445 | Together!

“Guys! Vivi is back! So is White Fury! This calls for a party!” Usopp yelled, from his place, where he was working on the new ship. Some of the crew cheered, while they sported grins on their faces. 

“Sanji is back! This calls for a feast!” Yosaku yelled. That made almost everyone cheer up a bit. All of them missed the cook’s exceptional cooking, so they were eager to eat.

“The captain is back! That means more training,” Law said sarcastically, gaining a couple of cold glares from the rest of the crew. Bepo of course apologized for no reason. 

Luffy just snorted at the crew’s antics as he walked over to the newest member of the crew. “Yo! Heard you were our new shipwright?” Luffy said, gaining Franky’s attention, “Cool haircut by the way.”

“Huh, oh… thanks. I’m SUPER cool!” he said with a pose, gaining a chuckle out of Luffy. 

“You sure are big guy, shishishi,” Luffy said before looking towards the new ship that the crew was working on. “So, that’s our new ship, huh? It’s bigger then I imagined…” 

“Yup,” Franky said, nodding to himself, “Well, the crew is quite big considering it’s only been sailing the sea for around one year… and in future, we could get more members, so it’s better to build a big ship.”

Luffy thoughtfully nodded, the ship really was big, maybe twice or three times the size of the Going Merry. And that brought a few questions, for example what wood they were using. 

Of course, Franky was using Adam wood, but because of the large ship, the whole thing couldn’t be built with the same wood. So they were only making the main skeleton of the ship with Adam wood, and the rest of it was made by the mixed wood that was produced by Anchor’s fruit powers. 

Adam wood was the most durable and adaptable wood in the sea. But the mixed wood that Anchor came up with —after munching on the various trees in Skypiea— was also quite durable, maybe not as adaptable. But they had a ton of them in stock, so if the ship did get damaged, they could easily replace them using the combined powers of Anchor and Usopp.

You know, it was the best decision to give the fruits to Anchor and Usopp, they really knew how to utilize their fruit abilities fully. And with them, Franky really was working hard on building the new ship. However, the work was halted a bit due to the celebration. 

Everyone in the crew was elated to be back together and well, everyone had their own stories to share of their adventures, so the rest of the day was spent in celebrating and enjoying rather then anything else. 

Even the Going Merry was happy to see the whole crew back. Though it was a bit sad about not being able to carry the whole crew like before. 

Luffy also took his time to introduce Vivi and White Fury to the new members of the crew. And he also called back to the revolutionary base to confirm Sabo’s whereabouts. They didn’t tell much, but at least Luffy knew Sabo was safe. That was good for now. 

Luffy also noted that, Robin looked much happier, it seemed she was opening up to the crew a lot more. Good. He was a bit conflicted on the decision keeping her back from Water Seven, but it seemed it was a good decision after all. 

.

The next few days went quite fast, the whole crew didn’t do much, mostly relaxing and enjoying their say at Skypiea. 

The ship build was coming along quite well, but it would take a bit more time. Even though Anchor and Usopp were there to help Franky, they weren’t experts at the field. Also, the ship was bigger than the original Thousand Sunny, so it would take a while, before they could finish it. But Luffy didn’t mind. 

That would be their new home for many years to come, he didn’t want to rush things. Luffy did however consider their plans for the future. Mainly going to Thriller Burk. The crew had a few meetings where Luffy told them about Geko Moria and what mission was assigned to him by Sengoku. 

And the crew was happy to travel to new land, they did plan on crossing half of the grandline before the war began. And even though there was a little chance of getting into conflict with Geko Moria, the crew would remain vigilant.

Also, as the ship was taking a bit of time, Franky also helped in solving some of the things in Skypiea underground dungeon. Mainly upgrading the training room. The ship would need another week to finish, so the rest of the time, Luffy spent training himself and his crew. 

Testing out their growth and new techniques. And Luffy had to say, he really was impressed with how strong all of them had gotten. It seemed all of them weren’t slacking off in Water Seven after all. 

Gin’s and Usopp’s improvements were much more noticeable then the rest. Though everything came at a cost, Gin had a large ‘x’ shaped scar on his back, and even though he tried to play it off, the loyal pirate was a bit shaken off by the event. Even Usopp was a bit more stiff after what happened in Enies Lobby. 

All of them had faced death before, but the fight against Onigumo was a close call. It had taught them a valuable lesson, and something the rest of the crew had taken note.

Anchor also was getting better at using his powers. And Cricket had gotten a new sword and his swordsmanship also improved quite a lot. The others had similar improvements in them. And all of them were taken a step further by training. 

In some ways, the crew was more willing to put themselves through rough training if it meant being safe at the sea. Luffy himself was pushing himself harder, though without a sparing partner like Sabo, his growth wasn’t much compared to others. 

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