A week passed in the blink of an eye.
At Birka's harbor.
A three-masted sailing ship loaded with all kinds of supplies slowly left the port, heading into the depths of the White Sea.
"Mieko-sama, judging by the current situation, it'll probably take a little over a week of sailing before we reach Angel Island," a navigator said as he stood at the bow, reporting respectfully to Mieko.
"A little over a week, huh. That's pretty far," Mieko said, looking out over the vast expanse of the White Sea, white as far as the eye could see. He nodded slightly, then turned and headed into the cabin.
Inside the cabin, several Lamp Shells gave off a gentle glow, lighting up what had been a somewhat dim space until it was bright as day.
Five or six craftsmen looked a bit worn out. They clustered around a table, sketching and writing on paper, and every so often they would carefully check the yellowed blueprint set off to the side.
"Mieko-sama!" Odin, who had been drinking tea nearby, hurriedly stood up when he saw Mieko enter.
"Mieko-sama!" The craftsmen also turned around. Upon seeing Mieko, they quickly bowed.
Mieko nodded, signaling that they didn't need to be so formal, then asked softly, "Well? You've been studying these blueprints for almost a week now. Are you confident you can redesign a flying ark that'll satisfy me?"
To be honest, after carefully reading the design drawings for the Ark "Maxim" back then, Mieko had even found himself wondering whether the original, supermassive Ark "Maxim" had been built by exhausting every last resource on the Moon.
Because the "Maxim" shown on the blueprints was simply too huge—nearly a third the size of Birka itself. Given their current circumstances, it was flat-out impossible to build it. So Mieko could only have these craftsmen redesign a smaller ark based on the blueprints.
"Mieko-sama, these blueprints seem to be missing a portion. According to the notes on them, this ark called 'Maxim'…" The lead craftsman hesitated, then spoke carefully, afraid his words might displease Mieko. "...this airship is anything but ordinary. Not only is it enormous with astonishing carrying capacity, it also seems to hide an unimaginable level of power. But the problem is—the design drawings for the weapon system are missing. Those weapon systems are exquisitely sophisticated and complex. We're simply out of our depth and can't restore them…"
The other craftsmen all wore troubled expressions as well. Clearly, they too were unable to reconstruct that part of the weapon system, or to design a replacement capable of matching it.
"The weapon system is missing?" Mieko froze for a moment. He'd never even considered that the Ark "Maxim" might come equipped with a weapon system. But if only the weapon system was missing, then that meant someone had deliberately destroyed it—or hidden it away.
It obviously couldn't have been Arthur Wilson. He wouldn't have had the guts. So the only possibility was that the former king of Birka, worried about the "Maxim" blueprints leaking out, had intentionally destroyed that portion.
Which meant the original weapon system on this "Maxim" was likely no joke—otherwise it wouldn't have been singled out for destruction.
In that moment, Mieko even began to suspect that this "Maxim" might be the legendary Ancient Weapon—"Heavenly King," Uranus.
Of course, none of that mattered to him.
Mieko had no interest in large-scale offensive weapons. What he needed was simply an ark capable of flying through the sky.
He frowned and thought for a while, then looked up at the middle-aged craftsman and asked directly, "If we forget about the weapon system and only require that the ship can fly fast in the air, can you design it?"
On that point, he and Enel might actually see eye to eye. After all, for people like them—people with ultra-long-range attack power—if the weapon system on the newly designed "Maxim" wasn't strong enough, then it was better to have none at all.
"If we don't need the weapon system, then there's no problem. But we'll need some time," the craftsman replied.
Mieko sat down and began carefully examining some of the drafts the craftsmen had drawn. Someone spoke up to ask, "Then how long will it take?"
"At the fastest, it'll still take around two months. You have to understand—this ark is nowhere close to being comparable to an ordinary ship!" The craftsmen huddled together and discussed in low voices, then finally gave a clear timeframe.
"Two months it is, then. Anyway, even if we start building, without a few years it probably still won't be finished!"
…
"BOOM!!!"
A gigantic Sea King with a lion's head and a fish's body suddenly burst up from the sea of clouds. Immediately after, a lightning pillar more than a meter wide punched straight through its skull in an instant. Its whole body charred black, it sank directly down into the White Sea.
Several hundred meters away on the surface, a three-masted sailing ship was moving along at a steady pace. Seeing that hair-raising scene, several sailors wore expressions of awe as they turned to look toward the side deck—where Mieko was sprawled on a lounge chair, leisurely sunbathing.
Even though over this past week-plus they'd already witnessed scenes like this many times, every time they saw it, they still couldn't help but feel shaken.
It was completely beyond anything they could imagine. If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, they never would've believed someone could actually command the most mysterious and most fearsome force in nature—lightning.
"Mieko-sama, your Mantra coverage range is absolutely incredible. Even from several hundred meters away, you can detect Sea Kings the instant they appear!"
Standing behind Mieko, Odin stared at the Sea King's corpse slowly sinking into the White Sea in the distance, unable to stop himself from exclaiming in amazement. He knew he was nowhere near capable of something like that.
What hit him even harder was that two weeks ago, Mieko hadn't even started training Observation Haki yet.
"I've only just gotten a handle on Mantra myself. It's not like I can reach that level," Mieko said, shaking his head. He withdrew his right hand as the rapidly gathered lightning dispersed, and explained with a faint smile. "It's just that my body is basically lightning. After combining with electromagnetic waves, my Mantra coverage ends up far exceeding most people…"
The effect created by combining Mantra with electromagnetic waves really had exceeded his expectations. He still couldn't do what Enel did—cover dozens or even hundreds of li with his sensing range—but his range was already far beyond most powerhouses.
After all, someone like Fujitora—someone who could "hear" the sound of drifting clouds… someone who could even catch the sound of lightning on a distant sea surface—an absurd monster pushed to the extreme like that, in the entire pirate world, you could probably count them on one hand.
"Electromagnetic waves?" Odin was stunned when he heard that. Things like electromagnetic waves were almost completely outside the scope of his understanding.
"We're here!"
Mieko didn't waste more breath explaining. He stood up, walked to the bow, and cast his gaze toward the endless White Sea ahead. In the far distance, a black dot was gradually coming into view. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly as a faint smile appeared.
They'd been sailing across this vast White Sea for over a week. And now, Angel Island had finally entered their sight!
(End of Chapter)
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