Summary: Mwhahahaha, my evil pn of what to do with the Goro Goro no Mi! Oh, and some stuff about Skypiean politics and such.

  Warning! Chapters 48-52 were all posted back-to-back! Make sure you don't miss any of them!

  Chapter 50: Upgrades

  "…And that's the result. I think it worked out remarkably well, honestly."

  Most of the crew looked a little dazed or sleepy as Vivi finished describing the end result of her negotiations. Luffy wasn't among them. He, Hina, Robin, and their newest addition of Pagaya were the only ones that had followed Vivi's entire discourse. Kuina, Nami and Nojiko had clearly tried, but had gotten lost when things drifted into the rger world politics technically at py here. He figured they might have managed to hang with the conversation until the end if it had just been Sky Isnd politics, but Vivi had gone the extra mile.

  She'd involved Abasta.

  It actually made a great deal of sense, even if Luffy himself would never have thought of it. Dealing with the level of politics Vivi was trained for was well outside his comfort zone as well. Only the fact that he'd done his research for years, trying to properly prepare for the fact he'd eventually end up as the World Government's enemy, had let him follow the logic of the tter parts of Vivi's solution. And he was pretty certain he'd missed things that Robin or Hina had understood. All while still ending up feeling like his brain was cooking a bit.

  Broken down into simple terms, Abasta had gotten involved as a 'neutral power.' Upper Yard had been yielded entirely to the Shandians, save for a small section that Abasta would use as an embassy. Meanwhile, Abastian troops would put themselves between the Shandians and Skypieans, enforcing the new peace agreement that had been ironed out. This insured no genocide would be forthcoming from either party, while both parties gained the benefit of periodic access to a Blue Sea trade hub via Vivi's portals.

  The Shandians had lost a lot of their knowledge about how to work the nd that was Upper Yard, not to mention the number of common goods they'd become reliant on raiding Skypiea for. With huge amounts of gold still present in Upper Yard despite the Straw Hat crew removing over a billion belli worth of it themselves, they could easily purchase goods and hire trainers from Abasta. Meanwhile, Skypiea would have access to the same trade, with the materials they had wanted from Upper Yard in the first pce being easily acquired from Abasta in exchange for Dials.

  Abasta who was, in turn, gleeful at the chance to upgrade their armed forces with Dial technology. Their still-growing dispute with the World Government left them wanting every edge they could get. The fact that they'd also be able to replenish their depleted treasury via the Shandian gold was a nice bonus as well. All while giving them something to actively do with their currently oversized military forces. It was a neat little arrangement, and one that would be impossible without Vivi's Fruit. In the long term, that could become a problem, in theory. But the engineers were already talking about ways to create either flight-capable ships or a Milky Road that could extend all the way down to the Blue Sea. Luffy might or might not have casually pointed them in the direction of zeppelins by making a toy model of one with a couple of small Dials.

  Regardless of that possible development, everyone was more or less happy with what they'd gotten out of the deal. Better yet, the first Abastian troops had arrived three days ago, long enough for them to adjust to the altitude issues, which meant that the crew could finally move on in good conscience. Of course, there was one more detail to deal with before they did.

  "Thank you, Vivi, for that summary. You did excellent work, finding a solution for a four-century old conflict!" Luffy let his voice and Vivi's beaming smile rouse everyone, then continued. "Now, I think it's just about time we moved on. However, there's one remaining issue to be dealt with. Usopp, Pagaya? What's the verdict?"

  Everyone was paying attention again, now, clearly curious what Luffy needed from the two other men. Pagaya gave a differential nod toward Usopp, who puffed up proudly.

  "After talking it over with Pagaya-san, I've agreed that the Goro Goro no Mi should go to the Discovery. It offers too much utility to ignore…and Pagaya has admitted he wouldn't be comfortable with someone using the Devil Fruit in the usual fashion. You all know I was already on the fence about it, and his discomfort with the idea was more than enough of a deciding factor. He's also agreed to put some of his expertise from working on the Maxim to work for us, helping us get the most out of our new power source."

  Luffy nodded a thanks to both men, even as everyone else bore mixed expressions of curiosity about how this would go, and mild disbelief that they were pnning to feed a Devil Fruit to their Ship. Luffy chuckled and produced the fruit from his inventory.

  "Well, then…time to actually do the deed. We've agreed that we should be able to direct the fruit into the entire power system in general. So here we go."

  Luffy stood and moved over to the hidden panel that connected the controls at the helm to both the various power banks and the turbines down in the twin engine rooms. Touching the Goro Goro no Mi to the rods once he exposed them, he connected to the Discovery and gave it orders what to do. It hesitated, its still-not-fully-formed mind parsing what its Captain wanted…then the rods shifted to spikes and stabbed the Fruit. The ship shuddered as the Fruit was absorbed, apparently even a ship thinking the thing tasted foul as far as Luffy could tell from the feedback. But then it went still. Moments ter, everyone yelped as the various lights and controls all went wild and sparked for long seconds. The ship groaned, heaved, and twitched in a way that ships most certainly weren't supposed to do!

