Reincarnated as Kaido, married Big Mom, and formed a dual-Emperor pirate crew.

Chapter 146 Progress of Various Plans

The Kuja Pirates have left.

They came with great fanfare, and although they did not achieve their initial goal, they left satisfied.

After watching them leave, Kaido turned around and found Tom, a fishman, working in the shipyard.

"Master Tom, how's the Sea Train project progressing?"

Tom stopped what he was doing, his face beaming with joy.

"I was just about to report that to you!"

"The most troublesome part, the materials, has been resolved. With Asie's help, we have successfully found a raw material that meets the requirements and is also relatively inexpensive."

"I plan to officially start construction in a while, which is..."

Tom's smile faded, replaced by a look of worry.

"Kaido, once the sea train starts construction, the amount of money required will be substantial. Are you really willing to spend that much money?"

"Uro ro ro ro..."

Kaido laughed heartily.

There used to be a proverb in my hometown: "If you want to get rich, build roads first!"

"The reason why there is such a huge gap between the rich and poor among the islands is not only because the islands themselves produce little, but also because the special products of the islands have nowhere to be sold."

"Most of those wealthy islands are located at the crossroads of shipping routes and also possess strong defensive capabilities."

"Now we have military strength and production capacity, but we don't have shipping lanes!"

The Little Garden Channel, where Water Seven is located, is a large pit. It takes a whole year to accumulate magnetic energy on Little Garden Island before one can travel to the next island.

Therefore, although Water Seven is also located in one of the seven major routes of the Grand Line, the number of foreign pirates is far less than that of the other six routes.

Pirates, though often bringing disaster, can become a source of external economic investment if you have sufficient military strength.

Before Kaido arrived, Water 7 was dirt poor. Apart from their transport ships that bought shipbuilding materials being frequently robbed by pirates from other sea routes, their local products were hardly bought by any foreign pirates.

"Therefore, the sea train project must be carried out! No matter how much money is invested, it will bring greater benefits!!"

Kaido reassured Tom, and as a result, Tom's loyalty level rose to over 90.

As for what Kaido said, he certainly wasn't just talking nonsense.

In this era before ocean-going freighters were developed, wooden sailing ships were the mainstream.

It is difficult for a single shipment to exceed a thousand tons.

In the Queen's Castle in Springtime, Kaido's annual grain production has reached tens of millions of tons. If it were transported by sailing ships, how long would it take to get there?

The amount of grain in the Dragon Kingdom is astronomical.

After the sea train project was successfully tested in Water 7, the next step is to roll it out in the West Sea.

With the Dragon Kingdom as its core, it connects the major powers of the Western Sea, enabling the Dragon Kingdom's grains to be exported to those countries on a large scale.

In addition, the development of ocean-going freighters capable of transporting 10 tons of cargo at a time is also urgently needed.

After leaving Tom, Kaido immediately returned to the MADS Research Institute in the Spring Queen's Castle.

"Vegapunk, how's the ocean freighter plan going?"

“The ship you’re building is too big. The raw material ratios and design blueprints are easy to handle, but there isn’t a good enough solution for the power system yet. However, for me, it’s just a matter of time.”

"The most difficult problem to solve is that the amount of steel required to build such a ship is enormous, and we do not currently have that much steel."

Vegapunk helplessly shrugged. It wasn't that he lacked the technology, but rather that he didn't have enough raw materials!

As the saying goes, even a skilled cook can't cook without rice, and Vegapunk is in that situation now.

Upon hearing this, Kaido's furrowed brows immediately relaxed.

"You don't need to worry about raw materials. The Iron Kingdom in the Western Sea is also my territory. We can use their materials to our heart's content. You just need to focus on building the ocean-going freighters."

"In that case, I'm fine."

Vegapunk said, "The only problem now is the ship's power. It's almost impossible to propel such a huge ship with just sails."

"But you can leave this to me; I already have a few good ideas!"

Kaido nodded slightly. In terms of technological development, Vegapunk is the strongest in this world, so there's nothing more to say.

After leaving Vegapunk, Kaido wanted to find Queen and Caesar, but they were not currently at the MADS Research Institute.

Where did they go?

"He went to the carnival to have some fun."

Judge complained irritably, "Those two guys, Quinn and Caesar, all they do is eat, drink, and have fun all day long. They've almost forgotten their original dreams!"

After saying that, Judge took out several tight-fitting combat outfits.

"Regarding the combat suit you mentioned before, I've made a few samples. Take a look."

Kaido took the battle suit, shrunk his size, and put it on.

"It's not very comfortable; it's too tight, especially around the joints, which doesn't feel natural."

Next, a strength test was conducted on the combat suit.

The test was simple: a direct shot from a flintlock pistol at a distance of ten meters, and sword strikes without using any special techniques or cutting techniques.

The results of the strength test were quite good.

The combat suit provided good protection against flintlock bullets; aside from the unavoidable impact, the bullets could not penetrate the suit's protection.

It offers decent protection against sword and blade strikes, but it's somewhat similar to chainmail, offering relatively weak protection against piercing attacks.

"Overall, the quality still needs to be improved, and cost is also an issue."

After changing out of his battle suit, Kaido patted Judge on the shoulder.

"In the future, I plan to make this combat suit available to ordinary members of the pirate crew, or at the very least, to junior officers."

Whether you can fulfill my wishes depends entirely on your abilities!

Judge nodded upon hearing this.

"Don't worry, in terms of weapons development, even Vegapunk might not be my match!!"

After leaving Judge, Kaido went to find Asie, who had already moved here from the West Blue.

As a top materials scientist from over 100 years ago, Asie's first appearance in front of Vegapunk and others was truly jaw-dropping.

After all, theoretically, Asie should have been dead long ago, so how could he still be alive?

Kaido offered no explanation, and the astute scientists didn't press the matter further.

With their intelligence, they only need to calm down and spend a little time to figure it out.

The reason Asie is still alive today is definitely because he successfully developed pure gold.

However, pure gold is of great importance, so it's understandable that Kaido didn't tell them.