"...We've confird it, Sensei. The Temporary Base we set up on Aji Island has been annihilated. Well, the Dyna Stone obliterated the island itself, so... rather than confirming the base's destruction, it's more that we confird nothing remains at all..."
"I see... They got us."
The Neo Marines, led by Zephyr, or rather, Z. Aboard their flagship, Z and several Executives were receiving a report from one of their subordinates.
The news was dire.
Exactly what the soldier had said: one of the Neo Marines' Temporary Bases, set up not far from here, had been annihilated along with the entire island. A considerable number of personnel had been stationed there, along with resupply provisions and a portion of the Dyna Stones seized from Faus Island.
The plan had been to head there, replenish supplies, personnel, and Dyna Stones, then swiftly move to Pirio Island, destroy it, and complete the Grand Reboot. Now those plans had been thrown severely off course.
Z offered a mont of silent prayer for the subordinates and forr students who had surely sunk into the sea along with the island. Then, shifting gears, he turned back to the soldier.
"What about the other one? Is the base on Karegaaku Island safe?"
"Sir! We confird via secure communication just monts ago. It's operating without issues. They've heightened their alert level in preparation for any contingencies."
"Good. Then we change plans and head for Karegaaku Island. The Dyna Stones we stockpiled separately at that base should be enough to carry out the plan. We'll resupply at Karegaaku Island, and after that, the Neo Marines will deploy all forces to Pirio Island and execute the Grand Reboot."
"It was wise of you to split the supplies across separate locations given the risk of detection, Sensei... Do you think the raid was the Marines, or perhaps the Pirate Literary Master's Crew?"
"No way to know now. There's also a strong chance it was that mysterious Human Weapon we clashed with on Sekan Island. For whatever reason, the thing had it out for us. Either way, we can't let our guard down. From here on, it's a race against ti too. Kuzan and his people will be coming at us in earnest. If push cos to shove... ngh... *cough cough*!"
"Sensei...!"
Ain and Binz rushed to his side, alard by the sudden coughing fit.
Z held them back with a raised hand, pulled a device from inside his coat, placed it to his mouth, and inhaled the dication. His breathing settled quickly.
"...Good grief. Getting old is no fun."
"Sensei... If it's too much for you, we could handle things ourselves..."
"Don't be stupid. I just choked a little. I'm fine. I swore that I, Z, would bring this Great Pirate Era to an end. Do you think your teacher is the kind of pathetic man who'd stop here?"
"..."
To that, Ain and the others had no reply.
They wanted to respect Z's resolve and conviction, to help him fulfill his wish. And yet, as his students, they worried. They didn't want their teacher pushing himself any further. That feeling was undeniably there.
But everyone could see it: behind those sunglasses, the light of determination in his eyes, unwavering no matter what might co.
That was precisely why no one spoke. They couldn't. They couldn't stop him.
Then at the very least, they would stand by his side until the end. They all rembered they had already steeled themselves for that.
Without a word, they answered with their eyes alone. Receiving that answer, Z gave a quiet nod.
"As I said. We head for Karegaaku Island. The decisive battle draws near. All hands, steel yourselves."
"""Sir!!!"""
***
Around the sa ti.
New Marineford, the city housing Marine Headquarters. After the original Headquarters was destroyed in the Summit War, the entire town had been relocated here to serve as the Marines' new base of operations.
Swapped with the forr G-1 Base, the facility now sat in the New World. Deep within it, in the Fleet Admiral's Office, Fleet Admiral Kuzan listened to reports from his subordinates with a sigh.
"So you're saying the explosion on that island was undeniably caused by Dyna Stones. But the island itself was just an ordinary island with no connection whatsoever to the End Points."
"That appears to be the case. However, judging from the flow of goods between surrounding islands, it seems a Neo Marines base was likely located there. Though at this point, confirmation is impossible..."
"So did they screw up handling the Dyna Stones and blow themselves sky high, or... No, that can wait. What about the other investigation?"
Setting aside the unanswerable question, Kuzan turned to another subordinate and prompted the next report.
The designated Marine read from the docunts clipped to the binder under one arm.
"Yes, sir. We contacted Egghead. However... they said, 'As this pertains to classified matters currently under research, we cannot provide an imdiate answer.'"
"Ah, for cryin' out loud... I figured they'd say that, but still... Don't they get this isn't the ti for that crap? We're smack in the middle of an operation with the fate of the world genuinely on the line here."
If the End Points were destroyed as Z intended, a Cataclysmic Eruption would engulf and incinerate the entire Grand Line. Marines, Pirates, innocent civilians, all dead in droves.
In truth, the devastation would far exceed even that: a catastrophic ga-disaster affecting the entire world, escalating to an event that could spell the planet's very destruction. But Kuzan had no way of knowing that.