  Then there was silence.

  Luffy opened the Discovery's Status window, half-closing his eyes and theatrically reaching out toward the ship as if he were just 'sensing' it with his spiritual energy…

  ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

  The Discovery of Storms

  Grade: Legendary

  Hull Material: Energized Lunarian Steel/Ducol Steel Composite

  Spiritual Development: 14250/15000

  Devil Fruit Slots: 1/3 Filled

  Dimensions:

  Length: 180ft

  Beam: 62 ft

  Draft: 11 ft

  Armament:

  2 – Magnetic Railguns (Turreted)(Hidden)

  4 – Swivel Mounted Shock Cannons

  1 – Storm Canon

  Abilities: Greatly Improved Stability, Greatly Improved Speed, Extreme Durability, Self-Repair, Assimition, Lightning Generation, Magnetic Field Creation, Growth Item

  Description: Crafted with loving care and great skill by Monkey D. Luffy, and named after a famous ship that, paradoxically, no one but he has ever heard of. This ship has the potential to reach the ends of every sea. Now granted the power of Lightning, this ship has become something far more than its component pieces. With the right guidance, it can draw upon its power and the powers of its crew to summon a storm. Be careful what you wish for, as the ship itself will need to ride out the storm it calls down.

  1) Milestone: The care its crew has shown for The Discovery has imbued the ship with a little bit of their own Spirits. As a Growth Item, this has caused it to develop the Self-Repair Function. So long as the raw materials are present in its hold, the ship will slowly heal itself from any damage. This can be sped along by a crewmember donating Spiritual Energy.

  2) Milestone: The care its crew has shown for The Discovery has imbued the ship with a little bit of their own Spirits. As a Growth Item, this has caused it to develop the Assimition function. Just as its crew had adapted and overcome, focusing ever and always on improving themselves, so the Discovery has gained the ability to do the same from soaking in their spirt energy. Provided suitable materials and guidance, the ship can now Grow. Be that growth a matter of physical size, or the inclusion of new materials. Be careful what you feed it, as it will take on traits of what it consumes.

  3) ?

  ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

  Luffy's had stopped pretending, actually reaching out physically toward the ship, pushing through his shock at the absorption process doing far more than expected. His senses followed the new throbbing lines of power drawn through the ship as he sought out the massive changes the Status window was describing. He ignored the power systems, having actually expected those to change. Instead, his racing mind sought out the guns, grasping at the changes to the ship's previous armament. He found the Railguns first, instantly realizing that they were modeled on the final design he'd technically succeeded with but hadn't been able to miniaturize enough to consider worth it. Apparently, either the Goro Goro no Mi was much better at maniputing magnetic currents than his own Fruit, or else the ship and its spirit were better able to create the needed precision. Honestly, he could see it being either.

  Whichever was the case, the two new railguns were only barely bigger than the 4-inch Naval Guns he'd worked so hard on…and barely gotten to shoot, bst it! Sighing in moderate annoyance at all the wasted time and effort, he nevertheless marveled at the resulting guns. They were works of art. Far more powerful than the guns they'd repced, while technically less complex if you ignore the pure bullshit of the ship being able to precision align the magnetic fields correctly on its own. They would be unquestionably devastating…though Luffy's attention was quickly pulled elsewhere.

  While the Railguns had clearly been pulled from his knowledge, the Shock Canons were not. He puzzled over them for a few minutes, before recognizing simirities to how the Ark Maxim's weapons had worked. The 'Shock Cannons' would create what was essentially ball lightning, in some sort of mystic looking matrix, and fire it off as a devastating series of strikes. Nasty. Not to mention fantastic for the boarding and anti-boarding actions the original swivel guns had been meant for. Luffy could only assume the ship's spirit had pulled the know-how to make them from Pagaya, despite how new he was to the crew.

  The final gun, however…the Storm Canon wasn't really a canon, despite the name. Instead, it had very clearly drawn on the knowledge both he and Nami had of the weather and what they'd done in the East Blue by altering the magnetic fields of clouds. The Storm Canon could do that at will, with the far more powerful magnetic fields the Goro Goro no Mi allowed the Discovery to make. The storm it called down would be devastating, but that warning was likely no joke. Luffy wouldn't even want to consider firing the thing until they'd done major upgrades to the Discovery. He wasn't sure it would actually survive the storm it could call down if they didn't. Not with how votile weather in the Grand Line was to start with.

  Shaking his head in disbelief, he idly noted that the ship had also physically expanded a bit to accommodate a few of the changes. He'd need to triple check the entire design to make sure the additional size wasn't going to fuck anything up. Opening his eyes, he saw the entire crew staring at him and Kaya, who was herself attempting to commune with the ship.

  "Well, we seem to have gained considerably more than I thought we would out of this little experiment. We might be stuck here another day or two making sure nothing was damaged in the process. As for what changed, I guess I'll start with the guns?"

  Luffy began to describe what their ship was now capable of. Though, he freely admitted that he wasn't quite sure he understood it all himself. Those guns, in particur, were going to demand some experimentation...

