69novels Chapter 110 New Town, Nestad
Chapter 110 New Town, Nestad
Chapter 110 New Town, Nestad
As soon as it got light, the campsite was bustling with activity, like a festival.
The kitchen stoves started smoking from dawn.
Sanji and his helpers were busy running around, the meat broth in the big pot was bubbling, the dried fish on the grill were turning, and the bread was baked in the earthen oven until it was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
Those pirates who were clutching their weapons and not daring to close their eyes last night are now squatting by the campfire, eating without even looking up.
"Damn, after living for so many years, this is the first time I've felt that eating is such a blissful thing."
"Nonsense, no need to be afraid. Even eating coarse food will taste good."
"Hey, do you think that wall will really stay in place forever?"
"I don't know if it will work, but at least no monsters came last night. We'll keep building today, the higher and thicker it is, the safer it will be."
"That makes sense! Let's finish eating and get back to work!"
After finishing breakfast, the pirates wiped their mouths and headed to the construction site.
In the cleared area, wooden stakes, planks, ropes, and tools were piled up everywhere. The captains of each squad were standing on high ground, shouting out tasks.
The logging team was the first to start work.
Two hundred people were divided into twenty groups, each group surrounding a beast-driving tree, some sawing and others shouting work calls.
Those silvery-charcoal-colored trees required five or six people to work together to cut them, and were much more difficult to saw than ordinary timber, but no one complained.
"One, two, three, pull!"
The saw moved back and forth, sending sawdust flying everywhere.
The tree trunk creaked and groaned as it finally tilted in the intended direction.
"Watch out—!! It's falling!!"
With a loud crash, the massive tree trunk slammed to the ground, raising a cloud of dust.
"Next one!"
The transport team followed closely behind. They used thick ropes to lasso the trunk, and dozens of men worked together, shouting in unison, to drag the giant log, thicker than a ship's mast, step by step toward the camp.
"Heave-ho! Heave-ho! Heave-ho!"
The shouts echoed on the beach, causing the seabirds to fly further away.
The construction team's side was even more lively.
Those digging the foundation swung their picks, those mixing mud had their legs covered in mud, and those driving piles grabbed their sledgehammers, the thumping sounds never ceasing.
The sounds of hammers striking, saws pulling, and people shouting blended together, making it noisier than a market.
Kro stood on a makeshift platform, holding blueprints in his hand, occasionally shouting something down below.
"Dig the foundation on the left side another half meter deeper! This type of soil is prone to settling!"
"Not enough timber? Go to the logging team and urge them to hurry up!"
"Hey cooks, bring lunch over here! Don't let everyone go to work hungry!"
Nami sat on a rock nearby, holding an account book and using an abacus, making a constant clattering sound.
She muttered to herself as she did the calculations, her voice not loud, but those nearby could hear her.
"Five hundred and thirty logs were used, eight boxes of iron nails were used, and the workers were given three meals a day."
She looked up at the bustling construction site, and a smile involuntarily crept onto her lips.
"Funing, what do you think about this town? Once it's built, if we start collecting taxes—"
"Nami."
Norton's voice came from behind.
Nami jolted awake, quickly closed the ledger, turned around, and forced a smile.
"I... I was just saying!"
Norton ignored her and walked over to Chloe.
"How's the progress?"
Kro stepped down from the platform and adjusted his glasses.
"It's faster than expected. The animal-repelling wood is a very useful material; it's hard and tough, and it's not afraid of insects. At this rate, the first batch of houses can be completed within half a month."
"Are we manpower enough?"
"That's enough." Klopp paused. "Besides, there are quite a few knowledgeable people among us."
He pointed to a spot not far away.
Several people were gathered there, pointing and discussing the blueprints. The one in the lead was a middle-aged man with glasses and gray hair, who was drawing something on the ground with his finger.
"That man's name is Roger. He used to be a shipbuilding engineer in Water Seven."
Kuro said, "Five years ago, he ran away because of gambling debts and became a pirate. As a result, the pirate crew he was with was wiped out, and he drifted to Mogu Town alone, where we recruited him."
Norton raised an eyebrow.
"A shipbuilding engineer? That's a rare find."
"Yes, he said he not only knows how to build ships, but also knows how to build houses."
Kroc paused for a moment, then said, "The men over there include stonemasons, carpenters, and one who used to be a foreman at a construction company."
He closed his notebook.
"We have enough people to find all kinds of talents. We just hadn't discovered them before because there wasn't a place for them to be used."
Norton nodded.
In the afternoon, three speedboats sailed back from the sea outside the camp.
Ajin was the first to jump onto the dock, carrying a heavy bag in his hand, followed by the combatants carrying boxes, all with smiles on their faces.
