Preparations for War

"The Pirate World, I'm finally back!"

Looking at the blue sky, the clear ocean, and the exotic flowers, green grass, and beautiful forests all around, this dreamlike scene made Vegapunk, clad in his Phoenix Armor, shout excitedly.

"Darling, you're back!"

Just as he finished speaking, a tall and fiery figure pounced on him. The beautiful Pirate Empress, with tears in her eyes, hugged him tightly with the power that seemed to engulf Vegapunk entire body.

"I knew it, darling, you'd be alright! Darling, you really came back!"

Vegapunk patted Hancock's head affectionately, his smile widening. He glanced around and saw that with his arrival, Nico Robin, Stussy, Tsunade, and others had also rushed over, looking at Vegapunk with delighted expressions.

"Yes, I'm back!"

Vegapunk quickly recovered from the joy of returning and then began to receive information about the year or so he had been away from the Pirate World.

The Pirate World is changing rapidly. The most important thing is that the Chakra system has been almost fully implemented. At the same time, about half of the countries in the Pirate World are occupied and controlled by the Revolutionary Army, while the other half are in a state of autonomy.

However, in reality, the top leaders of most countries have long been replaced by clones created by Vegapunk. Countries that are in a state of autonomy have basically been replaced, and a small portion of the countries controlled by the Revolutionary Army are also clones of Vegapunk.

It's fair to say that about 70-80% of the countries in the One Pirate World are now under the control of Vegapunk's Umbrella Corporation, and the World Government is a thing of the past.

However, the World Government did not truly perish; it remained hidden in the space where Mary Geoise resided.

"By the way, are Luffy and the others still there?"

Vegapunk stroked his chin. Under these circumstances, the World Government still hadn't made a move; there must be some grand conspiracy at play.

Whatever the conspiracy, Vegapunk believed that the answers would surely be found on the Final Island.

Vegapunk, who had just returned, tried to contact his clone Crocodile, who had also boarded the Straw Hat Crew's ship, but found that this clone seemed to have lost contact.

"I don't know. About three or four days before you came back, Kisame and Kakuzu also disappeared. We suspect they went to a special area."

"With the Straw Hat Pirates' current strength, there are few who can take them down silently. They disappeared about three to five days after leaving Lodestar Island."

Stussy spoke with a slight smile. After Vegapunk left, she had essentially taken control of all intelligence.

Lodestar Island is the last island that the Log Pose can reach. Beyond that Final Island, Laugh Tale, there is no longer Log Pose that can point to a specific location.

To travel to Laugh Tale, you must first find and translate the four Red Poneglyphs and locate the coordinates in the middle before you can proceed.

However, this only means knowing the coordinates. In the first half of the Grand Line, navigation relies on the Log Pose, not the nautical chart. This is because, given the weather conditions of the Grand Line, even the most skilled navigators would easily get lost if they relied solely on the nautical chart.

Not to mention that this is the journey to the Final Island, which is arguably the most dangerous and difficult part of the Grand Line!

Therefore, in addition to knowing the coordinates, one must also have the ability to Voice of All Things in order to avoid going astray under guidance.

These were all pieces of information provided by Red-Haired Shanks and Dark King Rayleigh. As time went on and the World Government remained largely silent, these two became much more active.

Of course, it could also be because they know more, and therefore have a better understanding of the current state and conspiracies of the World Government, making them even more impatient.

"Is that so? It seems that Laugh Tale is not only a location with important intelligence, but also a very important place in itself..."

Vegapunk pondered for a moment. According to Dark King Rayleigh, Laugh Tale itself was an enormous Poneglyphs, which must contain a wealth of information.

But if it's just about intelligence, Laugh Tale certainly wouldn't be that important; it's very likely that it's an important location in itself.

"In the past, I might have had some trouble getting into it, but now, with my current level of technology, I can force my way into Mary Geoise, even if it's hiding in a spacetime rift!"

"Furthermore, with the support of the One-Punch Man World, I can now ignore whatever trump cards the World Government has!"

Having absorbed the technology from the One-Punch Man World, and combined with the Wormhole technology from Boros's Spaceship, Vegapunk has made rapid progress in space technology. Entering the space where Mary Geoise is located doesn't require much preparation.

As for fighting... that kind of thing can be left to the Caped Baldy. Saitama may have a somewhat lazy personality, but when it comes to taking action, he never hesitates.

While this guy didn't kill anyone in the original story, that doesn't mean he was soft-hearted. It's just that the Moral Level in Pirate King One-Punch Man World are much higher than in One Piece. The Caped Baldy only encountered a few gossipy people at most, but he didn't encounter any real scum.

Vegapunk believed that as long as he found an opportunity to get Saitama into Mary Geoise, those arrogant Celestial Dragons would naturally be wiped out by the Caped Baldy simply because of their attitude.

Vegapunk's confident expression also infected Stussy and the others. After hearing Vegapunk say that he had a way to deal with the World Government, the group quickly decided to head to the Red Line.

When Vegapunk and his group arrived on the Red Line, they were immediately struck by a shocking sight: a vast number of robots were busily working on the Red Line, establishing all sorts of steel factories and producing brand-new robots, tanks, airplanes, long guns and cannons, and various combat mechs.

"This is truly... astonishing... Are the resources on the Red Line really that abundant?!"

Vegapunk's electromagnetic force spread out, and the entire Red Line was almost dug through by these robots, turning it into an anthill. The number of robots, which was already close to one million, has now more than tripled.

"Hehe, boss, you probably don't know that the entire Red Line is actually composed of a large amount of Hematite!"

A beautiful woman with long orange hair, a hot figure, and revealing clothes said happily, her eyes faintly flashing with the shape of Beli.

