Luffy, Nami and Usopp entered the shipwright area where they saw Kalfia standing next to a man. The man was a tall middle aged man with blue hair. He wore a red and orange striped jacket over an unbuttoned orange shirt with a wide collar, black suit pants and black shoes.
"Who is this guy?" Luffy asked.
"Beats me," Usopp replied.
"In order to build a ship, faster, stronger and better, one must possess abilities beyond ordinary strength," the man explained.
"By the way, Kalifa," the man added.
"I have already checked Iceburg," Kalifa replied. "Strawhat Luffy and pirate hunter Zoro have bounties on their heads," she added. "They had formed in the East Blue," she continued. "They have 7 crew members," Kalifa said.
"Most notably, they have worked together with the Love Pirates who have several bounties on their heads including, Iron Mace Alvida, Demon King Ben, Nico Robin and more," she said. She looked at Ben`s wanted poster and thought he looked interesting, different from others.
"Well, it's good that you came here," Iceburg said warmly. "I am Iceburg, the Mayor of the town, and this is a mouse I found earlier." He gently patted a small white mouse poking out from his shirt pocket. "His name is Tyrannosaurus, and I need to prepare his cage and food," he added.
"I have already taken care of that," Kalifa responded, adjusting her glasses with a professional air.
"Now, what is my schedule?" Iceburg inquired.
"You have a meeting with an executive, a town speech, and a newspaper interview," Kalifa replied efficiently.
"Well, I don't want to do any of that," Iceburg responded nonchalantly. "Cancel it all," he ordered.
"Okay, I will do that," Kalifa said, making a note.
"You can do that?" Usopp asked.
"I am a powerful man," Iceburg responded with a smirk.
"You're someone unfit to be mayor," Usopp said, crossing his arms.
"A selfish guy," Luffy added. He turned to Nami. "Is this the guy Granny was telling us about?" he asked.
Nami smiled and nodded. "Yes, he is," Nami replied.
Kalifa's eyes narrowed as she raised her leg. "How insolent, disrespecting him like that!" she exclaimed, delivering swift kicks to Luffy and Usopp.
Usopp took the kick directly to the face and fell to the ground. "Hey, what was that for?" Luffy asked, rubbing his head.
"You should address the world's finest engineers with respect," Kalifa said sternly.
"Try not to anger Kalifa. When she attacks, she does it indiscriminately," Iceburg added, touching a bruise on his face with a wry smile.
Luffy and Usopp, still smarting from the kicks, said in unison, "You hit him too!"
"Kalfia is explosive," said a random man.
"We also need to give you this," Nami said, handing the note over to Iceburg. Iceburg saw the note and the writing. He recognised it immediately and tore the paper.
"Why did you do that?" Usopp asked.
"Grandma Kokoro gave that, she said you will help our ship, we have money," Nami pleaded.
"Please old man," Luffy added.
"Kokoro are drinking buddies, her lips stick is repulsive so I ripped the paper," Iceburg replied. "I am okay to repairing your ship once Kaku comes back," Iceburg said.
"Let's go," Luffy said.
Usopp looked around. He panicked "Where is the money?" he shouted.
Nami looked shocked. Her heart broke. "Where is it?" she shouted.
"Ah over there," Usopp said. He looked to see people on a small boat counting their money.
The men were wearing goggles and a black pants and suspenders. "Thank you," the man shouted as he waved back.
At that moment, Paulie was running at full speed. He looked back to see several men chasing him. "I don't have your money today," he shouted.
Kalfia adjusted her glasses. "It looks like the debt collectors are after Paulie," she observed.
"Usopp, did you give them the money?" Luffy asked.
"Of course not, they stole it," Usopp replied. He stamped his feet. Luffy looked shocked.
At that moment, Paulie jumped from the bridge and landed on the small boat. The pirates on the boat panicked. "A Shipwright," he shouted. Paulie extended his hands out. "Two ropes," Paulie said as he launched two ropes at the pirates. The ropes wrapped around the pirates and he pushed them off the boat.
Paulie looked and smiled and saw the money. He thought it was his lucky day. "This is my money," Paulie shouted.
"No, it's ours," Luffy replied. Luffy was about to take action when Lucci touched his shoulder.
