Stussy looked at the Den Den Mushi after the call was cut off, her tempting red lips pursing slightly.
"What a heartless little fool. Hanging up just like that without chatting a little longer."
After putting down the Den Den Mushi, shock still lingered in her heart.
Very few people knew the doctor was creating satellites. Only a handful at most.
Yet that man not only knew, he even knew it was the sixth satellite.
A chill ran down Stussy's spine.
That man seemed to know far too many things, including things other people had no way of knowing.
Stussy bit lightly on her fingernail as she thought, her appearance dangerously alluring.
In the end, she opened the whitening maintenance liquid purchased from White Ghost's ship and evenly applied it across her face and skin.
The liquid was absorbed into her body at a visible speed.
Stussy touched her smooth skin.
"What a wonderful thing. I wonder how exactly you developed it."
She lay sideways on her luxurious, beautiful bed, her graceful figure fully revealed. Anyone with poor self-control would have had a nosebleed on the spot.
Her finger tapped her red lips.
"Speaking of which, you should be entering the New World soon, shouldn't you?
"I'm truly looking forward to meeting you. I wonder if you really like beautiful women as much as the sea says. I'm looking forward to dealing with you."
Stussy picked up the Den Den Mushi beside her and passed along the information she had received.
Elsewhere, a man with an enormous head put down his Den Den Mushi and muttered,
"How does he know I'm creating satellites?"
This big-headed man was none other than the scientist publicly recognized as the greatest in the world, Vegapunk, the man said to be five hundred years ahead of modern technology.
Vegapunk had been in turmoil recently.
Some time ago, Stussy, the spy he had planted inside the World Government, told him that someone close to him would betray him, and that betrayal would be fatal.
At the time, Vegapunk's head had been a mess.
He had used that huge brain of his to think frantically.
Who could it be?
Someone closest to him?
The first person he thought of was Sentomaru, because he was always by his side.
But afterward, he denied that possibility.
After all, he had picked the child up when he was young. Although the World Government's CP agents could infiltrate almost anywhere, Sentomaru's personality was exactly what it looked like.
He was the man with the tightest mouth, yet a smart person could still pry useful information out of him in a few moves.
White Ghost from before was a perfect example.
Because of that, Sentomaru had been depressed for a long time.
After ruling out Sentomaru, Vegapunk's suspicion shifted to Borsalino.
First, that man was an Admiral, and in every aspect, he would prioritize the Navy.
Second, Vegapunk had never been able to see through him.
How should he put it?
On the surface, he seemed lazy, uninterested in anything, and perfectly content to coast through life.
But Vegapunk knew that such people were the hardest to deal with.
You never knew whether the face they showed you was merely the face they wanted you to see.
Vegapunk had thought so hard his giant head nearly burst.
During that period, everyone he looked at became suspicious.
The Five Elders knew about him using one side to fund another.
Vegapunk thought it over for a long time before deciding to give his research data to Stussy and have her hand it to White Ghost.
If someone else had said there was a spy around him, he might not have cared too much.
But he understood White Ghost a little.
That man was greedy, sinister, and cunning. But the things he said were usually reliable.
So Vegapunk handed over his experimental data without holding anything back.
Now that he had received the answer, Vegapunk began doubting his own ability.
"A satellite I created will betray me? Just to become one of those ridiculous Celestial Dragons?"
Vegapunk sank into deep self-doubt.
He walked out of the secret room alone and headed toward the laboratory.
Sentomaru, wearing a belly band and carrying a giant axe, saw the conflicted look on his face and could not help asking,
"Doctor, did you run into some difficult problem?"
Vegapunk glanced at him.
"It's nothing. I'm only thinking about a question. I'll walk alone. You don't need to follow."
"Oh."
Sentomaru obediently stood in place and did not move.
Vegapunk passed through one high-tech door after another and arrived at the laboratory where his satellites were being cultivated.
He looked at them one by one.
Satellite 01, whom he named Shaka, represented his righteous personality and would handle more administrative matters, such as communicating with Dragon of the Revolutionary Army and completing certain special tasks.
Satellite 02, Lilith, represented the evil and greed inside Vegapunk's heart.
The third Vegapunk, Edison, was naturally responsible for invention and related experiments. His body structure was that of a special robot. He was not large, but he was very cute.
Satellite 04, Pythagoras, would assist Edison with data analysis, storage, and knowledge organization. These two special robots were designed specifically for research.
Satellite 05, Atlas, had the appearance of a little girl and represented violence. She was responsible for digesting food and exercising, allowing all Vegapunks to handle bodily consumption.
Satellite 06, York, was a long-legged beauty. As expected, she was responsible for everything related to desire. In other words, she would help the other Vegapunks eat, drink, relieve themselves, and sleep.
Vegapunk looked at his creations.
Almost every satellite had its own task, and those tasks had already been set when he created them.
Now he only had to wait for them to mature, then transfer everything in his mind over.
Vegapunk looked at Satellite 06, his "desire." The long-legged girl inside had her eyes closed, her little face still chubby.
"Is desire truly endless? Once you have one thing, you want another. Then was what that man said true, York? Will you betray me in the future?"
He was a smart person. From White Ghost's few words, he had understood a great deal of information.
There were too many mysteries surrounding that man.
Vegapunk had already confirmed that there was no spy around him.
Kizaru had been ruled out as well.
The reason was simple.
Kizaru did not know that Stussy was the spy Vegapunk had planted. Yet that man even knew about his friendship with Dragon.
Then why did that man know so much?
The only answer was a Devil Fruit.
Devil Fruits were strange and varied, with all kinds of abilities. He himself had studied them deeply.
He also knew about certain bizarre Devil Fruit abilities.
The Time-Time Fruit.
As if thinking of something, the corner of Vegapunk's mouth lifted. He muttered to himself,
"If something is destined to happen, then why change it?
"Sometimes, physical death does not mean true death. As long as consciousness exists, that person still exists."
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