Hematite is one of the finest iron ores, with an iron content as high as 70%. Considering the size of the entire Red Line, it is an incredible treasure.

After all, this is an iron mine equivalent to the size of an entire continent, located on a plateau terrain tens of thousands of meters above sea level. In comparison, all the iron mines on Earth in my previous life would be just a drop in the ocean compared to the Red Line.

Even Vegapunk gasped upon hearing this. Unless the hot metal solution was extracted directly from the core of the planet, it would be almost impossible for a planet to have such a high concentration of iron ore.

There are indeed some giant meteorites composed entirely of metallic materials, but compared to the Red Line, they are still insignificant.

It's no wonder that the Red Line has become the home of robot armies, and even engineering machine factories have been moved here. After all, with such low-cost materials, the number of robots has only quadrupled, which can be considered a conservative development.

"This is truly unexpected... No wonder the Red Line is so hard; with an iron content exceeding 70%, how could it not be hard?"

Vegapunk was slightly surprised. Although he had been to the Red Line before, he had never thought of testing Red Line geology. Otherwise, he probably would have discovered it long ago.

Just as Vegapunk was still marveling at the scene, a series of gentle whirlwinds coalesced, revealing the figure of a dragon.

The leader of the Revolutionary Army still had a serious expression, but his eyes no longer held the same bitterness and hatred as before. Clearly, the World Government's retreat and the development of the Revolutionary Army pleased Dragon.

Dragon still looked at Vegapunk with some wariness. The Revolutionary Army's rapid development was not only due to its own strength and the help of the Chakra system, but also largely due to the robots under Vegapunk's command, which almost completely crushed the World Government's forces left behind in the outside world.

Even the Navy's eventual decision to break with the World Government was largely due to their fear of Vegapunk's robots.

Vegapunk's mechanical army, once equipped with enough Sea Stone Factor, possesses unparalleled overall combat power. Most importantly, once the battle truly begins, these fearless robots can double in number in a very short time!

With the Red Line as their base, if these robots really put their all into it, they could produce an army of hundreds of millions of robots. This is precisely why the Pirate World, with its inconvenient transportation, changed hands completely in a short period of time.

But precisely because of this, Dragon also harbors deep suspicion towards Vegapunk. Robots are different from humans; they are truly and completely loyal to Vegapunk and have no disloyalty whatsoever.

If Vegapunk truly wanted to rule the world, he could easily create an Iron Curtain that far surpasses the World Government's rule. A large number of intelligent robots could completely maintain Vegapunk's base of power, allowing him to completely disregard the opposition of ordinary people!

However, despite his wariness, Dragon did not show it. In any case, Vegapunk had always been an ally of the Revolutionary Army until the World Government was completely destroyed.

"Dr. Vegapunk, you've finally arrived! Have you made any new inventions lately?"

Vegapunk's disappearance did not become known in the Pirate World.

As a scientist who frequently spends his time in the Laboratory conducting research, Vegapunk rarely makes public appearances.

After he disappeared immediately, Stussy and the others immediately blocked the news and used a disguised robot to impersonate Vegapunk, occasionally showing his face once or twice. So now, apart from Vegapunk's subordinates, everyone else thinks that Vegapunk is in seclusion conducting some kind of research.

"Indeed, we have made a great new invention. I am now confident that we can open that Nezumi hole in the World Government's coffin!"

Vegapunk narrowed his eyes and responded to the dragon with a smile. The dragon was wary of him, so he certainly wouldn't be foolish enough to tell the dragon everything, especially about other worlds.

"Really? That's wonderful!!"

Upon hearing this, Dragon's eyes lit up, revealing genuine surprise. The World Government had long since become a thorn in the side of the Revolutionary Army. Although they didn't know what kind of conspiracy the World Government was plotting, the Revolutionary Army was simply unable to defend against it.

If we could break into Mary Geoise, which is located in the space-time rift, then we wouldn't need to worry about the World Government's conspiracies anymore. We could just rush in, kill those Celestial Dragons, and solve all our problems!

Dragon's expression was very eager, but this Revolutionary Army leader also had some composure. He did not go to Mary Geoise immediately, but instead summoned the strongest members of the Revolutionary Army first.

He was unaware that Vegapunk had brought in the Caped Baldy, but even if Dragon knew about it, given his personality, he wouldn't place all his hopes on others; he would only make the most perfect preparations.

Night quietly fell, and the various commanders under the Revolutionary Army had all arrived on the Red Line, ready for the final battle.

Vegapunk silently watched the Revolutionary Army group. Originally, his plan was to send the Caped Baldy on a "tour" of Mary Geoise. By the time Saitama came out, there probably wouldn't be many people left in Mary Geoise —or perhaps there wouldn't even be Mary Geoise anymore.

But now that the Revolutionary Army is willing to take the lead, Vegapunk will naturally grant their wish. He has also gathered a large number of high-level combat robots to accompany the Revolutionary Army in attacking Mary Geoise.

Anyway, combat robots are free. Even if they are destroyed, as long as the core data is intact, a new one can be pulled out in no time.

Of course, in order to make the Revolutionary Army determined, Vegapunk himself also joined the team heading to Mary Geoise —otherwise, the Revolutionary Army probably wouldn't dare to trust Vegapunk too much. What if Vegapunk betrayed them from the outside and trapped the Revolutionary Army inside Mary Geoise as well?

Therefore, only if Vegapunk himself goes to Mary Geoise can the Revolutionary Army truly and completely put their minds at ease.

As for why Vegapunk was so bold this time? It's simple: he only needs to create a clone with one percent of his power in another location to ensure his safety.