"Let me," the pigeon said. Lucci nodded. Luffy thought this was strange. Lucci jumped into the air and landed on the boat.
Lucci grabbed Paulie's ear. "Lucci, I found this money, it is mine. It is a lot of money," he said. "I can pay my debts, don't get involved Lucci," Paulie continued.
The pigeon replied, "Don't use other people's money to pay your debts."
Paulie looked angry but agreed. Lucci and Paulie headed back to the dock and returned the money.
"Thank you," Nami said.
"I apologise for our idiot co-worker," Paulie apologised.
"Who were those guys?" Nami asked.
"They are part of the Franky family, a group of ship demolishing people who also do bounty hunting. This has lead to them getting into fights with other people," Iceburg explained.
"They look weak," Luffy replied.
"These are the underlings. Franky is the real threat," Iceburg added.
Paulie gave the money back. "Since I gave you the money, give me 10%," Paulie demand.
Lucci hit him with a hammer on his head. "Greed is bad," the pigeon said.
"Why you," Paulie replied. "Rope Action," Paulie said as he got two ropes out from his wrist. "Bowline Knot," he added. The rope went towards Lucci and wrapped on his wrist. "Punishment," Paulie said as he flunk Lucci up into the air.
Lucci came down. There was a smoke cloud however Lucci used on hand to parry the attack. He was doing a handstand. "Wow," Luffy said. Lucci broke the ground with his fingers.
"What type of shipwrights do they have here?" Usopp asked, seeing this strength.
Let's go and wait in Dock 1 for Kaku," Iceburg said, leading the way. The group entered the dock where shipwrights were hard at work. Usopp's eyes widened in amazement as he took in the sight and sophisticated techniques being used. He couldn't help but smile as he walked around, marvelling at the craftsmanship. He held two suitcases in his hands.
Suddenly, Usopp was tackled from behind and dragged away, his yelp of surprise drowned out by the noise of the dock.
Meanwhile, Luffy, Iceburg, Nami, Paulie, and Kalifa were gathered together. Luffy turned to Iceburg. "Say pops, do you want to be a pirate?" he asked with a wide grin.
"What an insolent question!" Kalifa shouted, her glasses glinting angrily.
"Are you insane?" Paulie added.
Iceburg chuckled, shaking his head. "I can't, I'm the mayor," he replied calmly. "I have responsibilities here." he added
Nami gave Luffy a pointed look, trying to communicate the gravity of Iceburg's position. "Luffy, being Luffy," she responded. Nami thought does Ben do this with the girls he gets. He is a demon, she thought.
Luffy shrugged, unbothered by the rebuke. "I just thought it would be fun. You seem like a cool guy," Luffy added.
Kalifa adjusted her glasses, still fuming. "You should show more respect when addressing the mayor." she replied.
Iceburg smiled. "It's alright. I appreciate the offer, Luffy, but my place is here. There's too much work to be done and too many people counting on me." he said.
Just then, Kaku entered the dock. "You are all here," he said. Kaka took a seat back.
Iceburg nodded towards him. "So what is the situation?" he asked.
"I am going to add more cannon and a statue," Luffy replied.
"Your ship has been with you alot," Kaku started. "She has taken a battering," he added.
"Yes, she went flying and then crashed down," Luffy replied.
"There is a lot of damage to the ship and I am afraid to tell you even with our skills we cannot repair it," Kaku stated. "The chance of you reaching the next island is 0," he firmly said.
There was silence. "What?" Nami asked. She added, "We have money."
"Is the keel damaged?" Paulie asked.
"Yes, broken into two, I am surprised she made it this far," Kaku replied.
"But," Luffy said.
"The keel is the soul of the ship, it makes her, her, a damaged keel means the ship can sink any minute," Iceburg said. He added, "You better off with a new ship," he added. "You will be risking your crew on that ship," he stated.
Luffy and Nami looked shocked. "No," Nami said. Luffy looked serious.
"If you give us 300 million Beli, we will give you a state of the art ship," Iceberg said.
At that moment, three men approached in suits. "Government officials, you better hide," Paulie said. Luffy and Nami hid behind a pile of logs.