When Spandine finally scrawled his name onto the paper, Buggy smiled faintly and folded it away.
Then, almost casually, he said:
"I've heard you have a son… Spandam, right? Word is that the boy isn't exactly well-behaved. You're always busy with work, but you'd better not slack on teaching him."
It was more than idle talk—Buggy was threatening him through his son. After all, Spandam would later become the very cause of Tom's tragic fate.
The moment Spandam's name was spoken, Spandine's eyes froze, then flickered with panic. How does Buggy know about my son? Why mention him now? His heart raced with bad premonitions.
Hurriedly, he bowed again:
"Lord Buggy, I will fulfill everything I promised. And… thank you for your concern about Spandam. I'll be sure to discipline him properly."
Whether or not Buggy's words were a threat, Spandine understood perfectly: if he carried out Buggy's orders, his son would remain safe.
Buggy gave a final warning, raising the paper in his hand.
"Remember this—neither you nor your son is ever to trouble Tom. Do everything exactly as I said. Don't even think about playing tricks."
Spandine stiffened. To hear Spandam's name again sent shivers down his spine. Cautiously, he asked:
"My lord… have you perhaps received some… news about Spandam?"
Buggy's tone cut him off cold.
"That's not for you to know. Just remember—Spandam must never touch Tom."
How could I tell him the truth? That in ten years, his son will try to destroy Tom? Impossible.
Spandine bowed his head lower.
"Yes, Lord Buggy. Neither I nor Spandam will ever trouble Tom again."
Satisfied, Buggy turned and signaled Shiryu, Enel, Lafitte, and Weevil. Together, they left the grove.
As their figures vanished, Spandine's face twisted with murderous rage. His gaze swept over the unconscious and wounded CP9 agents scattered around him. Slowly, he stooped, picked up a fallen blade, and one by one… drove it into their chests.
It wasn't cruelty for its own sake. First, he couldn't be sure none of them had overheard the dangerous conversation. If anyone whispered a word about Pluton or his pact with Buggy, he was finished. Better safe than sorry.
Second, these men had failed him utterly. They couldn't even protect him, and their incompetence left his life dangling in Buggy's hands. His anger had to go somewhere—and it went into their lifeless bodies.
As CP9's commander, he had no fear of running out of tools. If one squad died, he could always handpick another. Their deaths could be explained away with a hundred excuses. In the end, CP9 was his to mold.
Meanwhile, Buggy and his crew returned to Tom's shipyard.
Inside, Tom and his apprentices were already hard at work upgrading the Splendor (辉煌号). When Buggy arrived, he proudly introduced Iceburg to the rest of the crew. From that moment, Iceburg officially became a member of the Yanhuang Pirates.
Time flew by. Two months later, the overhaul of the Splendor was complete, and Buggy's crew was ready to set sail once more.
The ship had been transformed. Every flaw repaired, every system enhanced—this was no mere repair, but a complete rebirth.
Tom's most radical innovation was in the propulsion system. Originally, the Splendor required special fuel to sail. Now, after Tom's modifications, its energy source became nothing more than the sea itself—ordinary seawater.
The inspiration came from the design of the Ark Maxim, which ran on electricity. Tom applied similar principles, reworking the Splendor so its engines converted seawater into energy.
When Tom proposed the idea, Buggy and the others immediately threw their support behind it. A ship fueled by seawater—practically infinite, free, and available anywhere in the oceans—was revolutionary. It meant never again worrying about supplies or cost.
That was only the beginning.
The Splendor also inherited the flight system from Ark Maxim. With the new configuration, the ship became fully amphibious—capable of sailing across the seas or soaring through the skies.
Tom didn't stop there. Drawing on the cutting-edge shipbuilding technology of Water 7, he installed an advanced navigation system. Comparable to "autopilot" on Earth, it allowed the ship to be programmed with a destination; as long as energy was sufficient, it would automatically chart the safest course and arrive without human intervention.
New weaponry was also mounted. Previously, the Splendor carried only a handful of standard cannons. Now, using concepts adapted from Ark Maxim, Tom installed automated turrets capable of locking and firing on targets without manual operation.
Every upgrade left the crew in awe. With Tom's genius, the Splendor had become one of the most advanced vessels in the world—a true fortress of the sea and sky, worthy of carrying Buggy's crew through the Grand Line.
Of course, such power came at a cost. The modifications consumed nearly 300 million berries, most of which were spent on the intelligent navigation system and energy conversion components. But Buggy considered it money well spent.
And when the work was done, Buggy personally handed Tom 200 million berries as payment.
At first, Tom refused. "Too much," he said. But Buggy insisted, pointing out that Tom's future project—the Sea Train—would demand enormous resources. In the end, Tom relented and accepted the sum.The Splendor was ready. The Yanhuang Pirates' journey was about to continue, now aboard one of the most formidable ships the seas had ever seen.