More than ten days later.
They finished earlier than expected—eighteen days in total.
Both brand-new warships were now fully completed. Aside from Hina, who would lead the Sovereign in Smoker's stead, nearly the entire upper command of the branch had gathered at the port.
"Whoa... this thing is huge."
"It's probably even bigger than the main base's super warships, isn't it?"
Smoker couldn't help but marvel.
Back when he was overseeing Loguetown, the largest ships he had ever commanded were only medium-sized.
So seeing a steel behemoth—one with a displacement easily double that of the Navy's large warships—was a staggering visual shock.
Especially those two dual-mounted main cannons. While the barrels weren't much thicker than the ones on standard large warships, they were…
Exceptionally long.
That alone surprised him.
After all, people in this world still hadn't developed the concept of rifled cannons. They were still using smoothbore, muzzle-loading artillery.
"Luo Lan, how far can these cannons fire? And what's the firepower like?"
"Also, where are the sails? Are they hidden somewhere?"
"And most importantly—I just realized this entire ship is made of steel?"
Smoker, who had missed the earlier briefing meeting, was clearly in the dark. Now, curiosity consumed him.
Luo Lan chuckled and began to explain.
"According to Seras, these dual-mounted cannons have a maximum range of 22 kilometers."
"Of course, the farther you shoot, the lower the hit rate."
"Generally speaking, to maintain an average accuracy of over 10%, you shouldn't exceed 15 kilometers."
What?! 22 kilometers?!
Even at 15 kilometers, only a 10% hit rate?
Smoker was shocked—then quickly felt a little disdainful.
But if Luo Lan knew what was going through Smoker's head, he'd probably start ranting.
Fifteen kilometers, not your typical point-blank naval skirmish at a few hundred meters.
And this was without radar. A 10% hit rate under those conditions? That was already impressive.
Luo Lan turned to the foreman.
"Kairo, great job."
But the shipwright shook his head.
"No, this couldn't have been done by me alone. Steel warships are no longer something that shipbuilders can complete by themselves."
If it had been a wooden sailing vessel, the shipwrights could've managed the whole thing, from hull construction to interior finishing.
Just like how Iceburg and Franky operated in the original story.
But now?
Frankly speaking, the shipbuilders were mostly responsible for crafting the hull.
All the other systems—engines, cannons, electronics—were built by specialized departments and then installed afterward. Shipwrights had very little involvement beyond the frame.
Luo Lan nodded in understanding.
"You've all done excellent work."
"But going forward, I want to implement a step-by-step iterative approach."
"We'll use these two warships as the baseline. Don't aim for full technological upgrades all at once. Instead, improve one part at a time, build one or two ships per batch, and test each advancement."
"This way, we expand our fleet while continuously improving and validating designs—until we finally develop a warship that satisfies all our goals. Then, we mass-produce it."
It was a strategy drawn straight from Luo Lan's experience in his past life.
Each batch would be small, but each would feature upgrades to test new technologies. Even if something went wrong, it would only affect one or two ships.
One batch after another, continuously refining the model.
Then, once a major breakthrough was achieved, they could begin large-scale production—before starting the cycle anew.
Roy fell silent for a moment, digesting the plan. Then, his eyes lit up.
Yes! It was brilliant.
"Understood, Captain!"
---
Everyone boarded the ship.
"Roy, I don't remember seeing that thing on the original design."
Luo Lan pointed toward a strange device mounted atop the island structure.
"You're right. It wasn't in the initial plans," Roy replied. "But during outfitting, the Science Division came up with a new prototype and asked us to install it for testing."
No wonder the other ship didn't have it. It was something Seras and his team had cooked up—a test model.
"Seras, what exactly is this thing?"
Luo Lan turned to the scientist.
"Captain, this is something we developed by chance... a radar."
"Wait, did you just say radar?"
Luo Lan was stunned.
Could it be? Was this really the kind of radar he was thinking of?
Had Seras somehow reverse-engineered Tana's radar?
"Captain, while I've studied Danaan's radar like you asked, its technology is far too advanced for us right now. There's no way to replicate it yet."
"Then this is...?"
"It shares some conceptual similarities, but it's based on entirely different principles. What we've built here... is a radar that operates using Observation Haki."
Observation Haki?!
Luo Lan froze.
In a way, that did make sense—it functioned similarly to radar.
So they had replaced radar waves with Observation Haki?
But… was that even possible?
Observation Haki, even at its peak, only covered limited ranges. Maybe someone like that guy on Skypiea could stretch it to tens of kilometers, but that was an exception.
"In truth, this device amplifies the user's Observation Haki. But to use it, the captain must have awakened their Observation Haki."
Seras explained as he led the group into the bridge.
"Captain, please take a look."
He gestured to the captain's chair.
To its left side, embedded in the armrest, was a strange circular panel.
"The radar itself doesn't generate Haki. It needs the captain to supply it. And the way to do that…"
"…is for the captain to place their left hand on this panel and output their Observation Haki."
"Captain, would you like to try?"
Luo Lan didn't hesitate. He sat down and pressed his left hand onto the panel.
But there was one thing he didn't understand.
How exactly do you 'output' Observation Haki?
"Captain, all you need to do is activate your Haki. The device will handle the rest," Seras explained, noticing Luo Lan's confusion.
Luo Lan nodded and closed his eyes.
Observation Haki—activate!
The next moment, he felt it.
The circular panel beneath his palm was pulling something from his body.
It was a strange and slightly unsettling sensation. Luo Lan couldn't help but feel uneasy.
"Don't worry, Captain. Drawing Haki out like this doesn't harm the body. After all, externalizing Armament Haki works in a similar fashion. Fundamentally, it's no different."
"So that's how it works... and then what?"
Before he even finished asking, he had his answer.
Because on the large screen in front of them—
Blip.
Blip. Blip. Blip.
One after another, glowing dots began to appear.
Until finally—
Thousands of them lit up across the display.
Luo Lan inhaled sharply.
This… this was the birth of something incredible.