobby! One of the World Government's three great symbols!"
"Even with the Going Merry, that doesn't mean you can stand up to the World Government!"
"So what?" Red grinned crookedly. "Hesitating like that doesn't suit you, Franky…"
"Besides, do you really think our strength will just stay where it is forever?!"
"What do you mean?!" Franky asked, still baffled.
At that moment, Luffy stepped forward with a heavy stomp. He pulled his straw hat down snugly over his head, revealing a face that looked simple—yet utterly serious.
He smiled brightly at Franky and said,
"What Red means is…"
"Franky—come be our partner!!!"
(End of Chapter)