Norton came over, and Akin handed him the bag.
"We stole a pirate ship, a small fry with a bounty of twelve million. There wasn't much valuable stuff on board, but we had this."
He pulled a disc-shaped object from his pocket, on which a slightly trembling pointer was inserted.
"Permanent pointer?"
"Yes, pointing to Misra Island, a neutral island. The prisoners said there's a market on the island where you can buy anything, and as long as you don't cause trouble, nobody will bother you."
Norton took the pointer and weighed it in his hand.
"Where are the prisoners?"
"Put them on a small boat and let them row away on their own."
"Don't let them go next time, we're short-handed right now." Norton handed the pointer to Nami who was walking over: "Here you go."
""
Nami was stunned for a moment.
"Why are you giving this to me?"
"Go and buy them," Norton said. "The town is short of tools, fabric, and daily necessities. These aren't available on this island, so go buy them outside."
Although the island is rich in resources, there are no processed products, but daily necessities such as salt are indispensable.
Nami opened her mouth as if to say something, but seeing Norton's gaze, she swallowed her words.
"Me...me going alone?"
"Take a few men with you," Norton said. "Zorro will come with you, and bring a few more strong fighters."
Zoro happened to be walking by when he heard his name called and stopped.
"Going out again?"
"What, you don't want to?"
Zoro thought for a moment.
"Do you have any wine?"
"Drink whatever you like after you buy your things."
"make a deal."
Nami wanted to say something more, but Funing came over and tugged at her sleeve.
"Go ahead, you're an expert at purchasing. Remember to bargain, don't get ripped off."
Nami was silent for a few seconds, then finally sighed: "—Alright, what's the budget?"
Norton thought for a moment.
"Within 30 million Berries."
Nami's eyes lit up.
What if there's any left over?
"Returned to the public."
Nami's face fell.
Zoro was already walking towards his tent, waving his hand without turning his head.
What time do we leave tomorrow?
"Dawn breaks."
"understood."
The peculiar scent emanating from the Beast-Repelling Tree Forest slowly spread in the sea breeze, enveloping the entire camp.
Roars could still be heard from the depths of the distant forest, but the sounds grew fainter and fainter, as if expressing discontent or helplessness.
On the third day after Nami and Zoro set off for Misra Island, several pirates who had been gathering vines at the edge of the dense forest came running back, carrying several dark stones in their hands.
Kro took it and his expression changed.
iron ore.
Moreover, it is an iron ore of extremely high grade.
Norton had the pirates brought before him and asked for their location.
The area on the northern front, which is under El's jurisdiction, is less than five kilometers from the camp. The route has already been cleared by the officers and is relatively safe.
The next day, a fifty-person exploration team set off.
The team was led by Roger, a shipbuilding engineer from Water Seven.
He was originally just asked to help look at the timber, but he didn't expect to recognize the origin of those stones at a glance.
"I've worked in Water City for twenty years and I've never seen iron ore of this quality more than a few times."
He squatted on the ground, holding the ore he had just knocked off the rock face, examining it from all angles.
"If the reserves are large enough, there will be enough to build ships, let alone tools and weapons."
The exploration team stayed in that area for three days.
Three days later, the news Rogge brought back excited everyone—
It wasn't just iron ore; there was also coal, limestone, and even a small exposed copper vein.
"This island is a treasure trove," Roger said to Norton. "Timber, stone, ore—it has everything. I've been an engineer my whole life, and I've never seen a place like this before."
Norton nodded and told Crow to write it down.
The location of the mineral vein has been marked on the nautical chart. Once the town is built, the next step will be to start mining.
With the safe zone cleared by the cadres, the collection work progressed rapidly.
The logging team no longer needs to worry about monsters suddenly appearing, and they can cut down hundreds of beast-repelling trees every day.
The silvery-gray tree trunks were transported back to the camp, some used to further expand the wall, and some split into planks for storage.
The stone quarry team found an ideal quarry at the foot of the cliff on the northern route.
The bluish-gray rock is hard and suitable for foundations and wall bases.
They chipped it off piece by piece with iron picks and hammers, and then transported it back to the camp by oxcart.
The cattle were captured from the island; they were a type of huge wild buffalo that, once tamed, were stronger than the boatmen.
The mining team began to build makeshift sheds near the iron ore vein.
Rogge drew up blueprints and had people dig a few shallow wells to see the direction and thickness of the ore vein.
The first batch of ore has been sent back to the camp and piled up in a makeshift smelting shed, waiting for the furnace to be built so that production can begin.
Every evening, when the teams returned to camp, they would bring back a bunch of random stuff.