Even without that knowledge, the information already in his head was more than enough to call the situation unacceptable.
In the report Kuzan had received from the Pirate Literary Master, she had asked: 'I fought this Human Weapon that looked kinda like a Pacifista but wasn't Kuma. Know anything about it?'
On top of that, its appearance had resembled Kuzan himself... aning, it resembled Sue, and it had been in the form of a child.
Having drawn a complete blank, Kuzan had contacted Egghead, the base of the Marine Science Unit, also known as SSG. The result was what he'd just heard.
'I've heard SSG is currently researching a new type of Pacifista. Did they do so kind of test run? But if so, sending it outside into an active combat zone exposed to public view and then trying to keep it secret from us makes no sense.'
"If I send an official inquiry under my na, they might talk, but even then there's the ti issue... Hey, Kizaru, think you could ask Vegapunk directly? You two know each other, right?"
"I'll do it if you tell tooo, but I wouldn't get your hopes uuup. Sure, we go way back, but that doesn't an he'll just hand over anything and everything. And even though he works for the Governnt, it's not like he's particularly fond of the Governnt or Marines."
"That so... Sheesh, it brings to tears and it's my own people I'm talking about. Sengoku-san steered this organization for years... No, seriously, I have nothing but respect for the man."
"Pretty sure you were one of the people giving Sengoku-san headaches, though."
"Don't say it. I know, alright?"
Another sigh, one of who-knew-how-many today.
Still, sitting at his desk wallowing in frustration wouldn't fix anything, and ti was short.
Start with what could be done. Just as Kuzan was thinking he might as well try again, sending another inquiry to Egghead under the Fleet Admiral's na as a long shot, Kizaru spoke up as if suddenly rembering sothing.
"Oh, buuut... I did talk to Vegapunk and Sentomaru-kun not too long ago."
"Hm?"
"About the new Pacifista that's been the talk latelyy. I think he said sothing like 'it's almost finished.' Of course, I didn't ask for specifics about what it actually was at the ti, but... if he said it that way, doesn't that an it wasn't finished yet?"
"...How long ago was this?"
"Very recently. Right after that, the whole Zephyr-sensei situation blew uuup."
"If that's true, then they went from completion to field deploynt in this short a tifra? I'm no expert on anything science-related, but even for an ordinary weapon, that's a ridiculously rushed schedule. And if they'd gotten to that stage, they would've at least given a heads-up, no matter what. That place is the 'Marine' Science Unit, after all."
"Riight... But if that's the case, then... it would an so organization with technology rivaling SSG's is operating in the shadows, wouldn't it?"
"That's not sothing I wanna think about either... If I had to guess, maybe one of the Four Emperors' Factions, or... Agh, damn it, what the hell is even going on out there...?"
***
And then there was the very place that had just co up in conversation: Egghead.
In the Lab Phase situated in its upper levels, an atmosphere of unusual agitation and confusion filled the air as a heated debate raged back and forth.
The ones arguing were seven distinct individuals who were, at the sa ti, all the very sa person.
"Oi, what the hell was that about just now!? The Seraphim haven't even rolled out yet!"
"Calm down, Evil (Lilith). Raising your voice won't make anything clearer. As you say, the Seraphim haven't even undergone test runs yet. There's no way those units were deployed."
"All the Seraphim are right here on Egghead, after all. I just went and checked: all seven are present and accounted for in their cultivation pods."
"But Justice (Shaka), the details in the Marine's inquiry match the Seraphim's characteristics almost perfectly. The armant differs in so respects, apparently, but the Lunarian Tribe traits and the 'large-bodied child' description... I don't think that can all be chalked up to coincidence."
"So what, sobody stole our data and built their own version?"
"Could anyone really do that, though? We, all seven 'Vegapunks,' have been researching this together and still haven't finished it. Even if soone sowhere got their hands on the data, do you really think they could bring it to field-deploynt level this quickly?"
Six Satellites.
Six Vegapunks.
Each with a different personality, each bearing a different role.
At their center, an elderly man remained silent, not joining the conversation, instead spinning the gears of his mind. Specifically, spinning his very peculiar "head," which had an antenna shaped like an apple attached to it.
Dr. Vegapunk, the main body (Stella). The man who possessed the greatest intellect in the world.
'As Greed (York) says, the idea that soone completed a Seraphim imitation before us, and in a similar form no less, is impossible, even if the technology had leaked.'
Given the matching characteristics, it clearly wasn't unrelated, but it was definitely not the Seraphim they had built.
That raised the question of whether another faction had created an imitation. But that too seed implausible. Not just in terms of technological capability. Even if technology and information had leaked from Egghead, if the design was that similar, the "leak" itself must have been very recent.
From that point, in just a short period, soone had completed sothing that even they were still painstakingly developing right now. Granted, they were nearly at the finishing stage, but still.
