Sokolov, famed philosopher, artist, and inventor, was a man with few true equals in the world. Not in the sense that he was superior to the common masses, but rather in his pursuit of truth.
Recent events have tested his devotion to that path immensely.
Sokolov thought long and hard about what kind of man he was, deep down, after the queen's untimely demise. The conclusion that he came to after half a year, was that he was a coward.
Despite having no hard evidence, he was quite certain that Attano Corvo didn't murder his queen. Yet, he did nothing to try and bring the truth into the light. Not even a half hearted investigation.
He hadn't thought himself to be such a man beforehand. He even looked down upon Vegapunk for lacking moral integrity when he joined hands with the World Government.
Sokolov, as it turns out, was no better. Worse, because the World Government wouldn't even bother pressing him into their service.
He sighed in mourning for the loss of his deluded self image.
"Are you still sulking?" his apprentice let himself into his workshop without knocking, again. "With all this pointless guilt you're hanging onto, one would think you'd killed the queen yourself."
"Kirin," Sokolov huffed. This apprentice of his was terrible with people, as usual. "I am not sulking. I am lamenting."
"The world keeps spinning no matter which you are doing," Kirin insisted. "Why don't you take a look at my latest attempt at the mechanical den den mushi, hm? Ruthlessly criticizing my engineering ought to cheer you up."
Doing so probably would cheer him up, if he was being honest. Knocking his arrogant apprentice down a few pegs had become a favorite pastime of his these last few years. The issue was that he didn't really want to be cheered up; he wanted to keep stewing in the shattered perceptions of his own convictions.
He was an artist, on top of all his other talents. He was entitled to being in a bad mood whenever he damn well pleased.
"Not now, Kirin," Sokolov waved him off. "Your contraptions are years away from being good enough for public use. Don't waste my time."
"Hmph," Kirin looked mildly disappointed.
*knock knock knock*
A light hammering on the door of his workshop drew both of their attention. Particularly since nobody should have been able to simply approach the building without trespassing, and trespassers should have been dealt with by his security.
Kirin looked at Sokolov and he looked back.
"Well," Sokolov stood and brushed some saw metal shavings from his apron. "If they're here to kill me, then they're here to kill me. I might as well look them in the eye when they do it."
He was slightly surprised to find Kirin following behind him, but he left him to do whatever he wanted to. The young needed to make their own mistakes.
Sokolov opened the door as soon as he reached it, revealing-
Sokolov shut the door. Today was just not his day, apparently, because there was no way he could deal with one of the world's most notorious pirates right now.
"Thanks for inviting me inside," Cheapshot Cherry said, right behind him.
He turned and found that she was, indeed, inside his workshop now, pretending that she'd been properly invited inside instead of having the door shut in her face. Then again, he didn't really shut the door in her face, if she wasn't on the other side when he shut it.
"I don't believe that I've ever seen someone somersault through a closing door before. It was very impressive," Kirin said in his usual calm. Sokolov didn't think he'd ever seen the young man ever be anything but fascinated in the face of potential danger. Kirin had once regaled him of how he'd been mugged in the street mere minutes before his first interview with Sokolov. It was a large part of the reason Sokolov took him on as his protégé, that unflappable nature of his. "Would you be willing to consent to an anatomical study?"
Sokolov nearly palmed his face hard enough for the slap to be heard across the street.
"That's the weirdest come on I've ever heard. No," Cheapshot rejected. Kirin was entirely unphased.
"May I ask why a wanted criminal has trespassed within my workshop?" Sokolov interjected.
"I was curious about the automatons," Cheapshot stated plainly. "The assassin known as Daud had a warehouse full of them, as part of a desperate ambush against me."
"How did they fare?!" Kirin immediately jumped upon the opportunity to discuss his work's performance. Sokolov hoped dearly that he would learn to read the room.
"Much better than typical marines, I must say," Cheapshot declared, thankfully not killing his apprentice on the spot for whatever hand he played in that assault. "They aren't very clever, but then, neither is the typical marine"
"Oh, yes. Their lack of intellect is certainly the biggest barrier to more widespread usage. They can only be keyed to recognise anticipated individuals, after all," Kirin nodded. "Even having them patrol the streets would be an enormous risk."
"I'm more interested in the materials used to make them, and the methods. They were not forged by hand, by my eye," Cheapshot observed.
"You could tell, could you?" Kirin smiled. "The later models were indeed not made through traditional smithing practices. They are factory forged. Come, come, let me show you! You are an artisan, too, are you not? You should appreciate this."
Sokolov didn't know how or why this was happening, but she hadn't shot him, so that was a plus.
…
Jindosh Kirin was a brilliant young man. He was also exceptionally arrogant, though perhaps only just a tad more than he had any right to be.
There was a darkness in him, too, but Cherry wasn't overly concerned about it. It was less that he was an active risk to those around him and more that he had no qualms selling his inventions to the corrupt and the criminal without reservation.
It was a bit surprising how easily he admitted to selling to Daud, when she asked. He didn't make excuses or lie about Daud going through other sources, no he was just straight up honest about selling lethal automatons to a professional killer.
It was weirdly refreshing in a way.
"You could use aluminum in an alloy with these elements for a more lightweight chassis," Cherry laid out.
"Aluminium," Kirin corrected. He was wrong, but whatever. "It would be weaker than steel, no?"
"Naturally. More expensive than steel, too, but you wouldn't use this for common models. It would be great for higher speed and agility. Anyone familiar with the common model wouldn't expect it."
"Yes, I could see that," Kirin hummed. "Still, the expense… It could be a hard sell."
"You can always find some rich dolt to buy literally anything if you package it right," Cherry shrugged.
"Alright, enough," Sokolov sat up from a couch he was laying on. "You've been at it for hours now. Kirin, you have a presentation early tomorrow, remember? If you look like you crawled out of a gutter, it will harm my reputation as much as yours. To bed!"
Cherry felt that this wasn't a complete waste of time, and since wasting time was what she came to do, that was quite nice. She expected that Kirin had a bright future ahead of him, so long as he didn't sell to the wrong person.