The Secret's Out

"Boss, your secret's out!"

On an Electronic Screen resembling a tablet, a beautiful young girl with golden curls and stylish attire appeared. Her face carried traces of anxiety and worry as she urgently whispered in a low voice.

"Huh?! Stussy?!"

A man with a messy head of hair and something like a metal antenna perched atop his oversized head—someone who looked every bit the mad scientist—stared at the beauty on the screen, froze briefly, then said:

"The secret's out... what secret is out?"

"Stop playing dumb! The Navy and World Government fleets have already set sail! And Akainu himself is leading them! What else do you think has been exposed, Boss Vegapunk?!"

Gritting her teeth, Stussy snarled at her unreliable boss.

"Uh... even if you put it that way, there are rather too many things I've done that could provoke the World Government."

Vegapunk spread his hands helplessly and explained:

"For example, the Continental Shelf Oscillator beneath the Red Line that hasn't been fully installed yet,"

"the deals with Charlotte Linlin, Kaido, and the Revolutionary Army,"

"the development and installation of new Orbital Weapons and Nuclear Weapons,"

"the cloning of Poseidon and the research and replication of Pluton,"

"the gene virus specially designed for the Celestial Dragons, as well as the Clone Celestial Dragons I secretly replaced..."

"I need to know exactly which matter the World Government discovered, right? Hmm? Stussy, why is your expression so strange?"

It took Stussy considerable effort to calm down from her exaggerated Pirate World reaction and return her bulging eyes and gaping mouth to normal. Then she glanced around twice, lowered her head, and furtively said:

"Boss, tell me honestly. Were you planning to wipe out the World Government outright? Didn't you say the plan was still ten years away?"

"The plan hasn't changed. After all, Stussy, you're far too useless. Even now, you still haven't figured out the World Government's trump cards."

"Still, there's never such a thing as too much preparation,"

Vegapunk, the big-headed scientist, said unhurriedly. "We're doing work that could get our heads chopped off. I have to consider our ability to protect ourselves in an emergency, should word ever reach the World Government."

"I don't think this is just a matter of self-protection anymore, Boss. Are you trying to destroy the world?... And besides, I've only been in the CP Organization for two years. How could I possibly uncover the World Government's trump cards that quickly?"

Stussy could not help but complain. Did her boss have some kind of firepower insufficiency phobia?

As one of the earliest Clones created by Vegapunk, Stussy had been enhanced to an extremely high level in both intelligence and physical constitution. Thus, she had initially served as Vegapunk's assistant by his side.

As a result, she knew perfectly well just how powerful the weapons her boss had mentioned were. Ancient Weapons and the like were utter trash compared to the weapons her boss had developed!

It was not that the Ancient Weapons were weak. Rather, Vegapunk's creations were purely military weapons capable of mass production, completely different from those one-of-a-kind Ancient Weapons.

Vegapunk spread his hands. "Can't be helped. I seem to have a talent for this sort of thing. I just did a little casual research, and I got a whole pile of results."

"But using that alone to deter the World Government still lacks the most important thing!"

"After all... I'm just a scientist incapable of tying up a chicken. No matter how advanced my weapons are, I'm still merely flesh and blood. If any Marine Admiral came after me, I'd be in danger of being killed."

The transmigrator named Vegapunk looked at his somewhat gaunt, aged palms, his expression carrying a hint of sorrow.

This Vegapunk was a transmigrator. In his previous life, he had just graduated from university on Blue Star, only to have his soul transmigrate directly into the Pirate World, where he became the world's most famous scientist.

Vegapunk himself had already been the most gifted scientist in the Pirate World. Combined with the bonuses brought by being a transmigrator, the various black-tech weapons he created far surpassed those from the original work.

After all, while his previous world lacked much of the Pirate World's black technology, it was vastly ahead of the Pirate World in all kinds of scientific theories. Moreover, having just graduated from university, the transmigrator was at the peak of his personal knowledge and abilities. Together, these advantages sparked a new explosion of technological progress.

Much of the time, scientific research needed only a direction. Just like before the Manhattan Project, no one could develop a mushroom bomb. But once the project succeeded and proved the direction viable, countries with some foundation soon developed Nuclear Weapons as well.

Unlike the original Vegapunk, he had no moral scruples about researching weapons. He was also far more shrewd and cunning than that naive scientist. He had pledged allegiance to the World Government early on, acquired immense resources, and pushed technological research several eras beyond this world.

Of course, he would never expose all of his research results to the World Government as the original Vegapunk had. In fact, the results he had given the World Government were probably not even as good as what the original Vegapunk had provided.

On the other hand, he had never relaxed his infiltration of the World Government. Otherwise, there would have been no Clone Celestial Dragon project, nor would Stussy have risen to such a high position and reported the news to him so quickly.

Unfortunately, while the Brain-Brain Fruit had granted Vegapunk unparalleled intelligence, it had also limited his body. His brain absorbed vast amounts of nutrients, so no matter how much he trained, he could only make himself somewhat healthier than an ordinary person. The gap between him and the monsters of the Pirate World was simply too great.

(Fortunately... this is the end. The technology is mature now. At last, I can cast off this aged, fragile body!)

Gathering his thoughts, Vegapunk looked at Stussy. "By the way, you still haven't told me what exactly the World Government discovered! Get to the point!"

A vein popped on Stussy's forehead. What did he mean, get to the point? If she had not been shocked by so many of his dark secrets and trump cards, would she have gotten sidetracked with him?

Taking a deep breath, Stussy suppressed her anger and said, "That experimental assistant of yours was discovered by the World Government!"

"Experimental assistant?" Vegapunk thought for a moment, and the image of a woman with long black hair and a cold, calm personality surfaced in his mind.

"Nico Robin? She was discovered, and the World Government came after me over something this minor?"

"This isn't something minor... all right! Compared to your dangerous inventions and plans, Boss, she really does count as something minor..."

Stussy spoke helplessly, but after learning so many of her boss's hidden cards, she was no longer nervous.

At worst, they would smash the entire world to pieces. Let's see whether they, with nothing to lose, or the World Government, with everything to lose, were more ruthless!