"Hahahaha! What a perfect PLUS upgraded version!"
"I feel like I can beat two Sengokus right now!"
Zephyr felt the automatically shifting Iron Cloud and laughed happily like a child.
"As for whether or not you can beat two old man Sengokus, I can't guarantee that."
"But I am certain that with this thing, nobody will dare mess with you if you go out to sea."
"Later I'll find a good doctor and get your asthma treated too."
"Wouldn't do for your old bones to give out before anything even happens."
Hammer maintained flight while watching Zephyr happily fooling around.
Zephyr responded to Hammer's words with utter disdain.
"You just focus on your own path."
"I'm already a retired man. Why would I go to the front lines?"
"And even if I did, hmph, I wouldn't fear anyone!"
He was Black Arm Zephyr.
What kind of big scenes hadn't he seen before?
Hammer stayed silent.
After all, as someone who had read the original story, he knew Zephyr's future very well.
To prevent those events from happening, he still needed to make a series of preparations.
"Alright, old man. Have fun by yourself."
"I'm going to prepare to head out to sea."
"There are still missions to complete."
Even Hammer himself didn't believe those words.
Complete missions?
Heaven knew how badly he didn't want to go out to sea.
But for the sake of becoming Logistics Chief and for his future plans, he could only grit his teeth and accept it.
After saying goodbye to Zephyr, Hammer headed straight for the harbor.
The Warhammer was already fully prepared.
Five hundred soldiers and three officers stood ready to depart.
The moment they saw Hammer arrive, everyone silently began making preparations to set sail.
"Lance, we're departing."
"Destination: Paradise, the first half of the Grand Line."
"We're finding Kuzan first."
"Spread the word along the way that I want to meet Mihawk."
"And that I have a way to solve the problem of his sword producing music."
Hammer had already thought through how to find Mihawk.
Wasn't Mihawk always troubled by the musical sound effects whenever he swung his sword?
Then he'd just use that as bait to lure him out.
"Huh? Seriously? You can fix that sword?"
"Of course not."
Hammer mercilessly rolled his eyes at Lance, thinking this guy had gotten dumber after eating his Devil Fruit.
"That thing was created through my ability."
"How am I supposed to take it back?"
"Have you ever seen any item I forged lose its imbued abilities?"
What a joke.
That was a product of his supreme ability.
It wasn't something that could just be withdrawn whenever he felt like it.
"Enough already."
"Just spread the message."
"As for how? You're literally lightning now. Do I still have to teach you?"
Lance nodded blankly.
He truly couldn't keep up with Hammer's train of thought.
"Sigh, Lance…"
"You really need to eat more walnuts or something."
"Improve your brain."
"You've got the Goro Goro no Mi now. Your mobility is insane."
"Whenever we pass by an island, just turn into lightning and fly over there to spread the news."
"As for the method, throw newspapers, shout announcements, whatever you want."
Lance was completely dumbfounded.
'Wait a minute.'
'Was his ability really meant for this kind of stuff???'
Not just him, even Sherry and Hina were shocked speechless by Hammer's ideas.
A perfectly good Lightning Fruit was practically turning into an all-purpose utility power under Hammer's hands.
First it became a furnace.
Now it was running errands too.
After leaving Marineford, the Warhammer sailed directly toward the first half of the Grand Line.
Hammer once again acted as the hands-off boss, directly returning to the forge room.
Everything else was left to Lance and the others.
…
"20 Million Volts! Trident!"
A blue lightning trident descended from the sky, instantly blasting a pirate ship into pieces.
The lightning flashed several times before returning to the deck of the Warhammer.
"Lance, your Devil Fruit really is convenient."
"It's completely incomparable to my simple electricity abilities."
Sherry looked enviously at Lance in his lightning form.
The Goro Goro no Mi was simply too versatile.
Lightning's speed, attack power, and attack range all stood at the very peak.
"The number of pirates has been increasing lately."
"We've only been at sea for one day, how many pirate groups has this been already?"
Lance dispersed his lightning and looked toward the sinking pirate ship with a sigh.
"The fourth one, I think."
"I sank one earlier with the soldiers."
"You handled all the rest."
"Alright, let's continue forward."
"Kuzan just sent word."
"They're resting in Alabasta."
"We should hurry and meet up with him."
The voyage continued.
One day later, the Warhammer arrived at Nanohana, the harbor city of Alabasta.
Looking at the familiar desert, Lance couldn't help remembering the first time he and Hammer had come here together.
pururu puru
"Hello? Kuzan, where are you guys?"
"Hm? Yuba?"
"Alright, got it. We're heading over now."
Click.
After hanging up the call, Lance immediately knocked on the forge room door.
"Hey, Hammer. Kuzan's group is resting in the trade city of Yuba."
"Got it."
"Dock the warship properly. We'll head over."
Hammer's voice first responded from inside the forge room, followed by a series of clanging metal sounds.
When Hammer finally pushed open the door, fifteen minutes had passed.
"Took you long enough."
"Making another new weapon?"
Hammer glanced at him.
"You think new weapons are that easy to make?"
"I'm just making some preparations for old man Sengoku's exclusive weapon."
….....
Walking across the yellow sands of Alabasta, Hammer kept pondering Sengoku's exclusive weapon.
He already had ideas for both the design and abilities.
The Light Crystal and Light Shells had already been prepared.
Next came the forging and fusion process.
But that was also the difficult part.
He first needed to create a material capable of embedding light elements.
His current choice was still Iron Cloud.
After all, Iron Cloud already triggered excellent effects and made an ideal carrier.
"Hey, Hammer."
"You've been awfully quiet this whole trip."
"You alright?"
"You're not still lost in confusion, are you?"
This trip to the trade city of Yuba only included five squads and Lance.
Sherry and Hina stayed behind on the Warhammer.
Seeing Hammer silent the entire way made Lance nervous.
After all, Hammer's crazed state from before had left an unforgettable impression on him.
"Me? I'm fine."
"I'm just thinking about weapons."
"Speaking of which, Lance…"
"Why don't you ask why I only brought you alone to meet Kuzan?"
Hammer withdrew from his thoughts and looked at Lance with a teasing grin.
Instantly, Lance felt an ominous premonition.
"W-why…"
Listening to Lance's stammering question, Hammer grinned exaggeratedly.
"Because we're going to meet Kuzan."
"One of the three Logia monsters of Marine Headquarters."
"The Ice-Ice Fruit user, Kuzan."
"I carefully selected a great training opponent for your elemental abilities."
"Lance, you should really thank me for this!"
Lance: 'What the hell???'