"Come on, come on! I gotta see Zephyr's new weapon!"
Garp, always the chaos magnet, was the first to rush into the armory, too excited to wait.
Zephyr tried to hold him back but failed miserably, a dark cloud forming over his head.
The others wanted to follow, but seeing Zephyr's face turn black, they wisely held their ground.
"Damn it, Hammer! You knew Garp was here, yet you still blabbed! Couldn't you have told me privately?!"
Hammer remained completely calm in the face of Zephyr's fury, leisurely lighting a cigar and taking a deep, satisfied puff.
"Teacher, there's no hiding this kind of thing. Look at Sengoku, he tries to hide his snacks, but Garp always sniffs them out every time."
"Gotta be chill about these things, y'know?"
Sengoku: '...I swear, Garp and Hammer are both dead men.'
"Oh, right, Sakazuki, one more thing. The New World has plenty of strange islands. Keep an eye out for any special minerals and stuff. If I'm not mistaken, there's an island that's constantly struck by lightning. If you come across it, help me grab some weird ore, yeah?"
"Don't worry, if I can forge something from them, I'll save you a piece."
Hammer was already hooked on forging exotic gear with rare materials. Naturally, he passed the task to Sakazuki; after all, he was stomping through the New World anyway.
"No problem. I'll keep an eye out. I remember the Whitebeard Pirates have a base on a famous volcanic island. What about volcanic ore?"
"Volcanic ore?"
"Its heat rivals magma. I could totally dual-wield axes."
Sakazuki, still riding high from his last upgrade, now looked more excited about gear than pirates, stunning even Kong and Sengoku.
Over the years, these senior Marines had learned everyone's quirks:
Sakazuki: Ruthless, driven by justice, ends evil with violence.
Kuzan: Hot-blooded but impulsive. Good heart, though.
Borsalino: The ultimate slacker won't lift a finger without direct orders.
Hammer: Lazy blacksmith. Only loves forging. Holds grudges. Petty to the core.
Suddenly, a loud, excited yell echoed from inside the forge.
"WHAT THE HELL?! THIS IS INSANE! THIS IS COOL!"
"Hammer! I WANT ONE TOO!"
It wasn't that everyone had good hearing; Garp was just that loud.
Everyone turned toward Hammer. Zephyr, in particular, glared. If Garp was that hyped, the weapon must be something fierce.
"Relax, just standard craftsmanship."
Everyone: '...He's really milking this. Can we punch him?'
Just then, Garp burst out of the forge, but this time, both of his arms were encased in a set of mechanized gauntlets.
The armguards extended from his shoulders to his hands, full-on mechanical, radiating sci-fi energy. The arms gleamed silver and white, and had jet ports at the elbows and forearms.
"WOOOAH!" Everyone gasped.
"So? What do you think, Teacher Zephyr?" Hammer smirked.
"How do these things work? There are buttons on my arms?" Garp asked while fiddling with the gear, totally obsessed.
"Oh, those? Big button's an air cannon, blasts enemies. The small one's a rocket elbow, for extra punch." Hammer puffed on his cigar casually.
"That's AWESOME!" Garp's eyes sparkled like a kid with a new toy.
"But be careful. The weapon's complete, but it's untested. Might be unstable," Hammer warned helpfully.
"Yeah, yeah, got it!" Garp waved both arms, which let out mechanical whirring and clanking. He was ecstatic.
"So what's this made of?" he asked.
As Garp swung the gauntlets around, the others laughed, except for Zephyr, who looked ready to explode.
"YOU BASTARD, GARP! That's my weapon! My disciple-son built that for me! TAKE IT OFF!"
He lunged at Garp like a missile.
Meanwhile, Hammer calmly explained the specs:
"The base is a special steel alloy, the same kind used on my ship, imbued with Seastone properties. I ran out, so I spent a full day forging just the base steel."
Good thing his critical crafting random attribute vanished; otherwise, making that much Seastone steel would've been impossible.
"For all the joints, I used mithril, rare, flexible, perfect for articulated movement."
"The outer shell? Diamond and black iron ore, that's why it's silver and black. Super tough."
"No exaggeration, only someone with my forging ability could pull this off. Fusing all three materials, layer by layer? No one else on this sea can do it."
"As for the air cannon, see the two pressure tubes on the shoulders? That's compressed air propulsion. But, eh, you guys wouldn't get it."
Everyone: 'This guy's really asking for a beating.'
"Oh, and there's a special ability: it reduces Haki usage when covering the gauntlets!"
At this point, Hammer's eyes gleamed. This was his first weapon to interact with Haki directly.
Normally, coating weapons in Armament Haki drains stamina based on the weapon's size and material. For something this massive, the cost was normally huge.
But with this feature, that weakness was eliminated.
"Wait, reduces Haki cost? By how much?"
Zephyr's eyes widened. He was already in love with the gauntlets.
"60%."
Everyone: !!!
"WHAT? 60%?! That's insane!!"
They were all top-tier Haki users; they knew exactly how absurd a 60% reduction was.
"Don't believe me? Garp, show 'em!"
Garp, still dazed, activated his Armament Haki.
Everyone watched as a deep black coating effortlessly covered both gauntlets. Garp's jaw dropped in disbelief.
His signature shocked face!
Seeing that, no one doubted Hammer anymore.
The forge erupted in excitement.
"This gauntlet has a name, too!" Hammer declared proudly.
"The Fist of Tekko!"
Whoa! That name hits hard!
'Wait… who's Tekko? Could it be… Hammer himself? Whatever, as long as it's badass!' 1
"TAKE IT OFF, GARP! THAT'S MINE!!"
Zephyr's eyes burned red as he lunged at Garp again.
The others? They all turned to look at Hammer.
He knew exactly what they wanted, but he just took another drag of his cigar, smugly silent.
And yeah… smoking while forging really was the vibe.
...
1 A traditional Okinawan weapon, often made from iron or wood, used in martial arts to reinforce punches.
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