NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 96: [96] Base Planning
Moria's bounty exceeded 300 million Berries, and even with all the treasure on board, the total haul barely reached 700 or 800 million.
But the Paramecia-type Shadow-Shadow Fruit, after deducting Moria's bounty value, still cost Sora nearly 600 million Berries.
All in all, the operation cost more than a billion Berries.
Still, the higher the value of a Devil Fruit, the greater its baseline strength and potential.
So naturally, Sora preferred acquiring the most expensive ones.
Even without the Devil Fruit, just gaining control of the massive, island-sized Thriller Bark alone made this mission a resounding success.
Unless he encountered the Golden Lion Shiki, killed him, and obtained the Float-Float Fruit to create a floating island, Thriller Bark would remain his flagship.
Even if he did acquire the Float-Float Fruit, the floating island would still be built around Thriller Bark, since his system could only bind and control ships, not actual landmasses.
Of course, finding Shiki would have to wait until after the war at Marineford. He'd need to boost his strength again to be ready.
Don't be fooled by how easily Luffy defeated Shiki in the movie. That was Luffy—Sora wasn't the protagonist of a story with plot armor.
After reviewing the inventory and treasure list, Sora handed the documents back to Kalifa.
"Tell Reiju and the others—this ship-island will be our new base from now on."
"Let them start brainstorming how to remodel the entire structure. I want a full renovation plan."
"Kalifa, you used to be a mayor's secretary, so you're probably familiar with city planning. You'll lead this project."
The current Thriller Bark was gloomy and gray—Sora didn't like it at all. He wanted a full makeover.
"I understand," Kalifa said.
"What kind of design are you looking for?" she asked, calmly adjusting her glasses.
During her time undercover in Water 7, she had helped with city development efforts. This would be easy—she just needed to lock down Sora's preferences.
Sora rubbed his chin.
"I don't like being disturbed, so I want strong defenses. Good environment. Livable. Fully equipped in every way."
In other words: safe, comfortable, and convenient.
"Understood."
Kalifa took notes, glanced around, and when she confirmed they were alone, she smiled slightly.
She pushed up her glasses, walked over, and quietly locked the helm room door.
Then she jumped into Sora's arms, wrapped herself around him, and kissed him.
She'd been waiting for this moment ever since they left Enies Lobby. With so many people always nearby, she never got the chance—until now.
"You little minx. Trying to seduce me?"
"Kaya said Perona still needs a few days to recover. She can't handle sword training right now."
"Oh? So you investigated? Truly worthy of CP."
"Heehee, well… you're too handsome and too strong. Can you blame me?"
...
While Sora was "working," Reiju, Robin, and the others were busy transporting the corpses Moria had stockpiled.
These had to be dumped into the sea around Thriller Bark, which made for hard labor.
Burning wasn't an option. There were too many, and the smell would have been unbearable.
Makino had originally offered to store the corpses in her dimensional storage box. She even offloaded all her gold and supplies to the main warehouse to free up space.
But the suggestion was unanimously vetoed.
The others forbade her from storing such disgusting items. No one wanted to retrieve food from the storage box and find some grotesque finger lying next to it.
Makino insisted that everything inside was sealed separately, scentless, and sterile—but the others still said no.
Golden Week was even assigned to keep an eye on her, just in case.
Makino, who had looked forward to contributing, was thoroughly deflated.
Twin Thorn Vines!
Zala (Miss Doublefinger) extended thorny vines from her arms, creating a staircase that stretched from the shoreline to the outer perimeter of Thriller Bark.
She layered additional vines between the stairs to form bridges, and extended support spikes down into the ship's hull to keep everything stable.
"Nicely done. This makes things way easier," Reiju praised.
Zala repeated the process several times, constructing bridges so the crew could move freely.
Now, instead of loading bodies onto ships, they could walk them to the edge and toss them directly into the sea.
Robin smiled at Zala's work.
Suddenly, arms sprouted evenly along the bridge spans, forming living conveyor belts that helped move the bodies off the ship.
"Robin, that's amazing!" Nojiko exclaimed.
All they had to do now was carry the bodies to the bridge. Robin handled the rest.
"All right, everyone—gather up the rest of the corpses and bring them here," Reiju instructed, taking the lead.
"Seriously… how many people did Moria kill to pile up this many bodies?" Alvida said with a scowl as she picked one up and walked toward Robin's position.
She didn't want to help with something so grim, but she knew she had to earn her place in the group.
By sundown, the entire Thriller Bark had been cleared of corpses.
Then, under Kalifa's guidance, the crew gathered to discuss how to renovate the massive vessel.
This would be their long-term home, and they all wanted it to be done right.
The idea of living on a proper island rather than a cramped ship thrilled them.
No matter how luxurious a ship might be, it couldn't compare to the comfort of an island.
...
A few days later, deep at night—
Marine Headquarters — Marineford
Naval Intelligence Office
Brrrr~ brrrr~
Click.
Vice Admiral Brannew, also known as the King of Meetings, frowned at the Den Den Mushi ringing beside him and picked it up.
"This is Brannew."
"It's me. Hina."
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