Rowan shot Nico Robin a sideways look. That last line sounded awfully familiar.
Please, Robin. Tone it down a little. That line of yours is way too cringe.
Even so, Vegapunk really did buy it.
He reached out, took Robin's hand, and said, "It seems I don't really have any other choice now."
If he didn't want to keep helping the World Government do evil, then the only path left was to join Rowan's side.
Besides, if this man really was from another world, then he should have enough money to support Vegapunk's research, right?
And just like that, Vegapunk officially joined them.
Rowan and the others all let out a sigh of relief. While Egghead was still slowly rising into the air, they began clearing out all the unconscious Marines from the island.
Hashirama created a massive ship big enough to carry everyone, dumped the Marines onto it, and threw the whole thing into the sea below.
All the Den Den Mushi were tossed aboard too.
Egghead was too important. Rowan didn't want to leave behind even the slightest hidden risk. Every uncertain factor that could expose them had to be thoroughly cleaned out.
Vegapunk helped a lot as well. He had lived here for a long time and knew all too well where the hidden traps, secret mechanisms, and concealed surveillance devices were located.
With his help, every last hidden problem was cleaned up completely.
Unless the Five Elders suddenly gained the ability to foresee the future, finding Egghead again would be next to impossible.
Once that was all done, Rowan had barely let out a sigh of relief before Tsunade, Tobirama, Orochimaru, and the others surrounded Vegapunk and began discussing artificial Devil Fruits.
Only then did Vegapunk realize that there were several real scientists among Rowan's group.
Especially Tobirama and Orochimaru. In the field of human experimentation and biological research, both of them surpassed everyone in this world except Vegapunk himself.
They could not only follow his train of thought, but even offer insightful suggestions of their own.
That made Vegapunk tremendously excited.
Until now, he had always been lonely at the top. Even his former colleagues from MADS hadn't been able to keep up with his thinking, let alone the people from the World Government.
If anyone there could have kept up with him, he never would have bothered creating satellites in the first place.
But now, several people had shown up who were genuinely capable researchers.
Vegapunk immediately threw himself into discussion with them, and that exchange went on for days.
The more they talked, the more excited they became, until finally they all plunged headfirst into the lab and never came back out again.
Rowan had to admit it—when it came to science, these people really did forget to eat and sleep.
Still, that was a good thing.
While Vegapunk, Orochimaru, Tsunade, Tobirama, and the others were busy researching Devil Fruits, the sea itself was undergoing dramatic upheaval.
A great show had begun.
When Aokiji arrived in Alabasta, he immediately began hunting down Crocodile. Even though the desert was Crocodile's home ground, he was still no match for a serious Admiral Aokiji.
He was frozen solid, desert and all.
And so Crocodile earned himself a nice pair of Seastone handcuffs and was escorted toward Impel Down by Aokiji.
Meanwhile, Kizaru had received orders to intercept Kaido. Relying on his mobility, he kept engaging and disengaging, circling Kaido over and over until he accomplished his mission.
The moment he heard that Aokiji had successfully captured Crocodile, he immediately retreated.
He had suffered enough from tangling with Kaido these past few days. Kaido really was just too absurdly tough to deal with.
If it hadn't been for the Five Elders' orders, he would have left a long time ago.
Only an idiot would stay and trade blows with Kaido head-on.
But after shaking Kaido off with great difficulty and finally returning to Egghead, Kizaru was left dumbfounded.
Because there was no Egghead anymore.
Only an endless stretch of sea.
"Huh? Did I come to the wrong place?"
Kizaru stood there in total confusion. Where the hell did my Egghead go?
He pulled out a Den Den Mushi and called the Five Elders. Only then did he learn what had happened.
Before he had received their orders and departed to intercept Kaido, someone had secretly arrived at Egghead, knocked everyone and every Den Den Mushi unconscious with Conqueror's Haki, dumped the unconscious Marines and the Den Den Mushi onto a ship—
and then packed up the entire island and took it away.
That operation was absurd no matter how you looked at it. Egghead wasn't a cake—how could someone just pack it up and take it away?
At the same time, a name with a bit of old legend attached to it surfaced in Kizaru's mind.
Golden Lion.
If there was anyone in this world who could have packed up Egghead and carried it away, Shiki was absolutely one of the most likely suspects.
So was the one who took Egghead really Golden Lion?
Kizaru had good reason to suspect it, but he still found it hard to believe. After all, Shiki was just a mad brute. These days all he ever thought about was Roger, Roger, Roger. He didn't care about anyone else.