  ... ...

  It had ended up taking an additional three days before they were properly ready to leave. The changes to the ship were significant enough that Luffy had needed to pull out the original blueprints for the Discovery and go over her extensively. While doing so, he'd seen no reason at all not to bring Pagaya and Usopp in on the process to begin working out new ideas for now to integrate Dials with the ship. They weren't even remotely done with the process, the Dial additions would be an ongoing project for weeks, at least. But they had covered the need to reinforce the Discovery's frame to support the Jet Dials they'd taken from the Ark Maxim. The addition of which was one of the major things Luffy had wanted from the start.

  With the 200 Jet Dials that the Maxim had possessed, the Discovery could, theoretically, fly. Right now, despite doing their best to estimate the pcement of those Dials and Luffy reinforcing the hull in pces, he wouldn't want to try it for more than short bursts. The Maxim's Jet Dials had only been a backup in the first pce, with the rotors powered by Enel being intended as the primary means of lift. The Discovery was actually a bit smaller than the overblown, colossal ship that Enel's ego had made him build. Better yet, at the sizes in question, metal ships like the Discovery were actually lighter than the same ship built of wood would have been. That said, Luffy hadn't exactly designed the catamaran to take the stresses of prolonged flight. The connections between the hulls and central ship core, in particur, were going to need reviewed and reworked. They would need time and a lot of experimentation to use flight in more than emergency bursts.

  But that was fine. In truth, while flight would be amazing and Luffy absolutely wanted to work towards that, his starting goal with the Jet Dials had been to add an extreme level of maneuverability to the Discovery. Pcing clusters of Jet Dials in useful spots, he'd achieved that in a way that not even the ship's electric engines had allowed. His ship could damn near turn on a dime, now, and adding the Jet Dials to grant greater instantaneous acceleration let it reach its new maximum speed in frankly ludicrously short times. Speaking of…

  "Luffy, you mad genius! If I wasn't already in love with you, I would be now!"

  Luffy ughed even as the ship finally started leveling off in speed. Nami's excited shout told him the news was good. Time to see just how good, though.

  "What's the final numbers?!"

  Nami looked down at one of the instruments he'd managed to add to ship, a retively simple means to measure their speed in knots. She looked up again a moment ter with a wild grin on her face.

  "I have no idea! The gauge doesn't go this high! Maybe, I don't know….50 knots? 55?"

  Luffy let out a low whistle. That was an insane speed for a ship the size of the Discovery. Small racing catamarans had, he vaguely recalled, been able to hit something like 45 knots. But those were tiny, swift vessels built to practically fly across the water. The Discovery was 180 feet long and broad beamed. Worse, or better really, he could tell the ship wasn't actually straining, even at this speed. It could cruise at these speeds if it wanted to. A little of that might have to do with the lower density of the White Sea. But he doubted it was very much. No, the addition of a power pnt that could generate virtually endless juice, plus whatever 'energizing' the hull actually did, meant the Discovery was just ft out this fast now. Fitting, he supposed, for a ship that had 'eaten' the Goro Goro no Mi.

  "Take us out then, Navigator! We have another isnd to visit!"

  Nami whooped and the ship steered away from the long loop it had been making around Skypiea. They had a rough heading for another Sky Isnd, and log poses weren't as necessary up here, since the White Sea was above most of the crazy weather and current systems of the Grand Line. Compasses were still useless, but good old fashioned sailing by sun and stars worked reasonably well up on the White Sea. There shouldn't be any trouble finding their next destination…and quietly avoiding the fuck out of the one isnd he did not want to visit down on the Blue Sea in the process. Seriously, the Discovery of Storms was way more badass than anything Water 7 could make for them, and not going near the clusterfuck that was CP-9's presence there was high on Luffy's list of priorities!

  ... ... ... ... ... ...

  A/N: The Discovery! So, the Assimite ability from Chapter 49? That was actually always part of the pn. I needed a way that they could, going forward, continue to tweak the ship without needing to fully rebuild it. The Assimite ability is, rgely, why I made it a 'Growth Item' in the first pce.

  Then, one of my Patrons mentioned in a comment st update that I should have Luffy feed the Lighting Fruit to his Jian when he reforges it. That, I thought was a Brilnt idea and I almost discarded my original pnned upgrade for Luffy's sword because it was an awesome idea.

  Then I remembered that I was going to give the Discovery the Assimite ability. The moment I put 22 together and got AWESOME UPGRADE OF DOOOOOM for the Discovery, I had no hope of resisting the temptation. Thus, despite not actually being part of my original pn, the Discovery became The Discovery of Storms. A badass upgrade for their ship and a way to deal with the complication that is the Goro Goro no Mi all rolled into one! Mwhahahahaha. Bet no one saw that coming! Well, not until st chapter, at least ;-).

  Anyway. Even if you think I was a bad choice, do remember how little Ship Combat tends to actually happen or matter in One Piece. So, it's not like this is going to overpower the crew too badly. Honestly, less so than if one of them had actually eaten the Fruit, probably.