While Perona shamelessly attempted to secure her place on the ship, Tsuki had no such leisure.
He had just finished choosing his Devil Fruit when Ash immediately assigned him a task.
"What?" Tsuki stared at him in disbelief. "You want me to restore the entire forest on Thriller Bark by myself? Bring all of it back to life?"
"Treat it as training," Ash replied lightly. "You are the only Wood Element user on this ship. If you do not handle it, should I? I still need to repair the castle. Look at what Bro Youki and Kirk did to it."
Tsuki opened his mouth, wanting to suggest they work together. However, the smile on Ash's face made him swallow his words. For some reason, he felt that if he complained too much, Ash might plant him in the ground as fertilizer.
Meanwhile, Youki and Kirk were not idle either. Ash sent them to gather all the zombie corpses scattered across Thriller Bark.
With Moria defeated, every stolen shadow had returned to its original owner. Normally, those whose shadows were stolen would burn upon exposure to sunlight. However, the zombies themselves would not collapse just because their shadows disappeared. Without manual cleanup, Thriller Bark would remain a graveyard.
Ash focused on restructuring the main castle.
The castle was enormous, but its atmosphere was suffocating and grim. After calculating the potential size of their future crew, Ash made a bold decision.
He converted the massive hollow interior of the main mast into twenty floors of private suites.
Building materials were sourced directly from damaged sections of the castle. Interior furnishings would be purchased later when they reached another island. Fortunately, Ash had more than enough Berries to cover the cost.
Since repairing the mast consumed a large amount of reinforced stone and brick, the outer walls and courtyard structures suffered from material shortages. After brief consideration, Ash removed the walls entirely.
In the world of pirates, walls were meaningless. Any competent fighter could leap or fly over them. Worse, the enclosed design made the castle feel stagnant and lifeless. Removing the walls opened the space and allowed the structure to breathe.
Perona watched the restored courtyard with sparkling eyes. Although it could no longer be called her Mysterious Garden, it had been preserved. That alone made her ecstatic.
Saff eventually gave in to Perona's relentless pleading and allowed her to stay by her side temporarily. It was obvious that Perona was terrified of Ash and the others.
However, Saff made one thing clear. "You cannot stay on this ship forever."
In her mind, Perona would likely be stationed on a Sky Island in the future, or perhaps sent to Twin Cape to assist in guarding the entrance of the Grand Line. Of course, the final decision belonged to Ash, and she did not mention those locations out loud.
Perona did not care about future assignments. As long as she could avoid Ash and the others for now, she was more than satisfied.
While Ash continued repairing the castle, Kirk reported something unexpected.
While collecting zombie corpses, he and Youki had discovered several hidden storage rooms filled with preserved bodies. Among them was something Ash would definitely want to see.
Ash teleported to the location immediately.
Inside Hogback's storage chamber lay a well preserved samurai corpse. Beside it rested a katana.
Ash drew the blade.
A clear metallic ring echoed through the chamber.
The blade was black with a faint purple sheen, its surface marked with distinctive red patterns.
It was Shusui, one of the Twenty One Great Grade Swords and the national treasure of Wano Country.
Ash calmly returned the sword to its sheath and fastened it at his waist.
"Good blade. It is mine now."
Youki and Kirk had no objections. Youki preferred his gauntlets. Kirk was more comfortable with a chef's knife. Neither had serious interest in swordsmanship.
Whether Ash knew how to wield a sword properly was irrelevant. If their captain liked it, that was enough.
"What about the bodies?" Youki asked, gesturing toward the rows of coffins.
"Since we are taking his sword, bury Shimotsuki Ryuma with proper respect," Ash replied. "When we eventually reach Wano Country, we can return him. As for the rest, we do not know their identities. Burn them along with the zombie corpses."
"Understood," Youki said. "We will gather everything and call you to light the fire."
"Oh, and bury Ryuma far away," Ash added. "We are tearing down the cemetery later."
He glanced toward the graveyard near the castle and snorted. "Moria built a cemetery beside his residence. No sense of feng shui. See what happened to him."
Youki and Kirk nodded repeatedly.
Ash shot them an unimpressed look. "Do not just agree blindly."
With that, he vanished to assist Tsuki.
Youki folded his arms. "He talks like he would not have come to beat Moria anyway."
"You were the one who beat Moria to death," Kirk corrected calmly.
"He was a pirate. Anyone had the right," Youki shot back.
"Enough. I refuse to sleep near corpses tonight," Kirk said flatly. "Get moving."
"Fine. Relay."
Youki lifted coffins one by one and tossed them to Kirk, who used his Space ability to teleport them toward the cemetery.
Then Youki froze.
"Hey. Look at this."
"What now?" Kirk asked impatiently.
"Tell me what that is."
Kirk glanced inside the coffin. "A wild boar."
Youki grimaced. "Ash was not wrong. Hogback is truly deranged. Keeping the preserved body of a famous actress to dress up as a maid is already disturbing. Now he is preserving wild animals too."
Kirk poked the corpse lightly with his knife. "It is female."
Youki's expression turned even darker. "Enough. Stop describing it. Back to work."
Elsewhere, Tsuki stood in the middle of a once decaying woodland.
Under his control, dead trees regained vitality. Rotten branches sprouted fresh leaves. The soil softened and responded to his will.
Watching life return to the forest filled him with an unfamiliar sense of accomplishment.
"Not bad."
Ash appeared in midair nearby.
"Bro Ash!" Tsuki grinned. "Are we restoring the entire forest?"
"Only the front section," Ash replied thoughtfully. "The central area must remain open."
"What for?"
"For Kirk," Ash answered. "He will plant melons, fruits, and vegetables there. On both sides, I plan to grow peach and orange groves. Saff can brew fruit wine."
His eyes brightened. "Her Devil Fruit ability can accelerate growth and fermentation. We can drastically shorten harvest cycles. By then, we will have an endless supply of fruits, vegetables, and wine."
Tsuki's eyes widened. "There are countless Sea Beasts and Sea Kings in the ocean. If we handle agriculture ourselves, we can become fully self sufficient. That is brilliant, Bro Ash."
Ash laughed loudly. "Keep your voice down."
"I will continue planting," Tsuki declared energetically.
Ash studied the rapidly thickening forest below and rubbed his chin.
"Tsuki, do not plant them too densely. You are landscaping, not building a fortress."
He pointed toward the path leading from the shore to the castle.
"Leave a proper road through the woods. Not everyone can fly. Remember how we needed a carriage to reach the castle? If you block everything, what is Brook supposed to think?"
He paused.
"At least wait until he disembarks before trapping him."
Tsuki fell silent.
Perhaps he had been too enthusiastic.