There was no reason for him to kidnap Vegapunk.
More importantly, how would Shiki even know where Egghead was?
The World Government had set up layer upon layer of protection around Egghead. Plenty of people didn't even know the place existed.
While Kizaru was still struggling to make sense of it, the Five Elders were just about losing their minds.
Saturn in particular was nearly dumbstruck when he heard that Egghead had been packed up and taken away.
After all, he was the Warrior God of Science and Defense. Egghead fell squarely under his jurisdiction.
And yet the island had vanished right under his nose.
That was nothing less than a slap in the face.
It made Saturn shake with rage.
More importantly, Vegapunk had been a project the World Government had invested in for over a decade. Every year they poured huge amounts of funding into him. The Mother Flame, the Seraphim, the Green Blood project—every one of those had already reached its final phase.
They were only a year or two away from reaping the rewards.
And then Egghead vanished.
Who was supposed to answer for that?
If they couldn't get it back, then decades of investment from the World Government would have gone straight down the drain. Anyone would lose their mind over that.
"Find it! No matter the cost, find Egghead and bring it back to me!"
Saturn roared inside the Five Elders' chamber, not caring in the slightest about his dignity.
But no one blamed him for it.
Because the other Elders also wanted to start cursing.
Saint Shepherd Ju Peter said, "This is all too much of a coincidence."
"What coincidence?" Saturn was shaking with fury and hadn't calmed down enough to see it clearly yet.
Ju Peter replied, "Egghead has always been secretive and heavily defended. Then suddenly the news about Pluton breaks, and both you and Kizaru leave the island one after the other."
"And the very next moment, Egghead vanishes without a trace."
"Don't you think that's a little too convenient?"
Hearing Ju Peter's words, Saturn gradually calmed down.
"You're right."
He also felt that the timing was far too suspicious.
Nusjuro added, "And how is it that even the World Government itself didn't manage to learn that Crocodile was searching Alabasta for Pluton, yet Morgans somehow knew?"
"You think Morgans is working with whoever took Egghead?"
"It's possible. Though it's also possible Morgans was simply used."
"No matter which it is, Egghead is gone. And as Saturn said, we must get it back at any cost."
Vegapunk was just too important. Any one of the projects he oversaw had the potential to change the world. If they fell into the wrong hands, they could shake the very foundation of the World Government's rule.
Topman Warcury said, "I questioned the Marines who were dumped onto that ship. Before they lost consciousness, Egghead had already begun shaking violently, and several of them saw the island rise into the air."
"That makes it obvious. Golden Lion is the one who did this."
"What I don't understand," Saturn said, "is why Golden Lion would want to abduct Vegapunk and Egghead. Does he even have the money to keep funding Vegapunk's research?"
Vegapunk's work didn't just burn money—it devoured it.
Even the Five Elders themselves had only kept funding him because they could still see the finish line.
Vegapunk really knew how to spend.
"Perhaps Golden Lion is only a front. The real person who wanted Vegapunk and Egghead is someone else."
"You think Golden Lion would ever serve beneath someone else?"
Golden Lion was famously uncontrollable. Aside from Rocks in the old days, no one had ever been able to keep him in line.
And even back in the Rocks Pirates, his submission had only ever been superficial.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have missed the God Valley incident.
"Not necessarily serve. It could simply be a cooperation."
"If that's the case, then who do you think has the power to take Egghead and Vegapunk?"
"Who else but the Revolutionary Army?"
In the eyes of the Five Elders, no one else in the world truly dared oppose the World Government. Not even the Four Emperors. At the end of the day, they were just pirates carving out corners of the New World for themselves.
To them, the Four Emperors had never been the real threat.
The real threat was always the Revolutionary Army.
"So the D-clan truly can't be underestimated," Marcus Mars sighed.
After all, the Revolutionary Army had grown up right under their noses.
That had partly happened because they underestimated it—but there was no denying Dragon's intelligence and strength.
A fool did not become the World Government's greatest enemy.
"Order the CP agents to move at full force. Search for the Revolutionary Army's base. Turn over every stone if you have to, but find Vegapunk and Egghead."
"And don't let your guard down around Morgans either. Send someone to test him and see whether he was simply used or directly involved."
"Agreed."
"Right. Morgans needs to be pressured."
After discussing it further, the Five Elders reached a consensus.
The vast machine of the World Government rumbled to life like never before.
It had fully awakened.
~~~
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