Pirates: I Rely Only on Myself

The Storm Archipelago now consisted of five islands: Storm Island, Crab Island, Spire Island, Silver Beach Island, and Block Island.

The first four islands were natural formations, reinforced with seabed mud and rocks, while Block Island was created by merging nine small barren islands.

At the center of it all lay Storm Island, the designated location for Storm City.

Noah summoned Gaimon, who had transformed into an Apostle after acquiring the Cube-Cube Fruit, whose abilities proved invaluable for large-scale construction. With Shiki's assistance using the Float-Float Fruit, a new city rose rapidly.

Construction followed a simple, modular design. Using the Cube-Cube Fruit, Gaimon could cut large cubic blocks of rock, which Shiki then placed precisely. For example, creating a small two-story house required only one 15-meter cube, which could then be hollowed and subdivided for interior spaces.

In just one month, Storm City's foundational infrastructure was complete, including a governor's mansion, four granaries, sixteen defensive fortresses, 12,000 two-story stone houses, a sewage system, two small reservoirs, and ten large industrial plants.

The relocated population from Sixis Island quickly reached 32,000, enough to sustain Storm City's essential operations.

Noah envisioned Storm Archipelago as an industrial hub.

Since Rum Kingdom's status as a World Government ally and its focus on agriculture made it unsuitable for heavy industry, and Sky Island lacked mineral resources, large-scale industry was impractical on both islands. For Sky Island, the only option was for Noah to bring in mineral-rich islands from the Calm Belt—a solution that wasn't sustainable.

Storm Archipelago's location within the eye of a storm offered unique conditions: the area rarely saw rain, so water had to be supplied via pipeline.

The freshwater source was simple. A third of Block Island extended into the stormy region, where it experienced frequent rainfall. This part of Block Island was reshaped into a basin, allowing it to collect rainfall, which was then piped to the two reservoirs on Storm Island.

With this setup, Storm Island remained well-supplied with water, despite its dry climate.

However, not all of Storm Archipelago was designated for industry. Crab Island was better suited for livestock farming, Silver Beach Island for agriculture, and parts of Spire Island and Block Island for mining.

Once Storm City was fully constructed, Noah assigned Ari, the head of the Industrial Department and Science Education Division, to oversee industrial development in the archipelago.

To emphasize the strategic importance of the Storm Archipelago, Noah appointed Joshua, formerly stationed in Rum Kingdom, as its governor.

He restructured other territories as well: Sixis Island was removed from its previous location and relocated above Black Rock Island, near Rum Kingdom. For additional security, Noah moved nearly all Emperor Cumulus produced over the past months to form a new Sky Island above Black Rock.

With its volcanic activity, Black Rock Island could continuously supply ash enriched with Seastone elements, making Sixis Island an ideal site for cloud-based manufacturing.

Sixis Island and Rum Kingdom now formed the East Sea Governorate, with Uncle Joseph as governor.

The Sky Island cluster above Jaya Island, along with Birka Island and Gluttony Island, was designated as the Sky Paradise Governorate, governed by Monet.

This reorganization established Noah's Dawn Empire with three primary governorates: Storm Archipelago, Sky Paradise, and East Sea. Smaller bases and surveillance stations were transferred to the Inspection Department for unified management.

Noah and his crew remained on Storm Archipelago until the end of the year, setting sail again shortly after New Year's Day.

In the past two months, the archipelago had expanded to include four additional mineral-rich islands. These barren islands were secretly excavated from under the Antarctic ice cap by Shiki, who unearthed vast veins of valuable resources.

The hidden factories that Noah had previously built beneath Rum Kingdom were now transported to Storm Island. Using Ari's wormhole ability, they sealed the factories in cards for transport, relocating them securely.

The industrial sector on Storm Island now featured a large ark dock capable of mass-producing medium-sized arks.

Meanwhile, Noah's researchers had begun work on replicating the technology they discovered in Crab Island's ancient well ruins.

Noah appointed Gaimon as the head of Storm Archipelago's industrial area, where his Cube-Cube Fruit's abilities would be instrumental in further developments. The Cube-Cube Fruit held incredible potential beyond construction, especially for research and weapon manufacturing.

One of its most useful properties was compression. For instance, compressing hydrogen to extreme levels would create metallic hydrogen, with explosive power dozens of times that of TNT.

Further compressing metallic hydrogen could initiate nuclear fusion in hydrogen atoms, resulting in a nuclear explosion. However, achieving such levels of compression might require a fully awakened Cube-Cube Fruit.

Apart from weaponry, the Cube-Cube Fruit could also compress materials into high-strength alloys and other non-metallic substances. Compressing graphite into diamonds, for instance, could yield synthetic gems, providing a steady income stream for Noah's family as long as they controlled supply.

For Noah, the true value of Devil Fruits went beyond battle. Used for production, they could bring about extraordinary benefits.

Thus, keeping Gaimon in Storm Archipelago maximized the utility of the Cube-Cube Fruit's abilities.

Ideally, Noah would have liked to keep Bartholomew, the Steel-Stone Fruit user, for industrial applications as well. The fruit's magnetism and heat-generation properties would make him a powerful asset in metallurgy and mechanical engineering.

However, for the sake of his own safety, Noah chose to retain Bartholomew in his traveling party. The Steel-Stone Fruit gave Noah enhanced physical durability, enabling him to withstand attacks from admirals directly. Without it, a surprise attack from an admiral-level enemy could prove fatal.

While an ambush by such a powerful foe was unlikely, Noah never let his guard down.

After all, the World Government had many hidden assets—like the mysterious Knights of God, the Five Elders, and the enigmatic Im, not to mention the ancient weapon Uranus.

If the World Government discovered his identity and sent the Knights of God on an assassination mission, he would face formidable enemies.

In such situations, every Apostle at Noah's side could sway the outcome of a battle.

Therefore, Noah always kept Shiki and Bartholomew by his side when he traveled, while other Apostles were assigned to tasks as needed.