Some carried prey, some carried herbs, and some held strange mineral samples. The kitchen stove burned from morning till night, and Sanji was so busy he barely had time to breathe, but his eyes would light up every time he saw the new ingredients.
"What kind of meat is this?"
"I don't know, anyway, the monster charged at me and I slashed it down with one strike."
"Is it edible?"
"Why don't you try it and see?"
The Ivanki people thrived on the island.
The primitive tribal warriors who followed from Granville adapted to this jungle-covered island better than anyone else.
They don't need maps or guides; they can determine their location simply by the moss on the tree bark and the direction of the wind.
Norton provided them with Ruhanna, those giant caribou brought from Granville.
These deer are larger than horses, fast, have great endurance, and are inherently capable of fighting.
The Awenki people ride on their backs and patrol along the edge of the wall, covering hundreds of kilometers a day.
Every day, El would take twenty tribesmen out to patrol along the safe routes marked out by the cadres.
When they encountered a lone small monster, they would surround it and thrust out several bone spears at the same time, causing the monster to fall before it could even react.
"These primitive people are really something." A pirate watched them return from the camp, carrying the monster's corpse, and muttered to himself.
"Of course, they grew up in places like this," someone next to him said. "You've been to Granville before, haven't you?"
El threw the monster's corpse at the camp entrance and pointed towards the cookhouse.
"Meat, you can eat it."
After saying that, he led his people to continue their patrol.
On the afternoon of the seventh day, Nami and Zoro's ship returned.
The dock was piled high with supplies unloaded from the ship: boxes of tools, bundles of cloth, bags of grain, dozens of barrels of oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and some other miscellaneous goods whose names I didn't know.
Thirty million Berries were spent cleanly, and in return, a ship full of goods was acquired.
Norton stood on the dock, watching the crates being unloaded.
"Why did it take so long?"
Nami jumped off the boat and dusted herself off.
"I encountered some trouble on the way."
There was a one-eyed man named Baron who was collecting protection money on the island, and he got beaten up by Zoro.
It turned out he had powerful backers; they sent three ships to chase us in the middle of the night.
"and then?"
"Then Zoro sank one ship, and the other two escaped."
Nami said, "By the way, an information broker named Jim reminded us that the person behind that one-eyed man is not simple."
But we don't know who it is.
Norton nodded.
"I'll have Jinbe take some men there later."
"understood."
Zoro was already walking into the camp, carrying two jugs of wine.
A month later.
The wall was extended another three kilometers outward, enclosing even more of the Beast-Repelling Tree forest.
The wooden wall has been replaced with a mixed wood and stone wall, with the bottom two meters made of bluish-gray stones and the top three meters made of animal-repelling planks, making it look much sturdier than before.
The camp inside the wall no longer resembles a camp.
The well-planned streets crisscross the area, with rows of newly built wooden houses lining both sides.
There were dormitories, warehouses, canteens, workshops, and even a simple tavern.
It was set up by a few pirates from the West Sea. They sell wine made from wild fruits from the island. The taste is so-so, but quite a few people go there to sit every day.
The smelting shed was transformed into a smelting workshop, where Roger and about twenty people were busy working.
Iron ore was smelted in batches and then forged into various tools and weapons.
The coal mine is right next door, and the fire is much stronger than that of charcoal.
The lumberyard was piled high with planks, and carpenters were rushing to make new doors, windows, and furniture.
More and more stones are being transported from the quarry, and they've already started paving the road.
The busiest place is the port.
The dock has been expanded to twice its original size, now capable of accommodating twenty ships at a time.
The newly built warehouses lined up along the coastline and were filled with all kinds of supplies.
Several ships were docked at the pier unloading cargo; one of them was a fleet that had gone out to rob a few days ago and brought back several holds full of goods.
Norton stood at the entrance to the newly built council chamber, watching all of this unfold.
The council hall is the largest building in town. It has two floors, a stone foundation, wooden walls, and a roof covered with thick wooden planks.
The first floor is a large hall that can accommodate hundreds of people for meetings.
His residence was on the second floor, along with several rooms prepared for the cadres.
Kro came out from inside, holding a list in his hand.
"The town currently has 230 houses, 15 warehouses, 7 workshops, 3 canteens, 1 tavern, and 1 medical shed." He pushed up his glasses. "The population is 5,372, and the supplies are enough for three months."
Norton nodded.
"It's time to come up with a name."
Kro was taken aback.
"name?"
“Yes,” Norton said. “This town needs a name.”
He thought about it.
"Let's call it Nestad Town."
"Nestard?"
"A homonym for New Town," Norton said. "The place where it all started."
7
After such a long time, his country has finally laid its first "foundation".