Upgrades Chapter 61 (Patreon)

Sitting in the deep dark tunnel I had created in my quest for resources I pondered my life while in total darkness with only the sounds of my breathing being the only form of stimuli. "Am I a dwarf in this hole? I have embraced the dark caves, my grog fills my gut with warmth and strength. My height doesn't matter so long as I fit in the tunnels to do my mining... What is a dwarf to a human, to what a human is to a giant or troll? Am I the dwarf to a giant or troll?" 

My 'deep' musings was cut off as I heard the faint echo of Tina and Tamamo yelling from the fifty-meter almost straight down deep hole I had created to get down into my mine. "Ah the missus are calling. I will be back Mine-chan, for I shall plumb your depths to the ends of the earth... Or something to that effect. Gods I am going crazy." I muttered to myself more quietly as I made my way to the hole I made and I yelled out.

"What do you guys want?"

And Tamamo's head popped back over the edge of the hole and she yelled out. "We have people from Melen who heard your explosives and came to check it out!"

'Ah... Shit.' I muttered and I grabbed the rope I left to help myself get back up and I quickly scaled up the slightly angled wall with my feet walking up it as I also pulled myself up with the rope.

Once I got up to the edge, Tina and Tamamo grabbed my buckle in Tina's case and Tamamo grabbed my arms to pull me fully out of my hole and as I shook the dust out of my hair I took in our guests and I blinked in surprise at what I saw. "Oh, why hello, what can I do for you all?" I asked as I took in three familiar forms.

One was a stout dwarf wearing thick armor and having a glorious beard while also armed with a huge axe, the second one was another fucking Pallum... But one I recognized due to his blond hair and familiar eyes along with wielding a gold-tipped spear. But the last one was a woman I recognized far easier due to her lively forest-green hair and green eyes with pointed elfin ears sticking out.

'What is the Loki Familia doing out here around Melen?' I thought as I took in the forms of the future leaders of the Loki Familia in Gareth, Finn, and Riveria. But either way, I spoke relaxedly. "Hello! What can we do for you three?" I asked with an easygoing smile.

Finn matched my smile as he looked between Tina and I with Tamamo standing behind me with our two tamed monsters also standing on our corners. "We were just doing a patrol around the forests of Melen to see if we could find any monsters. And with all the noise we noticed your group." 

I shrugged and with some humor I said rhetorically. "Yeahhh, mining and clearing out an area to do some building is going to get some attention I suppose." 

Gareth being a hearty dwarf himself chuckled at my words with his deep voice coming out filled with amusement. "He has you there Finn. Anyway seeing as you lads have things well in hand and those monsters are obviously tamed we won't bug ye three anymore." 

I nodded and gave a wave as I said. "Yeah you guys be careful, monsters are coming out the lake more commonly recently." 

Finn's head dipped in my direction in thanks as he turned around with Gareth following with Riveria remaining silent as she followed behind the two shorter men. 

Though as I watched them leave... I couldn't help a thought. 'Was it just me? Or does Riveria look like the Rukkhadevata Captain Elanor? Like they really share a lot of the same facial features... But Elanor has a larger bust I guess.' I thought before shaking the thought aside as I watched the three leaving as they took a diagonal path away from us to keep our group in the corner of their eyes.

"Hmm so is that enough resources Jake?" Tamamo asked as she held her stomach and gave me a pitiful look. "I am hungry!"

I gave a wry smile as I idly wondered if Tamamo's hunger for more food than normal people was in part due to the monsters and the materials I had fused into her form when I created her. But either way I nodded and with the three of the Loki members already out of sight I took out some hearty sandwiches to feed us all.

Even as we ate though, I decided to see how we were actually doing on resources so I went around collecting all the felled trees while giving the infant dragon and kelpi each a couple of whole uncooked chickens to eat.

After I got all the resources the girls had collected I took a deep breath and focused on the image of the Thousand Sunny as I tried to imagine all its details. All the of memories the Strawhats had on it. The girls playing Volleyball on it, Luffy falling off the railings and drowning every few days probably. And the memories of the interiors of the ship itself.

I could feel my very soul shuddering as the depth of my thoughts and force of will behind this fusion made my fusion system humm to life like a computer being put to the test in running a benchmark test or something. The literal tons of materials burned brightly in my mental eye within the inventory. All of the resources we collected swirled together in a mist of primordial energy that slowly became true matter once more.

Not to mention I decided to be brave... I decided to fuse one of the three mermaids into the ship!

And with something a cracking noise, I felt some blood leak out of my nose as something popped in my mind and I could feel my fusion systems internals so much clearer as the light show faded away leaving me exactly what I wanted!

I laughed aloud in triumph! As I now had the best boat of them all!

[Thousand Golden Sunny Hind] [A boat made out of high-tier wood blessed with transformative properties of a large number of monster stones empty and full properties. The internals are fully functional including three bedrooms, two baths, a storeroom, a dining hall/kitchen, fish tank, and a monster stone energy core.] [The ship is alive due to Mermaid fusion and has a spirit to guide it, all weapons and systems require monster stones or similar magical energy-filled containment units to be fed to the energy core.]

Reading through the long description of the ship I grinned happily before my face twitched reaching the damned afterward my system would always. give. [For the man who refused to fuck a mermaid... We give a ship that he can actually fuck.]