Seated around the dining table, everyone kept their eyes fixed on Maude.
By now, they all knew that Maude always had ingenious ideas about Devil Fruit abilities—concepts that far exceeded their understanding.
Law and Brook, having benefited the most from Maude's creativity, held genuine admiration for his boundless imagination.
After all, how else could Maude have developed a supposedly weak Shadow-Shadow Fruit into a power that shook the entire world?
So, when they saw that Maude seemed to have something to say about the Float-Float Fruit, even the already-Devil-Fruit-powered Law and Brook became intrigued.
Maude pinched the fruit's stem and lifted the Float-Float Fruit, his gaze shifting downward to the cloud-like swirls on its surface.
Paramecia, Zoan, Logia.
Of the three classifications, Maude had always been most interested in Paramecia-type abilities.
That's because, compared to the raw durability of Zoan-types and the sheer destructive power of Logia-types, only Paramecia abilities truly aligned with the power system of the Hunter x Hunter's world.
And the first impression Maude had of the Float-Float Fruit was—levitation and suspension.
It was precisely through these two traits that Golden Lion had once created his formidable flying fleet that dominated the seas over two decades ago.
But times had changed.
If one simply followed in Golden Lion's footsteps without innovating, they would meet the same fate as his resurrected flying fleet—utter defeat over Marineford.
At its core, though, Golden Lion had wasted twenty years on that so-called IQ Plant.
From Maude's perspective, if Golden Lion had just spent a bit more effort improving his fleet, Kizaru wouldn't have been able to wipe out all of his airborne warships so effortlessly.
Back then, the flying fleet lacked both autonomous propulsion and maneuverability.
So, when Golden Lion was pinned down, his fleet essentially became sitting ducks against Kizaru's attacks.
Having learned from Golden Lion's mistakes, Maude would never take the same path.
"Turning Thriller Bark into a floating island-ship is merely the basic application of the Float-Float Fruit. However, this is precisely the ability that Thriller Bark needs most."
Maude shifted his gaze away from the fruit and looked at his crew.
"But what I want isn't just for Thriller Bark to be a floating island-ship that drifts through the skies—I want it to be an aerial fortress that commands complete dominance over the skies."
"An aerial fortress?"
At the mention of the term, the first image that popped into everyone's minds was… Marineford floating in the sky.
A simple, crude, and direct visualization.
Yet, something about it felt off.
Maude didn't know what kind of ridiculous scenarios his crewmates had just imagined. He set down the Float-Float Fruit and raised three fingers.
"To achieve this, before modifying Thriller Bark, we'll need three things."
"What three things?"
"Special alloy, Pacifista weaponry, and Skypiea's weather technology."
"Uh…"
The crew looked dumbfounded.
Because the Pacifista unit had been destroyed by the Blackbeard Pirates before they could even debut in the Summit War, Lafitte and the others had little knowledge of them.
So when Maude mentioned these three requirements, they lacked a concrete understanding of what he meant.
However, they could at least grasp the three essentials for an aerial fortress:
Metal, weaponry, and technology.
Seeing their puzzled expressions, Maude continued seriously, "Obtaining the special alloy and Skypiea's weather technology won't be too difficult. The real challenge is acquiring the Pacifista weapon systems, which are under Marine control… If we could establish trade with the Navy, we might be able to get our hands on them, but the chances are slim."
He paused for a moment before adding, "Fortunately, there are other ways to acquire a similar weapons system."
"Yohohoho, I think I understand."
Brook raised his teacup and took a sip of the steaming hot tea.
Sitting beside him, Jim tilted his head toward Brook and instinctively asked, "Understand what?"
Brook leaned back slightly, enjoying the moment. "Simply put, as long as we fulfill these three conditions, Thriller Bark will become an incredibly powerful aerial fortress."
"…"
Jim's face twitched as he was left speechless.
Maude chuckled.
In truth, he had even considered using the Float-Float Fruit's ability to take his modified aerial fortress into outer space to explore the universe.
But that was a dream for the distant future—there was no need to shatter his crew's perception of reality just yet.
"I mentioned earlier that turning Thriller Bark into a floating island-ship is just the most basic military application of the Float-Float Fruit."
After giving his crew a few moments to process everything, Maude resumed speaking.
"The true value of this fruit… is that it has the power to change the world."
"What do you mean?"
Law looked surprised, and the others wore similar expressions of confusion.
Instead of answering directly, Maude posed a question. "How much do you all know about Umit, the Shipping King of the Underworld?"
Gaya, Jim, and Brook remained silent—they knew little about the Underworld, let alone Umit.
Lafitte, having spent some time in the Underworld, had heard of Umit but only knew he was one of the six major emperors of the Underworld.
Law, however, had researched the Underworld extensively in his quest to overthrow Doflamingo. Naturally, he was familiar with one of the Dark Emperors, Umit.
"Deep-Sea Currents Umit—one of the six emperors of the Underworld. He controls the shipping industry across the Four Blues and the Grand Line. It's said he can transport goods and people to any sea, which is why he's known as the Shipping King."
"However, since cargo space is limited, his fees are notoriously high. Even so, the demand for his services far exceeds the supply."
Law's brief explanation helped Gaya and the others understand who Umit was.
Brook, who was born 88 years ago, found the very concept of large-scale shipping hard to believe.
Seafaring was perilous, full of hidden dangers and risks.
And yet, someone had overcome those challenges and turned maritime transport into a booming industry?
Wait a moment…
Brook suddenly made a connection, his expression turning to one of amazement as he looked at Maude.
The others, after hearing Law's explanation, also realized why Maude had specifically brought up the Shipping King.
"Maude, don't tell me you're planning to…"
"Heh, it seems you've finally realized the true value of the Float-Float Fruit."
Maude smiled slightly and said seriously, "An industry with demand far exceeding supply means endless revenue. And the Float-Float Fruit… can create a one-of-a-kind aerial transportation industry in this world."
"The question is… who will become the King of Aerial Transport?"
"…"
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