"Just call it the Rocket Team!"
"A ship is a ship. Very few ships share the same name as their pirate crew."
The Straw Hat Pirates' Going Merry, Thousand Sunny.
The Whitebeard Pirates' Moby Dick.
There's even the abstract Straw Hat, made out of extreme admiration for the Straw Hat crew.
"Charizard!"
"Then where does that leave my master Electabuzz?"
There are also ships named after their signature creatures, but clearly the Charizard fans and the Electabuzz fans refused to give in to each other.
Dice: "Invincible Boxer."
Vane: "Points for using your brain, but that name won't do."
Bonez: "Iron Bastion."
Tant: "Beast Tamer."
Next came overly domineering names.
Vane looked at Meowth: "What's the biggest difference between this ship and the others?"
"That's obviously the power system, meow. This ship has a powerful generation and storage system. With electricity, other sailing ships won't even be able to catch our wake."
"The ship's weapon systems can also be controlled through the electrical system."
Clearly, having a power supply was this ship's greatest advantage and defining feature.
"Then we'll call it Thunder Fortress."
Thunder is its core, and Fortress represents the hope that it will be indestructible.
Baccarat was the first to agree: "Thunder Fortress—I think that name suits it perfectly."
As Vane's absolute supporter, no matter what name he chose today, she would always raise both hands in approval.
The captain and leader's authority made the others carefully savor the name Thunder Fortress. Some thought it was excellent, others felt it was average but acceptable. And so, the great ship's name was officially decided.
[Thunder Fortress]
Next, under Meowth's lead along with a group of shipwrights, they began touring Thunder Fortress.
Standard double rooms for regular crew members, single rooms for officers, a grand dining hall, an activity and training room… these ordinary areas were glanced at briefly before moving on.
The focus was on the weapon systems. Along both sides of the hull were multiple embedded cannons, all loaded with Meowth's high-explosive Meowth bombs.
A pirate ship's bow is usually its most distinctive feature. The bow of Thunder Fortress had serrated protrusions like a sawfish. This massive "sawtooth" device could rotate a full one hundred and eighty degrees.
"This is the strongest weapon on Thunder Fortress! The Lightning Projector."
According to Meowth, the Lightning Projector could unleash powerful electric shock waves. Its might was so great that it could tear apart several ships as large as Thunder Fortress.
Of course, the energy consumption was equally massive. If targeting just a single ship, it could release a weaker electric surge to reduce energy usage.
Vane thought of the Straw Hat crew's Thousand Sunny. That harmless-looking lion mouth could open and unleash a powerful shockwave of incredible force—though their energy source was cola.
"The firepower on the sides and front is sufficient. But what about the rear? Isn't the defense lacking there?"
"The stern houses the propulsion system—the main reason this ship can run so fast… But don't worry, I already thought of that. A smaller Lightning Projector is installed at the very top of the ship tower."
The ship tower had three levels. The second floor belonged to Vane—it was his captain's quarters.
The very top floor, the third level, was the control room. This control room had electronic equipment comparable only to Vegapunk's facilities. If Meowth wished, he could operate the entire weapon system alone from inside.
"The biggest surprise is actually in the lowest level of the ship."
Meowth led everyone to the bottom-most space.
The lower deck was vast. It looked like a laboratory mixed with an auto repair workshop, housing the power generators and storage units.
Power generation relied on Electabuzz and human-powered pedal generators. Mainly Electabuzz. According to Electabuzz himself, the electricity he produced was enough to power an entire city—more than enough to sustain Thunder Fortress.
"I've kept this hidden long enough. Time to open your eyes wide, meow. Behold—the Gyarados submarine!"
A blue Gyarados amphibious machine stood before them.
All the male members' eyes lit up instantly.
"Wh-What is this thing?!"
"That's so cool!"
"Is that a machine that can dive underwater?!"
"More than that, meow. It can go on land too."
Vane looked at the Gyarados machine and felt a surge of emotion. It had left a deep impression on him when he was young. He never expected Meowth to actually recreate it.
It could dive in shallow waters and deploy wheels to run on land. It even had two flexible mechanical arms capable of grabbing creatures like Pikachu.
What truly stunned Vane was that the entire machine could run on electricity generated by two people and one cat pedaling bicycle mechanisms. The efficiency was absurd—if this were the real world, even Nobel would crawl out of his grave to personally award Meowth.
"That's not all. I also prepared the Meowth hot air balloon! It can conduct aerial reconnaissance."
The Meowth hot air balloon was even more classic than the submarine among Rocket Team's tools. However, it was far too fragile—every time Rocket Team appeared in it, they ended up blasted away.
The submarine's defense was far stronger than the balloon's.
"Let me show you the brilliance of Meowth's invention. A few of you, get inside the Gyarados submarine."
Everyone eagerly volunteered, all wanting to get inside.
"Hey! Aren't you a Fish-Man? You can dive underwater yourself. Why are you fighting for a seat in the submarine?"
"Fish-Men like machinery too, okay? We want to experience the mysteries of a submarine!"
The three ladies were indifferent to the submarine. They didn't quite understand what the men were scrambling over. Even Big Pan, already nearly five meters tall, tried to squeeze in but was rejected due to his massive size.
So before Thunder Fortress even set sail, the submarine departed first.
On one side of the great ship, a section of the hull slowly opened. The Gyarados submarine entered the sea in land mode headfirst, then transformed into submarine mode and sailed out of the dock.
"Pedal harder!"
"Why aren't we using the stored electricity?!"
The people inside the submarine shouted that they'd been scammed—they hadn't been told they'd have to generate the power themselves.
"It was just finished. Didn't have time to charge it yet, meow."
In terms of technological level, it was far superior to anything Meowth had built before.
Without needing a periscope, they could observe the outside directly. The Gyarados' eyes were transparent glass, incredibly durable. Even after diving to a certain depth, there were no strange sounds.
"Too bad it doesn't have weapons."
For now, it could only be used for exploration. Underwater, its only defensive measures were the two extendable pincers.
"Let's take a look around nearby."
The waters around Bliss Island were of moderate depth. With the help of searchlights, they occasionally found abandoned sunken ships. Using the extendable claws to rummage through them, they actually discovered several treasure chests that seemed relatively well-preserved.
Most of them were empty. But one chest truly contained quite a number of gold coins—they made a small profit.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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