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"In this entire world... you’re the only one who can do this."
Vegapunk looked at Rowen, a cold sweat beading on his forehead.
The crisis of death was imminent, and the situation was even more dire than Vegapunk had anticipated.
He hadn’t expected one of the Five Elders to personally lead the attack.
The arrival of one of the world’s highest authorities signified the World Government’s absolute, unshakeable resolve.
A resolve to completely obliterate everything on Egghead.
Whether the Five Elders came for him, or Sky Sovereign Rowen and the Straw Hats... it made no difference to Vegapunk.
From the moment he began to delve into the research from Ohara, Vegapunk knew that he would sooner or later end up on the Five Elders’ kill list.
The Void Century was the World Government’s absolute taboo. Anyone discovered meddling with it, even the world’s greatest scientist, regardless of their contributions to the World Government or their future value, had to be erased.
And the arrival of the Five Elders, beyond demonstrating the World Government’s resolve, also presented another, very unfavorable point for him.
That was—the loss of control over the remaining Seraphim, Sea Beast Weapons, and Pacifistas on the island.
The Seraphim, Sea Beast Weapons, and Pacifistas were all controlled via built-in chips.
The lowest authority was a temporary controller.
The third level was Sentomaru.
The second level was him, Vegapunk.
The highest level of authority belonged to the Five Elders.
A higher control authority would override a lower one, and this control could only be asserted in person.
If the Five Elders weren’t here, even if they issued orders via Transponder Snail, the Seraphim and Pacifistas would not obey them—they would only obey his, Vegapunk’s, commands.
But with the arrival of the Five Elders, all the weapons on the island would now obey their commands.
Without control of the Seraphim and Pacifistas, he had no way of escaping this place on his own.
In the face of the Five Elders’ arrival, the only one in the world who could take him away from here was Sky Sovereign Rowen.
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"Indeed. If you were to disappear, it would be a World-class incident. The only one who could bear the consequences of that is Rowen," Jinbe stated with a proud smile.
He served under the future King of the world, after all.
That pride was both necessary and a matter of course.
Hearing Jinbe’s words, the others also smiled.
"And don’t forget—we have two Emperors here," Zoro said, looking at Luffy, his eyes flashing with an astonishing crimson-black light. He wanted Rowen to become the King of the world, but he also wanted Luffy to become the Pirate King.
"Shishishi," Luffy grinned, adjusting his straw hat.
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"Of course," Rowen said, looking at Vegapunk with a smile.
"Eh? You agreed so easily??" Vegapunk’s eyes widened.
They were now facing the world’s highest authority, the Five Elders.
Having had contact with Saturn for research purposes, Vegapunk had a slight understanding of just how terrifying the Five Elders were.
More importantly, fighting the Five Elders meant declaring all-out war on the World Government.
While Vegapunk knew that Sky Sovereign Rowen intended to become the King of the world and would inevitably have to fight the World Government—to do so for his sake, to start the final battle prematurely, and to agree so readily, without even setting any conditions—still surprised Vegapunk.
"What kind of answer were you expecting? For me to demand you work for me with all your heart and soul?" Rowen looked at Vegapunk and smiled.
"I will support your research, but whether you work for me or not—the decision is yours, isn’t it?"
Rowen knew very well that coercion would not bring any good results.
Especially with a top-tier super-scientist like Vegapunk. The best mode of cooperation was one of mutual benefit.
Rowen would provide Vegapunk with the resources he needed, and Vegapunk would provide Rowen with the research results he needed.
Besides, Rowen didn’t need to force him. Vegapunk’s goal was to research and create an infinite energy source that could be shared freely with the world. This was also one of Rowen’s goals.
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"You’ve Already Started Researching An Artificial Sun, Haven’t You?"
Rowen’s words made Vegapunk’s eyes widen.
"In my hometown, the artificial sun has another name," Rowen’s eyes shone with a keen light.
"Controlled Nuclear Fusion."
Rowen’s tone was filled with emotion.
Artificial sun... controlled nuclear fusion... one of the strongest technologies that countless scientists on Earth were dedicated to researching.
If this technology were truly realized, Humanity would gain almost infinite energy, and the cost would be extremely low.
And Vegapunk, whose dream was to create a world where energy could be shared freely, had already begun to turn his attention to the artificial sun.
Though it was just an idea, and Vegapunk hadn’t even started any real in-depth research—that was only due to the limitations of this world’s current technological level, and Vegapunk’s misaligned tech tree.
Vegapunk’s research in cloning, robotics, and humanoid weapons was far ahead of Earth’s. He had even created the Mother Flame, which could ignite the Ancient Weapons. But his research into the essence of energy was not as advanced as Earth’s.
Limited by the lack of funds and energy, many of Vegapunk’s research results couldn’t even be mass-produced, only realized on Egghead.
To say Vegapunk had a misaligned tech tree was no problem.
But the fact that he could single-handedly develop advanced human weapons like the Seraphim and Pacifistas, and apply Lineage Factor—DNA technology—to create artificial Zoan Devil Fruits and replicate Paramecia abilities, combined with the power of his Brain-Brain Fruit—all proved that Vegapunk’s research ability surpassed any single scientist on Earth.
All Vegapunk lacked... was the right research direction.
And Rowen... had the research direction for controlled nuclear fusion.
After all, in the age of the information explosion on Earth, the principles of controlled nuclear fusion had long been made public.
Rowen had watched many such popular science videos. Though he had mostly forgotten them after watching, the current Rowen was an Ultimate Human with the awakened Human-Human Fruit ability.
Through his enhanced intellect, he could recall all the knowledge he had once seen but temporarily forgotten.
Providing Vegapunk with the general idea would be no problem.
Rowen believed that with Vegapunk’s research ability, combined with the publicly known principles of controlled Nuclear Fusion from Earth—truly solving the technology was not an impossible task.
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"CONTROLLED NUCLEAR FUSION?? AN ARTIFICIAL SUN?? DON’T TELL ME IN YOUR HOMETOWN, THIS TECHNOLOGY ALREADY EXISTS??"
Mentioning research, Vegapunk’s eyes widened.
Vegapunk, whose dream was to create a world where energy could be shared freely, after creating the Mother Flame, had also begun to turn his attention to the sun.
A scientist who had researched to Vegapunk’s level, of course, knew the source of all energy in the world was actually the sun. And just that tiny bit of sunlight.
It was unimaginable, if all the energy of the sun could be used artificially, how much energy would be obtained.
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Rowen also understood this point. His Observation Haki began to spread.
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BEEP!
BEEP!
BEEP!
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