And if the reports were accurate, this thing had barged into the battle between Black Arm and the Pirate Literary Master and put on quite a flashy show. Could that level of completion really be achieved in such a short ti? Even the Vegapunks themselves could only say it would be difficult.
And more than any of that, the reason Vegapunk declared the possibility flatly "impossible" was this: the Human Weapon was modeled after the Pirate Literary Master. In other words, it appeared to be a clone of Sue.
To begin with, creating a Seraphim required starting from scratch by producing the base body through cloning. Various Lineage Factors, beginning with those of the Lunarian Tribe, needed to be incorporated into the creation.
And for that base body to grow to a physique capable of actual combat, a considerable amount of ti was needed. Even with accelerated growth compared to a normal human. That had been true for the seven units currently in production.
The Seraphim they were developing had taken a fair amount of ti. Their appearances resembled younger versions of the Shichibukai mbers as they had been one year ago. The Lineage Factors obtained at that ti had been used, and research had already begun back then.
Even under the earlier hypothesis, where leaked information had enabled soone to replicate the Seraphim, and even if that engineer possessed a mind capable of producing Seraphim faster than they could, the ti required for a clone to mature still made it "impossible" to replicate and complete a Seraphim in such a short tifra.
'It's... not a Seraphim? In that case, was it modified after the fact to have Pacifista Powers, the sa way Kuma was? But then, the Lunarian Tribe traits can't be explained. And what about the reason it bears the Pirate Literary Master's physical features...?'
"Gahhh, I don't get it! What a pain! Why don't we just have the Marines capture the weird thing and ship it here so we can examine it ourselves!? Then we'd know everything for sure!"
"Sothing that can hold its own against Black Arm and the Pirate Literary Master? Yeah, that'd be pretty tough, probably. And even if they managed it, the cost would be huge. I doubt they'd go that far just for us."
"Still, it really is intriguing... What could it possibly be, this 'Pseudo-Seraphim'...?"
"Beats ..."
"...! Oi, everyone, another transmission from the Marines. This code... Whoa, it's a direct call from Fleet Admiral Kuzan himself. What do we do?"
"Pushing for info, maybe? We've got nothing to tell them about the Pseudo-Seraphim, and as for the Seraphim we're developing... how much should we share? What do you think, main body (Stella)?"
"...I'll take it. There are things I'd like to ask directly as well."
Several minutes later.
While Vegapunk himself was still speaking with the Fleet Admiral, as well as Kizaru who was in the sa room and had joined the conversation...
"...Hm?"
"What's wrong, Pythagoras? Sothing weird co up?"
"Oh, no, it's just... I was checking the lower-level storage, and sothing caught my attention."
"What is it?"
"Well... has the disposal of Throne already been completed?"
"Throne? That's the scrapped prototype that ca out of the Seraphim developnt process, right? The failed unit that looked like it had combat potential but had too many defects for practical use, so production was halted partway through?"
"I thought the plan was to keep it in storage until we'd extracted all the data we could, then dispose of it after that. You were the one managing it, weren't you, Pythagoras?"
"Yeah. The data extraction is done, so there's no problem on that front, but... I could've sworn the disposal hadn't been carried out yet. According to the data, though, it's already been marked as disposed of."
"Hmm... But I an, we're done with it anyway, so, you know... there's no sign of the data being tampered with or anything, right? Then it's fine, isn't it? You probably just forgot, Pythagoras."
"Oi, oi, get it together, man. We're supposed to be 'Vegapunk,' rember? Can't be going senile on us."
"Yeah... S-sorry... That's strange, though. This kind of thing never usually happens to ..."
"..."
***
---Retrieval of the Seraphim slated for disposal from Egghead complete. Correction: prototype Throne, retrieval complete. Data has been falsified. Risk of discovery is negligible for the ti being.
---Six units recovered in total. Two of the six already exhibit severe deficiencies in life functions at the current stage. Deed unfit for combat use. Proceeding with disposal.
---The remaining four units will be modified and deployed as combat assets.
---Beginning component swap. Purging Seastone-based armants and all sections housing them.
---Transitioning from anti-Ability User armant to general-purpose high-firepower armant.
---Thawing GB (Green Blood) that had been isolated and stored within this body. Initiating circulation.
---From this point forward, Seastone-based equipnt is unusable except for non-contact types. Effectiveness was minimal to begin with; no further use deed necessary. Abandoning here.
---Approximately 600 seconds until GB acclimates to this body and the Clank-Clank Fruit Powers beco usable. Once stabilized, modification and enhancent of Throne units will comnce.
---Estimated 17 hours for processing of all four units. Two hours for checks.
---Judged fully completable before recovering the reserve Dyna Stones the Neo Marines have hidden sowhere and heading for Pirio Island.
---Upon completion of all preparations, operational activities will resu without delay.
To be continued...
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