In Water 7, at Tom's Workers on the west coast, Grimm arrived alone. Gangplank was responsible for finding accommodation and buying some supplies.
"May the Holy Light be with you!"
As soon as Grimm arrived, he saw an extremely tall, yellow-skinned merman with bull horns carrying a pair of logs and placing them next to a ship that was being built. The ship looked almost complete.
"He's really strong." Grimm commented, looking at the merman's back. Mermen had superhuman physical qualities, but the amount of wood he was carrying just now wasn't something that ordinary mermen could handle.
"The best shipwright on the island, Tom, may the Holy Light be with you!"
Hearing the voice behind him, Tom, wearing a blue short-sleeved shirt, turned around and saw a black-haired human boy wearing a white long coat and a cross on his chest. He didn't know when he had appeared behind him.
"Hello, young man. What can I do for you? Are you here to build a ship?" In just an instant, Tom realized that the other party was no ordinary person. If he became a pirate, he could get a bounty of more than 20 million Berries just by relying on this strange whereabouts. It was absolutely impossible for ordinary people to approach him so silently.
"Respected shipwright Tom, are you interested in making a unique ship?" Grimm asked with interest.
"What kind of ship?" Tom was intrigued.
"A steel battleship!" Grimm's mouth curved up.
"A steel battleship?" Tom stroked his small mustache. Ships were made of wood, so it was easier to handle and repair if they were damaged. The idea of using steel to build ships had been around for a long time, but it didn't work.
In addition to the difficulty of repairing, the more important point was that the sails couldn't move it. It was too heavy.
All the ships in this world used sails as the main power source. Even the so-called thrusters of the Straw Hats' future "Thousand Sunny" were only used for escape. The main power for normal sailing still relied on sails.
Steel was too heavy, and the sails couldn't move them. This was the main reason why even the government didn't use steel ships.
"Well... young man, do you understand why no one has sailed steel ships out to sea from the past to the present?"
Tom seriously suspected that this kid in front of him didn't understand ships at all. He was actually asking him to build such a ship. It definitely couldn't be moved!
Grimm smiled slightly. Of course, he knew that this world didn't have a steel ship's engine, but that didn't mean he didn't have the manufacturing method for this device. Of course, Grimm's method wasn't the so-called "steam engine" from his previous life, but a blueprint that the system gave him - "Sky Noble."
As long as Tom built it according to the blueprint, the power would be provided by "Magic Stone," which was provided free of charge by the system.
After giving this blueprint to Tom, Tom frowned slightly in surprise. This was the first time he had seen a blueprint for this kind of steel battleship, and he had never seen this kind of power device before.
This kind of power device? Was it really useful? Tom had a trace of doubt in his heart.
It just so happened that he didn't have any big business recently, and he also wanted to see what could make a steel battleship without sails move, so he accepted this business.
"Young man's name is..."
"Tirion D. Grimm!"
Tom nodded. "I see, Grimm. According to your idea, I can build a steel ship, but because it uses steel, the money and time used cannot be calculated according to market prices!"
"Name your price!"
"Three hundred million Berries, completed in one month!" In order not to make Grimm feel that it was too much, Tom specially added three words at the end: "Friendly price!" In fact, he really didn't raise the price. A large number of high-quality steel plates to replace wood, plus labor costs, three hundred million Berries was really very friendly. The main thing was that he himself was very interested and wanted to know what was used as power for a steel ship without sails.
"Only 300 million?" Grimm was quite surprised. He remembered how much Luffy's ship cost. It didn't seem to be less than 300 million either. He didn't expect that the unique steel battleship he was building wouldn't be as good as theirs.
Only 300 million...
Tom and the several shipwrights behind him were stunned. Could this kid be a tycoon? Three hundred million was just a joke to him?
Suddenly, Tom and the others saw Grimm take out three boxes from somewhere and put them on the ground.
Grimm opened them, and Tom and the others were startled. A box full of gold coins, and two boxes of silver coins.
Grimm asked: "I don't know how much these are worth!"
"Hmm?" Tom waved his hand and summoned two mermen to start counting the gold and silver.
The merman responsible for counting said: "This is worth about 150 million Berries. It's definitely enough as a deposit, but now we..."
Although Grimm had killed a lot of pirates before and exchanged a lot of money, Grimm and the others had also spent a lot along the way.
Gangplank had calculated that they had spent more than 130 million Berries along the way. For this reason, Gangplank complained a lot. Every time Grimm arrived in a city, he would enjoy all kinds of pleasures, wine, massages, and delicious food, leaving nothing out, which was why the money was spent so quickly.
"Don't worry, I know the rules here." Grimm pointed to a sign that said "Only accept full payment" and scratched his head. "I'll make up the rest of the money soon!"
"N-No... Even if you say that, there's still a full 150 million Berries left..." The merman stammered.
"Is there a pirate on this island with a bounty of over 150 million Berries?" Grimm suddenly asked.
"You, you don't want to..." Everyone was shocked and understood what method Grimm wanted to use to make money.
"We are shipwrights and don't know much about pirates." Tom blinked his small eyes, which were completely inconsistent with his figure, and advised: "Don't mess around, young man. 150 million Berries is an extremely high bounty amount. It will take at least a month to build this kind of ship. I don't require you to pay it all at once. Just slowly kill some weak pirates and accumulate it slowly!"
Although Grimm had killed a lot of great pirates, his reputation hadn't completely reached the ears of people like Tom, who didn't pay attention to pirate news.
"Oh? So this is Tom's Workers. We want to build a ship, boss!"
Grimm was about to thank Tom for his care and concern when he heard a man shout in the distance. Everyone turned their heads and looked, and saw more than a dozen men rushing towards them. The one who had just shouted was a red-haired kid with a straw hat on his head.
And the others were all extraordinary, especially a man in the middle with a curved black mustache and shining white teeth gave Grimm the feeling of "not being simple."
Moreover, these people looked very familiar.
"Don't be noisy, you brat!"
Rayleigh, who still had blond hair and was very young, came out and said: "Sorry, we want to invite you to build a ship to continue our sea voyage, a large ship that can accommodate about fifty people!"
This future Pirate King's deputy usually handled this kind of work.
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