"Surpass everything completely!!!"
Vegapunk's excited voice echoed throughout the lab.
Hearing that passionate declaration, Kuma couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion rise within him.
And, of course, concern.
"That's an amazing concept… but if even thoughts are interconnected, wouldn't that cause all sorts of problems?"
Ordinary humans, giants, fishmen, long-arm tribe… countless different races.
Celestial Dragons, kings, nobles, civilians, pirates, Marines, bounty hunters… endless identity gaps.
All these differences are bound to lead to countless ways of thinking.
And with that, comes endless conflict.
No one understood that better than him—once a slave, now a king.
Vegapunk burst into hearty laughter. Of course, he'd thought about these issues.
"That's just something we can't avoid. But if we let that stop us from advancing science… That would be a real tragedy. As for these ideological issues, someone will surely find a solution one day."
Everyone has their own ideas. Kuma knew he couldn't force his views on Vegapunk.
Lifting his sleeping daughter into his arms, he prepared to leave.
"Don't be in such a hurry, Kuma! I've got a new idea—and your Devil Fruit can help me!"
Vegapunk hurriedly jumped in front of him, making a pleading gesture.
Kuma paused, then nodded.
"Go ahead."
Vegapunk's eyes lit up with excitement again.
"Scholars from the West Blue once said that when a human dies, their body weight decreases by 21 grams…"
CRASH!
A sudden, thunderous explosion shook the entire island and cut off Vegapunk mid-sentence.
Losing his balance, Vegapunk tumbled toward the floor.
In the nick of time, Kuma caught him.
"Thanks, Kuma!" Vegapunk exhaled in relief, nearly smashing the antenna on his head.
"Kuma, there's something underground," he said, eyes narrowing as he looked at the floor beneath them.
"I know. Let me see what it is."
Activating the DOM shoes on his feet, Vegapunk flew over to the control panel.
One by one, the surveillance screens came online.
The surrounding area of Egghead, from the seabed to the shore, was fully displayed.
A ring of purplish-red light caught both their eyes.
That glowing ring surrounded Egghead from beneath the ocean, slicing inward toward the center.
"Armament Haki!!"
A look of gravity flickered in Kuma's eyes.
Egghead wasn't some tiny fishing island with a handful of residents.
Even in the New World, its size was considerable.
To be able to cut into an island this large—with Armament Haki—was beyond extraordinary.
And the medium carrying the Haki…
"Thread?"
Vegapunk followed the glowing light back to its source in the sky.
There, a large ship had silently docked above PUNK RECORDS without anyone noticing.
Black clouds piled up overhead, thunder rolling within them, as though the sky was about to collapse.
At the bow stood a flamboyantly pink figure, holding that thread infused with Haki.
With Vegapunk's adjustments, the figure's image enlarged on the screen.
"Heavenly Yaksha, Doflamingo!!!"
Both Vegapunk and Kuma exclaimed in unison when they recognized him.
He was the mastermind behind everything.
At his feet, wrapped up like a mummy, lay a woman—causing Vegapunk's pupils to contract.
"Stussy!!"
"And the orphan of Ohara who vanished in the West Blue—Nico Robin."
Kuma's gaze sharpened.
The Revolutionary Army had searched for Ohara's lost child.
They thought she'd simply gone missing. But now it turned out she had ended up in Doflamingo's hands.
As if sensing their stares, Doflamingo turned toward the camera and smiled maliciously, his lips moving silently.
"Fufufufufu~ Surpassing everything—I like the way you think, Vegapunk."
"What's up, Doffy?" Smoothie glanced at him, puzzled by his sudden conversation with the air.
"The prey just realized the hunter's watching. Got a little rattled."
...
A few minutes earlier.
"There it is—Egghead."
Wrapped head to toe in bandages, Stussy pointed at the oddly shaped island, her eyes utterly void of light.
Her voice was flat and mechanical, as if emotionally numbed.
"You've done well, Miss Stussy."
With a light chop to the neck, Stussy once again slipped into a sleep like a newborn. Doflamingo, staring at the bizarre island ahead, was full of anticipation.
This island…
Below, it looked like a massive stretch of primitive jungle—totally unremarkable from the outside, revealing nothing of the inside.
At the center was the unmistakable structure of island clouds—Vegapunk had clearly mastered the secret to using island clouds on land.
Above that, a dome-shaped structure like half an eggshell.
Strangely, though it looked lifeless, Doflamingo could feel thoughts and emotions emanating from within.
"Are we going down there, BOSS?"
Robin asked curiously.
BOSS had gone through a lot of trouble to find this place.
Surely, now was her turn to act.
"No need."
He had no interest in playing the explorer.
What if Vegapunk had developed some kind of anti-Devil Fruit tech?
As one of the Four Emperors, dying in some hidden trap would be a joke.
He turned to the man beside him—Enel—and gave a command.
"Enel, use your Observation Haki with me. Let's see if we can sense Vegapunk's presence. He should be about average size, but his head is enormous—like a lightbulb."
Vegapunk's true appearance had already been described to him by Judge and Caesar.
And Enel's mantra (Observation Haki) could pick up every word being spoken on this island.
In that regard, he was more than capable—just like Doflamingo.
Together, they expanded their Observation across the island.
World Government spies, researchers, test subjects… a variety of individuals entered their perception.
And among them—an unusually shaped Vegapunk and Bartholomew Kuma.
Enel turned to speak.
Doflamingo raised a hand to silence him, focusing on the conversation between Vegapunk and Kuma.
So the guy had chopped off his own head to use it as a literal cloud-based server? Made sense.
After a while...
"Vegapunk's clones—PUNK RECORDS."
So many high-value assets caused Doflamingo's eyes to snap open.
A genius like this—he had to make him his.
This time, maybe he could get seven Vegapunks.
Seven times the production efficiency!!!
And this younger version of Kuma—absolutely amazing!
Doflamingo pointed one finger to the sky, another to the sea.
Countless threads shot upward and downward in an instant.
At the same time, he issued an order to the man beside him.
"Enel, seal off all escape routes."
Sure, Kuma could teleport people with his Paw-Paw Fruit, but Enel's lightning speed wasn't to be underestimated either.
"Understood, BOSS!"
Enel shot into the sky, clouds beginning to churn and gather ominously.
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Fanfic is finished 527 chapters in total on p@treon/tambeerg