The spacious room contained only two figures.
On the silver-white mechanical bed, a few sparks and electric arcs occasionally leaped into the air.
"What an astonishingly perfect body, Vice Admiral Longinus. Are you really not going to reconsider my suggestion?" Vegapunk asked regretfully, with a hint of longing in his voice as he looked at the strings of data on the instrument reports.
"Still no." Longinus rose from the mechanical bed and put on his Coat of Justice, finally shutting out Vegapunk's fervent gaze. "I'm quite satisfied with my identity as a human. For now, I have no plans to change it."
"The more powerful a human is, the more likely they are to fail because of something unforeseeable, such as disease or time. Take Pirate King Roger, for example. Didn't he fall to the most unlikely illness of all? To change all this, unless..." Vegapunk urged him, unwilling to give up. "Transcend humanity!"
"Very well." Longinus smiled warmly. "If the day comes when I can no longer go on living, I'll come seek your help, Doctor!"
"All right." Vegapunk stopped insisting. "Even without mechanical modification, with your talent, it's entirely possible for you to realize our 'Human Transcendence' plan!"
"So isn't that why I came to find you, Doctor?"
"The things you brought back have indeed verified some of my hypotheses." Vegapunk picked up the petri dish from the nearby lab table and held it before his eyes. Inside were several pieces of flesh, still writhing and contracting disgustingly.
"Haki is an innate talent possessed by all humans, but its function shouldn't be as simple as serving as a weapon. More importantly, it should enable a leap in the level of life!"
"A leap in the level of life?"
"For example, Armament Haki. Strengthening the body promotes the growth