Water 7, now a bustling maritime city, is where numerous high-quality ships are built and sold for various purposes. The island hosts many shipbuilding companies, but it wasn’t always this way just a few years ago.
Fourteen years ago, Roger started the Great Pirate Era, causing the seas to become more turbulent than ever.
Water 7 has a developed shipbuilding industry but lacks the raw materials needed for construction. All the lumber and metal required for shipbuilding must be imported.
Sometimes, even a simple nail has to be imported. Water 7 is merely a processing center.
With the start of the Great Pirate Era, in just a month, the sea became chaotic with natural disasters, Sea King’s attacks, and pirates roaming the waters, making the area around Water 7 more dangerous and raw materials scarce.
Due to its unique geographical location, the entire city of Water 7 is hit annually by a massive tsunami known as “Aqua Laguna.” The locals refer to it as the Gods of Water due to the enormous scale of the tsunami. [*The other name Gods of Water is only called in chinese. There is no English equivalent.]
The numerous pirates made importing and exporting materials extremely difficult for Water 7, leading the once-flourishing city to gradually decline. During this time, the World Government’s people captured a local shipwright, the Fish-Man Tom.
He was charged with building a ship for the Pirate King and was thus sentenced to death.
“Building ships is not a crime, nor is selling them, but the Pirate King is an exception,” declared the judge sent by the World Government’s Judicial Ship.
In this situation, Tom made a suggestion.
At the time, Tom was dissatisfied with the decline of Water 7 and was preparing his Sea Train project. He presented the idea of the Sea Train in court and successfully persuaded the judge, thus obtaining a ten-year reprieve.
During the ten years of building the Sea Train, many things happened in Water 7. Residents restricted their children’s outings due to the increased number of pirates in the streets. Shipyard owners risked their lives to procure lumber due to the reduced number of merchant ships, resulting in the deaths of fifty people.
People kept leaving Water 7, shipbuilding companies kept going bankrupt, and owners committed suicide.
Four years ago, in 1508, the Sea Train began operation, solving Water 7’s dilemma.
The Sea Train connected surrounding islands, with tracks that floated on the sea, unaffected by storms or waves. The friction of the tracks and gears produced sounds that repelled fish, and without food, the number of Sea Kings and sea beasts significantly decreased.
The safe Sea Train brought hope to the surrounding areas, and Tom’s reprieve was extended as he continued to repair other Sea Train lines over the four years.
Robin arrived at Water 7 recently and witnessed the significance of the Sea Train.
Its transport capacity surpassed Pokémons, and the mechanical train didn’t need rest. The specially designed sea tracks could avoid storms and tsunamis, greatly improving operational efficiency. However, the construction cost is high, so over the years, only a few lines were constructed in Water 7.
Widespread implementation was unrealistic, but the revenue of the colossal Beasts Fruits could theoretically support its construction. Robin had written to Onigashima about this, but that wasn’t why she requested support.
Recently, under Onigashima’s direction, Tesoro launched a new product, and he coincidentally opened a branch in Water 7. Upon learning Robin was there, he asked her to handle recent sales and financial issues.
The new product was the Rotom Phone, but without a resident Rotom.
Within the Beasts Pirates, Rotom Phones didn’t need to consider battery life because they were special communication devices provided to the officers, each housing a Rotom that can generate electricity for the phone.
However, the commercial version was different. Without a resident Rotom, these phones can only use traditional charging methods, limiting their usage to areas with access to charging.
The islands with widespread electricity were mostly prosperous, gathering many wealthy merchants and nobles, who have become Tesoro’s main sales targets.
Apart from them, people settled on those islands were also target customers, whereas those frequently at sea were not suitable for Rotom Phones as not every ship has built-in power generation equipment. For those using wind-powered ships, Den Den Mushi is still more suitable.
Tesoro’s selling points were convenience, stability, and versatility. Unlike raising Den Den Mushi, there is no need to feed or water it, and there’s no worry about communication quality being affected by Den Den Mushi getting sick. As long as it has power, it remains extremely stable.
Additionally, it featured a camera, speaker, and flashlight, receiving positive feedback in the high-end market.
Tesoro promoted the phone not just for earning money but also for gathering more intelligence.
Security was another major selling point. In his advertising slogans, he boasted that you don’t have to worry about being eavesdropped on by your competitors.
Tesoro even claimed he uses Rotom Phones to discuss information with his subordinates during Beasts Fruits’ transactions, because he doesn’t have to worry about being eavesdropped on.
What he said is true. Rotom Phones indeed cannot be eavesdropped on by outsiders because there currently isn’t such eavesdropping equipment available. However, Beasts Fruits can record the information transmitted and analyze intelligence that is advantageous to them.
Since there was no resident Rotom, he gave the commercial version a new name – Fruit Phone, available in several colors and designs to choose from.
Onigashima assigned a few Rotom to him for intelligence gathering. Though there were no results yet, some World Government officials had started using these phones, and Tesoro believed results would come eventually.
Initially, when Arceus added this product to his list, Tesoro didn’t understand its purpose. But upon learning its functions, he realized its significance.
In business, intelligence was always crucial. Knowing the opponent’s moves in advance allows for formulating new response measures.
He even prepared a luxury gold Celestial Dragon limited edition, intending to eavesdrop on their internal information.
“Robin, is your phone… a bit different?” Robin’s colleague looked at her phone doubtfully. Despite being the same model, she seemed to notice Robin’s phone casing flashing.
“No, maybe because I helped them clear a debt, they gave me the limited edition,” Robin casually brushed off her colleague’s question. Their phones were indeed different; only the ones housing Rotom were the complete version.
Robin then looked at the message on it. It was a message from Sasaki, indicating that he had arrived at the designated location.
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