"After all this time, you should have some idea by now, right, Dr. Vegapunk?"
Austin clasped his hands beneath his chin and gazed at Vegapunk with dim, eerie eyes.
At last, Vegapunk got to experience the oppressive pressure everyone else felt when facing Austin.
Cold sweat formed on his face, but fortunately, progress had been going fairly smoothly. He promptly led Austin into the laboratory.
Austin effortlessly disabled every surveillance device detected by his Observation Haki and followed Vegapunk toward the secret laboratory from before.
With his Observation Haki fully spread out, he could even see the soldiers patrolling the perimeter, the Cipher Pol agents investigating in secret,
as well as Kuma, Ginny, Borsalino, and the others dancing the Nika dance.
Nika...
Austin had no interest in liberating the world. He had seen too many Dragon Slayers become dragons themselves and understood that history was merely a cycle repeating itself.
He only cared about what was before him. He did whatever he wanted, then found happiness in it.
That alone was enough.
If Joy Boy and Nika possessed such formidable Conqueror's Haki because they had the ambition and bearing to change the world, then Austin believed he was no lesser.
He simply was not as extreme as either of them—either freedom and liberation, or the rule of gods.
What he wanted was the freedom to do whatever he pleased while standing above everything.
"So... is there anything else we need to prepare?"
Austin sat at the table and watched Vegapunk find a sheet of draft paper and begin sketching and writing, so he asked directly.
"Well, if we want to perfectly recreate that Joy Boy, the materials we have now definitely aren't enough..."
Based on that issue, Vegapunk and Austin held a brief discussion.
"I understand the Nika Fruit and