"Excellent!"
In the darkness, Roger looked at the brand-new steel legion before him and nodded with satisfaction.
The black skeletons reflected the cold, hard metallic luster unique to metal under the moonlight. Just standing together, they exuded an elite aura of "I am expensive, and I can fight well."
He felt that even without a ship, he could now flatten half of Wa Country.
However, as a meticulous entrepreneur, Roger never fought unprepared battles.
"Comrades, what is the first step after a product upgrade?"
Roger cleared his throat and began a new round of corporate culture training.
"It's celebration!"
Buck, that simpleton, was the first to blurt out the answer.
He was excitedly banging his head against the mast, making dull thudding sounds, trying to test whether his head or the explorer's keel was harder.
"Wrong!"
Roger gave him a sharp rap on his shiny forehead.
"It's quality inspection!"
He announced in an undeniable tone.
"Any new product, before it is officially launched to the market, must undergo strict, cruel, and even destructive quality testing!"
"This is being responsible to our customers, and it is also being responsible to ourselves!"
The pirates looked at each other, their empty eye sockets once again filled with a thirst for knowledge and confusion about their captain's miraculous thought process.
"Captain, what is quality inspection?"
Billy humbly asked for guidance.
"Good question."
Roger snapped his fingers, a smile so kind it was unsettling appearing on his face.
"It means I need to find something to give you all a good beating, to see just how sturdy these new bones of yours really are."
On the deck, a dead silence instantly fell.
Beat us?
With what?
"Captain! Just tell us! What will you use!"
It was still Buck who broke the silence.
He puffed out his black-iron chest, patting it with a resounding *bang, bang*.
"As long as it contributes to the company, be it a mountain of daggers or a sea of fire, I, Buck, will not even frown!"
"Very good, Comrade Buck, I am pleased to see such awareness."
Roger nodded approvingly, then calmly uttered two words.
"Cannon execution."
"..."
"Captain! This won't do!"
Hector was the first to rush over. This loyal old captain was so anxious that he even dropped the helm in his hand.
"This... this is too crazy!"
"Even if they can't die, cannonballs are still bought with money!"
"Comrade Hector, your thinking is very dangerous."
Roger waved his hand, a look of deep sorrow on his face.
"What do you mean crazy? This is science! This is stress testing! This is data collection!"
"We are a company with a pursuit of technology; we cannot always stay at the subjective level of 'it feels very hard'!"
"What is the hardness? What is the compression resistance? What is the maximum deformation range? Can you provide these data?"
A series of incomprehensible technical terms directly stunned Hector.
He opened his mouth, unable to utter a single word.
"I'll do it! Captain! I'll be first!"
Buck was afraid that this precious opportunity would be snatched by someone else.
He rushed to the bow in a few strides, spread his arms, and struck a pose as if embracing the world.
"For the future of the company! For us to have more copper coins! Fire at me!"
"Good! You've got guts!"
Roger waved his hand.
"Bring me that smallest six-pounder cannon! Let's start testing with the basic model!"
Soon, a small cannon was pushed to the center of the deck.
The gunner skillfully loaded and aimed.
All the pirates hid far away, only their black skulls peeking out, watching nervously.
"Fire!"
"Boom!"
With a muffled roar, a solid cannonball, trailing black smoke, accurately struck Buck's broad chest.
"Clang!"
A crisp metallic clang rang out.
The cannonball, as if hitting an iron wall, was directly bounced off, tumbling a few times in the air before falling into the sea with a *plop*.
As for Buck, his body only swayed, taking half a step back.
He looked down at his sternum, where there was only a shallow white mark.
He extended a finger bone and scratched at the white mark, then looked up, revealing a simple yet disappointed smile.
"Captain, I didn't feel anything."
"It was like being bitten by a mosquito. Can we try something more impactful?"
"Holy shit!"
The pirates watching instantly erupted.
He took a cannonball head-on and was completely fine?
Is this even bone anymore? This must be Sea God's bone!
"Very good, basic test passed."
Roger's face, however, showed no joy.
He walked to the six-pounder, kicked the cannon barrel, and shook his head.
"The cannonball's initial velocity is too slow, and its kinetic energy is insufficient to effectively test the material's yield strength."
He turned and pointed to the menacing big guns on both sides of the ship.
"Hector, bring out one of our Armstrong breech-loading cannons for me."
"This time, use armor-piercing rounds."
Hector's body stiffened.
Armstrong cannon?
And armor-piercing rounds?
------------------------
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