Enel pulled out the Den Den Mushi and glanced at it:
"Skarn, huh."
He picked up the call, speaking lazily:
"What is it, Skarn."
"Materials?"
"What materials."
"I see."
"Alright, leave them at Headquarters first."
"I'll come by later."
Enel stretched:
"What a pain."
Thinking about having to return the warship later, Enel felt utterly lifeless.
Looking at the robots still busy moving treasure, he scratched his head and said to the massive robot:
"You can just take this warship away directly."
The giant robot tilted its head, a little confused.
Enel waved his hand:
"I'm heading out first."
Zzzt—
Lightning instantly split the sky.
Leaving behind the stunned giant robot and a bunch of small robots...
...
Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
Inside the principal's office at the Naval Academy.
Ward Morris stood by the window, smiling as he watched the training graduates.
"Not bad, not bad."
"The enthusiasm of the entire academy has been stirred up."
"I think we can do this every year."
The cadets, terrified by Zephyr, really thought they wouldn't be able to graduate, so they were training like mad...
Seeing the senior graduates like this, the underclassmen didn't even dare to rest...
Zephyr sat on the sofa reading the documents, saying:
"Exactly."
"It's necessary to have someone play the role of a powerful enemy suddenly attacking."
"If things go too smoothly, it's not good for their growth."
"This time exposed a big problem."
Ward Morris turned around:
"Then it's settled."
"What are you reading? You've been flipping through those few pages forever."
Seeing Zephyr's serious expression, Ward Morris was a little curious.
Zephyr furrowed his brows and put down the file:
"Too close for comfort."
"If Skarn hadn't gone along this time…"
"I might not have made it back alive."
"We need to strengthen security measures."
At the time, he didn't feel much about it, but after returning and investigating those two pirates' files…
And hearing Skarn's description of their monstrous abilities, Zephyr felt lingering fear now. If he had gone alone, he'd be done for.
Ward Morris walked over, sat opposite Zephyr, and picked up the documents and reports:
"I see…"
After reading through them, his brows twitched too:
"Good grief… even having your spine smashed didn't matter?"
"Whitebeard's son?"
"Is that real?"
Zephyr let out a cold snort:
"Of course not."
"That guy Whitebeard, how could he have such an idiotic son."
"But his strength… it might not be weaker than Whitebeard's in his younger days."
"No idea where that guy came from."
Ward Morris picked up the paper about Miss Buckin:
"Miss Buckin?"
"Whitebeard's lover?"
"Clout-chasing off a dead man now, huh."
"Interesting."
"She was on the same ship as Whitebeard…"
"Rocks' ship, huh."
He ran through the Rocks Pirates crew in his head, then shook his head:
"No impression. I don't recall anyone named Buckin."
Zephyr chuckled:
"Where would you recall her from."
"Rocks Pirates had so many people."
"Just their fleet alone was uncountable. Probably someone borrowing the name to stir trouble."
Crash—
Glass shattered as Enel, in a flash of lightning, smashed right in.
"Yo, Grandpa."
"Zephyr-sensei."
Zephyr nodded. Ward Morris cursed with a grin:
"Brat."
"Pay for my glass."
Enel laughed:
"Hey~ hey~"
"Let's wait till it's a hundred pieces, then pay all at once."
"Where's Skarn? I don't sense him."
Zephyr said:
"He took people to support Sabaody."
"Sakazuki caused too much destruction."
"Nothing's happening at Headquarters now, so everyone's sent to clean up and rebuild."
"Oh right, that guy's corpse is in the training warship's cold storage."
"Pick it up yourself later."
Enel made an OK gesture:
"Got it."
"Then I'll go find Sakazuki-san first."
His body turned into lightning and shot outside.
Seeing Enel rushing off, Ward Morris quickly shouted:
"Bring Sakazuki over for dinner tonight!!!"
Lightning vanished instantly, a distant voice growing fainter:
"Got~~~ it~~~~~~"
Ward Morris shook his head with a smile:
"This kid…"
Zephyr chuckled too:
"Be satisfied already."
...
Grand Line, Sabaody Archipelago.
Marine Branch Base Hospital.
Lying in the hospital bed, Demora said respectfully into the Den Den Mushi:
"Yes, yes, no problem."
"Alright."
Clack—
The sound of the call disconnecting came from the other side.
Demora breathed a sigh of relief, put down the Den Den Mushi, and called over his adjutant:
"About that warship we sent off earlier, find an excuse and report it all together later."
"Make sure there are no loose ends."
Seeing Demora so serious, the adjutant nodded heavily:
"Yes!"
Cooking the books… easy!
...
Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
At Sakazuki's house, second-floor study.
Hanging up the Den Den Mushi, Sakazuki looked at Enel sitting on the sofa:
"Alright."
"Let's hear it. How's the research progressing?"
Enel tossed the orange in his hand.
Pop—
"The overall framework is complete. What's left is simulation."
"Once we've simulated it enough times, we can start construction. But the simulation might take a bit longer."
Sakazuki nodded:
"That's fine."
"There's still enough time."
Enel made a soft "hm" sound:
"By the way, Bullet."
"Show me your Devil Fruit power."
He tossed the orange toward Bullet.
Enel was also curious about the ability to multiply things exponentially.
After all, the Pluton main cannon that he and Professor Vegapunk redesigned was shrunk several times smaller.
And the key point was this More-More Fruit.
Pop—
Bullet caught the orange and thought for a moment:
"Thirty times."
A semi-transparent light film covered the orange.
Bzzzz—
The orange instantly slammed onto the floor, growing so big it nearly touched the ceiling.
Enel froze:
"Hiss—"
"No way!"
"How is thirty times this big?"
"It's multiplicative stacking."
After the initial shock, his expression grew serious as he walked over to inspect the orange, lifting its base with his hand:
"No, no, this is very wrong."
"Bullet, you need to come with me."
"We must rigorously test the multiplication effect and the basis of the multiplier."
Right now, the design assumed a direct hundredfold increase to pierce the Red Line.
But this multiplication effect clearly wasn't a simple hundredfold. It seemed like multiplicative stacking, yet not quite.
If the multiplier can't be calculated clearly, it'll be big trouble if we can't control it...
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The fanfic is Finished on p@treon/tambeerg. 414 chapters in total