Future Island

"Future Island is up ahead. Still no contact with Vegapunk?"

A group of masked CP Organization agents sat in the cabin, discussing matters. The lead agent was tall, his voice like iron plates grinding together.

"No reply at all. Could Vegapunk have discovered something?"

"That would be perfectly normal," one agent said. "After all, that's Vegapunk. Who knows what kind of black-tech inventions a mad scientist like him might have?"

"Then we'll wait a while, link up with the Marines, and begin a direct assault!"

But before the agents could finish discussing their plans, a deafening boom rang out. A terrifying jet of water, like a high-pressure water cutter, sliced the entire ship in half!

"What's going on?" Several agents leaped out of the cabin in disarray, then turned to see a monster in the sea. Its body was covered in golden metal, with a massive metal horn on its head, watching them like a dragon eyeing its prey.

"Not good! That's... MetalSeadramon!"

MetalSeadramon, Machinedramon, and WarGreymon were the three greatest combat forces Vegapunk had created openly, normally tasked with guarding Future Island.

That's right—Vegapunk had blatantly copied Digimon!

Their combat power definitely could not compare to real Digimon, but dealing with a few agents was effortless.

Machinedramon possessed overwhelming firepower and formidable long-range attacks. WarGreymon was fast and devastating in close combat. MetalSeadramon, meanwhile, was an expert in naval warfare and the nemesis of Devil Fruit users.

MetalSeadramon looked at the agents before it and snorted. Two lasers shot from its nostrils, and the two slower agents immediately screamed as they were sliced cleanly in half.

"Damn it! Get it! Kill it!" The agent leader gritted his teeth. He knew perfectly well that on the open sea, they had no chance of escaping MetalSeadramon's pursuit. Their only hope of survival was to defeat this thing completely.

Several agents used Moonwalk and rushed forward, but their resistance was nearly meaningless against MetalSeadramon. Amid repeated screams, several corpses soon fell onto the sea.

"Damn it. It looks like Vegapunk truly intends to break with us!"

On a Marine warship, a stern-faced man with hard features, dressed in a red suit and wearing a Marine cap, looked at the intelligence report in his hand with clear anger.

He was Marine Admiral Akainu. At that moment, a red glow shone in his eyes as black smoke rose up, and the report in his hand was melted into a pile of black ash by scorching magma.

"That's only normal, isn't it? Vegapunk may look like an ordinary scientist, but according to Marine intelligence, he was never that obedient. We just never had any real, concrete evidence before."

The adjutant standing beside Akainu frowned and asked, "The main question now is, Admiral, do we need reinforcements?"

"If we proceed any farther, we'll likely enter the waters covered by Future Island's defenses. Fighting MetalSeadramon on the sea would not be a wise move."

Akainu remained silent. Even though he was a Marine Admiral, one of the strongest figures on the entire sea, he did not dare underestimate Vegapunk's inventions. WarGreymon and Machinedramon were one thing—at most, they would take some effort, but he could still tear them apart.

But if he encountered MetalSeadramon at sea, even Akainu would find it extremely troublesome. MetalSeadramon was fitted with large amounts of Sea Stone and could directly draw seawater for industrial water-cutter-level attacks. It was a complete counter to him, a Magma-Magma Fruit user.

More importantly, MetalSeadramon could attack ships from beneath the water. Once they lost their footing, facing MetalSeadramon in the vast sea would mean certain death even for a Marine Admiral like Akainu.

Gritting his teeth, Akainu was cold-blooded and indifferent to human life, but he was no mindless fool. "Wait a while longer! Since the initial infiltration plan failed, we'll wait for Marine reinforcements!"

The Marines did not dare take Vegapunk lightly either. Their initial plan had been for Akainu and the World Government's agents to enter Future Island directly and carry out a decapitation strike. But if the plan failed, they had also prepared for a direct assault.

Thus, in the second wave of reinforcements, another Marine Admiral, Aokiji, had long been ready to move. Just as their abilities countered each other, this Ice-Ice Fruit user was the perfect nemesis for MetalSeadramon.

The boundless sea had been frozen into an ice field. Smoke and flames rose all across Future Island as all kinds of robots and Clone Soldiers fought the Marines fiercely.

"Pah! Vegapunk's inventions really are hard to deal with! Looks like all he gave us Marines were defective products!"

A Marine officer clutched his injured arm, kicked the head of a mechanical soldier on the ground, and cursed.

Beside him, Aokiji, his curly hair disheveled, clutched the wound on his chest and panted heavily. "The combat machines Vegapunk developed can actually bypass elemental transformation. He never reported anything like this to the Marines!"

The wound on his chest had been left by WarGreymon. Although that WarGreymon had already been frozen into an ice block by Aokiji, recalling the battle still left him somewhat shaken.

Aokiji had never expected elemental transformation to be completely useless, and his carelessness had nearly gotten him disemboweled.

But the battle was finally over. Though both Marine Admirals had sustained injuries and the soldiers under their command had suffered heavy losses, the two were still fairly satisfied.

No one knew how many kinds of new technology Vegapunk possessed on Future Island. But leaving aside high-end war machines like the three dragon beasts, even those ordinary mechanical soldiers would be an enormous gain for the Marines if they could be mass-produced.

"Let's check the Central Lab first. Until we capture that mad scientist, everyone should stay alert!"

Seeing that the Marines had relaxed somewhat, Akainu spoke with a grave expression. Blood also streamed from the corner of his mouth—the result of Machinedramon's final self-destructive attack, which had injured him badly enough to break several ribs.

After opening the doors to the Central Lab, the two Marine Admirals in front wore stern expressions and remained on guard. Yet even when they reached the central room, they encountered neither traps nor enemies.

Pushing open the final door, Akainu looked at Vegapunk, who sat in a chair seemingly adjusting an instrument, and Nico Robin standing beside him. He said coldly, "Vegapunk, and Nico Robin, you are under arrest!"

Vegapunk slowly raised his head, a strange smile appearing on his face. "Heh heh, arrest me? Sorry! I choose—let's all sink into the sea together!!"

"I think you should take a look at the island's outskirts right now!"